Chapter 26: Spring Break

Sunday April 19

My phone woke me up, and when I checked it was Tami.

"Happy Easter!" I heard her and her host family call out.

I looked at the clock. It was six-thirty in the morning. I tried to remember if she was five or six hours different. Anyways, it was too damn early for Sunday morning.

"You are all evil. You do realize it is the crack of dawn here," I complained.

"I know, but you love me, anyway. We are off to see historic folk dancing by the Morris Dancers. They assure me it is an English tradition dating back to the fourteen hundreds."

"You poor thing, you want me to come get you?" I offered.

"Oh, shut up. I'm sure it can't be too bad, or my hosts' siblings wouldn't be excited about going. What are your plans?"

"I get to go to church with both of my grandmothers. Greg and Angie are here as are Uncle John and Bonnie. I guess it's a good thing you woke me, because I promised to go to Granny's and pick up cinnamon rolls for breakfast."

"You totally suck. I want a cinnamon roll, now. What are your plans for Spring Break? Are you doing a shoot for Range Sports again this year?"

"I'm going to Chicago. Bo Harrington has arranged a week with specialized trainers. I plan on staying with Harper and her parents. Adrianne has a couple of photo shoots organized, as does Ford. So I'll be either working out or working the whole time."

"Does Harper know this? I bet she has plans for the two of you," Tami said.

"She did mention something about the country club, tonight; and then I had to free up Friday night, and Saturday, or I was no longer going to have a girlfriend."

Tami laughed at me.

"I bet you would have to do more than that for her to give you up."

"Maybe," I admitted.

Harper and I had gotten closer. She seemed to relax after the party at the sorority house. I think she realized that, even with temptation all around, I only really wanted her. Our return from the party had turned into one of our epic love making sessions.

The fallout from the party was interesting. On Monday, before practice, the coaching staff pulled everyone who went to the party into a conference room. I still don't know how they found out. Moose asked what we were thinking. I suspect he thought we would confess to horrible crimes and he would suspend us. The other guys weren't talking, so I did. I told them everything that happened. Well, I kept it PG-13. I confirmed that we had all had sex, but none of us drank or did drugs, and I'd brought my girlfriend. I think the last part rocked them a little bit. I pointed out we hadn't broken any team rules, or forced anyone to do anything they didn't want to do. Moose decided there wasn't much he could do. The evil man put the five of us in charge of conditioning the team. By the end of practice, I wished we had let Cassidy have her way with us!

Speaking of baseball, we won both our games last week. We were now 13 – 1 and pegged as the team to beat in our district. I was now 4 – 0 with a 0.97 ERA which triggered my first recruiting letter, from State, for baseball. I had never thought about playing baseball in college.

Tami and I wrapped up our call, so she could see the folk dancers. Even though I teased her I knew she would have fun today.

When I got to Granny's, she was talking to customers. I was sent to the kitchen where they had everything ready for me. I was surprised to find Mom had also ordered food for after church. Granny came back and gave me instructions on how to reheat everything for our lunch.

When I got home, Angie was making coffee, and Kyle and Mac were making a racket. Granny had only half way cooked the cinnamon rolls, so I put them in the oven to finish up. She had sent me a container of cream cheese frosting to top them with. I put the ham and everything else in the refrigerator. The smell of cinnamon rolls soon had everyone coming into the kitchen.

Mom called Uncle John and Bonnie over the intercom. They had stayed in my apartment. We had cleaned out and painted the two extra bedrooms on the third floor. My grandmothers took both of them. Greg and Angie stayed in his old room, and I shared with Kyle and Mac in the other one. Duke insisted he sleep in his crate in the apartment. He was getting set in his ways.

Angie pulled the rolls out and iced them. She put a huge platter on the kitchen table.

"I slaved over these all morning," she announced.

"Greg, you're a lucky man to have such a talented wife," Aunt Bonnie told him.

I just ignored them. Angie could live in her fantasy world.

