Chapter 25: I Will Dare

Monday November 16

I got up and let Duke out to mess around with Precious. While I stretched I realized I actually felt relief that I’d decided who’d be my new manager. It might not be a done deal yet, but in my mind it was.

My good thoughts were interrupted. I heard a weird yowl from Precious and then everything got quiet. That was never a good sign. I went around the side of the garage and found the cat from hell hanging from Duke’s ear. It looked like her claws had gotten tangled, and she was stuck. When he saw me he trotted over, to the dismay of the entangled kitty.

“Fuck!” hissed from in between my lips.

I had a bad feeling that Precious wouldn’t be cooperative. I took a deep breath and lifted up Precious so she wouldn’t be hanging off of Duke. I found her claws weren’t actually in his ear, but on his neck. Labs have two layers of coat. The soft undercoat is weather-resistant and acts as an insulating layer that protects the dog from extreme cold and from getting wet. The dense, straight outer coat is coarse and reinforces the hair coat’s waterproof quality. I found that Precious had gotten her claw hooked into his undercoat. It took me a moment to free her.

Precious was so grateful to be free that she clawed the shit out of me. She was lucky I had laid down my Bo staff or there might have been one less kitty in the world. She was smart enough to run home. I was sure she would tell Brit all about how Duke and I had mistreated her. Every time I thought Precious and I had come to an uneasy truce, she pulled something like that. Next time she pissed Duke off and needed to be saved, I might be a little slow to come to her rescue.

When I got to school, I found Pam waiting on me. She looked nervous, so I gave her my full attention.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

She looked around to make sure no one was listening to us.

“I’m getting fat,” she complained.

I swear I tried.

“David!” she said, and then I saw her face scrunch up. “You can’t laugh at me.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, as I looked her in the eyes. “How can I help?”

“First, you can be supportive,” she huffed.

I thought the foot stomp was a little excessive.

“I know. You just caught me by surprise.”

“I need to buy new clothes.”

“That’s why I gave you the debit card,” I said, and then wondered. “Do you need more money put into the account?”

“No, but Mom said I couldn’t just spend your money without asking.”

“I gave you the debit card for exactly this kind of stuff. You don’t need to ask my permission to use it. If you want, I’ll call Lacy and tell her myself,” I offered.

“Would you go shopping with me?” she asked.

I had three thoughts fire through my head. None of them was kind. Helping a girl shop for anything but sexy underwear or swimsuits was the last thing a teenage boy wanted to do. I couldn’t think of anything that would be worse than being forced to shop for maternity clothes. Luckily I remembered that Pam was my baby’s mama, and I might want her to talk to me again.

“I’d love to,” I said.

It was her turn to laugh, but she wasn’t about to let me off the hook.

“Good. You can pick me up at Tracy’s after you’re done at the dojo. Tracy said her mom would cook for you,” Pam said.

A meal cooked by Mary Dole might actually make this whole thing worthwhile. If I were lucky, the store might have a comfortable chair and I could take a nap in while Pam shopped. We hugged it out to confirm our plans. She grabbed my hand and we walked to the front of the school. I could see Alan wanted to ask me about it, but he bit his lip and kept his mouth shut.

In PE I conned Coach Diamond into letting me get a massage. Jill wasn’t busy, so she obliged me. I think she liked to abuse my body, but I knew that the net result would do me wonders. Wolf came in and lay down on the table next to mine. Becky began to work on him. He was such a pussy sometimes.

“If you take it like a man, you might get a happy ending,” I explained to him.

Crack.

“Ow!” I complained. “That might leave a mark.”

Jill pulled down my shorts to check and see. Sure enough, there was a handprint on my left buttocks.

“You might have to rub it to make it better,” I suggested.

Crack.

“Ow!”

She’d gotten the right side.

“He’s not very clever. You might have to spank his butt again to get his attention,” Wolf suggested.

Jill raised her hand again and I bailed off the table.

“I wasn’t done with you, ‘stupid boy’,” Jill said.

“No, I think I’m all better,” I said, and quickly left to go lift.

