“And if she is to be a cox, she’ll need respect,” Andy agreed.
“And that won’t happen if they don’t get to know her and give her a chance,” Cassidy added.
They both turned to Chloe.
“You up for this?” Cassidy asked.
“Yes. And thanks.”
◊◊◊
She went home with Cassidy, and they found themselves alone.
“I feel like nachos. If I make them, do you want some?” Cassidy asked.
Cassidy got out a large platter and began assembling the dish.
“There’s no way we can eat all that,” Chloe worried.
“David will be home soon and will either have some football players with him or Crystal. I make this much so he doesn’t get all pouty when I don’t share,” Cassidy said.
While Cassidy made the food, Chloe began asking her a list of questions.
“What is something that no one knows about you?” Chloe asked when she finally got to the good questions.
“I hate that one because I think I have to give a different answer each time,” Cassidy admitted.
“What are some of the ones you’ve used?” Chloe asked.
“Let’s see. I am afraid to step on manhole covers. I’m sure that if I do, it will give out, and I’ll go crashing to my death.”
“I can see that.”
“When I was little, I wanted to grow up to be a thief. I’d seen an old movie about a cat burglar, and I would plan out the perfect caper.”
“Did you ever do it?” Chloe asked.
“No. I knew stealing was bad, so I chickened out,” Cassidy admitted.
“Tell me a new one, and make it good.”
Cassidy thought for a moment.
“I know that David and I will grow old together.”
“You love him?” Chloe asked.
“I do.”
“Then why aren’t you dating?”
Cassidy shrugged.
“Neither one of us is ready to settle down. Until then, we’ll be friends and have our own fun.”
“I didn’t know you were dating anyone.”
“I’m not, but you don’t have to be dating to have fun,” Cassidy admitted.
“You’re seeing someone,” Chloe guessed. “Who?”
“If I tell you, you can’t tell anyone. Only David knows,” Cassidy said.
“I promise.”
“Tank.”
“Tank, the strength-and-conditioning coach?” Chloe gasped.
Cassidy nodded.
“Oh, he’s hot,” Chloe admitted.
Cassidy’s eyes got big.
“I thought you liked girls.”
“I do.”
“On a scale of zero to ten, zero being I only want dick, to ten where dick makes me physically ill to think about, how gay are you?” Cassidy asked.
“I honestly don’t know. I looked like a ten-year-old boy until my junior year of high school. Boys were more interested in breasts and stuff, so I was ignored. Then my best friend, Jen, came out, and she showed interest in me. I think if we were still together, I would never give it a second thought. The funny thing was that once we started dating, guys began to ask me out,” Chloe admitted.
“The little pervs wanted to see two girls making out,” Cassidy guessed.
“Yep. Which made me want to run.”
“What happened to Jen?”
“Through her church, there was an opportunity to go to Africa for the summer. At one of the orientation meetings, she met someone. Ironically, it was a guy. When I found out, I was devastated.”
“Has a guy even kissed you?” Cassidy asked.
Before she could answer, the back door opened, and in walked David with his security person, Ruth. The cat yowled and then hissed at him. Chloe about peed herself.
“Jesus!” David said as he jerked to a stop. “Are we finally doing this?”
He and the cat stared at each other until the feline had made her point and walked out of the room. Ruth also left to go up to her room.
“I might pay Brit to move into an apartment so we can ship Precious home,” David said.
Cassidy got a pained expression.
“Let me take care of it.”
He looked both happy and surprised.
“I’m not going to question that.”
The doorbell rang, and David went to answer it. He came back with Crystal.
“Did you miss me?” he asked.
Crystal turned to face him.
“Wouldn’t you just love for me to say ‘yes’ so your enormous ego can get stroked?”
He acted wounded.
“Ouch. That one crushed me.”
“Oh, please. If your head gets any bigger, you’ll look like a bobblehead doll.”
David waggled his eyebrows at Crystal.
“Yeah, it’s already hard to get my shirts on in the morning. Pretty soon, I’ll have to start greasing the doorways so I can get through them.”
She turned back around and came into the kitchen.
“Nachos!” she said happily when she saw them. “You guys always have the best food.”
“Cassidy is a great cook,” David said with a big grin.
Cassidy leaned over to Chloe.
“He’s just happy because I agreed to send Precious home. Now he owes me,” she whispered.
“Oh, thank God! You’re getting rid of that mean cat. David is constantly bleeding because of that beast,” Crystal said at hearing the news.
“David,” Cassidy said to get his attention. He looked like he was about to invite Crystal to his room to … uhm … study. “Challenge Chloe to a racing game while Crystal and I talk.”
“Sure,” he answered and then turned to her. “You any good?”
◊◊◊
David was a lot of fun. He acted like a middle schooler without a care in the world as he got into the video game. She surprised him when she won the first race.
“You were sandbagging me,” he pouted.
“Please. You thought I was a total noob and took it easy on me. I want your top game, and we see who the best is,” Chloe challenged.
“You’re so going down,” he predicted.
“David?” Crystal called from upstairs as Cassidy came down.
“I’m playing,” he called back.
“I need you for just a second.”
David trotted up the stairs. When the bedroom door closed, Cassidy joined Chloe on the couch.
“There’s a sure way to win the scavenger hunt,” Cassidy said.
Most tasks were worth fifty or a hundred points. Getting David to accept oral was initially worth a thousand. Since he hadn’t done it yet, today it was up to four thousand.
“But …”
Cassidy gave her a knowing smile.
“Look. David is the perfect person to experiment with. He’s caring, patient, and really, really good. He’s also old school. He’ll never tell anyone what the two of you do or don’t do.”
“Oh, wow,” Chloe said as she looked at her hands.
A random thought ran through her head that she should get her nails done.
She’d never considered David as someone who would be interested in her, so Chloe had never let the possibility enter her mind. All the rowing girls got giddy at the thought of him showing them interest, but he treated them like he had her while playing Forza Horizon. He was everyone’s best buddy, the kind of guy you could hang with, and yet he would listen if you wanted to ask a guy’s opinion.
“If you want, he’ll even show you Mr. Happy,” Cassidy said.
“Who?”
“He named his dick,” Cassidy said as she rolled her eyes.
Somehow, the thought of movie star David A. Dawson naming his penis was funny.
“Would you and Crystal be there in case …?”
“You need support or help? We can be,” Cassidy offered.
“If I do, I’ll need someone to take the picture,” Chloe said to play it off.
“Why keep it to just a picture? You might want a video so you can watch it later,” Cassidy offered with a mischievous look.
“Okay.”
“Okay?” Cassidy asked, looking surprised.
Chloe nodded ‘yes’ in response.
Cassidy pulled her phone out and sent Crystal a message. She got one right back.