I arrived in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, just after three that afternoon. I was near the DePaul campus and the sidewalks seemed to be full for college aged kids, and young professionals. The street was lined with three and four story older buildings, with store fronts on the main floor. There were bars/restaurants with outside seating, and all of them seemed packed. If that many people were drinking on a Sunday afternoon I was afraid what I would do if I lived here.

I could see why people wanted to live in the city, especially if they were young and single. There was an energy about the area. I was a little sad when I realized I'd passed up a summer of living in Chicago with Tami. I could see myself sitting at a table on the sidewalk, people watching. It was so much more inviting than New York where everyone seemed to be on top of each other.

My GPS was telling me to make a turn. I was close to where Harper lived. I saw a large sign announcing a Mass Development. Harper told me her dad owned several blocks, and they were gradually removing the old walk-ups, and building detached single family homes. What I saw as I drove down the street were three and four story homes built in a style which fit the neighborhood architecture. Harper said they used reclaimed Chicago bricks for the exteriors, so her dad's new homes would fit in.

I was given directions to turn off into an alley. I sent Harper a text, to let her know I was there. I found a gate was opening, and one of the garage doors went up. I pulled into the six-car garage to find a smiling girlfriend. I barely made it out of the Jeep before she had me in an embrace and was kissing me.

"I missed you, too," I said when she finally let me go.

"Come on! I want to show you our new home."

I was surprised to see stairs inside the garage, which led to the roof top. The top of the garage was an outdoor deck, complete with a huge fireplace. It had a terrific view of the downtown skyscrapers. We crossed a bridge into the back of the house's second floor. We came into an entry room, where the back stair case was. Harper had me leave my bags by the stairwell, and then led me into the kitchen.

It came right out of a kitchen idea book. Something you could only dream of. It was all cream and white marble, with touches of dark wood to make the whole thing spectacular. The stoves were top of the line commercial models. The refrigerator and dishwashers were hidden in the cabinets to give the room a clean look.

Harper led me through the butler's pantry, into a dining room in which you could easily entertain twelve people. I was amazed at the architectural details. You felt like you were in a modernized turn of the century home with twelve foot ceilings.

As Harper showed me the rest of the house I began to understand how wealthy her parents really were. The third floor was her parent's area. They had a master bedroom suit, her mom's office, sitting area and exercise room. On the fourth floor there were five bedrooms and a lounge area. Each bedroom had its own bathroom. Harper told me she had a surprise for me. It was Sarah Spence.

"Hey, good looking," she said and gave me a hug and kiss on the cheek.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"My parents are in the process of moving to Colorado for my dad's newest job. Harper offered to let me come home with her for the week. When she said you were coming, I couldn't refuse. I'm hoping you will let me tag along on some of your shoots."

"Do you want to meet Adrienne, again?" I asked.

She blushed and nodded. Harper smiled and we both looked at her. You could tell she had a surprise for us.

"Adrienne and Kendal will both be staying with us. Mom talked to Kendal to get your schedule and insisted everyone stay here. We have plenty of room."

I would hope so. Harper told me they had eight bedrooms and nine and a half baths. I had yet to see the floor I was staying on. The girls took me back down to the second floor to grab my bags. We then went down to the lower level. I'm not sure if it was technically the basement because it was only half way underground. On the lower level there were two bedrooms, laundry room, another exercise room, and a man cave. I could see living down here!

"Get ready for dinner. Mom and Dad will be home soon," Harper told me.

She could see the need in my eyes and gave me a sad smile.

"Remember, I promised my parents no funny stuff under their roof," Harper reminded me.

I growled at her, and she and Sarah scampered out before I grabbed one of them. I smiled at myself. We would just need to get creative and find somewhere else to have a little fun.

We had dinner at the Ridgemoor Country Club on Gunnison Street. Harper teased her dad by saying this was his bar, with a very nice back yard. He just gave her a dirty look, but didn't deny it. I had been warned they had a strict dress code. Harper made me put on a shirt with a collar instead of the silk t-shirt I had selected to wear under my jacket. The funny thing was the t-shirt was twice as expensive as the shirt she picked out.