The game film of Central showed a good, solid, well-coached team. They ran a base three-four (three linemen and four linebacker) defense. The key to this defense started at the nose tackle, who lined up over our center. He was a squat rock. His job was to make a huge pile in the middle. Their nose tackle was listed at five-ten and 285 pounds. He was surprisingly quick, and his short stature made it hard to root him out of position. His goal was to make you have to double-team him, which would free up the two middle linebackers to run free.

I watched on the tape as he acted like an earthmover while he disrupted opposing offenses. One poor guy ran the trap against him and actually bounced off. Seriously. An offensive tackle pulled and got up to full speed, planted a solid block into this kid’s side, and bounced backwards. He was a big rubber ball.

Our secret weapon was Johan. Our farm boy was the strongest center this kid had ever faced. If Johan could block him one-on-one, we could unleash Bryan and Brock on their middle linebackers. That assignment might be more daunting, because they were used to blocking defensive tackles that were lined up right in front of them. Linebackers typically position themselves three to five yards off the ball. Coach Stevens would have his work cut out for him this week teaching them to take angles to get onto their assignments.

Coach Mason had suggested that we split out our slotbacks further to force their outside linebackers out further. If they did, it would allow our interior linemen a chance to go five-on-five with the three down defensive linemen and two middle linebackers. He felt that Ty could read where there was a hole and we could pick up yardage with the interior run game. The goal was to feed them a steady diet of Ty, and that would start to pull the safeties up and/or the outside linebackers in. Either way would open up our play-action pass game. It would all hinge on me making the right reads at the line. I had my work cut out for me in the film room this week.

The other thing we would work on was motion. If the outside linebackers were in man coverage, then we could run them across the formation and create an unbalanced defense. If not, we could flood a zone and run a little flare to Ty as a delayed screen-like action. On the other hand, we could go to the weak side with our two-man option game.

When I was finished at the dojo, I dropped off Brook and Cassidy and then went to Tracy’s house. Tom answered the door. This was awkward.

“Daddy, let David in,” Tracy said as she came up behind him.

“Sorry, come on in,” Tom said as he extended his hand.

I shook it and gave him a weak smile. Word on the street — okay, Tyler told me — was that AT Modeling had terminated their contract with Tom’s firm. It wouldn’t take long for people to start to figure out that Rigby, Thompson and Associates no longer represented me. It would also not take a genius to figure out why. Of course I’d have to be very careful not to say anything. I think Tom recognized the warning sign. Our town was small enough that there weren’t many secrets.

My biggest concern was that Kendal might end up out of a job. I’d talked to both Ford and AT Modeling about offering her a job if she were to be let go. I would be fine with her as my modeling agent. Of course she would have to move to either Chicago or New York. I would think she would rather live in a big city than here when she was young and single.

When I walked in I smelled something wonderful. I followed Tracy to the kitchen where her mom was cooking.

“David, come help me finish dinner,” Mary called.

I saw Pam at the kitchen table.

“Come on. Once he gets in the kitchen with my mother he’s useless,” Tracy told Pam.

The two of them left so that Mary could show off. She had decided to go with an Italian theme tonight. For starters she’d made a pumpkin and barley soup and a wild mushroom bruschetta. For the main course she’d made chicken with forty cloves of garlic and potatoes with truffles. The garlic roasted with the chicken and became soft. You spread it over hot French bread. For dessert she’d made a chestnut and chocolate pudding.

I was so happy after I ate that I let Tracy and Pam drag me to the mall to find her maternity clothes. I thought Pam was going to cry when she saw the selection. There were a lot of outfits with big bows on them. I think they thought it would hide a big butt or tummy. My California surfer chick was having none of it. She did pick up some stretchy pants and said she would buy things later.

Being a guy, I thought I had to fix this. I called Adrienne.

“Hey, stranger,” she answered.

“You need to talk to Tyler. She has people who answer the phone for her now.”

“I know. She’s becoming a big-time modeling executive. I have to schedule an appointment just to get her to go to lunch with me,” Adrienne complained.

“I have my own issues. Pam needs maternity clothes that don’t make her look like she’s frumpy or old. Do you know anyone that could help me out?” I asked.

“I might. Put her on the phone,” Adrienne ordered.

I turned to Pam.

“Here. Adrienne wants to talk to you,” I said.

She looked mortified.

