Chapter 2: The Tale of Two Premieres

Tuesday January 5

I’d set my alarm extra early because I had to be at the CBS This Morning studio by seven. It was snowing out, so I went down to the pool and swam. I really hated to run on a treadmill, so this was the best alternative for me. When I was done, I went to the little diner next to Tyler and Adrienne’s condo building to eat breakfast. I’d just finished when I received a text from Caryn to let me know our car was out front.

The driver put my garment bag into the trunk, and I found it was just the two of us.

“Where are Frank and his new friend?” I asked.

“You don’t know his name, do you?” she teased.

I gave her a sideways glance; she knew I didn’t. She just gave her head a little shake. It seemed she wasn’t about to enlighten me.

“They’ll meet us there. Frank’s getting the overnight numbers, and his office compiled your test results.”

Frank had talked me into paying to have a group of people watch all my appearances to see what they liked and didn’t like. He said that he wanted to have the focus group for at least the first day. If they found problems, he would do it again today. Frank sold me when he told me that the studio was doing something similar. Over the years they had determined ways in which they could better predict certain things by an actor’s performance at press events.

When we arrived at CBS, I found Bree Steno drinking coffee and talking to one of the staff.

“There you are. My publicist showed me what you said on Late Night with Seth Meyers show. Thanks for that.”

“I guess we’re together today. How was your world tour yesterday?” I asked.

They’d flown her to Miami, and then she hit Tampa, Jacksonville, Atlanta and DC. At least they hadn’t made me fly all over the country. Elizabeth had worked in San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle yesterday, and she had Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and Phoenix today.

“It wasn’t bad. I hear Craig bailed on you.”

“He was still mad that he wasn’t the center of attention the other day. We had a few words, and he took off,” I admitted.

“You think it’ll be a problem?” she asked.

I knew she was worried because we hadn’t signed anything for the next two movies. If the lead character decided not to play nice, it could kill the deal for all of us.

“I think Kent will get him in line. Plus, he has Saturday Night Live to rehearse for.”

“I guess we’ll know if he shows up for the premiere,” Bree said.

Bree and I were good together doing the interviews. We’d had enough practice two days before. After we did the CBS show, we were off to do The Today Show. Our final stop of the day was The View.

On The View we were the next-to-last segment. The last segment was a clairvoyant named Jeremy Pike. He was supposed to be the next big deal. Jeremy had started a reality show of him doing readings for famous people. Personally, I thought it was all in fun.

Frank found me before we went on.

“We have the numbers back from your interviews yesterday, and the focus group loved you. They found the Kate Upton shtick to be funny.”

“But I was serious,” I said.

“You came across as being sincere. Kate wasn’t as pleased, though. Her Twitter account blew up. You might have to mend some fences there,” Franks suggested.

Kate was a big girl; she could handle a few tweets. If anything, it gave her some much-needed publicity. Not enough people were downloading pictures of her. I wasn’t worried she’d be mad about it.

We were called out to do our portion of the show.

We had done our normal routine—show the clip and talk about how good the movie was going to be—when things took a turn.

“I hear you were hazed a little bit while making the movie,” Joy Behar said.

This wasn’t in the talking points, and I glanced at Bree. She had an innocent expression on her face, and I suddenly got worried.

“They pulled a trick or two, but it was all in good fun,” I said.

“I think we have some video of David when we tricked him into thinking he’d be doing a lip-sync battle with Craig Wild,” Bree said as she perked up.

They played portions of the video. I noticed that they showed me with my shirt off.

“He was like a little brother to us,” Bree said. “He also wanted to learn to dance.”

They showed me dancing between takes, which made the audience laugh. Of course, I had my shirt off for some of them, because they liked me to show off Stryker’s tattoos.

“He seems to have his shirt off a lot,” Whoopi Goldberg commented, picking up on what I’d just been thinking.

“That’s the model in him. If you asked, he’d take it off now,” Bree said.

“Who’d like to see David take his shirt off?” Raven-Symoné asked.

I think there were a bunch of dirty old ladies in the audience.

“I’m not sure my mom wants me taking my clothes off on national TV,” I said.

“The reason I brought up the hazing is because little David pranked me back,” Bree said, and I blushed, which caused everyone to want to know what I’d done.

“Bree and I were in a marathon interview session, and she received a text from a guy she’d just met. She looked at it while I talked to the person doing the interview. He asked her a question, and for some unknown reason she handed me her phone. I helped her out and set up a date for her,” I said.

“Here’s what he added,” Bree said, and handed her phone to Raven-Symoné.

