“What was your other news?” Alice asked.
“I made it to the finals of the Elite 11. That’s Nike’s way of identifying the eleven best quarterbacks in the nation.”
“But you’re only going to be a junior,” John said.
“Yep, I’m the first junior to be invited,” I said, and then turned the conversation to John. “How bad is it?”
“It could take four to six months of rehab, that’s after I get the walking cast off. I’ll lose the season,” he said as the mood in the room changed.
“Since you were redshirted your freshman year, can you get a medical redshirt?” I asked.
“The NCAA rules say you have five years to complete four. This coming season I would have been considered a redshirt freshman instead of being a sophomore,” John explained.
“The NCAA can waive the five-year rule and grant a sixth year, providing both are medical redshirts. In John’s case, his freshman redshirt year was a choice he and the coaching staff made and wasn’t related to him being injured. He won’t be able to petition for a sixth year,” Alice said.
They kicked us out of John’s room, but he was happy I made the effort to come to see him. I knew he would work hard and get back to playing.
WE HAD A QUICK LUNCH with the Phillips family and Donnie. I had a talk with Alice before we left, and she assured me she knew what she was doing. I felt bad for her parents because you could tell they were just grinning and bearing it. I predicted Donnie wouldn’t be around for long.
On the trip back, it was Tami’s turn. Why didn’t I see this coming? I should have ridden home on a bus.
“First of all, I want to thank you for being honest with me and not holding back. Some of what you said was hard for me to hear,” Tami started.
The ‘not holding back’ part had me worried.
“Can we just hit the reset button and act like what I said this morning never happened? I distinctly remember saying if I continued, I would say some things which I’d never be able to take back,” I tried.
“First I want to talk about what happened in middle school. It seems you accused your friends of not being there for you when you dated Jan Duke and she dumped you. Let me refresh your memory. Do you remember a short chubby nerd with a case of acne and the cheerleader he miraculously snagged to be his girlfriend? If I remember correctly, he’d also gotten a perm and his hair looked like Alan’s. Do I need to get out pictures to remind you?” she asked.
Unlike the other nerds, I could talk to pretty older girls. Crud! If I remembered correctly, Jan had come up to me at lunch and told me I was taking her to a party.
“Are you getting the picture, David? If it would help, it would be like me dating Mike when we were in middle school. He was the stud, and I was the tomboy who hung out with the three geeks. If I’d suddenly shown up with Mike on my arm, wouldn’t you all figure I’d drugged him or had blackmail pictures?”
That brought a smile to my face.
“I seem to remember said nerd dancing around at Alan’s house telling us to, and let me quote you here, to ‘suck it’ because we were all jealous you bagged ‘a babe,’” Tami said, using air quotes as she drove.
I pointed at the oncoming traffic.
“We all warned you something was up. You knew it, too, and you acted like a complete jerk when she broke up with you. How sympathetic do you think we were when you rubbed it in our faces and acted like a complete baby when what we all warned you about happened?” she asked.
“Hmm,” was my brilliant response.
“Yeah, hmm. Something else I’m not buying is your drug use starting after you broke up with Jan. Tell me the truth: were you doing drugs at the parties Jan took you to?”
I blushed because I knew she was right. I’d gotten high the first time Jan and I went to a party. She handed me a joint. What was I supposed to do? I was in 8th grade, living every nerd’s dream of dating the cheerleader. She and her friends wanted to go hang out with the stoners at lunch and get high, too. I remembered Tami calling me on it. I thought taking a breath mint would help. I forgot my clothes reeked of marijuana. My excuse was I was high. For some strange reason, that just made her madder.
“Look, David, you were right when you said what was in the past is in the past. I’m not going to point out every little thing you did that caused me to finally lose it and tell you ‘I never want to see you again.’ We’ve come a long way since then.
“There are two things we need to get clear between us. The first is I never chose Trevor over you. Trevor and I were more friends than anything else. We tried to go out and we just knew we made better friends. During the summer internship, we worked with each other eight hours a day and hung out after work. He was nice, and safe, and I thought he would make the ideal practice boyfriend, the guy you date to get your feet wet and you feel safe doing things with. He was never a threat to you.
“When you made your grand gesture and offered to date me, I thought you were kidding.”
“Bullshit! Remember, I was there. You knew I was dead serious,” I said.
“Okay, maybe you were, but we had talked about us every which way I could think of. You were my guy. Like you said, we were going to grow old together and spoil our grandkids. I never doubted it until I saw your reaction to me telling you I was going to go from being a friend with Trevor to start dating him.”
“But you said you’d taken your relationship to the next level. You slept with him,” I said with some heat behind my words.
“This is where I’m going to save our relationship and not start pointing fingers. We both failed to communicate. I didn’t know you thought that was what I meant. You didn’t exactly give me a chance to explain. I went about trying to talk to you in the wrong way. I want you to listen to me carefully. We both have to grow the heck up and agree that we handled the situation appallingly. You circled the wagons, and I’d had enough.
“After I left for the UK, I missed you so much it hurt. I was feeling the loss, just like you were. Simon caught me unprepared. I think he sensed I was vulnerable. Looking back, he was a mistake. I think he was a mistake I needed to remind me of what I’d messed up,” she said, and then I saw her chin quiver.
I thought back to our conversation earlier today. I had needed to say it. Those were my honest feelings at the time. I don’t think listening to Tami before I had a chance to get it all out would have had the same impact as it did now. I was finally ready to listen, and more importantly, talk.
For the next hour, we had an honest, open discussion. It was what was needed to bridge the friendship gap we’d been experiencing. We both agreed the separation was needed. I finally felt we were equals, something that had been missing for years.
Then she hit me with something else.
“I’m sick and tired of watching you walk around like people should look up to you or owe you something just because you’ve had a few accomplishments. You see how people treat Adrienne and you think you should be treated the same way. Your mama raised you better than that.
“If you don’t get your head on straight, it’s going to become a problem, and your true friends are going to drop you. Me included.”
“I thought it was just one of the perks of fame,” I said, trying to make a joke of it.
“Let me give you an example. You go to Monical’s and there’s a line. The manager sees you and invites you in. If you were the old David, what would you think of the new David?”
“That he was pretty cool,” I said weakly.
“What if it was the tenth time you saw it happen and you had to wait longer to get in?”
I didn’t want to answer that.
“Kendal told me what you did to the poor receptionist at Hill Advertising. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
“I did feel bad about that. What should I do?”