“The Adrienne?” she asked.

“Yes, the Adrienne. She’s going to hook you up with clothes.”

Pam snatched the phone out of my hand. I walked away because there was a lot of laughing, and I had a feeling it was at my expense. Tracy found me looking at bras that had clips on the bra strap.

“Those are nursing bras,” Tracy said.

I closed my eyes and tried not to look mortified. This suddenly became very real to me.

“That was really cool of you to call Adrienne and have her help Pam,” she said.

“I just don’t want Pam to be made fun of.”

“Maternity clothes can be dreadful,” Tracy admitted.

“How’s Pam doing?” I asked.

While we did talk in Indianapolis, we hadn’t really talked about the fiasco. I think she wanted Tracy along to make sure we had a referee if need be.

“I think she’s horny,” Tracy said, and giggled.

“And you’re not?” I teased.

Tracy just gave me a cryptic look. Pam came back to us and handed me my phone back.

“She’s going to hook me up. She said that you owe her, though. It has something to do with allowing her to sell the first photos of our baby.”

I just rolled my eyes.

“Are we done shopping?” I asked hopefully.

They took pity on me and I took them back to my apartment. Duke was happy to see his friends, but needed to go outside. I let him out and then went back upstairs, and Pam and Tracy weren’t in the living room. I found them in my dresser, going through my t-shirts.

“Hey, you have to earn those.”

They both gave me the look. Even Mr. Happy, ever the optimist, realized that this look meant I might not ever get sex again. I did the smart thing and backed out of the doorway, and went back to the living room where my buddy, Duke, needed some loving. As I loved him up, I realized that getting Pam pregnant might mean she could take all my t-shirts, if she wanted to. She had more than earned them. I wondered if that was how Greg felt when he found out about Angie being pregnant with Kyle.

I decided to watch Monday Night Football. They had a terrible game on, the Texans against the Bengals. After a half hour I went to check on the girls and found them lying on my bed, talking. Pam saw me and put her arms out.

“Come here,” she said.

I crawled onto the bed, lay down beside her and she hugged me.

“I’ve missed you,” I said.

“Me too,” Pam said.

Tracy started to get up, but I reached across Pam and grabbed her hand.

“Thank you for standing by her. I knew I could count on you to be her friend when she needed one,” I said.

Tracy’s eyes misted up, so I leaned across Pam and kissed her. When our lips pulled apart she got out of bed and went to the living room. I still was leaning over Pam, so I turned and she captured my lips. Things heated up to the point we found ourselves naked. I made a point to let Pam know that I found her sexy. She had just started to thicken around the waist and had the beginnings of a baby bump.

I reached for my condoms, but Pam stopped me.

“You can’t get me any more pregnant,” she reminded me.

We’d talked about this in Indianapolis, but I was in the habit of using one. Then again, who was I to argue? I covered her body and slowly entered her. Pam wrapped herself around me and I made slow love to her. I really had to, because the difference between wearing a condom, and not, was dramatic. I felt everything.

I think we both needed a reaffirmation of our feelings for each other. We hadn’t really talked much since our night in Indianapolis. I hadn’t pushed it, because she acted a little nervous about her role in everything. I hoped tonight would assure her that I understood and still cared for her. I’d missed Pam and her quirky sense of humor. When I finally came, it wasn’t earth-shattering or epic. I wasn’t even sure whether Pam had cum or not. That wasn’t what this was about. We ended up just holding each other in comfortable silence.

“David.”

“Yes.”

“You’ll really help me through this?”

“Of course I will.”

“Okay.”

Wednesday November 18

Our college prep class was canceled today, so we were able to catch up with our friends at lunch. Or at least I thought I might get a chance. Mike Herndon, of all people, stopped me before I made it to our usual table.

“Can we talk?” he asked.

I thought we should go out behind the school and have our talk, but decided that could wait until after football was over.

“Uh, I guess,” I said, and I followed him to a table on the other side of the cafeteria.

We’d ordered Chinese for the prep class. I would call it in and pay for it over the phone, and they delivered it to the office each day. I had several people come over and get their share before we were left alone. I noticed that no one offered to pay me today. I would track them down later, or they could buy next time. I would bet none of them wanted to get in the middle of Mike and me if something went wrong. Most everyone was aware of our altercation in the parking lot.

