Coach and Buddy drive around looking for Junior. Buddy has no idea where to go, he doesn't know the kid, he doesn't know if he has any friends. And then the kicker -- Buddy relates how the other day he was suggesting to his son that he play football and Junior was all like, "Uh, Dad, football is stupid!" Buddy relates how flabbergasted he is at this but Coach gets right to the point: "Can he play football?" Buddy says of course he can! He's a Garrity. "He loves football. He just doesn't know it yet." Preach, mister.
Over at the dance, teenagers grind on one another. The circle of life, you know. Tami and Laurel laugh at the dance moves on some of the other teachers. Luke catches sight of Becky and goes over to her. He's wearing a hilarious print shirt, which she compliments. He says that he found it in the 99 cent bin at the Goodwill and it fit like a glove. I'll say. I will have to apologize in advance, but I find Luke extremely hot in this scene. He keeps his delivery low and even, and how Becky keeps her own face from melting off in the face of it all is beyond me. He tells her that he was trying to impress her and then, looking straight at her, "You are so pretty." Then he asks if she heard about the whole TMU thing, but, because this isn't just about him and football (though his newfound confidence is the engine driving it) he leans in: "I gotta tell you something. You like me. And I'm gonna take you out sometime." Now, can you please just hold on just a minute while I fan myself? Stone fox, y'all. And, because he is apparently a master seducer, the boy knows how to leave before overstaying his welcome. As he walks away he tells her, "I'm coming for you, Sproles." And just like that, I am officially on board with Luke and Becky.
Vince and Jess sit off to the side, Jess trying to talk once again about his father, Vince refusing to engage. Vince tells her that he doesn't want her to work in the locker room anymore and then they're off. He says that he needs to take his team to State, and he can't do that if he keeps having to "check my boys" in the locker room. Jess is like, well don't check them anymore, he just needs to treat her like one of the boys. Vince complains that she keeps calling him "macho chismo" which, heh. She corrects him, "It's machismo" and then she laughs, telling him that everything has to be about him, that she's supposed to help him all summer but now can't be a part of the game in a way that is interesting to her. She tells him that maybe she's doing something she enjoys, something that will look good on her college applications. He just tells her that she looks great and gets up and leaves. Oh, if only we could all live in that heady, awesome place just above, the "stone fox" part of the relationship, rather than actually have to deal with figuring out how to make a life with another human being.













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