While I appreciated that Coach Casey was honest with me, I wasn’t happy. I took a moment and worked through what he’d just told me. I realized that if I wanted to go to Ohio State or Alabama, I might have to go alone. Suddenly, I felt terrible that I’d brought them here and set them up like this.
“What do you plan to tell them?” I asked.
“Don’t worry, we’re going to tell them we’re interested, but we want to continue to evaluate them. Heck, who knows, we might even end up signing them.”
“Thanks. I guess we should have talked about this before showing up with them.”
“No, but you do need to decide if you’re okay if they don’t get offers from us. I don’t want to promise you something I can’t deliver,” Coach Casey explained.
Once that was out of the way, we had a productive conversation. He showed me film of them playing and how he thought I would fit in. He then talked in terms of getting me positioned for the NFL. From what I saw, I was a perfect fit for their offense. The only negative was he told me that I would absolutely never see the field on defense. By the time we were done, I had a much better respect for Coach Casey. I got the feeling he would always tell it to me straight, even if I didn’t want to hear it.
◊◊◊
We were the first ones out of the meeting, so we started toward the coffee shop where the girls had agreed to meet us. As we were walking, my phone made a weird noise. I’d set my phone up with custom sounds and ringtones several months ago, and this wasn’t one of them. I checked, and the screen showed there was a new text from Oliver. Who the heck was Oliver? I tried to log in, and my PIN didn’t work. I quickly put two and two together, and the light bulb lit up: this was Brook’s phone.
“Hey, I accidentally picked up Brook’s phone and need to make a call. What’s her PIN?” I asked Cassidy.
“Oh seven oh four.”
I smiled because that was my birthday. I punched it in so I could read what Oliver had to say.
‘When and where are we meeting?’
Interesting! My girlfriend planned to meet someone named Oliver. The only way the message had his name was if she’d added it to her contacts. Otherwise, it would have just shown a phone number.
‘Free now. At athletic offices. Text me when you get here’
‘BRT’
It took me a second to figure out he’d said he would ‘Be Right There.’ I led the way to the entrance. Cassidy and Dad looked at me curiously when I just stood in the middle of the lobby and didn’t head towards the door. I stared at Cassidy until I saw her cringe. She wasn’t good at keeping secrets. I turned and noticed a student with a backpack was looking around for someone.
“Sheeit,” Cassidy hissed when I made a beeline for him.
“Oliver?” I asked.
He looked up at me and blinked. I sometimes had people realize I was someone they should recognize when they first met me. Then it dawned on him who I was.
“You’re David A. Dawson. I loved you in The Secret Circle.”
I was a little surprised because it was usually football or Star Academy that got me recognized. Oliver then seemed very confused.
“How did you know my name?” he asked, and then he noticed Cassidy. “Hey. Good to see you. I was actually meeting your friend Brook.”
Thankfully, Dad had guessed that something was up and grabbed Cassidy’s arm and pulled her out the front door. I figured I only had a few minutes before Brook found I was talking to Oliver. I plowed on, not wanting him to get any more suspicious.
“Brook should be here shortly,” I said to draw his attention back to me.
“You know her, too?” he asked, looking concerned.
“Don’t worry, we’re just friends. So, did the two of you hook up last night?” I asked, taking a shot in the dark.
“I wish. But at least I got her number. I was hoping to grab a coffee or something so I could get to know her better.”
The Alpha Male in me peeked out and dismissed Oliver as a threat. I chose to believe Brook had given him her number just to get rid of him last night. Of course, the devil on my shoulder was whispering evil things in my ear. I suspect he was trying to provoke the Alpha Male.
I looked up as Brook, Tami, and Sarah rushed into the lobby.
“Hey, Brook,” Oliver called and waved.
My eyebrows rose when Sarah waved back and then flushed. Brook marched up to me with her hand out.
“Give me my phone,” she demanded.
“Not so fast, Hotness,” I said, trying to hide my grin.
“This is just like Game of Thrones, except we should call it Game of Phones, because someone always seems to die in each episode,” Tami observed.
Brook and Tami grabbed my arms and pulled me outside.
“Cassidy actually bought me an iced tea,” Dad said as he and Cassidy joined us.
“I have to call bullshit on that one. Cassidy never spends her own money,” I said, doubting the veracity of my dad’s claim.
“I was shocked too.”
Cassidy gave us both looks that made us stop teasing her. I then turned on Brook and Tami.
“You might want to start explaining who Oliver is,” I suggested.
Tami was the most experienced at talking to me, so Brook deferred to her.
“Last night, the guys all took off to meet football players and do male-bonding stuff. We soon found out that Cindy’s a bad influence. She plied us with Jäger Bombs,” Tami said as if that explained everything, and then she paused. “Are you aware that she and Kevin have an open relationship?”
I wasn’t about to let her steer this conversation towards me.
“Back on topic,” I prodded.
Tami gave Brook a look, and Brook glared at me.
“Anyway …” Tami said to draw Brook away from having words with me. “She suggested that we switch names and give guys each other’s phone numbers. Whoever got the most, won.”
“Won what?” Dad asked, suddenly throwing cold water onto the conversation.
Tami seemed to suddenly comprehend that a parental unit was present. One who knew her mother.
“Yeah, what he said,” I added with raised eyebrows.
“Nothing. It was just in fun,” Tami explained, and then shut up.
Sarah came out of the building without Oliver. She gave me a funny look.
“I explained to them that what happens on recruiting trips … stays on recruiting trips,” Cassidy said and dared me to contradict her.
“So, I take it that Wolf is to never know about Oliver,” I guessed.
“I would be in your debt,” Sarah admitted.
Tami whacked Sarah on the forehead like she used to do to Alan.
“Ow!”
“You never want to owe David a debt. He collects,” she explained.
They all looked at her, and I just shrugged. I swear, women never forget anything.
“When we were in third grade, we watched The Godfather. David was goofing around and said he would make me an offer I couldn’t refuse. I don’t even remember what it was.”
“I got you a Coke,” I interjected.
“That’s right,” Tami said, remembering. “I made the mistake of telling him I was forever in his debt and made a big show of kissing his imaginary ring. This ‘stupid boy’ would remind me of this debt every time he wanted something. I played along until he asked me to buy him an ice cream cone. It wasn’t that I didn’t have the money, but I knew if I did it, he would badger me about buying him more stuff in the future. I explained to him if we were going to be friends, he was the boy and had to pay for everything.”
“Really?” Dad asked incredulously.
“I asked Mom about it, and she confirmed that was the rule. She added a bunch more rules about opening doors, letting the girl pick the movie, and other things a ‘young man’ should do,” I shared, using air quotes.