Chapter 8: Searching for Something More

Thursday September 17

When I came down to run, Precious was waiting on Duke, and they ran into the back yard and romped around. Duke was now almost fully grown and could easily hold his own against the cat from hell, and she seemed to realize that. It was funny to watch them stalk and pounce on each other. I was about to break up the fun and put Duke on his leash when I heard a girl scream, Buster, No!

What I saw chilled my blood. Charging up our drive and dragging a young girl was the biggest pit bull I’d ever seen. I had visions of this monster tearing up both Duke and Precious without even trying. Against my better judgment I stepped between the charging beast and his prey.

“Sit!” I commanded and did my dad’s foot stomp.

I admit I was ready to piss myself right before he sat and wagged his tail. I looked back and both Duke and Precious were pressed up against the back of my legs as they peeked around at Buster. So much for them protecting me!

“He really is very friendly,” his young mistress told me.

I leaned forward and offered him the back of my hand to sniff. When all he did was check it out, I tentatively reached down for his leash, which his mistress had let go of to save herself from being dragged up the drive. I wanted to have control of him in case he made a lunge at my two charges.

Now that I had control of him, I looked at the girl he brought into our yard. She looked like she was in middle school and couldn’t have weighed more than a hundred pounds. There was no way she could control this dog that looked like he was made of solid muscle.

“Does he do this often?” I asked.

“My mom said he needs exercise, but I have a hard time controlling him. I’m Rachel,” she said.

While we had talked, Duke had gotten brave and greeted Buster. There was a lot of tail wagging, so I thought we were safe for now.

“I’m David. I was just about to go on a run. Do you want to take Duke and I take Buster?” I offered.

“I don’t want to slow you down.”

“I usually do a mile warm-up before I get serious. How about we try that and then see how you and Buster are doing?” I suggested.

Precious wasn’t as trusting as Duke was and went home. I put the Duke on his leash and handed it to Rachel. We started off at a slow jog and then gradually increased our pace. Duke was used to this by now, and he seemed to mind Rachel better than he did me. Buster had to be reminded that he needed to stay with me. When he saw a squirrel he about ripped off my arm. He needed a training collar, because his regular collar was either going to choke him out or kill me. By the time we had made our mile circuit he had begun to realize who was in charge and was running with me. He was done when we slowed down.

“Thanks. I don’t think I could’ve handled him,” she said.

“Have your mom get him a training collar.”

“You mean a choke collar?”

“No. They make collars with prongs on them. It won’t choke him, but it’ll get his attention and not hurt him. Duke has one, but his isn’t big enough for Buster, or I’d lend it to you,” I said.

“If I get him one, will you let me run with you in the mornings?”

“Sure. I have to finish my run. I think you need to get Buster home and get him a drink,” I said, as I started my run again.

Duke gave a nervous look back to make sure Buster wasn’t following him. I really couldn’t blame him, because that was a big dog.

Brook met me in the parking lot again. It gave me a sense of déjà vu. I waited to see what her response would be today.

“My dad talked to me today,” she said.

I thought that was nice, but there had to be more to that little announcement.

“Okay.”

“He said you’re famous, or something. I guess I kind of knew that, but he said that you kissed me and leaked it to the press because of who I am,” Brook said.

I know I joke around about being someone because of modeling and the movie. It’s just my way of using humor to get a grasp of my situation. If you can’t joke about yourself you have a problem. I knew the game of self-promotion. Heck, I had gone on faux dates with celebrities. That had all been done to further both of our careers. I’d never leaked a photo just to increase my popularity. Well, that might not be true; I had shown off the video of Adrienne and me kissing to my friends and a few others. Was I really so shallow I would kiss Brook just to get noticed? No. Tami had set me straight on the glory-hound stuff and being conscious of how I appeared when dealing with others. Plus, who the heck was Brook if she thought she could add to my already unbelievable fame? More bad humor, I reminded myself.

