“Triple shit,” I moaned.
Sunny turned out to be quite funny, once we started talking. It didn’t hurt that I was a little off-center with the Tracy news. When we finally landed, we found we were in one of the worst snowstorms in the past ten years. We were lucky not to be diverted to another airport. I agreed to meet Sunny in front of baggage claim. She was lucky there was a camera crew at the airport reporting on the all the delays. She changed clothes and was wearing a nice dress that showed a lot of leg.
I came out dragging my bag, and walked up as the camera crew filmed. I gave her a big grin, let my bag go, and pulled her into a big hug.
“Sunny, I missed you so much,” I said, and soundly kissed her.
I think my hand found her butt because the cameraman started to chuckle. When I let her go, she was a little disoriented and stumbled. I caught her elbow and we just grinned at each other.
“You’re so dead. Now you promised me an interview.”
“I’m ready,” I smirked.
“David, I hear that you just got done shooting a ...”
I gave her a five-minute interview.
Poor Sunny didn’t get any of it aired. What did air was me kissing her. Kara got flagged down at the airport and shown the footage by some Internet reporter. She was in rare form and saw I was just having fun. She acted as if she was mad.
“That bitch. She better not be trying to steal my man again.” She looked into the camera and pleaded, “David, baby, don’t let that evil woman lead you astray. You know I love you, baby.”
That got tagged onto ‘the Kiss,’ as it was being called. When Sunny finally saw it, she cracked up ... on air. She told her audience that what we had was special, and Kara wasn’t woman enough to keep me. We now had ‘the Feud,’ and all before the ten o’clock news.
I’d finally made it to the resort. I was going to have to have a serious talk with Sandy. She had me upgraded into the Presidential Suite. It was a four-bedroom monstrosity. I was kicking back, watching the news, when my story came on. Apparently, this was bigger news than the three feet of snow that had been dropped on us in the past twenty-four hours.
Oh, heck! I called home first and Greg answered. He put me on speaker so everyone could hear me. Mom and Dad were already in California, but Tami, Cindy, Suzanne and Beth were all hanging out with Greg and Angie.
“You slut,” Tami said. “You dump Tracy, and within a couple of hours, you have two of the hottest women in America fighting over you. What’s Adrienne going to say?”
“Oh, shit! I’ll call you right back,” I said.
As I hung up on them, Greg moaned, “He sucks.”
I called Adrienne.
“You two-timing little shit! Kara, and now Sunny. I thought we had something special.”
“You want to have some fun?”
“What are you thinking?”
“Sunny is live on the local TV station, talking about it. Want to call in?”
“You’re so bad. Let’s do it.”
I three-wayed our call into the station. It took a few minutes to convince them it was me. The next thing I knew, the news anchor was talking.
“Sunny, we’ve gotten in touch with David Dawson to get his take. David, tell us which girl you’re going to choose?”
“Actually, I’m not on the phone alone, I have Adrienne of both Victoria’s Secret and Sports Illustrated fame on the line,” I shared.
“Thanks, David. I just wanted to let Sunny, and Kara, know that he’s chosen me as his prom date. I know that you think David’s special, but I already have a dress picked out, and don’t need either of you stealing him,” Adrienne said.
“How about this Adrienne: you take him to Prom, and Kara and I will split up the other dances this spring?” Sunny asked, not missing a beat.
“Sounds like a deal. Thanks, Sunny,” Adrienne said, and she hung up.
“David, it sounds like they worked it out. What are you thinking now?” the anchor asked.
“Hey, I’m just lucky to have them in my life. I have found the less I get involved in these types of negotiations, the better it is for me.”
“Wise advice,” the anchor said as I hung up.
I called and Angie answered.
“What the hell? We just had a ‘Breaking News’ banner say that Adrienne is your prom date and that Sunny and Kara will be taking you to other dances.”
“Put me on speaker,” I told Angie.
When I could hear everyone, I told them about the fun I was having and how Adrienne joined in. I then asked to speak to Tami.
I launched in as soon as she told me that she had stepped out of the room.
“What the hell is she thinking? We talked this through and we agreed I wasn’t going to dump her just because an agent got it in their head I should date celebrities.”
“I don’t know what that girl’s thinking. We just had a conversation about you guys, and she seemed happy. Have you talked to her?” Tami asked.
“Arrrgh! Look, I already tried, but I promised myself if she ever did this again, I wasn’t going to chase after her. If she wants to talk, she’ll have to make the first step.”
“Then I think you’ll be waiting a long time. From what I hear, she said it was for the best.”
“Tami, that is so much bull. I’m sick of her running off and shutting me out. We agreed to talk things out, but I guess she didn’t mean it. I actually thought we were on the path to something special,” I complained.
“I’m going to be a little harsh right now, but it’s said from love: forget about Tracy. Forget about finding your soul mate right now. You’re a freshman in high school. Go out and have fun. I don’t care if you bang every cheerleader like your brother did. Go have fun. Hell, wasn’t tonight a good time? You had three women willing to tweak the networks because you played a joke. That was fun. We all love the ‘fun David.’ Be that guy for me right now,” Tami begged.
“I can’t promise I’ll always be that guy, but I will try, for you. I love you.”
“We all love you. Don’t be sad because Tracy let you down. I think we both know she needs to grow up. Don’t hate her. Please treat her like the friend she is, and leave the other stuff alone. If you’re still friends in five years, then try again.”
“I’ll try. Thanks for letting me vent.”
I hung up and picked one of the bedrooms. I was exhausted and was soon asleep dreaming of what could have been between Tracy and me. How could everything have gone so wrong?
Chapter 31 – Church Ski Trip
Friday December 27
I WOKE TO SOMEONE KNOCKING on my door. I pulled on a pair of sweats, looked out the peephole, and saw Pastor Dan and a bunch of other people from church. I groaned and opened the door with a smile on my face.
“We just got in and it seems we can’t get to the cabins yet. I was wondering if we could impose on you for a bit?” asked Pastor Dan.
I waved everyone in. There were twelve kids ranging from 10 to 16. It seemed to be an even distribution of boys and girls, plus Pastor Dan and Mrs. Kelly, the Sunday school teacher. I smiled when Sun Ling came bouncing in and gave me a kiss on my cheek. Her new living arrangements seemed to agree with my math classmate and former roommate.
I called room service and told them I needed fruit and pastry trays for 15 and coffee and assorted juices for two adults and thirteen kids. I went and took a shower and changed into jeans and a thermal sweatshirt with the Range Sports logo on it. When I came out, it was apparent everyone had hit the room-service order pretty hard. I figured I could get breakfast downstairs.
Pastor Dan took me aside in my bedroom.
“It’s still snowing and they’ve declared the slopes unsafe until they can check for the potential of avalanches. It looks like we need a way to entertain the kids for today. We can try to get to the cabins tonight.”