“I want to do this right. I want a contract for the school stuff so you’re protected,” Greg pressed.
“Then talk to Dad, and he’ll have the lawyers put something together. You and Dad can sign it, and Megan will handle the money end.”
“If you think I’m being a leech …” Greg trailed off.
David could see that this really bothered him.
“If I thought that, I would say ‘no.’”
“Cassidy said you would tell me if you didn’t want to do it.”
“You should listen to her,” David said.
Greg looked like the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders.
They spent the rest of the time catching up before David had to go film his soap.
◊◊◊
When he arrived on set, there was good and bad news.
The good was that Adrienne had agreed to play his wife.
The bad was that Kate was a ‘no.’ Her baseball guy didn’t like the idea of her getting naked with David and it being televised. It was just one more reason not to like the guy.
David quickly ran through a list of actors and models who could replace Kate since he got to pick. Kara Tasman made the short list, but he figured Adrienne was probably enough on the model front. Having to work with two novices wouldn’t be fair to the crew and the show.
Halle James and Fiona Beckham also made the short list but were rejected because it didn’t feel right for them and where they were in their careers. When they were auditioning for major movie roles, doing a soap opera, even if it were with him, seemed beneath them.
He settled on two possible alternatives, Isabel Alexandra and Bec Carson.
Isabel would make it obvious he had a type. Both she and Adrienne were blessed with large breasts. She’d been in the most recent Baywatch movie and played Miss Moneypenny in his James Bond film. His only hesitation was the way she’d handled the Ben-and-Lexi drama.
Bec Carson was his friend Zak Verwood’s girlfriend, and Zak had been his costar in The Secret Circle. He’d met Bec through Zak and liked both her and her work. She had some serious acting chops. The benefit of picking Bec was that she and David had no personal history.
He called his agent and gave him the two names. David would throw Kendrick a bone and let him work out who got the role.
◊◊◊
Monday night, David was surprised when Crystal showed up with her book bag and acted like Saturday hadn’t happened.
“What are you doing here? I thought we broke up Saturday night.”
“What are you talking about?” Crystal asked as a muscle flicked angrily at her jaw.
David’s eyebrows drew together in an agonized expression. What was he missing here? He gleaned from her look that Crystal was spoiling for a fight, and he guessed he owed her that much.
“People are trying to study. Go to the roof if you two are going to fight,” Alex called from the living room.
“It sounds like we need to talk without prying ears,”
David said.
“I heard that,” Alex said.
◊◊◊
When they got to the roof, Crystal heard something crash in the alley beyond the parking area’s back wall. A dog began wild, snarling barks.
The butterflies in her stomach went crazy, and she sucked in a quick, loud breath as she clutched her waist.
She couldn’t believe that David had decided that they’d broken up Saturday night. Crystal knew he had to babysit football recruits while she had to keep an eye on her sorority sisters. It only made sense that they went their separate ways when he decided to leave.
“We need to talk about what you did,” David said.
She heard his disapproval, as loud as a bonfire crackling. In her mind, David had just gone from drool-worthy to ax-worthy.
“What did I do?” Crystal asked. “What about what you did? It was like you assumed that Lars is some kind of idiot,
and he was dealing with internal Phi Sig business that had nothing to do with you.”
“He was forcing that kid to drink. I was looking at it through the lens of how it could harm Phi Sigs. You’ve already lost one fraternity through stupidity, and Lars should have been more concerned with that than hazing one of their pledges. The guy said he had to study for a math test on Monday, for Christ’s sake,” David said as he became obviously agitated.
“What if I told you that the kid was lying about a test?
And that he’d been making other pledges do shots and has been bucking the fraternity’s hierarchy recently? He’s also one of the house’s biggest drinkers, so Lars knew he could handle one or even three shots,” Crystal fired back.
“Then why didn’t Lars say anything? Why did you jump all over my ass instead of talking to me about it? David asked.
This struck Crystal the wrong way. It felt like the Nail, In, Coffin moment. Did he not realize he’d put his big nose into a situation that he had no business being in?
“So, in retaliation, you announce to the party that you’re going to another party? That was a dick move,” Crystal said.
“I can see we aren’t getting anywhere. I need to get away from you for a while and cool off, or we’ll really be over. My mom was right about there being three sides to a situation. If we can’t find a way to forgive each other for our roles in what happened, then we should call it,” David said.
His words felt heavy in her ears as she watched him walk away.
◊◊◊
David was in his room trying to see Crystal’s side of their disagreement when there was a knock on the door. It
was Alex.
“I’m in no mood,” David warned.
“Are you an idiot?”
“Get to your point.”
“You’re being an asshole, even if you’re right. Think this through. If you continue and want some good lovin’, you might as well go fuck yourself because Crystal won’t.”
With that pearl of wisdom, Alex left him alone.
Twenty minutes later, Crystal showed up.
“You ready to talk?” she asked.
He simply nodded.
“I thought about what your mom said about the three sides, and I hadn’t considered how you saw it,” Crystal said as her lips thinned with displeasure. “I can now see why you did what you did.”
“I can see we both did some things we could have done differently,” David admitted.
“Did you really think we broke up?” Crystal asked.
“One of the recruits said it looked like we had. I didn’t think so until he said that, but when you didn’t message me on Sunday, I thought maybe we had.”
Crystal chuckled.
“Says the man who talks everything to death. I know you spend Sunday with family and then have to do your soap,”
Crystal said. Then she pointed out, “If you thought we needed to talk, you have my number.”
“What do you want to do?”
“I never thought we were broken up. The real question is, what do you want to do?” Crystal asked.
Alex and David’s mom had both made good points in their own way. If you cared for someone, there would be times when you didn’t see eye-to-eye. He’d seen his parents get into verbal battles much worse than what happened Saturday, and they were still together.
It made him realize that what he had with Crystal wasn’t simply a fleeting teen crush. There was more there than
he’d planned when they got together. Was she his happily ever after? He had no idea.
“I don’t want to break up,” David finally said.
“Good. I don’t either.”
◊◊◊
Professor Elder, his critical thinking teacher, had warned the class that they would see current situations in a new light when they studied personal bias. David concluded he should avoid the topic when he had turmoil in his life.