We went to the President's Room, a private dining room, which overlooked the tennis courts. We were the first to arrive and I would guess the room was arranged to seat fifty. A buffet was being set up on the back wall. We had some time before the guests arrived, so Harper took Sarah and me on a tour. She told me people from her dad's work were having dinner with us tonight. We went out onto the terrace overlooking the putting greens, and ordered drinks. I had a hot tea since it was a little chilly out.

"Harper Mass, where have you been hiding yourself," I heard a girl say from behind us.

Harper let go of my hand, and jerked it into her lap, before turning around. If I didn't know better I would have suspected that Harper was embarrassed to be seen with me. I saw Sarah caught her actions also and gave me a confused look.

"Melisa Higson, how nice to see you," Harper said as she got up and did a little air cheek kiss.

Melisa had long black hair, and she was dressed in a dark sweater and black skirt. She didn't even acknowledge Sarah or me. I could tell this girl was a snob with a capital S.

"Come, I told the girls I thought it was you," Melisa said as she pulled Harper toward their table.

"That was rude," Sarah said after they had left.

I was a little more than pissed off. If Harper didn't want to be seen with me, I wasn't sure what it meant for us as a couple. I would never have been so rude as to leave my friend and girlfriend to fend for themselves. I sure as hell would have made introductions.

"I need to take a walk," I told Sarah.

"Do you want me to go with you?" she asked.

"Will you be okay if I don't?" I asked because I didn't want to leave her there on her own is she felt uncomfortable.

"No, I'm a big girl. If I get lonely I will text you," she assured me.

I shook my head and got up and went to the pro shop. I was sure Dad would want me to look around for ideas they could use at his golf and tennis club. One thing I liked was they had a locker room manager. The locker room itself was very old fashioned, but they had attendants to make sure things were picked up and there were plenty of towels. Dad shared with me that the women's locker room constantly needed to be straightened up. I would bet if they had an attendant it would stay neater.

I had time to calm down, so I went to the President's Room. A guy about our age had Harper's full attention, so I figured she didn't want me to interrupt. I did my usual introduction tour and went around and met everyone. Jack's employees seemed to be nice people. Most of them had brought their families. I made a point not to tell them I was Harper's boyfriend, just a friend visiting for Spring Break.

I was happy to see Ray, Harper's best friend, was there with a date. I was surprised it was a girl.

"Hey buddy, how's it going?" he asked me.

"Good, how about for you?" I asked.

"I've been better. David, this is Gail, a friend of mine. Gail, this is the David I was telling you about."

I decided I really didn't want to know Ray's problems.

"Ray tells me you're a great guy. Did you really do a movie?" Gail asked.

"Yeah, they tell me it will be released either late fall or early winter. I had a great time doing it."

"Ray is jealous," she shared to his discomfort.

Ray was into acting and I could see where he would like to do a movie himself. I let them go to their seats, because dinner was announced. Harper and her family led everyone through the buffet line. Bev, Harper's mom, gave me a probing look when I wasn't in line with Harper. I just gave her a blank stare and turned around to leave. Sarah headed me off.

"Don't do something you'll regret. Give Harper a chance to explain," Sarah advised.

All I could do was think of Jenny Wesleyan and they had treated me. Everything had been fine when it was just Jenny and I, but as soon as people in her circle came around bad things happened. Was I being over sensitive? I had to admit; until I talked to Harper I would never know. I ended up eating with Sarah and I saw the guy Harper had been talking to was seated next to her. They seemed to be getting along very well, too well in my opinion.

When dinner was over, Sarah went up to the main table and told Bev we would wait in the lobby. Harper was still in a deep conversation with her guy friend. Fortunately, Sarah left me to my own thoughts as we waited. Twenty minutes later Jack, Bev and Harper found us.

"Where were you all night?" Harper asked me.

"I didn't want to interfere with you catching up with your friends."

"You're so thoughtful. I'm lucky to have you," Harper said.

