“Good call. Hey, I have to jump off here. It’s almost time for Cindy and Suzanne to get here. Tami, thanks for being my friend. You lifted my spirits. We’re going to have a good time with the Wesleyan girls. Make sure they know it’s all just in fun. I don’t want to get anyone’s feelings hurt.”
“I’m not worried about them. I am more worried about what they want to do to you.”
She had a point. I’d sort of opened the door on that one.
CINDY AND SUZANNE SHOWED up a few minutes later. I was still in a good mood, and I think it surprised them to see me smile when they came through the door. We got comfortable in my living room. They sat on the couch, and I sat in my comfy side chair. They both sat quietly as they looked at me. I guess they were waiting on me to say something. The quiet stretched until it became uncomfortable. This was going to go badly if I didn’t do something.
“You asked for this meeting. I assumed you wanted to tell me something.” I tried to say it as nonthreateningly as possible.
They looked at each other, and I guess Cindy was elected as spokesperson.
“David, we’re trying to figure out why you’re mad at us. It’s not like we’re going out or anything. You’re free to date who you want. Just as we are.”
“Okay, I guess that’s settled then. Thanks for stopping by.” I stood up to usher them out.
They didn’t seem to think things went the way they wanted. Neither of them got up.
“So you’re not mad at us?” Suzanne asked.
“No, you’re right. I have no say as to who you choose to date. All I care about is that you’re happy.”
“So we’re good?” Suzanne realized that this was too easy.
“Absolutely.”
She seemed to relax, but I could see the wheels turning. When she figured it out, she slumped into the couch.
“And you get to choose who you date,” she figured out.
“You got it.”
“And you choose not to date either of us.”
“Correct. Now that we’re all on the same page, I have better things to do.”
Suzanne started to cry. Cindy also had tears in her eyes.
“Hold on, no crying. You guys got what you wanted. You can keep dating your ex-boyfriends, and I won’t complain.”
“That’s not what we wanted!” Cindy blurted out.
“Do you two want to take a minute and figure out what you want to tell me?”
They nodded.
“Okay, I’ll go into my bedroom. When you’re ready, come and get me.”
I went into my room and sent a text to Alice to see if she could chat. She wasn’t free, but John was, so we jumped onto video chat.
“Hey Mr. All State, how’s it going?”
“Not bad, Mr. Sixth-Best Freshman Quarterback in the Nation.”
“What! Did someone get their list out?”
There were several recruiting sites. They tended to hold off on listing freshman rankings until later into the season.
“Yeppers, my favorite sister printed it off and put it in my Bible so I’d find it at church. Of course, I said a bad word when I read it, and Mom cracked me on the back of the head. Then Dad saw it and got the same treatment. We both got lectures on what can and can’t be said in public.”
“I love Alice. She’s too frickin’ funny. I bet the little angel didn’t even crack a smile.”
“Nope. You have to help me think of some way to get her back. With both of you working against me, I don’t stand a chance. I’m not too proud to beg.”
“You dork, all you have to do is ask. Alice can take it as well as she can give it out. I’ll tell you a little secret: I’m bruised from head to toe after last week’s game. The training staff says if I even get touched this week, they’re benching me. My guess is I’ll last about 3 plays at the most,” I said to give him some scoop.
“We taped your Fox game and our coaching staff broke it down. I went in today and I learned a lot watching it again. I’ll send you the report our assistant coach put together, but good God, you need a new left tackle. I’ll admit, you’re the toughest guy I know,” John said.
I heard a soft knock on my door. I told them to come in.
“This is John Phillips. He was last year’s All State Quarterback for the state of Kentucky, and it looks like he’ll repeat this year. He was at the University of Kentucky when I made my visit. He was offered and verbally accepted that weekend. I met his family and we’re good friends. They’re actually coming to see my last game of the year.”
John’s eyes got big.
“What, I get to come and see you play?”
“Oops, sorry. That was supposed to be a surprise. Your game is Wednesday and ours is on Saturday afternoon. You’re coming up Friday night and going to the game on Saturday.”
“Alice is going to flip out when she finds out.”
“Dude, who do you think put this together? Just play along. You can mess with her and tell her you have a big date that Friday.”
“Good call.”
“John, this is Cindy and Suzanne. They were my dates to Homecoming.”
“I really feel like a dork now. I thought he was lying when he told me he was going with two of the most gorgeous and fun girls at your school. I can see why you like them so much. They’re cute. Hang onto this one, girls, this is one of the greatest guys I know. Thanks for chatting. I’ll let everyone know we talked, and thanks for the ideas. Alice’ll never know what hit her.”
I turned off my tablet. Both girls were looking at me in a strange way.
“What?”
“Do you really tell your friends that we’re gorgeous and fun?” Cindy asked.
I popped my eyebrow, trying to figure out if I said something wrong.
“Yeah, I don’t mean it in a bad way.”
“I didn’t take it in a bad way.”
She made a big sigh.
“I’m such a self-centered bitch. I didn’t even think of your feelings this weekend. I also realize that I said we were dating last Friday. Oh, man, I’ve messed this up good. I’ve hurt the nicest guy I know, all over an ex-boyfriend who thinks I should be his sex slave. I actually hope I never see him again. Now I’m afraid I’ll never see you again.”
Suzanne was looking paler than usual.
“Jim straightened me out last night when I got home. He said you and he became friends last night. Please don’t hold what I did against him. He needs a friend.”
“Okay, no more games. In the last two weeks I’ve been publicly humiliated by three women I thought I cared about me.”
I could see them flinch when they put it together from my point of view.
“If I dwell on this, it’s going to eat me up. I have responsibilities that affect this whole community. I can’t have my personal life be a roller coaster and meet those obligations.
“A two-minute conversation could have avoided this whole thing. Instead, you chose to sneak off for a weekend with instructions that I didn’t have a right to know. Well, you had it right earlier. I get to choose who I date, and it’s not going to be either of you. I’m also not going to decide if we’re friends or not right now. I need to take some time and not make a snap decision, because we’ve built a nice friendship that I’d hate to see ruined over something like this. I propose we get back together after Christmas break and decide then.”
They both agreed. I had one last thing to say.
“If either of you catches any shit over this, you let me know. I still like you enough to care about both of you. I’ll shut it down. If you think about it, Tracy was on her way to being lynched. No one bothered her because I put the word out that I wouldn’t tolerate it. Suzanne, I’m Jim’s friend. I’ll also talk to him about getting on your case. If it doesn’t stop, let me know, and he and I’ll have a come-to-Jesus talk.”
She giggled at that. I knew right then that Suzanne and I would be friends. The jury was still out on Cindy. For some reason, I felt her whole approach was calculated. Now that I knew the story about Angie being pregnant, and Cindy still using Greg for sexual relief, it was more than I wanted to know. I know if I got a girl pregnant, it would be game over. My playing-around days would end.