Her eyes got big and she covered her mouth. She handed it to Joy.

“You are a very bad boy,” Raven-Symoné said, giving me a stern look. “What did your date say?”

“It took me a while to calm down, but he showed me the text messages,” Bree said. “I quickly figured out what had happened.”

“I asked him if he wanted to have a good time,” I blurted out.

By now, Bree’s phone had made the rounds, and Whoopi locked my eyes with hers.

“Is that how you plan to play it?” she asked in a stern voice.

“That, and buy Bree an expensive gift. I’m thinking it might be jewelry.”

“He got me good. I can’t wait to see what happens when we start making the next Star Academy,” Bree added, and we were done.

As I was walking off set, the next guest stopped me.

“Hang around. I need to talk to you,”Jeremy Pike said.

I went back to the green room, and everyone was smiling. Bree had let them in on the secret.

“The look on his face was priceless!” Bree crowed.

“You got me. You’re just lucky they didn’t say what I texted,” I admitted.

Bree handed me her phone. The text read ‘pinch my butt’. They all laughed at me when I realized that Bree was smarter than I gave her credit for.

“Talk to Caryn, and I’ll have her pick out your gift,” I said as I hugged and kissed Bree goodbye.

Caryn was the only one going with me to Chicago. Frank had had a client do something wrong, and the studio rep planned to remain in New York and make sure Craig didn’t get up to any mischief while he did Saturday Night Live.

Jeremy Pike was in his mid-20s. I really didn’t know what he wanted, but I waited for him. Caryn went back to the hotel to pack. We didn’t have to leave for nearly four hours, so I had time to meet with him. We went to a restaurant to grab some lunch.

“David, I don’t think you believe in what I do,” Jeremy said.

“I’m not sure what you do,” I admitted. “I just know it’s some kind of psychic stuff.”

“I was raised in a small town and my parents were very religious. When I told them I knew things, they thought I’d been spying on them and their neighbors. I quickly learned to keep things to myself. It wasn’t until I went off to college and got out from under them that I had the courage to admit that I had a gift. Some of what I do is talk to the dead, and some is just intuition,” he said, and looked over his coffee cup to see how I had taken his little speech.

“What does that have to do with me?” I asked.

“When I got near you, I knew I had to talk to you. There’s something about you that draws spiritual energy. I don’t want to alarm you, but I get the sense that your grandfather on your dad’s side is looking over you. He pushed me to talk to you. There are things he thinks you need to know.”

I tilted my head and dabbed a French fry in some catsup. I felt warning flags start to go up. My first thought was this man was just scamming me. Anyone could Google me and find out my granddad was dead.

“My first instinct is to get up and walk out of here,” I admitted.

“I get that. Let me tell you one thing, and you can decide if you want to let me do a full reading or not,” he offered.

“What’s this going to cost me?” I asked.

“How about you buy lunch?” he asked with a smile.

I just nodded.

“Let’s keep it simple. You’re secretly worried that the Cubs will win the World Series before you can play for them. You want to hit the series-winning home run,” Jeremy said.

I leaned my head back, looked at the ceiling, and laughed. I’d never even thought it before, but when he said it, I knew it was true.

“Okay, I’ll buy your lunch.”

He closed his eyes and then frowned. That frown turned into a scowl. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes.

“This is going to make you mad. Please just listen to what I say, and don’t interrupt. I have to focus or I’ll lose the thread,” he said, and I nodded.

He closed his eyes again and began to speak.

“You have three best friends from growing up. One of them has left you. This isn’t about him, but about your other two friends. I’m sensing that there was something that happened to cause the three of you to be torn apart. Wait. That’s not entirely true. One of your best friends is a ... girl. There is a special bond there that you feel has somehow been broken,” he said, and then sighed and his eyes fluttered open.

Our eyes locked.

“That bond can never be broken,” he said, and then closed his eyes again. “Something happened. Somehow you’ve been deceived. I’m feeling malice towards you. That feeling caused someone to deceive you about your friends. He arranged for you to think unkind thoughts about them. I keep getting the image of a ring that was defiled in some way. It had special meaning that this act destroyed for you.”

He opened his eyes as my stomach twisted.

“You will hear a rumor. Pay attention, because it holds the key to you discovering the truth.”

I sat back into my seat. My rational brain tried to figure out how he’d found out so much. The other half of me wanted desperately to believe. I knew that was the power of people like him; they preyed on people’s desires, on their willingness to believe. I found I wanted to believe, and it scared me. What if it were true? Had I damaged two of the most important friendships in my life just because of something someone else did? I knew what I had seen, though—Alan and Tami in bed together.