I didn't know how to answer, so I just let her lead me to the car. I was appalled that Harper hadn't even bothered to track either Sarah or I down all night. I would have at the very least checked to make sure my friends were doing okay. Bev picked up on my not being happy and Sarah shook her head. When we got home, I begged off saying I needed to get some sleep for tomorrow. I left everyone talking in the kitchen.

I went downstairs and called my Uncle John. I explained to him what happened.

"Let me summarize," Uncle John started. "This was the first time you have gone to Harper's home, and the first time meeting her friends. You told me how the Wesleyan's treated you. Will you let me offer an alternate possibility?"

"If it keeps me from wanting to break up with Harper, I'm all ears."

"What kind of vibe did you get off the girl who approached Harper?"

"My gut reaction was I didn't like her, but," I started.

"Stop with doubting yourself. One of the things people need to do is pay attention to their gut more. A good example is if you feel you're in danger, you need to pay attention. Too many victims talk themselves out of what their gut warned them about. It is the same with not liking someone, or better yet liking someone. How many times have you heard someone make excuses why a friendship or relationship won't work? Anyways, enough of me getting on my soap box. If your gut told you the girl was trouble, doesn't it make sense Harper would try and protect you? Has she ever not introduced you to someone before?"

"Well, no, but what about the guy?" I said.

"You are a real piece of work, you know that?"

"Uncle John, help me out please," I almost begged.

"Could he have been a friend? Is it beyond the realm of possibilities Harper might have a male friend? Oh wait, wasn't her best friend a guy? Who else do we know where they're best friends and they are a guy and girl? Hmmm."

"You weren't here," I protested.

"I will give you that one. So tell me David, did it look like they were more than friends?"

I hate my uncle sometimes. If I had to make a quick decision I would say there was a spark there. Would either of them ever do anything about it, I had no idea.

"So I was the best, most understanding, and perfect boyfriend after all," I joked.

"Whatever gets you to sleep at night," Uncle John shot back.

I decided I needed to hang up on him before I told him what I really thought about his advice.

Monday April 20

I had a nine o'clock appointment at the Sport's Training Institute of Chicago, or STIC. Bo had to pull some strings to get me in. All the Chicago based professional sports teams had players who used STIC. They specialized in helping top athletes become even better. I was surprised when my dad showed up, right before I had my appointment.

"You keep forgetting you're a minor, and you need one of us to sign contracts," Dad reminded me.

I normally had Kendal with me. She had a power of attorney to be able to make decisions on my behalf. Because this involved medical type things, either Mom or Dad had final say. Dad and I went in and met the lady in charge of setting everything up.

"Here at STIC we use a Performance Training approach. It is a scientifically based training program which is customized for each athlete. We plan on evaluating you this morning and then design a training program to help you be healthy, lean, and strong, so you are able to perform at the highest level possible for your sport.

"What we plan on doing this morning is identify how we can best help you. I've read your medical chart and you have been injured several times in the side and back area. Repeated trauma of the kind you have sustained can cause you to have those areas become problem spots in your overall development. We have a therapy which can show immediate improvement. I suspect this will help with your throwing motions for both baseball and football."

"You're right. My sides and back sometimes stiffen up. If you have something which will help, sign me up."

"I think you will be impressed with the results. We will also be looking at your overall health and any medications or supplements you might be taking. Our goal is to make sure everything is in balance with the goal of making you the best athlete you can be."

Dad stayed for my initial evaluation. I was taken through a variety of tests to assess any flexibility deficits, muscle imbalances, and explore underlying issues which might predispose me to potential injury. They then did an assessment of my body fat and the correlation to any possible hormone issues.

Once the evaluations were done, Dad and I met with Dr. Hollings. He didn't waste any time about what they had found.

"We have identified some areas of concern. It looks like David has been injured in several areas. The one which concerns us the most is his upper neck. It looks like he has some damage in the C1 and C2 area."

"David had someone try to rip his head off in a football game," Dad explained to the doctor.

"Our test also shows problems with flexibility in your torso and glutes. I would suspect you have been hit several times and been injured in these areas."

