“I wanted to tell you that we couldn’t be more impressed with your efforts and would like to reward them. I would like to officially move you to offense,” Coach Clayton finally said.
Coach Farrow looked away because he’d let the cat out of the bag several weeks ago at David’s “welcome to campus” party for the freshmen.
David put a smile on his face.
“Why, thank you, sir.”
Coach Clayton looked pleased with himself as he glanced at his coordinators as if to say, ‘told you so.’
“I also heard that you’re working on a virtual-reality gizmo. If you think it’ll help you be a better quarterback, I’m behind it.”
David had to keep telling himself that he didn’t want to be in an open battle with Coach Clayton just yet.
After spring football practice, David had finally come to his senses and decided to do everything he could to make USC football relevant again. His plans had started to gain some momentum, and he didn’t need the head coach throwing a wrench into the works and slowing him down.
The critical tipping point for his relationship with Coach Clayton would come the Monday after the first game in the fall. If he named Matt Long the starter, either Coach Clayton or David would have to go. If David was leaving, he would do so by the time the spring semester started.
With Coach Clayton getting what he wanted, he kicked everyone out of his office.
Once outside and out of earshot, David stopped the other three men.
“Do you have a minute? I want to show you this virtual-reality gizmo and see if we can come up with some ideas on how to use it.”
“I’m in. If David says it can help, I want to listen,” Coach Farrow said.
David knew that Bryant would want to see what he was talking about. David didn’t know Coach Thomas as well since he ran the offense.
“I’d like to see it,” the offensive coordinator said without hesitation.
Hearing that made David begin to hope that the two of them would work well together.
◊◊◊
He let all three of them experience wearing the VR headgear. Meanwhile, everyone else could see on the tablet what the wearer was looking at. With VR, you had much more control. Bryant had zoomed in on a bead of sweat on David’s forehead and then slow-motioned as it dripped off his eyebrow.
At the end of his demonstration, David thought there might be a fistfight over who got to take the gear home with them.
“Where did you get this?” Coach Thomas asked.
“I have two MIT undergrads with far too much brainpower and too much time on their hands. They came up with all this. They’re currently living in my townhouse while they work on it,” he shared.
“Can they have it up and working by the high school football camp we’re hosting?” Bryant asked.
David saw the light bulb go on for the other two coaches. Most of the recruits USC wanted would attend. The ones on the fence might come if they were promised something worthwhile. David was not so far removed from going to camps and recognized that he would have jumped at the opportunity to attend one that promised VR of all your plays. It would be like you were your very own video-game avatar.
The serious ones would quickly grasp what a game-changer this could be for their development.
David knew for a fact that he would loan USC the technology for the rest of the summer and fall while it was being ‘developed.’ By then, Dare and Corvus would have the bugs worked out of it and their company set up. If he had to change schools, he didn’t want to leave the software in the Trojans’ hands. There would have to be some nondisclosure agreements in place, but David had other people on the payroll who could take the heat for insisting on it.
◊◊◊
After leaving the coaches, David met with Dare and Corvus to share the news. There had been some hand-wringing since yesterday when Coach Clayton had questioned what they were doing. Hearing that everything was a go had them both bouncing around.
David almost swallowed his teeth when they wanted to go get tacos to celebrate.
◊◊◊
Chapter 26
Colleen
Bart Easley, her ex-fiancé, was calling. The question was, should she ignore it or take the call.
“Hello,” Colleen said after a mental coin flip.
“Hey. I’m at the airport in Paris. I wanted to give you a heads-up that I’m coming home.”
“What? Why? Aren’t you scheduled to film through October?”
“We were, but one of the stupid actors got caught with his pants down. They’ve suspended filming while there’s an internal investigation,” Bart shared.
“Internal investigation? That doesn’t sound good. Who was it?” she asked.
“Okay, but if I tell you, you can’t tell anyone.”
“I promise.”
“Ben Cowley.”
“Isn’t he the lead?” Colleen asked.
“I know!” Bart said excitedly. “This guy is so screwed. If you only knew …”
“Tell me.”
“Okay, but you didn’t hear it from me. The rumor is that Ben hooked up with a girl back in LA. She was the PA for some famous actors. I’ve seen her around, and I have to say that she’s smokin’ hot. Anyway, the girl claims that she and Ben hooked up but that he videoed it without her knowing about it. I guess Ben used the video to blackmail the woman into working for him,” he shared.
“And?”
He chuckled.
“I heard that he forced her to be his sex slave.”
“No way!” Colleen exclaimed
“That’s what I thought, but with the whole #MeToo movement and all the fuss around that, they couldn’t take the chance. I overheard that they may recast him just to be safe.”
“How have they kept this out of the press? Something this juicy has to leak out.”
“He has two movies premiering over the holiday weekend. There is no way the studio would allow something like that to get out. It would kill ticket sales,” he explained.
She scoffed.
“Yes, God forbid a woman forced into sexual bondage might come before the almighty dollar.”
“They’re calling my flight. The reason I called was to see if you would pick me up from the airport.”
Colleen contemplated what to say.
“I don’t know …”
“I understand, but I was hoping we were still friends. I’ve missed you,” Bart said.
“Okay. I’d like that. Message me the flight information.”
“You’re the best,” he said and then hung up.
Colleen’s stomach twisted unpleasantly when she thought of David. If she only knew what they were. Were they dating? Was he just sleeping with her? The only time he’d taken her out was to grab breakfast and buy a buttload of condoms. They’d then made a severe dent in the new supply.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Gail returned from class.
“Why are you looking all gloomy? Isn’t the sex god coming over soon?”
“I’m trying to figure out how I feel about David,” Colleen admitted.
Her roommate’s eyebrows disappeared into her bangs, so she tried to explain.
“Sure, he’s hot. Sure, he could probably melt panties and unhook bras just by looking at a girl the right way. And he’s richer than Midas. And has wicked eyes and a smile that makes me want to do naughty things. But none of that means anything.”
“For someone who doesn’t want to have her panties melted, you’re sure spending an awful lot of time cataloging his qualities.”
“Is it just sex?!” she said, throwing her hands up in the air.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Colleen bit her bottom lip. Gail was the one person who knew her the best.
“Bart called.”
“And?”
“He misses me,” she mumbled.
“You can’t be serious! You were finally getting over him. I personally endorse your method of doing so. I would think that having David A. Dawson in your bed would chase all thoughts of Bart right out of your head.”