When things finally settled and we’d started to eat, Mike finally told me what was on his mind.

“Do you think the team will accept me again?”

My snap answer was no way in hell did we want him back. If it were purely a football decision, I could see him as a key player next year. Players with his size and speed could always help your team. As a sophomore he’d been one of the hardest runners I’d seen at this level. He had the potential to be a better back than his older brother who’d been All-State his senior year. I think he just didn’t put in the effort this year, and his production had dropped off after we’d had our altercation over what he’d done to Mona. If we had Ty, sophomore Mike, and me in the backfield ... it would be almost impossible to stop our ground game.

The problem was he’d turned out to be a bigger douche than his brother had been. If the team hadn’t banded together against him, and if he’d not hurt Gina, I might have said yes.

“No, I honestly don’t think they can get past what you did,” I said.

“Is that just you, or do you think the team feels the same way?” he asked.

“You do remember the whole ‘O. P. P.’ episode?”

Mike bit his lower lip and looked away from me.

“That was what my dad said. He suggested that I talk to you to make sure,” he said, and then sighed. “I think I’m going to transfer. I’ve talked to my family, and they agree that if I plan to get either a baseball or football scholarship it’s for the best. I need a fresh start.”

I just nodded. It was probably for the best.

“I hate to ask this, because I know how history seems to be repeating itself, but could you help me? I think I’d like to go to Wesleyan. I know you have contacts there,” he said.

“The question is: do I want to use them for you?” I asked.

I don’t think Mike ever expected me to possibly turn him down. His brother Luke had lost his football scholarship offer because he’d been involved in a fight with me. I’d helped get it reinstated. I think Mike thought I would just roll over and do the same for him.

“You seriously won’t make a call for me?” Mike asked.

“Would you do the same for me?” I asked.

Mike thought about it for a minute.

“No, probably not. Will you do it anyway?” he asked.

I decided to look at the bigger picture. With Mike gone it would be better for the team. I was afraid of what they’d do to him after the season. I’d held them off to this point.

“I’ll make the call.”

Mike just nodded and got up to leave. I don’t know what I expected. Maybe a thank you, but apparently I wouldn’t get one. I thought about not calling, but then my uncle’s words about being a man of your word came back to haunt me. I figured I should just get it out of the way. I called Teddy Wesleyan.

I filled him in about Mike in general terms and gave him Mike’s number. About all you could say was I made the call. Teddy said he would look into it and call Mike. I knew that Wesleyan could really use a quarterback. If Mike was able to throw the ball to Damion Roth, he would have a breakout senior year.

After football practice and the dojo we went back to Brook’s house. Cassidy tagged along because she wanted to ride the four-wheelers with us. I smiled when I saw Brook had another one tucked away in the garage.

“I thought you only had two,” I said.

“Mom saw how much fun Dad and I had on them, so she wanted one. Except she putts around on it like an old woman.”

I showed Cassidy how to drive it.

“Now, just take it easy until you get the hang of it,” I cautioned.

Both Brook and Cassidy roared out of the side road towards the trails. Yes, I said trails, because Brook and her dad had been busy since the last time I was there. I took my time and put on my helmet and goggles. I fired my four-wheeler up and shot towards the trails. I was determined to catch up with the girls. I came screaming up a hill; I knew there was a tight turn at the top that then opened up into a little clearing.

I leaned hard into the turn, and I felt the tires bite into the ground and then slide as I powered into the clearing. That’s when I was shot. I caught a round in my upper chest and then one that hit me in the hip and another in my goggles quickly followed. I let off the gas and rolled off the four-wheeler.

The four-wheeler had a safety feature that if you fell off would automatically cut off the engine. The sudden quiet made me nervous, because I wondered where Brook and Cassidy were. I laid by the four-wheeler and marveled at the beauty of this little clearing. The light diffused through the canopy of trees, and I could hear the rustle of leaves that had started to fall in the light breeze. The trees were a riot of oranges, reds and yellows.