“I hadn’t thought of that,” I said looking down embarrassed. I looked up. “Gosh, Brook, I’m so sorry if I gave you that impression. Honestly, I didn’t know the camera was still going. I planned to show everyone us skydiving. It was the most fun I’ve had in a long time. Lily has access to my video storage account in the cloud. She put the two videos together and sent them out before I saw them.

“While I didn’t actually do it, I should’ve considered your feelings and pulled it down. I’ll do that right now.”

I pulled out my iPad and Brook stopped me.

“You didn’t do it because of who I am?” she asked.

I must have looked confused, because I really didn’t know what she was talking about.

“You didn’t know my family is wealthy?” she asked.

“That’s nice,” I said still very confused.

“My mom, aunts and uncles hold a large interest in L Brands, the company my grandmother founded.”

“Brook, I don’t follow,” I said.

L Brands had no meaning to me.

“Have you heard of The Limited, Victoria’s Secret, and Bath and Body Works? They’re all under the L Brands umbrella. A few years ago we sold a majority share to a buyout firm, but our family still holds seats on the board,” she clued me in.

“Oh, so you could get me a shot at working a Victoria’s Secret gig,” I said excitedly.

I didn’t expect her to punch me in the arm.

“Jerk,” she hissed.

I bounced around her.

“If only I’d known! What else can you do for me? Want to go to homecoming with me?” I asked excitedly.

“See! This is why I never tell anyone this stuff,” she whined.

“What would it be worth to you if I kept your secret?” I teased her.

“You are a ‘stupid boy’, aren’t you?”

“Yep. What else did your old man accuse me of?” I asked.

“I think he’s going to have you checked out,” she said, not looking at me.

“Have him call Teddy Wesleyan or Beverly Mass. They both had me checked out. It’ll save your dad some time and money,” I suggested, as I gave her their numbers.

“You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“Sure. I don’t have anything serious to hide. If he needs me to get him my juvenile records, let me know,” I offered.

“You have a juvenile record?”

“Not really. They never convicted me of anything,” I said.

“My dad’s going to have a heart attack! I thought you were a good boy. I defended you to my father this morning.”

“Doesn’t my bad boy side make me sexier?” I asked, and waggled my eyebrows.

Brook was such a worrier. I was great with fathers! Well, as long as he didn’t talk to Cal. He did try to kick my ass when he walked in on Pam and me. I hoped he didn’t do too thorough of an investigation. I wasn’t really proud of that one. I forgot about Tom Dole. He might not be the best character witness either. He wanted to put me on playing cards like they did for terrorists, so other fathers could be warned about me. Maybe I wasn’t great with fathers.

“Shut up!” she said, as she tried to stomp off.

I grabbed her hand and pulled her to my chest and kissed her. When we finally broke our kiss she gave me a hard look.

“Just because you’re a good kisser doesn’t get you out of trouble with me.”

“We should do it again. I obviously didn’t do it right,” I suggested.

“I should’ve listened. Everyone warned me,” Brook moaned, as she turned and left me in the parking lot.

We would be fine. I had begun to like feisty Brook Davis. She would be a lot of fun to hang out with.

I walked up to the school and I saw Brook walk up to all the cheerleaders and say something. They all turned and looked at me. That didn’t look good. I turned to avoid them and about ran over Alan.

“What’re they looking at you like that for?” he asked.

“Brook’s still mad about the kiss tweet,” I answered without thinking.

Now I’d done it! I’d talked to Alan. To be honest, I missed my friend, even though I suspected he had slept with Tami. Was I ready to forgive and forget? Forgive maybe, but I would never forget. It made me a little sad when I realized that I’d lost my three best friends.

“I think you might have a serious issue, if their looks tell me anything.”

“Yeah, let’s get out of here before they decide they need to talk to me about it,” I said, as we walked into the school.

Once we got inside, he pulled me into an empty classroom and closed the door.

“I’ve thought a lot about the weekend when, you know,” Alan said, and I knew what he meant. “I wish I could take it all back, because I see how much I hurt you. I have no excuses for what happened, and I hope that someday you can see that I love you, man.”

