“What about me?” a cute girl asked as she waved at Kevin.
That had the effect of causing several girls to try the same tactic. Kevin looked them over and pointed to four, including the cute one who had started it. I liked his thinking.
I followed Kevin into his apartment. The first thing that struck me was that this was not at all what I expected. He gave us a quick tour. It was a four-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bath unit, with each bedroom having its own bathroom with shower. The half bath was off the large living room.
Kevin’s room had a California King, a desk to study at, and a small seating area with a love seat and a big, comfortable-looking chair. There was a TV on the wall with a game console attached to it. His room was bigger than my bedroom in my garage apartment. If this was one of the perks for football players, I would have to be sure to ask about that when I was on recruiting trips. I’d just assumed I would either buy a condo or house. Something like this might change my mind.
When we entered the kitchen, we found a keg and several coolers.
“I wasn’t sure what you wanted, so I got both sodas and beer. There are also Jell-O shots in the fridge. Maybe I could get some volunteers to help me hand them out,” Kevin said.
He opened the fridge, and I began to laugh. There were enough Dixie cups of Jell-O to waste three times the number of people that were here. They couldn’t have gotten anything else into that refrigerator.
“I want a red one,” Melinda announced.
Kevin looked at me, and I just shrugged. She’d been warned. She slurped it down and then gave him a funny look.
“You sure there’s alcohol in these?”
“Oh, yes. I wouldn’t recommend doing more than two right away,” Kevin said as he handed her another one.
“If she pukes, you’re cleaning it up,” I warned.
Melinda ignored us and did another one. I smiled when Tami and Alan came in with a contingent of Wesleyan girls. Kevin had told us to stay in his apartment because Mike and the Wesleyan boys were hanging out across the hall at Luke’s place.
Melinda was jostled out of the way as I greeted Tami and her schoolmates, and they all claimed kisses; that was, except for Alan. He’d gone to Springfield to help Coach Rector with the seven-on-seven team. He told me he was here to lend Jim support. I suspected that Tami had ordered him to be here.
The Wesleyan girls were Missy and Lisa Stone, the redheaded identical twins; Jennie Wesleyan; Lilith Prescott; and Elizabeth “Lizzie” Towson. I’d met the last two when they spied on me for Jennie’s mom. Lizzie was sent to get into my pants, which she’d tried but failed to do. I decided to point her at Jim, who was currently single. He could probably use a sure thing.
I was finally done greeting the girls and was able to reintroduce them to Melinda. I gave Tami a look when the girls pulled Melinda into Kevin’s room to get to know each other better. Five minutes later, I was glad they had: Mike and his Wesleyan teammates walked in, including Damion Roth, the Randy Moss-clone whom I’d helped get into the school.
Damion came right over and hugged me.
“They told me you’d be here. I wanted to come and thank you in person for getting me into Wesleyan. I also met your friend Tami. She’s helping me study,” he said in a rush.
“Tami told me. She said you’re working hard,” I said, and he frowned.
“I am, but I’m not sure it’ll be enough. My bad habits hurt me so much more than I realized. I’ll give her credit, though. She kicked my butt and never blew smoke up my rear,” Damion said.
I would bet that people had always told him what a great job he did because of his football skills. The only thing holding him back was his grades.
Talking to Damion made me excited about football again. I was a little jealous of Mike because he would get to throw to this kid next year. Only a handful of players are real difference-makers, and Damion was one of them. Just having him on the field changed what you had to do, and it was hard to imagine trying to defend him one-on-one.
Mike came up while I was talking to Damion and looked like he wanted to make some kind of smart comment. Then he saw Jim heading over. Mike suddenly decided to leave the apartment and go hide behind his brother. Damion noticed his classmates had left, so he told me to keep in touch, and that he would love to play with me someday. I could only imagine the damage the two of us would do on a football field.
I mingled with the partygoers. There were a few who got a little overexcited when they met me, much to the amusement of Kevin, Magic, and my teammates. I was glad when Melinda made good her escape from Tami and her Wesleyan friends. It was amusing that Alan had somehow wormed his way into that little coffee klatch.
“Your friends are funny. They said to ask you why they all call you ‘stupid boy,’” Melinda said.
I noticed that the coffee klatch wasn’t looking our way.
“What else did they tell you?” I asked.
“Aren’t you going to tell me?” she asked innocently.
I gave her a golf clap for her acting ability.
“And the award goes to … drum roll … Melinda Kesh.”
“I want another Jell-O shot,” she announced when she saw I wasn’t falling for it.
“You’re the one who has to fly back tomorrow,” I warned her.
“I think they gave me the virgin ones.”
“Don’t ask me to hold your hair when you puke. I have a weak stomach and will probably puke on your head if you do.”
“Big baby,” she said with a smile.
“Far be it from me to stop you from learning a valuable life lesson,” I tried.
“You’re no fun,” she pouted.
I stepped over to the refrigerator and got her two more shots. I had a bad feeling about tonight.
Tami came over with Alan and joined me.
“Operation Mike is about to begin,” Alan announced.
Missy and Lisa were talking to Jim and Kevin. Kevin showed them which Jell-O shots had Everclear and which didn’t. Each twin grabbed one of each type and went to the other apartment. Mike was in a lot of trouble. If those two had offered me shots, I would have done them.
I grabbed three more shots and a Coke and gave the shots to my friends and Melinda.
“Where’s Harper?” I asked.
She was supposed to be Mike’s girlfriend. It was hard to imagine that she’d miss a party with the rest of her friends.
“Her grandmother had a birthday party tonight, so she had to go home for that,” Tami told me.
“Does she know what you cooked up for Mike?”
“Yeah, she thought it was funny.”
I wouldn’t count on that but didn’t say anything. Mike was the vengeful sort.
“You better warn her not to tell him she knew,” I said.
“Already taken care of,” Tami shared.
“Let’s dance!” Melinda shouted.
I looked at Tami and leaned in so only she would hear.
“Someone needs to learn to use their indoor voice.”
Tami burst out laughing. That was a common refrain from our moms when we were growing up. I let her explain to Alan how many Jell-O shots Melinda had already had and followed my weekend blind date out onto the dance floor.
Melinda was a lot more fun to dance with when she wasn’t working and had had a few. She was a total free spirit and bounced around. We had a blast. She had me teach her some of the moves I’d learned. Melinda was impressed that I knew how to dance. I guess there was at least one person who hadn’t seen my Star Academy outtakes.
When we finally took a break, I got us both bottles of water. The cute girl who Kevin had let in came over to us.
“Hi, I’m Amy Ferguson with the Daily Tattler. I was wondering if I might ask a few questions.”
The Daily Tattler was State’s college newspaper. This was something Frank had warned me about: never give them an interview unless it was scheduled or planned. What he meant by ‘planned’ was if I was to go out and run into paparazzi, he always had me prepared with a few quotes. In the middle of a college party was how people made the news, and not in a good way. Before I could answer her, Melinda jumped in.