I looked down at my chest and was pissed that there was paint on my leathers. I would stalk my two friends down and make them pay. I raised my head and the front of my four-wheeler was hit, and I heard giggles. I noticed there was a compartment on the back of the four-wheeler I hadn’t seen last time. I reached up, pushed the button to open it, and found a paintball gun. I snaked my hand in and pulled it out.

I now had a feral grin on my face. I was about to get even. I leaned around the corner and I saw Cassidy crouched next to a tree. She snapped off a round, but I had her dead to rights. I lined up the shot and... ‘click ... click’ ... nothing!

“Fuck!” I complained.

I hadn’t loaded it. That was when I was shot in my butt. Sneaky Brook had circled around and used Cassidy as bait.

“You surrender?” Brook called out.

I dove towards the back of the four-wheeler, peeked into the box and saw the paintballs. I grabbed the container and a paintball exploded where my hand had been. I ripped open the container and promptly spilled the balls all over the ground.

“For fuck sake,” I mumbled.

I scooped them up and loaded them into my gun. I spotted Brook and shot her.

“David! That hurt!” she whined, and stood up.

I felt horrible.

“I’m sorry,” I said, as I stood up to go see if she was hurt.

It was like a scene from some action movie. I was hit with a hail of paintballs from both Cassidy and Brook. The thing was, they did kind of hurt. I turned and ran at Cassidy as I fired. I figured she would be the least proficient with the paint gun. What I forgot was she grew up around Marines. The little witch shot me in the balls. I went down in a heap and moaned.

“I think I get the kill,” Cassidy crowed.

Brook and Cassidy stood over me in triumph.

“Rub some dirt on it,” Cassidy chided me.

We had a blast the rest of the afternoon, flying around on the four-wheelers and shooting each other. Once I got the hang of the paintball gun my training for my movie took over and I was a deadly shot. Cassidy was just as good and Brook wasn’t bad. It made it much more fun if you knew they could take you out if they got the chance.

We all came back to the house sweaty and covered in paint. I sure hoped that this stuff would wash off. Thankfully, it did.

We ended up having dinner at Brook’s, and then I took Cassidy home.

After I dropped Cassidy off, I drove home in a reflective mood. Cassidy and Brook were spending more time with each other, and seemed to be bonding. Each of them was an embodiment of my more physical side, Cassidy with her conditioning bent and with her skill in martial arts, and Brook with her adventurous spirit. Each of them had their own depths, though, and qualities that went way beyond the physical. Together or separately, though, thinking of them made me smile. It was a good thing.

When I settled into my apartment I found I had several messages on my phone. I took them in order of importance. The first one I returned was to Caryn, my potential PA/Manager.

“Hey, what’s up?” I asked.

“Cora’s a total bitch!”

I couldn’t help but laugh.

“You’re just figuring that out? I was ready to trade for you in New Orleans.”

“I have my MBA from Cal Berkeley, and she thinks I should run out and get her an Orange Crush because she was having a princess craving. I’m not her gofer. And Devin? Don’t get me started. He ordered me to go get it. I had actual work to do, and I had to drop everything to run to the Quickie Mart to buy the bitch a soda. Then they didn’t have Orange Crush!” she ranted.

“So how soon can you start?” I asked.

“You know what? You’re right. How soon do you need me?” she asked.

“Like, yesterday. Do you have money for a flight?” I asked.

“You’re serious?”

“Caryn, I wouldn’t have offered you the job if I wasn’t serious. I had a photo shoot last weekend and I had to ask my mom to go with me. I need you. I’ll call Kendal, and you two can figure out everything she used to do for me before we head out to LA.”

“Where will I stay? Do I need to rent a car?” she asked.

“You’ll stay with us and you can have my Jeep until we get you settled,” I said.

“This is happening so fast. Shouldn’t I give Range Sports notice?” she asked.

“I promise not to have my girlfriend make you do anything ever.”

I heard a slow release of air from her lungs.

“Okay, I’m in. I can afford to catch a flight. You can pay me back when I get there. Will someone pick me up at the airport?” she asked.

“Relax. If I have to hire a driver, I will. Just let me know your flight information and we’ll work it out.”

When I hung up, I did a fist pump. This was both exciting and scary. Caryn would be my first real employee. Yes, I paid Lily and Wolf, but they didn’t have to live off what I paid them. Actually, Frank Ingram now paid Lily. Wolf was more of an ‘as needed’ helper.

