Tom smiled.
“I might have a solution for you. We have interns who’ve been working for me; that project is just finishing. I only have busywork for them now until the end of the semester. Let me see if we can have one of them help you out.”
Mary gave Tom a look.
“Is the one you’re thinking of the same intern I met?”
Tom gave her sheepish look.
“Yep.”
She just shook her head. Something was up, but I was just happy they might have a solution for me.
“I hate to run, but I’m meeting some of the guys to practice some seven-on-seven drills.”
Monday October 14
WHEN I GOT TO SCHOOL who would have believed it, Hell had frozen over. That’s right, Hell froze over! How did I know? Jeff told me.
“David, I thought you should know, Hell froze over.”
Jeff usually wasn’t one to make such biblical proclamations, so I knew it had to be something huge.
“What is it?”
Jeff looked around to make sure no one was listening. He pulled me over towards the entrance and turned me towards the parking lot.
I gave him a quizzical look.
“What am I looking for?”
Jeff just had a stupid grin.
“Wait for it.”
Now I was clueless. Jeff saw something.
“David, get your phone out. You’re going to want to get a picture of this.”
Then I saw Alan wave at us. I waved back. Something wasn’t right. He held hands with a real-life girl, and not just a girl, a cute girl. I guess my mouth hung open because Jeff nudged me.
“Close your mouth and take a picture.”
As they got closer, I could see she wasn’t just cute, she was VERY cute. She had silky long black hair that set off her coffee-latte complexion and was just coming into her figure. I would rate her a solid 8. In a couple of years she could be a 10. Jeff nudged me again and when they got close, I snapped their picture.
Alan made the introductions.
“Gina, you remember my best friend Jeff.”
She gave him a smile you could tell was genuine. Her eyes sparkled. Jeff blushed under her attention.
“This is my other best friend,” Alan started to say, but she stepped forward and shook my hand.
“David Dawson. Alan, you didn’t tell me you knew the David Dawson.”
My breath caught as her dark brown eyes captured mine. I guess I was still holding her hand because Jeff nudged me again.
“Oh, sorry,” I said as I somehow gave her hand back and turned on Alan. “Yes, Alan, how come you never told Gina about me?”
Alan had that ‘Oh shit’ look on his face. He could see the spark of desire between Gina and me. He relaxed when he figured out I would never steal a girl he was interested in. Gina saw him blush and laughed.
“You told me about all your friends, but you didn’t tell me that your best friend was the cutest guy in school.”
Jeff and I had stupid grins on our faces as we watched the most socially inept person we knew deal with a girlfriend who was teasing him. Tami would have kittens when she found out she’d missed this. Alan looked like a carp out of water. Gina finally felt sorry for him, leaned over, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Of course, I snapped another picture. I bit my lower lip as I tried not to laugh.
“Gina, my best friend neglected to tell me about you also. Did he tell you I just got dumped? Maybe we could go to lunch and get to know each other.”
She didn’t fall for my line.
“Oh, you’re bad. I heard it took you all of half a day to get two, not one, but two of the hottest seniors to be your Homecoming date.”
I arched my eyebrows.
“Hey, hey, I just wanted some scoop. I wasn’t hitting on you,” I said, but under my breathe I added, ‘much.’
“I hear you prefer older women,” she said as she gave me a sly grin and pulled out her phone. “I should hook you up with my older sister, Kara.”
She showed me a picture of an exotic beauty. She was an older version of Gina but had piercing blue-gray eyes. My eyes got big and I just stared at her picture. Now she was a solid nine, maybe nine and a half. If she were as fun as her sister was, then she’d be a 10. This girl was stacked, which caused Mr. Happy to stir with arousal.
“When?” was my one-word question.
Gina’s laugh was music to my ears.
“She should be home at the end of the month.” Gina said as she gave me an appraising look. “She’s going to like you.”
I hugged Alan.
“You have the best girlfriend ever!”
Jeff and I looked at each other. Yep, Hell had frozen over.
YESTERDAY I HAD CALLED Lily and had her direct all the calls from my website to my cell phone. What a mistake that was. My phone had blown up. I turned it off during class. On my way to lunch I turned it back on. The little icon showed I had 17 messages. I planned to just listen to my messages when my phone rang.
“David Dawson.”
“David, Joe Phips. I was actually looking for Tracy.”
Joe was the Recruiting Coordinator for the University of Florida.
“Why, what did you need?”
“I was hoping she could send me your official stats for last game.”
“Lily is posting them on the website this afternoon along with video highlights. Sorry I didn’t get more time to ‘bump’ into you Friday.”
“Hey, congratulations, by the way, that was a nice thing you did for your teammates. I talked to my buddy over at State and they’re excited to have your guys committing. You and Tracy did a great job putting that together. We were also impressed with how you two handled the press conference.”
I started to feel bad for Tracy.
“Tracy and I broke up.”
“Ah, David, I’m sorry. I really liked her.”
“Me too. So, when’s Florida going to make an offer for the best freshman quarterback in the Midwest?”
Joe must have thought I was pretty funny.
“David, Tracy has that all worked out.”
“What are you talking about?”
“She had several schools hold off on coming to see you until the State offers were accepted by your teammates. We snuck in last week to watch you play. This week the big guns are rolling into town: Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Alabama and a few others are coming this week to watch.”
“Damn, I have the worst timing. She handled all this. I’m trying to focus on playing football.”
“Don’t let it get you down. I won’t be back during the season. I have to wrap up this year’s class.”
“Joe, thanks for coming last week, it meant a lot to see you at my game.”
“It was my pleasure. I just wanted to say your game is coming along. I can see Bo is helping. If you need anything, call me.”
As soon as I hung up, the phone rang again. I just hit end and then called Tom. His secretary put me through.
“David, I have good news.”
“Am I getting a personal assistant?”
“You sure are. She’s meeting with Tracy and Lily after school and she’ll meet you after practice. Sounds like a big contingent of scouts are coming to the Homecoming Game.”
“Who is she?”
“Oh, sorry. Kendal Miller. She’s working on her Management and Law degrees at State. We’re opening an Entertainment and Sports Management division. This will be great experience for her.”
“She can’t start soon enough. Tom, thanks for this.”
“I just have one piece of advice for you: don’t hit on her.”
“So that’s what Mary was talking about. Is she cute?”
“Yep. Just so you know, Tracy was none too happy when she found out who the intern was.”
“Dang it, I don’t want to hurt Tracy.”
“No, Mary talked to her. She’s okay with it.”