When we were in grade school Jeff had found a commercial made by Bud Light where a father and son were fishing. The son gives his dad a long speech that ended in I love you, man. The father tells him he isn’t getting his Bud Light. We thought it was hilarious. Of course we were like ten at the time.

“Alan,” I said in my most serious voice, “you’re not getting my Bud Light.”

It took Alan a second to put it together and then he busted out laughing. The stupid stuff we thought was funny back in the day still made us both laugh. That was the thing with best friends. There were memories that only we shared that tickled us. Alan finally got control of himself and gave me a sheepish look.

“I really am sorry. Do you think we can be friends again?” he asked.

“Yeah, but don’t push me. My emotions are still a little raw from seeing the two of you together.”

“But nothing happened,” Alan protested.

And there it was. The fun I remembered with my ex-best friend evaporated in an instant.

“Enough happened for the two of you to get naked,” I shot back, then took a moment to collect myself. “Like I said, don’t push it. I don’t want to hear a bunch of excuses, because I saw the end result.”

Alan blanched at my sudden aggression and just nodded. The bell rang, so we went to our lockers so we could get to our classes.

Waiting for me at my car after practice were Brook and Cassidy. Cassidy I expected, because we planned to go to the dojo and let her whack me with batons again. Brook was a surprise. I decided to keep her off balance, so I walked up and gave her a kiss. There was something there between us, and we didn’t stop until Cassidy cleared her throat. I let go of Brook and then pulled Cassidy into a kiss as well. Cassidy was shocked at first, but she was into it once we got started.

“What do you think you’re doing?” a male voice asked.

I turned to see Coach Hope right behind me with a scowl on his face. I released Cassidy like she was radioactive and then pushed her between us.

“Hi, Daddy! David was just thanking me for teaching him,” Cassidy said.

While Cassidy distracted her dad, I took the opportunity to use my key fob to unlock my Jeep and get into the driver’s seat. Brook was faster than Cassidy and got shotgun. I pulled out of the school parking lot with Coach staring daggers into my retreating taillights. I hoped he calmed down before I saw him again.

Once we had made our escape I turned to Brook to figure out why she was with us.

“Do I need to drop you off somewhere?” I asked.

“Cassidy told me you went to the dojo several times a week. I thought it would be fun to learn how to protect myself. Cassidy said they had a beginners class that was available while she worked with you.”

At the dojo I introduced Brook to Shiggy and he got her signed up. He suggested she watch the beginners class for the first day. While she did that, Cassidy decided to have us work on our forms. Her dad had made a rule that she couldn’t potentially injure me the day before a game. I liked to do forms because it stretched me and I could lose myself in the physical activity. Cassidy wanted me to focus and clear my mind of everything else. The mental exercise was as important as creating the muscle memory. It also helped me with football. With Cassidy’s training I was able to get into the zone much easier on the field, and block out the circus that surrounded our games now.

The time at the dojo flew by, and before I knew it Cassidy reached over and swatted my butt to get my attention. I heard Brook giggle when she saw my startled look from the sudden contact. Shiggy was with her and just shook his head.

“How was your first day of class?” I asked Brook.

“Exhausting. I’m also starving. You need to feed me,” she said.

I rolled my eyes because she was full of it. I’d seen her lounging around and watching the first class. How exhausting could that be? She was going to be a handful. I also thought Brook could read my mind. We had the ingredients to make chicken enchiladas at home.

“How does Mexican sound?” I asked.

“Great!” Cassidy said.

“I’ll make dinner. Call your dad and see if he wants to come over,” I told Cassidy.

He had dinner about once a week at our house now that Brad had gone off to college. Coach Hope and Cassidy weren’t very good cooks, so they jumped at the chance to eat a home-cooked meal. Cassidy went to call her dad when I saw Shiggy lurking.

“You can come too,” I said to him.

He just smiled and went to take a shower and change. That left Brook and me alone.

“Do you always have people over for dinner?”

“Sometimes. With my brother and his family out of the house it’s nice to have company. Plus, I cook better for a crowd than for just myself,” I explained.