I just nodded.

"I would like to have David see our chiropractor, and have him look at David's neck and hips. I would then like one of our therapists start him on fascial stretch therapy. Think of the skin of a sausage. The fascial is the tissue which surrounds your muscles. When you are injured this tissue becomes constricted, and prevents you from preforming at your best.

"The stretch therapy will help do several things," Dr. Hollings said and started ticking off the benefits. "Improve your posture, reduce the risk of injury, improve your strength, improve performance, reduce muscle soreness, decrease stress, and even improve sexual performance."

Dad rolled his eyes at me when I sat up straighter as Dr. Hollings finished saying the last one. I made arrangements to stay and get the first two things taken care of. Tomorrow I would meet with two coaches, to help me with both baseball and football.

I was done with the chiropractor and therapist by one that afternoon. I was scheduled to do a shoot for Jade starting at three o'clock. I took Dad to a Chicago hot dog stand, and we both got combos: Italian beef and sausage sandwiches. We thought we'd died and gone to heaven. Over lunch, I told Dad about the Ridgemoor Country Club. He wanted to see it, so I called Jack and let Dad talk to him. He agreed to call them so Dad could get a tour of their facilities. Dad said that if he did the tour he could write off the trip as a business expense.

I sent text messages to Sarah and Kendal to let them know when I would be at the studio Ford arranged for the shoot. They let me know Kendal would drive Sarah over. Jade had used Sarah in several shoots, last summer. I think she was hoping they would want her again today.

The one thing I figured out quickly was that parking was a pain in the you know what in Chicago. If I hadn't just come from the suburbs, I would have just taken a cab. I hoped Kendal was smart enough not to try and drive over. I finally double parked in front of the studio, and ran in to find out where I could leave my Jeep. They directed me to a garage, six blocks away. It doesn't sound like much, but city blocks are much longer than regular blocks.

Sarah and Kendal were smarter than I was. I saw them get out of their cab when I was still half a block away. Sarah saw me and they waited for me to catch up. We were early, which surprised the photographer. They sent me back to start getting ready. There was a second chair for the female model, who wasn't here yet, so Sarah sat down to talk to me.

"I had a long talk with Harper this morning. I think we misread what happened."

"I talked to my Uncle last night and he told me the same thing. Let me guess. The guy was a good friend and the girl was a bitch and Harper was trying to protect us," I offered.

"That's everything, except Alex ended up hitting on her. She said she was glad you weren't there to kick his ass. She let him down gently, but he now knows she is with you. She was a little pissed you didn't sit with them last night, but she understands.

"On another topic, she is working to find somewhere where the two of you can spend some time together," Sarah said and then laughed when she saw me blush.

"I would never have guessed I could get that reaction out of you."

The photographer and Tiffany, my Ford agent, both came back to find us goofing off.

"The other model is running late," Tiffany told us being Captain Obvious.

I just smiled. Sarah nudged me.

"Last summer Sarah worked with me with Jade in New York. She could fill in until the other model shows up," I suggested.

Tiffany gave me a dirty look. The photographer was okay with it, once he looked Sarah over. I could tell Tiffany wasn't happy, but her model had put her in a bind. I guessed they thought I wouldn't show up on time, so it wouldn't be a big deal. I didn't want to be doing this shoot into the late night, so I wanted to get things moving.

We had been shooting for over an hour when the other model showed up. I think her seeing Sarah working with me was a wake-up call. To the girl's credit, she didn't get mad. She just went and got ready. She came out and Sarah stepped off set to allow her to take over. The photographer liked Sarah's look for certain things and Linda's for others. He got permission to use them both, and Jade agreed to pay them for a full day's work. We even did some shots with just the two of them, and a few with all three of us.

Tiffany was all smiles when we finished at eight that evening. She wanted to reward us by taking us out to dinner. I called Harper, and we all went to a converted fire station close to The Loop. They had mashed potatoes done fifty different ways. I tried their blue cheese variety, and really liked them. Harper went with chipotle. Neither one of us was a big fan of that. I think she ate most of mine!

