They had the traditional dance for just the King and Queen. You could see it was strained and Gary said something that pissed Beth off. She started to storm off the dance floor when Cindy gave me a shove. I swept Beth into my arms and she tried to fight me, but I just pulled her tighter to me. She broke down and cried, but I kept her dancing and she soon looked at me and smiled. We finished the dance and she was laughing by the time it ended. I had no idea where Gary had gone, but I was just happy to see that my friend wasn’t sad.
We were both laughing when I took Beth to where Cindy and Suzanne were. Beth hugged Cindy.
“You sent him out there, didn’t you?”
“He would have figured it out, but I gave him a nudge.”
“Thanks for turning what could have been a bad moment into one I’ll always remember.”
“That’s what friends are for.”
They all three were grinning at me as I slowly turned red. If Cindy hadn’t pushed me, I would’ve stood by and watched my friend’s misery. Cindy had a good heart.
“She’s right, what are friends for? I can only say I’m glad you three are my friends. I’m a lucky guy.”
I saw Suzanne force herself to smile. Our eyes locked and I stepped forward and hugged her. I could tell that was what she needed.
“What’s wrong?” I whispered.
She pulled back and planted a kiss on me that I was sure violated the school’s PDA (Public Display of Affection) rule. When our kiss finally ended, Cindy giggled.
“Let’s get out of here.”
We made a hasty exit after I gave Beth a kiss on the cheek. She looked sad, but gave me a warm smile as my dates dragged me away.
ON THE RIDE, I NOTICED that both girls were unusually quiet. It seemed like seeing their exes had reminded them of the pain they had both gone through. I’d never asked them about it before. Now I wasn’t sure we had a relationship where I had the right to know. To be honest, I didn’t really want to know about their past relationships. I could only see trouble in heading down that particular rabbit hole. I never saw the point in talking about people you used to date, not that I had many to share.
Now it seemed I might have to talk to them about it. If they were hurting and needed to be comforted, then I could do that. But how did I want this to work with the three of us? Did I want friends with benefits, or did I need more?
Emotionally I’d not dealt with Tracy. I’d been buried in all things football. I know there was going to be a day of reckoning. In the game tonight, I felt myself get so angry I wanted to injure another player. After the game, I said a prayer and thanked God that I hadn’t hurt the guy. That anger had come from somewhere, and it made me someone I didn’t like.
What I did like was that the anger triggered a focus I didn’t realize I had. I dropped into a zone similar to the one I got into while I ran. It was as if muscle memory took over. I knew how much zip and loft to put into each pass. I could see where a receiver would be. I didn’t even flinch when I was hit. Several of the shots I took were brutal. When my fellow offensive players saw me just keep getting up and shaking it off, they had upped their games. Everything seemed to work. We dismantled a physically superior team. If we could bottle this performance the rest of the year, we would be State Champions.
I was brought back from my thoughts as we slowed down in front of my garage apartment. We went upstairs and I could tell that Suzanne was having trouble. When we got into the apartment, I went into my bedroom and took off my suit. I grabbed a t-shirt and just my boxers.
I came back into my living room to find both girls hugging each other and crying. I went back into my bedroom and got them t-shirts and sweats with drawstrings. They went into my bedroom, changed, and came back out. They both hugged me. I think even Mr. Happy realized we wouldn’t have sex tonight.
“Look, I love you both more than you know, but you’re both hurting tonight and I’m not the solution. You guys take my bed and I’ll take the couch. You’re best friends and you need each other’s support.”
Cindy caressed my cheek.
“When did you become so smart? We love you too, and you’re right. I didn’t know how to ask, but we need some time alone. Thank you.”
Cindy took Suzanne’s hand and led her to my bed.
I GRABBED MY TABLET, pulled the door closed behind me and went back to the living room. I sent a text to Tami to see if she was around. She sent one back saying she and her roommates were at a party. I replied to have fun. I sent one to Alice Phillips. She was home so we jumped onto video chat.
She was in the kitchen and I could see her family had just gotten home from her brother’s game.
“Hey Alice, how did that All State brother of yours do tonight? Did he throw more interceptions than completions again?”
Poor John had been sacked hard in the previous game and they took him out as a precaution. Unfortunately, when he was hit the ball had landed in the wrong hands. This was the first chance I had to give him a hard time about it. He took the bait.
“I will tell you I put up All State numbers tonight.” I could see his dad puffing up, and I knew John had had a good night. “I threw for three touchdowns and 280 yards. We won 28 to 24 over our crosstown rival. That locks up a playoff spot.”
“Great job, John. Kentucky’s lucky to be getting a player of your caliber.”
Everyone but Alice seemed to take my praise at face value. She knew I was playing with her brother, and she played along.
“David, you should have seen him. He played the best game I’ve ever seen him play. He completed 26 of 48 passes with no interceptions. We had recruiters from Indiana, Vanderbilt, Rutgers, and of course Kentucky,” Alice bragged on her brother.
“John, that’s great. You keep that up and you might start your freshman year. That way you’ll get an extra year of playing time before I get there.”
Alice broke out into a big grin as both her dad and John gave me a dirty look.
“David, tell my brother and dad what you’ve done the last couple of weeks. Better yet, tell them how many recruiters came to your game tonight.”
“Alice, you know that I’m not like that. I want John to have his moment.”
Alice and her mom started to laugh. John rolled his eyes.
“Put me out of my misery. What did you do tonight, and who came to see you play?”
“We played one of the better 6A teams tonight. We’re a 5A school on the low end of enrollment in that class. I think they outweighed us 30 pounds at each position. Luckily, it was a home game or it could have been worse. On the first play, their defensive end literally ripped my helmet off my head. The training staff wanted to cart me off the field.”
John looked concerned.
“Are you okay?”
“You should have seen it. I was sacked 12 times tonight.”
I pulled off my t-shirt and I heard them all gasp. I looked down to see how bad it was, and I was black and blue all over. Man, this would hurt in the morning.
“Dude, why did they leave you in? They should have called the game if you guys were getting the crap beat out of you.”
“I know. It was the absolute worst game for this to happen, too. I had 30 colleges at the game to see me play.”
John’s dad jumped in.
“Seriously, who all was at the game?”
I could tell from Alice’s eyes that she was trying not to laugh.
“I had some independents, a couple from the Big Ten, some from the ACC and a few from the SEC. I even had a couple from the Pac 12.”
John shook his head.
“Okay, quit being smug and tell us the highlights of the list.”
“We had Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Alabama, Auburn, LSU, USC, Oregon and Texas all send representatives,” I said with a straight face.
I could see John and his dad look like they’d eaten something that didn’t agree with them.