Mondays are film days. We spent a half-hour savoring our victory over our hated rival, Eastside. I finally was able to see ‘The Tip’ as everyone was calling it. I launched myself at least five feet out of bounds to reach the errant pass from Eastside’s quarterback. Then I flipped it back into the field of play, right into Ed’s hands.
“That is what we call football awareness. David has a knack for knowing where everyone is on the field,” Coach Rector praised me.
I kept my mouth shut. I’d just been lucky. At some point, the football gods would decide to tilt the scales, and something bad would happen. I wasn’t going to give it back, so I just smiled.
We then turned our attention to Mt. Vernon, this week’s opponent. They had a solid football team and a second-year coach. I could tell from watching the game film that they were playing much better than they had before he came. Mt. Vernon had managed to win all their games to this point, but just barely. They’d done the same last year. They relied on their defense to keep them in games and then did just enough to win. If it was close at the end, we might have a problem, because they didn’t have any quit in them.
They’d come close to beating us last year. I hadn’t played because of the whole Mike incident. Mike Herndon had gone after Jim’s girlfriend the weekend before when we’d gone on a recruiting trip. I’d found out before the game what he’d done and took off after him. Coach Zoon had stopped me with a leg sweep, which caused me to crack my head on the floor, giving me a concussion. I’d missed the game, and we’d managed to win a squeaker, 21–19. It was the turning point for our season.
This year, they had to come to our field. Mt. Vernon was easily the farthest school from us in our conference. It was a small farm-town school which serviced their whole county. 83% of their students were from outside the city limits.
After watching game film and getting our marching orders for the week, we did conditioning. That was code for the coaches to run our butts off. We’d worked too hard to let ourselves slip. We prided ourselves on being the best-conditioned team on the field. Our goal was to still be fresh come the fourth quarter.
◊◊◊
After practice, I took a shower and then walked out to find Brook and Cassidy. Dare, with his book bag, was at the locker-room door.
“Do you have a ride home?” I asked.
He shook his head ‘no.’
“At some point, you’ll have to start talking to me. It might as well be now,” I suggested. “That is, if you want me to give you a ride.”
Dare looked up at me and seemed to come to a decision. I’d been patient with him all day, but this staring at his feet and not talking was getting old.
“I need a ride if that’s okay?” he asked.
“All right, I’ll give you a ride, but there’s a price you have to pay,” I warned him.
“What’s that?” Dare asked.
“You have to flirt with Cassidy,” I said and saw him blanch.
“I don’t know how to do that.”
I rubbed my hands together and did my evil scientist laugh. Mwahaha!
◊◊◊
The evil flirting plan was a complete bust. Dare took one look at Cassidy, turned beet red, and refused to speak. I had to have him write me a note to tell me where he lived. I’ve never seen someone bolt from a car like that before. Both Brook and Cassidy looked at me.
“He has it bad for Cassidy,” I explained.
They both ignored the little drama.
“What are our plans for tonight?” Brook asked.
We’d come to an agreement that on Monday I got to pick our activity. Tuesday was Brook’s turn, Wednesday I had Japanese classes, and Thursday, Cassidy took us to the dojo.
“Video games,” I announced.
They weren’t nearly as excited as I was. It had been almost a month since I’d had time to log in and kill my friends or play any other game. The only game-like activity I’d been spending any free time on was the flight simulator software. That wasn’t really a game, though.
I had two controllers, and the girls weren’t interested in Call of Duty, so I loaded my new DiRT 4 racing game. I let the girls practice in DiRT Academy to get a feel for the game while I ordered pizza. We decided to let the winner keep playing, while the loser had to give way to a new challenger. Cassidy won the first game against Brook.
Cassidy was a total risk-taker, which paid off sometimes, but others, not so much. The off-road racing game had over fifty cars to pick from. After I’d won four straight, they decided they got to pick the car I would drive as a way to even the playing field.
We took a break when the pizza came.
“This is a lot more fun than I thought it would be,” Cassidy admitted.
“I’d rather be doing the real thing and four-wheeling at my house,” Brook said.
“I don’t think your mom wants me to come over. What was the deal with you not waiting for me this morning?” I asked.
“Your mom called mine and said she was going to talk to you, and I should probably find another ride.”
From my mom’s tactics this morning, I’d suspected this had been a planned attack. I would have to let Ava know that no one liked a tattletale. I needed to think about this one. Revenge was a dish best served cold; I would bide my time.
We got back to the game, and Brook had been reading the stats for all the cars. She picked what she thought was the worst one for me, but she chose the best. I kept my opinion to myself because until Brook had played the game enough, the one she’d picked was a beast to drive. I chose a course with a hairpin turn where she consistently spun out as my little car chugged right along.
“Cassidy, distract him,” Brook said in frustration.
Cassidy sat down next to me on the couch. I became aware of her planned gambit when she flashed me her boobies. Luckily, I’d seen them before, or I would have crashed.
Cassidy upped the ante and began to kiss my neck.
“Are you going to allow this?” I asked Brook.
She glanced over and just shrugged. Cassidy slid her hand up my thigh. That was enough for me to wreck my car. I reached for Cassidy, but she took my controller away so that she could race Brook.
I stepped over to the refrigerator and grabbed everyone another soda. When I returned, I sat between Brook and Cassidy and lifted my shirt so Brook could see my chest.
“Leave me alone. Distract Cassidy,” Brook ordered.
I took my shirt off.
“Big deal. I’ve seen that too many times,” Cassidy teased.
Turning up the heat a bit, I got up and turned on some music so I could do a little striptease. I was down to my boxers and twerking when Cassidy finally lost. I was nervous as to what Cassidy might pull.
“You might want to put a stop to this,” I warned Brook.
I could see the competitive glint in her eye and recognized I was talking to a brick wall right now. She should have listened to me. Somehow, Mr. Happy escaped my boxers, and Cassidy had a mouthful before Brook realized what I’d warned her about. It was fortunate that she loved me because I wasn’t thinking with my big head. While Cassidy did wonderful things to me, I pulled Brook into a passionate kiss.
My big head started to assert itself when I suddenly remembered something.
“Boyfriend!” I squawked as I pushed Cassidy off me.
“I bet she doesn’t care,” Brook predicted.
From the smoky look Cassidy gave me, I had to agree with her. I picked Brook up and carried her to the bedroom where I closed the door. I was grateful that Brook didn’t make an issue of my momentary slip. The two of us had some fun. I was even more thankful that Cassidy wasn’t upset with us when we came back out.
It had been an almost perfect night. Anytime a guy can eat pizza, play video games, and spend time with his girlfriend is a great night. The only thing missing was beer.