I found Henry watching me. I gave him a tight smile.

“Why don’t you ask me what you want to know?”

“What should I do? Play football, make movies, or play baseball?” I asked.

“Why not all for now? Right now, you don’t have enough information to decide. All I can say at this time is that when you finally do decide, the obvious choice might not be the best one for you in the end. If you take your time, you’ll make the right choice,” Henry said.

“Will my movie do well?” I asked.

“At first, you might not think so. This is another instance where you should wait. If you do wait, you’ll make a much better financial decision. People will try to force you to decide quickly. Resist that temptation.”

“Love life?” I asked.

“Please! For now, just enjoy what comes to you. There’s no need for you to make a lifelong commitment anytime soon. There will be an opportunity where you’ll think you want to. You’ll be happy for a time, but it will shake your belief in marriage. It will be one of those growing experiences you hate so much, but in the long run I do see you happily married.”

“My baby? Will he be healthy?” I asked.

He closed his eyes and then shook his head.

“You already are a father, but I feel you don’t know it. You already have three sons and a daughter. You will have a very special boy this spring. All your children will make you very happy.”

I laughed at that one. The only thing I could think of was that he might be talking about my niece and nephews. The only other baby in my life would be Little David, Peggy’s son.

On that note, we said our goodbyes. We exchanged numbers, because Henry said I would need to talk to him at some point. I just went along with it. He had seemed to be spot on until the end, which I felt was a good thing. He had me half-believing him until that point.

Caryn and I were staying at the Silversmith Hotel on Wabash in downtown Chicago. The studio had set up interviews for the evening. It was a mix between radio stations and local TV. I had slogged through four interviews when I saw my next inquisitor: Dan Roan, the sports director of Chicago’s flagship station WGN. I stood up and shook his hand.

“I didn’t expect to see you here for a movie-premiere press junket,” I said.

“Our entertainment director told me you were in town, so I decided to claim a spot on your schedule. You don’t mind if we talk a little sports, do you?” Dan asked.

“I would love to talk sports.”

We took our positions and he began.

“Welcome back to Sports Feed, and I’m Dan Roan. We have a special visitor here that I wanted to get a chance to talk to. This is David Dawson, a two-time State Champion and rated the number one prospect at quarterback in the junior class. Many might argue that he is the number one high school player, regardless of class...”

The interview went well, and it reminded me that I needed to start to get serious about working out again. I’d run, but I’d been lax for the last six weeks. It was funny how a random conversation could refocus you.

Bo Harrington had advised that I not go to camps this summer, because I could only go backwards. The other side of the coin was if you were number one, you couldn’t just sit on your butt and expect to maintain that position. I felt that competitive monster wake up inside of me. Whatever I did, I wanted to be the best. To be the best, I needed to get back home and get serious about working out with my teammates.

Wednesday January 6

When I got up, I saw that I only had a radio interview with Steve Harvey, and then the rest of the day was blocked off. I met Caryn downstairs for breakfast.

“I thought we had more interviews to do today. What happened?” I asked.

“It’s supposed to be a surprise,” Caryn demurred.

“Am I going to have to fire you?” I teased.

“I hope not. Just go along with it. You’ll like this surprise,” Caryn assured me.

Steve Harvey was a lot of fun. He’s a funny man. I don’t think I stopped laughing. He also did a fantastic job of promoting the movie. When I was done, Caryn guided me out to a limo. We’d arrived in a cab, so I was suspicious when the limo pulled up.

We got in and started towards the expressway. I smiled when we went south.

“Are we going home?” I asked.

“Yes. You, Craig, Bree and Elizabeth each are getting a pre-premiere in your hometowns. We’ve arranged to have it at Lincoln High in the Field House. I’m impressed that no one let the cat out of the bag. We sent out nearly a thousand invitations, and they’ve confirmed thirty-five hundred people will attend,” Caryn told me.

Basically, every student and their family had been invited. School started on Monday, so some people were on vacation. Caryn had set aside fifty tickets that I could send out to people I wanted to invite. Caryn and I went through the list of local people who had helped me or could be in a position to help in the future. That list included Mr. Hill, Teddy Wesleyan, Kendal and a few of the staff at her firm. I made sure they could invite their families or friends. I then called Tami. They were in school and she told me that she wanted five tickets: one for her, and the others for Harper, Missy, Lisa and Sarah.

I then called my grandma and she suggested I invite the Governor and a few other local politicos. I was happy when she reminded me to include the local DA, Scott Mason, who had treated me right. I then invited Detective Kitchens. I also asked Ms. Dixon to come.