My next call was to Kendal.

“Hey, Sexy,” Kendal answered.

“Have you been drinking?” I asked.

“Maybe. What’s up? You never call me anymore,” she pouted.

“I hired a new you, Caryn Buckley, and I need to hire you to get her up to speed,” I said.

“Why does that name sound familiar?”

“She was Devin’s PA,” I said.

“Finally! You’re getting your pound of flesh. I wish I was there when he heard. Is he pissed?”

“He doesn’t know yet.”

“Can I call him? I would love to do it for you,” she pleaded.

“No. I think Caryn wants that honor. Don’t ruin her fun. I think Cora finally went too far, and I’m the beneficiary of that little fiasco.”

“I don’t think Devin realized what he had in Caryn.”

“I agree. So can you help me out?” I asked.

“Actually, our agreement was to get your team up to speed, so this is covered in the settlement.”

“Could you maybe pick her up at the airport?” I floated out there.

“You’ll owe me, but I can do that for you. Do you have her flight information?”

“You’re the best, Kendal. She’s booking her flight now. When I get the information I’ll text you.”

“Remember, you’ll owe me.”

I just shook my head. What could Kendal possibly want that could be that bad? I called Ari Gould, my movie agent, next.

“Hey, Ari.”

“David. I’m glad you called me back. I have some scripts I need you to read.”

In the background I heard, ‘Ari, you have Chubby Feldman on line three.’

“Stacy, can’t you see I’m on the fucking phone with a client?”

‘But you said to tell you as soon as Mr. Feldman called.’

“Sorry about that, David. It’s hard to get good help sometimes,” Ari explained.

“Tell Chubby I said ‘Hi’,” I said.

“You know Chubby Feldman?”

“Yeah. I went to a party with Craig Wild at his house. He seemed like a nice guy. I especially liked his party hos.”

Charles ‘Chubby’ Feldman was one of the hottest action directors in the business right now. I would kill to be in one of his films.

“I like you, David,” Ari laughed. “That’s good news, because one of the scripts I sent you is his project. Read the scripts and call me. I’ve got to take this other call.”

Ari hung up on me. If I didn’t realize my life was about to change, the next call confirmed it. I called Frank Ingram, my publicist.

“Frank, how’s it going?”

“I’ve got good news,” he started, without any preliminaries. “I’ve lined up interviews with Variety, Entertainment Weekly, and Seventeen. I’m working to get you the covers to coincide with the release of your movie, but they all want interviews now, since you’re the next big thing. Ari wants to create a buzz because he wants to get you some work while you’re in LA.”

“Yeah, whatever,” I said, slightly stunned.

“Okay, I’ll confirm it.”

“Uh, Frank. I have a new manager, Caryn Buckley. Could you coordinate everything with her?” I asked.

“Look at you. You finally have people. I’ll talk to her to get it scheduled. They want to do it in the next couple of days to meet their deadlines,” he said, and then changed the subject. “I’ve checked, and Brandon has pulled all his blogs and attack websites. I guess Ms. Dixon got the message across, but we’ll monitor what’s going on.”

“That sounds good. Thanks, Frank. Oh, Caryn won’t be here until tomorrow, so just go ahead with scheduling the interviews and let me know.”

Frank then told me about what he and Lily had been doing with Twitter and the other social media. He seemed excited about the increase in followers I had.

I finally begged off the call with Frank, since I had to study for the finals I would sit for starting a week from Friday. I had one last call to make, and I dreaded it.

“Hey, Angie. What did you need?” I asked.

“You’re invited to our party next Wednesday.”

That was the day before Thanksgiving.

“I have a standing date with Beth then,” I said, to try and get out of it.

“Beth has a boyfriend. Anyway, Beth, Suzanne and Cindy are all coming, and they specifically asked if you’d be here. Also, Greg said you had to come.”

I was a little disappointed to hear that my annual date with Beth was canceled. I know Mr. Happy would be devastated when I told him. I hadn’t seen Cindy in quite a while. I also always loved to hang out with Suzanne. It would be fun to hang out with my three favorite older ladies.