Her first task was to get David the Notre Dame game film.
◊◊◊
When he arrived at the Turners’ house, cars lined the street, so he had to park down the block. As he got close to the home, he noticed Michael and Paige talking to other young adults. He had no doubt they were hiding out from their parents and older relatives. It was good to see some things were the same everywhere.
David was introduced and suddenly had fanboys and fangirls to deal with. He did his obligatory autographs and selfies. Once he went inside, the mood was more …
respectful, for lack of a better word.
He found Sadie and Janis being comforted by family in the living room. He bypassed that and found a group of older people eating some food, so he joined them. He found excellent bagels, so he made a point of finding out where they had come from. They reminded him of the bagels you’d find in New York.
David fell into his normal networking mode, where he tried to meet everyone there and say a few words. It wasn’t networking in the business sense; it was just how he was taught. Some of the older folks welcomed a young man taking the time to meet them.
Finally, he saw a lull in the action around Sadie and Janis and made his way over to say hello.
“I had no idea you would come to the house,” Janis said, looking up with surprise.
Sadie stood up and hugged him.
“How’s it going?” he whispered in her ear.
“I have no idea who some of these people are,” Sadie admitted.
David gave her a wan smile because he thought back to when his grandfather passed. He’d been older than Sadie at the time, but he’d had the same thought.
“Many of them are here for your mother. If you don’t know what to say, just nod and either smile or say nothing,”
David suggested.
A moment later, more people came up, and he noted that Sadie simply nodded to them, taking his advice. David stepped back and listened to a few of the stories told. As he walked out, he heard something in Hebrew repeated to Sadie and her mom. He managed to find Michael, who told him they were saying, “May God comfort you along with all the other mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.” David thought that was a beautiful way to give condolences.
◊◊◊
The second item on his to-do list was to talk to Crystal. If he mishandled this, it could go horribly wrong. Mr. Happy felt he had a vote, and it was to hold off on this discussion until … maybe never. The big brain almost agreed with him when Crystal dropped by to study wearing a tank top without a bra and hip-hugger shorts.
They caught up on their day. Crystal couldn’t attend the funeral because she had to prepare for an exam. She shared that her house had approved them getting a bus for Zak’s party.
“How bad will it be?” Crystal asked.
“Let me put it to you this way. Zak sent me a message saying that 21 Naturals will be there. They’re going to have their wrap party on a full-length triple-X film called Kitty Party. Mix in the typical Hollywood types, college football players, and sorority girls. How bad do you think it will get?” David asked with a straight face.
Crystal’s forehead ended up in her palm.
“Zak also suggests that everyone gear up for fun in the pool.”
She looked up to see if he was putting her on.
“And you’re taking recruits to this?”
David shrugged.
“It’s not like Louisville, where they hired hookers. The guys still have to have enough skills to talk drunk porn stars out of their itty-bitty bikinis.”
Crystal’s eyes narrowed.
“Does that mean there will also be guys from 21
Naturals there?”
“Probably. Do you want me to hook you up with one of them?” David asked without even flinching.
That made Crystal suspicious.
“You wouldn’t mind if I did that?” she pressed.
David shrugged.
“I’m okay with it if you are.”
He could see she hadn’t expected that answer.
“What are you trying to tell me?”
“I think we should take a step back and see other people,” he said and then held his breath.
“Did you not mean it when you said you wanted to be in a committed relationship?” Crystal asked with hurt in her voice.
He slowly let the air out of his lungs before answering.
“Here’s the unvarnished truth. I like you and still want to see you. And who knows, we might end up being together for the rest of our lives. When we decided to faux-date, it was because we’d both come out of relationships, and it was a crutch to get over them. I personally didn’t think it would last this long. I realized that it’s crazy for us to be so serious right now.
“I’m in my first full year of college and supposed to be gathering experiences and learning about myself, not playing happy families and settling down,” David said.
“Firstly, you sound British when you say stuff like ‘happy families.’ Second, I’m not ready to settle down either. But I don’t want us to break up over that,” Crystal said.
“Sorry, I’ve been watching streaming videos, including some British stuff. It just sounded like it fit our situation.”
“Are you saying you want to break up?” Crystal asked.
“Not exactly.”
“You just want to see other girls,” Crystal said quietly.
“And I think you should see other guys,” David added.
She gave him an unreadable look, which couldn’t be good.
“What exactly would we be doing, then?”
“I still want to go out with you. I think we make a good team when we work together. I just want it to be more casual,” David said as if the answer was obvious.
Crystal began to gather up her books.
“Are you leaving? David asked.
“I need time to process this … alone.”
“I respect that.”
He sat quietly as she packed up and left. Mr. Happy had a few choice comments, but the big brain felt this was the right course of action.
◊◊◊
Chapter 31
The rest of the week was a blur. Lisa’s funeral; Bec Carson’s guest appearance, causing extra filming sessions; and David’s focus on the upcoming Notre Dame game had consumed his free time. At least, that was the story he was telling himself. The result was that three women in his life were not speaking to him: Cassidy, because she somehow thought he should be at her beck and call; Tracy, since he’d bailed on filming Trojan Inquirer; and Crystal, for more personal reasons.
Of the three, Tracy wasn’t shy about getting her revenge. This week’s guest was Chip Wagner, the Channel 10 sports reporter who covered USC. It had turned into a good interview as Tracy grilled him for a change.
It was the last segment that David probably deserved.
The two of them displayed David making unflattering faces.
The top five were the eye roll, I have a migraine, I must be constipated, my eyes might pop out of my head, and will this ever be over with? He would remember that the cameras ran anytime they were on set because he’d made most of those faces at Tracy when he thought the cameras weren’t on.
The two of them pieced together clips of Chip and Tracy interviewing him and inserting his different faces as answers. In truth, it was funny because Tracy knew him well enough that she nailed how he felt when asked the various questions. An example was when Chip asked David how he ‘felt’ about something, which was followed by ‘the eye roll.’
What they hadn’t counted on was that it had turned David into a meme machine. Creative nerds—who he would track down and kill—created memes out of his different silly faces. One of them had ended up on a popular late-