I called Jeff Delahey to invite him and his granddaughter. He assured me that I would get some good press for making him the best granddad ever.

I came home to find Peggy playing with Duke and Little David. She was rolling a ball for Duke, and his bouncing around to get it had Little David giggling. When Duke saw me, he froze for a moment, as if he didn’t know who I was.

“You forget who I am?” I asked.

I hadn’t seen him in over a month. He flipped out, he was so happy. Peggy had to rescue Little David, because Duke was bouncing around without a care for where the baby was.

“Wow, he was happy when your parents came home, but this is nuts,” Peggy said.

I had my hands full loving up my hound. I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed him until now. There’s something special about the unconditional love of your dog.

“I’d give you a hug, but I don’t think he’d understand,” I said.

“Why don’t you take him outside and throw his ball in the snow? It’ll calm him down some,” Peggy suggested.

I did just that. Duke was a year old now, and pretty much done growing. Labs tended to take longer to mature, so he still had a lot of puppy in him. I threw the ball until he lay down at my feet and batted the ball with his paws. I snatched it up and he happily followed me back into the house. I’d just gotten inside when Mom came home.

“We watched you on TV. We recorded all your interviews so you can see them when you get home.”

“Thanks. I’m about ready for this part of it to be over,” I said, and then smiled. “Can we go to Monical’s for dinner?”

“You’d rather have Monical’s than have your mom cook for you?” Mom asked.

“I’m buying,” I offered.

“Call Greg and have him reserve the banquet room.”

“Good call. That’ll mean free appetizers.”

After I called Greg, I called Zoe.

“Hey, it’s me,” I said.

“Hey me, where are you?”

“I’m home. Tell your family that we’re going to Monical’s for dinner. Greg reserved the banquet room.”

“Does that mean I should start the call tree?”

“Yeah, I want to see everyone,” I said, and then glanced over to see if my mom was listening. “I want to see you, too.”

“Can you come over? Maybe you could take me for a ride,” Zoe said.

I chuckled at her double entendre. I looked at the clock.

“I’ll be right over,” I said.

Mom gave me a look, but she knew I would make it to Monical’s on time. I gave her a hug and got my Charger out of the garage. It felt good not to have to be driven around. Granted, I didn’t have to deal with LA traffic. I loved to drive my Charger, and after my driving classes I felt much more comfortable behind the wheel. Of course, I wasn’t about to push it. It was 24 degrees out, and there was always the possibility you would run into black ice.

When I pulled into the Pearson farm, Zoe ran out of the house and jumped into the passenger seat.

“Take me somewhere where we can be alone,” she ordered.

I drove us to my new farm, just down the road from her house. As I pulled into the drive, I saw the limo and my grandma’s car. Caryn and my grandma came out of the barn and waved.

“Sorry,” I offered Zoe, but she just shrugged and got out of the car.

“I was about to call you,” Caryn said.

“Who’s your friend?” Grandma Dawson asked.

“Zoe, I would like you to meet my grandma, Lorraine Dawson.”

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Dawson,” Zoe said.

Caryn was in business mode, so she interrupted our discussion.

“Your mom got me into contact with the Ag professor who helped evaluate the property. I contacted him to get an update on the market. I have some bad news about egg production: it seems some of the larger producers have invested heavily into reestablishing the production of eggs after the bird flu problem. He originally predicted the higher prices would hold, but now he’s predicting that by this summer, eggs could fall to as low as a dollar a dozen.

“If that happens, we’d be crazy to reestablish the egg production. My numbers say we’d be in the red for the next five years,” Caryn surmised.

“I think she’s being generous with the numbers,” Grandma Dawson said.

“The professor gave me some alternatives. Of course, you know about cattle. They’re relatively low-maintenance. The professor says the demand for organically raised beef, milk and cheese is rapidly increasing, and it all sells for a premium. The downside is they require more space than other options.

“The second option is goats. Seventy percent of the world’s population regularly eats goat meat. Most of the United States’ supply of goat meat comes from other countries. There is a demand for locally grown goats. Certain goats, such as angora and cashmere, are raised for their hair, which can be sheared and sold. Goat’s milk is used in variety of products, from cheese to soaps to candles. Goats require less land and food, and smaller living quarters, than cattle, meaning that farmers can raise more goats than cattle for the same dollar amount.

“The third option is organically raised chickens. Their meat and eggs command a significant part of the local market, and they are among the easiest forms of livestock to care for. Chickens are the least expensive livestock option to raise and care for. They also require the least amount of space and eat the least amount of food,” Caryn said.