I was on my own tonight. Mom and Dad had started to have date nights, and tonight was one of them. I really didn’t like to come home to an empty house. We waited for Shiggy after Cassidy confirmed that her dad would join us. Cassidy claimed shotgun on the ride to my house. When we got home, Coach Hope was waiting on us.

“It’s a nice night. Why don’t we eat outside?” Coach suggested.

We had a patio table big enough for everyone to eat at. Shiggy and Coach wiped down the table and got everyone drinks while I went into the kitchen to make dinner. Brook and Cassidy were my helpers. I made corn and flour tortilla enchiladas in separate baking dishes. Brook took on the task of making cheese quesadillas. I showed Cassidy how to make guacamole. I made a salad while they were working on their dishes. Then I made a simple dressing out of sour cream and salsa for the salad.

The girls helped me bring everything out and we had a nice dinner together. I watched Brook, and she took it all in. I think she’d been taking my measure the last few days, and when she saw everyone have a good time she seemed to relax. I don’t know what she thought, or what her dad had warned her about, but she seemed in a better frame of mind once dinner finished.

When everyone left she helped me get everything into the dishwasher. We had just chatted like an old married couple. I knew she wanted to say something, so I just let her find the right time to say it.

“You’re nothing like I expected,” she finally said.

“How’s that?” I asked.

“I’ve been dating older guys for quite some time, because boys my age just seemed to be boys,” she said, as if that explained everything to me.

This was one of the things that I wasn’t sure I liked about Brook. Little things told me that she went through guys quickly. It wouldn’t surprise me if she told me she had more sexual experience than I did. I got the impression she was a party girl who wasn’t opposed to one-night stands. That was one of the reasons I hadn’t tried to sleep with her yet. While I wasn’t opposed to a one-night stand with Brook, I wasn’t sure that was what I wanted. My greatest fear was I would just be another notch on her lipstick case.

I mentally kicked myself. What was I thinking? I was seventeen and single.

“So why are you slumming it with Mike and me?” I asked.

It still bothered me that she went out with Mike. The thought of them together made my blood run cold. I could tell that she didn’t appreciate what I had just said.

“You really are a jerk sometimes.”

I couldn’t deny that. There were things about Brook I liked. She was physical in the sense she wasn’t afraid to do things like go skydiving or take classes at the dojo. She was a lot of fun to be around. She was also someone who wanted to be the center of attention, and the main attention she wanted to attract was from guys. My natural dominance instincts would kick in if we ever hooked up. I wasn’t sure if Brook was worth the trouble.

“I can be, but that didn’t answer my question. You’ve commented before on what a bunch of immature boys we all are. I’m just trying to figure out why you’d want to hang out with high-school boys when you’ve deemed them to be inferior. I’m sure you could find some college guy that’d be a lot more fun.”

“I think I want to go home,” she said.

I grabbed my keys for the Jeep and tossed them to her.

“Just give me the keys tomorrow at school,” I said.

She was shocked I hadn’t bent to her will. She got a determined look on her face and walked out the back door. I heard my Jeep start and leave the drive.

Brook Davis confused me. I wasn’t sure if I should like her or not. I was sure that it would be interesting to find out, though.

Friday September 18

Today we played at Bloomington. This was going to be a test because their school was nearly twice the size of ours with 1,500 students. Because of the interest in the game they had moved it from their football field to one of the local colleges. Coach Hope told us they did this once a year and it would give us the opportunity to play on artificial turf. If we made it to the State Championship game it would be played on a similar surface.

On the ride to Bloomington we all enjoyed subs the Booster Club had provided. Everyone was in high spirits and joking around. That normally was a good sign that the team would be ready to play. Tim had to sit with Coach Zoon as he showed him game film of Bloomington’s first two games, which they had won handily. One of their opponents had been Springfield, who had won the largest school division of State last year. All the preseason predictions had said Springfield was the team to beat. Bloomington had rolled them 35 – 10 in a stunning upset last week.

