She led me through the house and gave me a Mountain Dew before we joined everyone in the back yard. Mr. Anderson was in charge of the grill. There were five other teens either in the pool or sunning themselves: Beth, Mike and Luke Herndon, Bert Nelson, and Tami. Seeing Bert almost put me in a bad mood, but Beth changed that when she ran up and gave me a big hug.
Beth’s family had gradually turned their back yard into the ideal entertainment area. Up towards the house they had a large eating area where our families had many a meal. Off to the side they had put in a cooking area complete with a large grill and counters with an under-counter refrigerator. Down the middle of the backyard was a large pool. On one side was an area for sunbathing, and on the other was a pool shed for the equipment and a small pool house so you could change and take a shower. Behind the sunbathing area was a new huge hot tub. I would bet we could get eight people in it easily.
“Hey, Beth, are you happy to see me?”
“Jerk, I thought you were blowing me off.”
“No, just went to church with Mom and then we had a family brunch. Time just got away from me.” I looked out at the group and said, “I think I know everyone but Luke. Are you guys going out?”
“No, we’re just friends. When I told him you were going to be here, he asked to come. He wants to get to know you outside of football since you’ll be his new fullback. He said you and Mike were becoming friends, so I had him bring him also.”
Luke was a senior and the starting halfback. The starting fullback had blown his knee out in the first game of the season. I was the first freshman since Luke to play varsity ball. If he was anything like his brother Mike, I knew I’d like him.
I needed to dig some to see what was up with Tami. I knew she and Beth talked, and I wanted some intelligence before I put my foot in my mouth. It really chafed me that no one had bothered to mention that my best friend was dating. I thought she didn’t really like Bert all that much. In middle school he’d been kind of a jerk to her, so I figured Beth might know what was going on.
“I see Tami brought her new boyfriend.”
“You’ll have to talk to them about that. I really don’t know if they’re seeing each other or not.”
I gave her a peck on the cheek.
“All right, wish me luck. It’s time to find out where Tami and I stand.”
Beth gave me a hug. Mike was sitting on the closest lounge chair, so I said hi to him first.
“David, hey, I want you to meet my brother Luke.”
I shook his hand and turned to Bert.
“Hey, Bert, how’s it going?”
“Good,” Bert answered.
I walked over to Tami, she got up, and I pulled her into a hug and kissed her on the cheek. There was an empty lounge chair between Luke and Bert.
“Is Beth sitting here?”
“She was, but she said she needed to help her parents get ready for lunch. I’m sure she doesn’t mind you claiming it,” Tami said.
“I am sure she doesn’t either, but I don’t want to be a rude guest.”
I went over to the pool shed, pulled out a lawn chair and set it up next to Mike. Beth came back about that time and took her chair. I saw Luke nod to me to confirm I’d made a good decision.
“So, I hear you’re on varsity now,” Luke said.
“Hey, I want to hear about that too. Why don’t you guys come over and help me grill?” Mr. Anderson said.
Luke and I jumped up and went over to where Mr. Anderson was grilling. I went to the cabinet, pulled out a water bottle with a sprayer on it and filled it up. I handed it to Luke.
“You’re in charge of putting out fires.”
Mr. Anderson gave me a sour look.
“Funny. I haven’t burned your steak in months.”
“Mr. A, I haven’t been here in months. Luke, keep an eye on things.”
I went up to Mr. Anderson, gave him a hug and then filled him in.
“It’s such a fluke. I practiced on the second team for a few days and then only played less than a half. Heck, Bert has more reps than I do. I just happened to break a long run the first time I touched the ball. Then Washington’s defense tried to arm-tackle me the rest of the game. On top of that our starting fullback on varsity hurt his knee.”
Mike had joined us.
“Okay, I call bullshit. Dawson, you’re so full of it. Mr. A, he hits defenders so hard they wish they hadn’t been born. The first play in practice he put down our starting middle linebacker and safety. He crushed Washington’s linebacker on his first carry. I bet he still doesn’t know his own first name. That’s why Washington’s defense was scared to tackle him.”
Luke looked at Mike.
“What do you think’s going to happen when he tangles with Kevin Goode?”
Mike broke into a big smile.
“I’ll make a bold prediction: he’ll put Kevin on his butt.”
Kevin was our school’s All-State linebacker. He was a beast at six-four and 210 pounds. I was not looking forward to having him hit me.
Luke looked skeptical.
“No way, I’ve never seen a back put Kevin on his butt.”
I could tell Mike had gotten into this argument with his brother before.
“Ask Dad, he saw him play. Luke, he doesn’t just hit people, he crushes them. I can’t wait until you hear the difference in the sound of the hit when he does it compared to everyone else. His hits sound like the hits you hear in a pro game. With David playing fullback, you’ll get a full ride for college. He’s a difference-maker. He’ll put the defense on its ears, and with your speed you’ll rack up a ton of yards. Your numbers are going to go through the roof.”
Luke liked the sound of that.
“David, I think you just became my new best friend.”
“Luke, fire!” I said when I noticed the burgers were blazing.
Luke was able to get the fire out before too much damage was done. Mr. Anderson glared at me and I just gave him an innocent look.
I noticed that Tami, Bert and Beth were in a heated discussion. Beth wasn’t happy. I heard her raise her voice.
“You better tell him!”
She got up and stormed into the kitchen. I turned away before Tami could catch me eavesdropping. Shortly thereafter Bert got up and joined our group, leaving Tami all alone. The guys joked around as we watched Mr. Anderson try to burn the burgers.
I wasn’t going to talk to Tami right now. If Beth was pissed with her, then I knew I would be also, so I decided it was in my best interest to ignore the obvious invitation to go talk to her. Even a ‘stupid boy’ like me could figure out she cleared Bert out so we could have some alone time. She had played some kind of game with me all week and I’d had enough.
Before I could get too deep into things, lunch was served. We had a lot of fun. Luke and Mike were a riot. I never realized they were so funny. The one person who wasn’t fitting in was Bert. He had always been such a stuck-up snob that I couldn’t imagine Tami would have anything to do with him. After lunch, Mike, Luke and Bert all left. The Andersons made themselves scarce to give Tami and me a chance to talk.
“What did you say to piss off Beth?”
Tami blushed brightly and glared at me.
“You’re not going to make this easy, are you?”
I took that as a rhetorical question and just waited her out. She seemed to make up her mind and started in with what was going on.
“David, I have an opportunity to go to a much better school to get me ready for premed: Wesleyan Academy. I’ll be leaving at the end of September to start the fourth quarter.”
I could tell by her body language she expected me to explode over this, but this really had nothing to do with me. She had always dreamed about being a doctor. This school was extremely well regarded for its academics. I had always known that at some point we would go our separate ways. Her schooling would be intense and take many years. At some point, she had to leave me behind. I guess it was happening sooner rather than later.