“Exactly! I think she’s taken us all down more than once. Look at it as a badge of honor. Then think what she would have done to you if she was serious,” Wolf shared.
“Show him your baton,” I encouraged her.
She snapped it out, waved it at him, and then it disappeared under her coat. Damion suddenly realized something.
“You’re the Cassidy that Tami threatens Mike with.”
Cassidy perked up upon hearing that.
“Him, I wouldn’t have been so gentle with,” she revealed.
I looked around.
“Where is he? I want to see that.”
“You two really don’t like each other, do you?” Damion asked.
“Let’s just say I would have forgotten to tell Cassidy to ‘release’ him until he cried ‘uncle.’”
He looked at Cassidy.
“I’m going to hug him again if that’s okay with you.”
She gave him a little nod to let him know he was safe. I suspect she just wanted to show off her protection skills. I would be sure to give Fritz a full report on what a good job she did taking down an athlete who was six-six and probably 210 pounds.
We shook hands, I wished him luck, and we headed to the airport. Tomorrow, I would visit one of the top three college football programs, as far as I was concerned. The other two right now were Alabama and Clemson. If you went by history, Alabama and The Ohio State University were probably the top two.
◊◊◊
Chapter 13 – Game of Phones Sunday September 25
I woke up because my bed moved. When we arrived at the hotel, Cindy Lewis was there with her boyfriend, Kevin. He played defensive end for Ohio State and had taken to the training a little too seriously. If I had to guess, he was juicing. I shuddered to think of him looping around a tackle with me in his sights.
Cindy wanted to go to a party, but I begged off. The last time I’d seen Cindy, she’d talked me into a threesome with her and Kevin. I didn’t want to do that to Brook. Plus, I was tired and had the thoughts and conversations of the last few days in mind.
Everyone else joined Cindy and Kevin while the dads and I stayed at the hotel. The dads planned to hit the hotel bar and relax. I went to my room and ended up doing homework and reading the next chapter in each of my classes. I chuckled when I thought about how everyone imagined my life was so glamorous.
After I checked to make sure it was Brook who’d climbed in beside me, I fell back asleep.
◊◊◊
I woke later to her snoring loud enough to wake the dead. I chuckled and found my pants where my phone was in the front pocket. After making sure the sheets covered everything, I shot a quick video so there would be proof when she later denied her ‘heavy breathing.’ I put my phone on the nightstand so it would be handy when she woke up.
I took my shower, and when I came out, Brook was gone. The plan was to meet Cindy and Kevin at Buckeye Donuts for breakfast and then go to the football offices.
I met everyone downstairs, where we checked our bags. We were going to pick them up on the way to the airport. We decided to walk since the restaurant was close by. Everyone had stopped at the doughnut shop after the party because they were open 24/7. When we arrived at Buckeye Donuts, it was packed, and Kevin had waited outside.
“David, good to see you,” he said in greeting and gave me a fist bump.
“Do you think we can get a seat?” I asked as I tilted my head towards the doughnut shop.
“Sunday mornings are a zoo. I’d suggest we send someone in to buy a couple of dozen and eat elsewhere.”
The dads made their way in and ordered doughnuts and coffee for everyone. The ones who went out last night seemed a little hungover, so that seemed to be a good choice. While they did that, Kevin and I got reacquainted.
“Cindy’s excited that you’re here. She wants to meet with you after you’re done with football to talk about the project she’s working on for you.”
It took me a moment to remember what he was talking about. Finally, it dawned on me that “the project” was renovating my California house. I’d had Caryn speak to Cindy about possibly doing the interior design. Cindy had good taste, and she was going to Ohio State to someday have a degree in interior decorating. Refurbishing the California house was something I’d left to Caryn and her team to figure out. I suspected my mom was also involved; she loved that sort of stuff. I just wanted the house to look updated and attractive. If we flipped it, the ’60s-era look wouldn’t cut it. At the very least, we wanted to spruce it up.
“I can’t wait to see what she’s come up with,” I said, warming to the conversation.
“Between us,” he said conspiringly, “Cindy views this as a big opportunity. To be able to say she did the design on your home will mean a lot to her.”
Sometimes, I forgot how people perceived actors. When I looked at it from that point of view, I could see it being a feather in her cap.
“I hope she realizes that I’m giving her a shot with no guarantees,” I said, giving myself an out if her design ideas weren’t something I liked.
“I know, but I’m just saying …” he trailed off.
… that Cindy would be crushed if she didn’t get the job. I would have to really hate her ideas to ruin her dreams.
Kevin took us to the center of campus to the oval. It was a quad that was huge, almost 11 acres. At one end was the Thompson Library, which had been recently renovated. We found a spot on the library steps where we could sit down and eat our doughnuts. They had one called the Buckeye that had chocolate frosting and peanut butter filling the center. It was better than I expected. They’d included a menu that said I could get an egg sandwich for $2.25. I could understand why this place was packed with broke college kids. I put that information away in case we ended up coming here.
◊◊◊
Tami and I were the only ones who had seen the campus before, so Kevin volunteered to show the others around. Despite our issues, I wanted to spend some time with my friend. It was a beautiful early fall late morning, so we found a big oak tree on the quad to sit under. It allowed us to people-watch as we talked.
“How is Alan doing?” I asked, surprising her.
“Do you really want to know?”
“Of course I do. Even though we’re not talking now, I’ve known him since kindergarten, and we were friends for a lot of that time.”
“I suspect he thought he could bully you, and you wouldn’t do anything about it,” Tami said.
I just shook my head. Alan always thought he was the smartest guy in the room. The problem was, he had almost no common sense. He was forever making some cutting comment and then wondering why Jeff and I had to protect him.
“Did you know he was talking smack to most of the football players? I didn’t truly appreciate how many people he pissed off until we had our falling out. Most of them just sucked it up because they thought I would defend him. For a smart kid, turning on me was probably the dumbest thing he could’ve done. He had to go to Wesleyan, or he would’ve had to face some hard truths in the form of a butt-whipping. I know Yuri was looking forward to seeing him.
“When everyone discovered that he would’ve actually let Lincoln lose a game just to screw Wolf, Tim, and me over, he really put his foot in it. Hell, he almost caused Coach Hope to go down in flames, too. It wasn’t only the team after that. I don’t believe there’s anyone left in school who wouldn’t want to join Yuri in a little payback,” I said.
Tami looked thoughtful for a second.
“Alan and I had a long talk. He’d expected that Mike would welcome him with open arms, but soon found out that wasn’t the case. I sat Mike down and told him that, even though you and Alan weren’t currently talking, you wouldn’t put up with something happening to Alan.”
“I’m glad you stepped in,” I mused. “Alan might not be my favorite person right now, but if history is any indication, the two of us will someday mend fences. I doubt we’ll ever be good friends again because I no longer trust him. I can see us being civil, though, and I hope this change works out for him.”