Harper and I were back on a strong footing. Once we talked about it, we were both glad we hadn't said anything stupid to the other. We vowed in the future to talk, if we had any concerns. It was almost mature. I still had an issue with Harper taking to something and then leaving me, but I would get over it.

Tuesday April 21

I arranged to be at STIC at seven in the morning, so I could get my chiropractor and therapy stretching sessions out of the way.

I met with my baseball trainer first. We were going to work on my pitching, today. He had a catcher, who turned out to be on the White Sox as a backup. He was also here today to get worked on. He'd volunteered to help me this morning. They had me warm up, and then they started videoing me. I will give Donnie credit. He didn't comment on my new pitching style.

John, my volunteer catcher's only comment was I would be hard to hit. Donnie wanted to see me after I worked out with my football coach, so we could go over what he found on the video.

The football coach had me throw all my passes as he videotaped me. Connor then took me into the weight room and had me lift. They wanted me to increase the strength of my back and lats. My assessment had shown my stomach was stronger than my sides and back. They wanted to balance my core, to help prevent injury. They also felt if I gained muscle, I could better take the hits.

I then went to see Donnie. He showed me all my tells, which were signs of what I throwing before I threw my pitches. Once you saw them, it was easy to hit me if my opponents ever figured them out. I was not happy when I saw how bad it was. He then had a long talk with me about my style of pitching. He told me with my height, I was not suited to pitch the way Shiggy had me doing it. I was missing out on power by not using my length to whip the ball. He felt if we could convert me back to a normal pitching style, I would pick up as much as five mile per hour on my fastball.

Donnie also wanted me to play summer ball. He suggested American Legion baseball. He felt I could be a top prospect if I worked at it. I needed to just play. I think I remember some football coaches telling me the same thing. I wondered when I would have time to do both.

I met Kendal and Adrienne at the Chicago Yacht Club. We were doing a print ad for a new men's cologne called Sea Mist. The photographer wanted to get shots of the Chicago skyline from the deck of a sail boat. I was excited about going sailing until they had me stand on the bow and we slammed down, causing a spray of Lake Michigan water to soak me – it was really cold. Our photographer thought I looked great as we headed directly into the waves so we could maximize the amount of water the boat would send flying as it cut through the chop.

When my lips turned blue, they finally let me go below decks, to warm up. What a mistake that was. I was fine until I couldn't see the horizon. The boat was rocking, and I closed my eyes only for a moment. I had never experienced seasickness before. I thought it was just something made up. How could you get sick from the motion of a boat? It felt like my inner ear was completely off, causing me to be dizzy. I felt my stomach warble a little song of distress, which had me concerned. I decided I might want to get myself to the head before I had an accident.

I think the bathroom was smaller than one you find on an airplane, because my shoulders actually touched the walls on each side. The boat swayed in an unpredictable directions and I started to feel claustrophobic in my confined space. I felt bile creep up my throat, and my mouth suddenly filed with saliva. Neither was a good sign. I began to giggle at the absurdity of it all. Adrienne talked me into doing higher paying gigs. If I had stuck with working with Mr. Hill, I would be in a nice warm studio, right now. Instead I was trying to keep from gagging as I went into shock from hypothermia.

I will remember the next few moments the rest of my life. I heard our Captain call out Coming about! and the boat suddenly tilted to the side and we slammed into a wave at the same time. I felt like I was on the set of Star Academy as our space ship was rocked. I stumbled as my stomach had finally had enough. I threw up so hard I shot spaghetti out of my nose! That might have been fine, but I was spewing vomit like a bad Monte Python skit. I was hearing the famous phrase the waiter uttered before the customer had spewed. Just a wafer thin mint sir!

Somehow my stomach managed to turn itself inside out, and shoot its contents all over the coffin of a bathroom I was trapped in. When I finally stopped long enough to inspect the damage I started to gag again when a long string of wet mess strung down from the ceiling. It hung for what seemed like an eternity then snapped free as it landed on my cheek.