Coach Diamond was showing me my reads. I loved the new software Alan had found. He and his helpers were a big reason we were prepared each week. It was no easy task to load all the video and then categorize it so it was useful. As we watch their defense I was reminded that we were going to have our hands full. They were quick to the ball, and their defensive line was huge. I felt like Jim and Johan could hold their own, but I had concerns about the rest of them.

“What would you think of putting Wolf back at tight end and running Ty at them?” I asked.

“I was thinking that, or we pass the ball,” Coach Diamond said.

Of course I liked his passing idea, but we had one of the best backs in the state. Ty was on pace to break the school’s rushing record.

“Let’s try running the first series and see if it’ll work. Running north and south will negate their speed. If Ty can break through the first line of defense, he can have a big day,” Coach Diamond said.

He soon had Ty, Jim and Johan join us with his plan to use our strength to punch holes in the Bloomington defensive line. The three of them suddenly got serious. They had just become the focus of our offense for this game. I knew how that responsibility could weigh on a person.

“I could always just pass the ball all night,” I teased them.

They knew I would love to do just that, and it broke the tension.

When we pulled up to the front of the stadium we could all see it was the biggest one we had played at during the regular season. When we won State that stadium held nearly sixty thousand, but there were fans from six different teams in attendance as they played three games that day. We played in the 5A classification, the next-to-largest, while Bloomington was in 6A. Coach Hope got up to talk before we got off the bus.

“You are about to play before twenty thousand people tonight,” he said and then paused to let it sink in. “Jeff Delahey called this the game of the year in his article this morning. It will also be the second game in which we’ll have been televised. I’m sure that all sounds a little daunting, especially after what Bloomington did to Springfield last week.

“I want you to know that I’m not worried. While I expect that Bloomington is probably the best team you’ll play this year, I think you’re better. They may be bigger, faster and have more division one prospects. What they don’t have is our heart. They haven’t put in the effort and aren’t as well-conditioned as we are. They may get up on us, even by a couple of scores, but we will win.

“So just treat this like any other game, and do your normal routines,” Coach Hope said, and then let us off the bus.

I had to laugh when he built the game up and then said it was like any other game we would play. He was funny and didn’t even know it.

In the locker room everyone seemed to be okay. We had been here before. We were all a year older, and the experience of playing a team like Springfield came through. I was happy to see the juniors and seniors walking around to make sure the freshmen and sophomores could see how we should prepare. I had my headphones on playing heavy metal. It always got me in the mood to cause mayhem. When it was time to go out Alan came over and tapped me on the shoulder. I took out my earbuds and put everything in my locker.

Tim and Wolf were named my co-captains for this game. We led everyone out and the two of them got them lined up and stretching. I took a moment to take in the scene. I couldn’t believe how many people had come to the game. Our half of the stadium was a solid sea of orange. I must have missed the memo that went out to get our fans coordinated. The Bloomington side was emblazoned in purple and gold, their school colors.

Brandon, my assistant, had informed me that thirty-eight colleges had told him they were sending recruiters to watch the game. He said they wanted to see firsthand how I handled the pressure of a big game. They also thought that this would be a chance to watch me against superior talent. I disagreed with their assessment, because I thought our guys were as good as if not better than anyone else. I also knew that we were supposed to be the underdogs. That gave us a huge advantage as far as I was concerned. We wouldn’t have to worry about losing the game. All the pressure was on them.

I focused on getting ready as we ran our pre-game drills. I felt good throwing the ball. So far this year I had avoided getting dinged up. I made a point of not showing Bloomington all my passes. In the first two games I hadn’t really uncorked a long one. In practice Roc and I had goofed around and I threw one that went over sixty yards in the air. He seemed to have a knack for catching long passes. He would get better as he became stronger, but his long, loping glide made him sneaky-fast, and he had enough aggression to fight and win against most defensive backs.

We went back into the locker room and I began to visualize success. Shiggy had helped me with that in baseball. He was a big believer that it helped with batting. I agreed with him and had made it a part of my pregame routine for football. Coach Hope gave us a rousing speech and Tim, Wolf and I led the team out on the field to a chorus of cowbells. I think every one of our fans had one of those blasted things. Once we were on the sideline Coach Diamond came to find me.

