Greg’s eyes got big.
“Really! You’re so weak! I knew you couldn’t walk away from her,” he cried.
Angie had a huge shit-eating grin on her face.
“How did that happen?” he asked.
“She kissed me.”
“That would do it,” Greg said.
“I can see that working,” Angie agreed.
“Angie and I had a talk. We decided to create a list of people we could have a free pass with,” Greg said.
It sounded like they’d been working on their issues. I looked at Angie.
“Who’s on his list?”
She looked at him, and he nodded, giving her permission to tell me.
“One will make sense, and one’s a complete fantasy. Cindy, and the other one is Hannah Minacci.”
“Great minds think alike. I’m taking her to Prom,” I said, and smiled at Greg.
“I’m sure you’ll have a great time with Cindy,” Greg shrugged.
“No, Hannah Minacci.”
“Get out of town. You’re just messing with me, aren’t you?”
I held up one finger to slow him down and pulled out my phone.
“Hey Kendal, is it okay if I put you on speaker?”
She agreed, so I switched the settings.
“I’m here with my brother and his girlfriend. Can you tell them who you’re working to get as my prom date, and what progress has been made?”
“We’re working to get Hannah Minacci as David’s date,” she didn’t hesitate in saying.
There was a big thump as Greg faked a heart attack. Kendal went on.
“Lily put it on your website and sent a couple of tweets. One tweet had your ‘Mystery Man’ TV interview. Lily said that we’ve received three offers to be your prom date so far.”
“Any of them cute?”
“Let me just say that one of them is a little aggressive. She sent pictures, and before you ask, I deleted them. She must be a porn star.”
“Kendal! You forget you’re working for a teenage walking hormone,” I complained.
“Buddy, you hired me to look out for your best interest. Trust me; if she was cute, I would gladly send those pictures on. Can we just say I did you a favor?”
“I trust your judgment. Hey, it looks like my brother’s getting up off the floor. I’ll talk to you later.”
“If you think of anything else fun like this, let me know. Tom and the other partners want to worship the ground you walk on after I told them your idea at our meeting today. My guess is that they’ll all be going to Prom if you get her to say ‘yes.’”
“Yeah, Tom’s a dirty old man.”
I heard her bark with laughter as she disconnected, so I turned back to Angie.
“Cindy, huh? I guess that gets him off the hook for Saturday.”
She nodded.
“Who’s on your list?” I asked.
They both looked at each other and Greg nodded.
“I only have one name on my list: you,” she said.
I was stunned. I’d made it clear that I wasn’t going there.
“We know what you said. But when it happens, it’s not going to destroy our relationship,” Angie said.
“What do you mean, ‘when it happens’?” I asked, with air quotes.
“We both know that you and I are attracted to each other, so don’t even try and deny it. Over the next 20 or 30 years, I’m going to catch you in a moment of weakness and have my way with you. When it happens, I don’t want you freaking out like I know you will. And just so you know, these passes are a one-time thing.”
That made sense. Cindy was now off the table for Greg. I really couldn’t see me allowing her to use her pass with me, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t tease them about it.
“So what counts as one time?” I asked.
“Any time you sleep with my girlfriend,” Greg said, and he gave me a look that had me a little worried.
“So, is there a difference between a quick bj after school and a long lovemaking session over a three-day weekend?”
If looks could kill, I would have been struck dead. Angie got into the spirit.
“Good point. I think a long weekend would count as one pass,” Angie weighed in.
Greg took all the fun out of it.
“If you’re not careful, I’m going to kick your butt,” Greg growled.
I gave him a weak smile.
“I think the days of you being able to take me are over,” I challenged him.
“You want to go outside and find out?”
“Boys,” Angie said and stepped between us with arms outstretched.
I laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Angie asked.
“I’m just thinking how screwed Kyle is. Your ‘mom’ routine is perfect. You have both of us backing down with just the tone of your voice. Talk to Mom, she can give you some tips on being really scary.”
“Shut the hell up. She uses that on me,” Greg whined.
I hit my forehead.
“Sorry, Bro. You’re screwed, too.”
She turned and looked at Greg.
“I want all of my passes for David.”
“No!” we both said at the same time.
She just grinned and took Kyle back to the house. Greg shook his head and followed her. I don’t think either one of us knew if I had all her free passes or not. I’d let them sort it out.
Chapter 9 – It’s All Just Precautionary
Wednesday November 13
THE STATE PLAYOFFS were finally here. This was our first appearance in many years, so the community was excited. Tuesday, I went to Jerry’s for some ice cream with Cindy, Suzanne, and Jim. My ice cream melted because I ended up talking to everyone about the upcoming game. The playoff news was slowing down the gossip about Cindy and my public display on Monday, which was good for her. A few of the braver guys asked her out. We went to Jerry’s to be seen in public. Cindy could now have some cover and slow down the unwanted advances.
We got lucky, and Eastside had to come to us to play. At first, the school board wanted to play the game at a bigger stadium to handle the crowd. The community made its feelings known on that loud and clear: they wanted the game played at home.
Kendal turned over the running of the pregame party tent to the newly formed Bulldog Booster Club. They were the same group that arranged for Bo. There was some serious money there. Kendal told me that they had reserved buses for fans in case we won and were on the road Saturday.
AFTER WARM-UPS, WE got our final instructions from the coaches. As we lined up, ready to run onto the field, I looked at the seniors and recognized that this might be the last time they played in front of their home fans. I was proud to be on their team. As we ran out, the marching band played our school song, and we burst through a banner held up by the cheerleaders. The place rocked; it was standing-room only. This was what high school football was all about.
Once we were settled in on our sideline, the Eastside team ran out to the loud support of their fans. I took the time before Kevin and I had to go out for the coin toss to look for my mom and dad. I found them and was surprised to see that Greg and Angie were there also. They must have found a sitter for Kyle. They all had on ‘Double D Fan’ t-shirts. I pushed them out of my mind and focused on my pregame ritual of visualizing plays. One play just seemed right.
“I want to run quarterback draw on the first play,” I said to Coach Engels.
“Normally we need to set that up, but I think they’re going to blitz you from the very first play. I think this’ll slow that down. Go ahead and call it.”
Coach Engels sent me out to the coin flip. Four Eastside players waited for Kevin and me. As I expected, Mark was there. Before he could be a jackass, I shook his hand.
“Congratulations on making All-Conference.”
That pissed him off because his face went red. They won the coin flip and deferred to the second half. When they kicked off, the sun was just setting on a perfect evening. Eastside had a good kicker, so we downed it in the end zone and got the ball on the 20 yard line. I called two plays on the sidelines before we ran out and lined up. Eastside took their time, and the referee blew the whistle to make the ball live. I made the call for the snap to be on first sound.