“One second, Coach,” I said, and threw up behind our bench.

My teammates thought my nervous stomach was hilarious. They knew if I puked before a game we would win, so it fired them up. Of course doing it on grass was vastly different than artificial turf. The cheerleaders all gave me a dirty looks and moved down some. I grabbed a water bottle and cleaned out my mouth. It was now time to do the coin toss.

When we walked out to do the coin flip they had five guys who all looked like they were college linemen. It turned out they were the offensive line. I liked that they would honor them and make them team captains for the game. I would need to talk to Coach Hope about that. The other thing that impressed me was Bloomington wasn’t a bunch of posers. Normally some ass-hat would make stupid remarks that would piss me off. I had become accustomed to that, and used it to fuel my play on the field.

They ended up winning the toss and taking the ball. Most teams wanted the ball to start the second half. The reason was that at that point you would know how the game was going and if you were up or down. It also gave your offense a chance to make adjustments at halftime, and normally that resulted in a better drive than early in the game.

Our new kicker, Derek Hofmann, put it through the end zone, so there was no return. Bloomington’s game plan became apparent early. They intended to use their size to run the ball down our throats. Our two new defensive tackles, Johan and Milo Bauer, were up to the task. The two big farm boys may have been smaller, but they were as strong as oxen. Coach Stork had worked with the defensive line and taught them to dig in and keep the linemen off of our linebackers. Tim and Yuri were flying around, making plays.

Bloomington was able to move the ball and I had a bad feeling we would wear down. It was like a prize fight, and early body blows would take their toll in later rounds. Then I watched as Tim got tied up with a lineman and another hit his legs. I knew as soon as I saw it: he was hurt. The Bloomington running back got free and scored, but there was a flag down. They had been caught with the illegal hit on Tim.

The training staff ran out onto the field and I watched as they checked his knee. The stadium was quiet as they brought the ambulance right out onto the field. I felt a cold rage start to build within me. Tim had worked so hard, and in an instant his hopes of playing ball in college could be over. Coach Zoon and Diamond pulled me to the sideline.

“David! David!” Coach Zoon yelled to get my attention. “Focus!”

I finally looked at my two coaches who had concern written all over their faces.

“Worry about Tim later. He’d want you to win this game,” Coach Diamond said.

I bent over and felt like I was going to throw up again. Tim and I had become much closer over the summer. They were right. I needed to get my head back into the game, especially if I was going to make them pay.

The fifteen-yard penalty stopped their drive and they had to punt. They pinned us inside our 5 yard line at the 3. Coach Diamond gave me the first play, and I smiled. We lined up in our triple-option format with Ty standing next to me in the shotgun, and Wolf and Ed lined up a step back and outside our tackles.

“Down! Set! Hut, Hut!” I called out.

Bloomington was in full run-blitz mode to try and stuff Ty in the end zone so they could get a safety. I pulled the ball from Ty’s stomach and trusted he would pick up anyone that came free. Roc had given a halfhearted break off the ball and sold the run. A lot of receivers give away the run by not acting the same as when they know the ball might come to them. Then he took off like a shot. I saw their safety drift over to cover him, but I followed through like we were running the option. The safety hesitated, which gave me the window I needed. I planted my feet and threw the ball as far as I could with plenty of air under it so Roc could catch up to it. I had learned that from Bill last year. All I needed to do was give my receivers a chance to go get it.

I, and everyone in the stadium, held our breath as the ball seemed to sail forever. Roc reached out and gathered it in stride. The safety didn’t have a chance. The cowbells erupted and you couldn’t hear yourself think. The whole offense sprinted down the field to congratulate our freshman receiver. I would have to send Bill the video to let him know that, even though we missed him, his replacement was doing just fine.

When I came off the field I expected Coach Zoon to put me in for Tim. I was surprised when Mike was sent in to replace my friend. On the next drive Bloomington discovered that Mike liked to hit their running backs. What confused me was last year he had been a beast at running back at times, but this year he had seemed to shy away from contact.