“So, what are you recommending?” I asked.

“For livestock, I would start with goats,” Grandma Dawson said. “It aligns better with your produce-stand idea.”

I looked at Caryn, and she just nodded. I trusted them to make it work. I’d been reading about the egg production business, and it was very involved. You had to have your people dress in special suits when they were in with the birds to keep from contaminating them. The more I read, the bigger the hassle it sounded like. In a way, I was relieved.

Grandma Dawson gave us a tour of the farm. When she got to the farmhouse, I saw it was dated. It looked like they hadn’t maintained it for several years. I wasn’t going to have my grandma live in something like this. I pulled Caryn aside and talked to her about it. She assured me she could get some ideas about what could be done. I told her to make sure my grandma was happy, because I’d asked her to move back here and help me, even though she was retired.

I was pleased to hear that the local Mennonites had started to come by and introduce themselves. Grandma felt she could find some farm workers to help get things moving.

Zoe and I were disappointed that we hadn’t gotten a chance to be alone, but she agreed I needed to see my new farm so I’d know what was being talked about when I needed to make a decision. I took Zoe home so she could get ready to meet me at Monical’s with her family and then go to the premiere.

I went to my apartment only to find Peggy and Little David had taken it over. She saw me the same time Duke woke from his nap.

“I wanted to talk to you,” Peggy said.

“What about?”

“I’ve been talking to your mom, but she said I had to talk to you,” she said.

“What about?” I repeated.

“It’s about the money you’re giving me through your charity. I want to earn it, not have it given to me. What I want to do is help your mom with your and Pam’s baby. She told me that she and your dad were going to take custody until you got through college. What I want to do is work as a live-in nanny.”

“I hope you still plan to go to college,” I said.

“Yes. This would actually also be a big help to me. Your mom and dad would help when they could, and I would take care of the kids the other times. It would minimize the time they’d need to be in daycare.”

“Where would you stay?” I asked.

“The upstairs is already set up for Angie, Greg and their kids when they stay here. Your mom suggested that I move Little David and myself upstairs. When your baby’s born, we’d put them both in the same room for now.”

“I’ll talk to Caryn and get you on the payroll. I trust you can work this out with my mom and dad. They always tell me, ‘their house, their rules.’ I also expect you to get your college education,” I said.

I was surprised when she fiercely hugged me. I could tell this meant a lot to her. Single moms struggled just to get by. When I thought about what would happen if Angie and Kyle were on their own, it was easy to put together the charity to help young mothers when they were at the point of their greatest need. That, and Peggy and I had a history together. I would never put her out on the street if there was anything I could do to help.

I thought she’d be perfect at helping me raise my son when he was born. I’d been worried it would be too much for my mom and dad. Having Peggy help was a relief.

I took a shower and got into my closet for clothes for the premiere. I smiled when I picked out things that I knew Halle wouldn’t approve of for LA attire. I wore my handmade leather boots with the silver zipper on the side, and AGed-15 jeans. The jeans had strategically placed rips to show a little skin, which meant I had to go commando. The sacrifices we had to endure for fashion. I found a Henley long-sleeved t-shirt in navy blue with orange trim and buttons. I’d hidden it, so the girls hadn’t stolen this one.

I was torn between wearing my new leather jacket or my letterman jacket. Tomorrow was for the world, but tonight was for my hometown and friends. I decided on the letterman jacket. I checked myself in the mirror, and I saw my letterman jacket had started to fill up with pins and patches. You received a pin every time you lettered in a sport. I had three footballs and a baseball representing my four letters. I also had two patches that showed my state championships.

I received a text from Caryn: the limo was out front. I saw I was the last one to get in. My parents, grandma, Peggy and Caryn were waiting for me. My mom looked at me and rolled her eyes.

“I thought you were wearing a suit,” Caryn said.

“My peeps would call me a poser if I did that. This is for here, not LA,” I said.

“Your peeps?” Mom asked.

“Sure, why not.”

“We need to get him home before his head swells any more,” Mom told my dad.

We arrived early at Monical’s and found Greg and Angie were already there. He’d set everything up, and I saw the assistant manager had him cornered. Angie had a smirk on her face as Greg sacrificed himself to get us some free appetizers.

We were only there a few minutes when the place suddenly began to fill up. I was surprised I felt nervous about tonight. It was one thing to walk out on a football field with your teammates; I was about to expose myself to everyone I cared about. What if they didn’t like the movie? I don’t know why this felt different. After all, I’d modeled and shown my butt to the world. This just felt more personal in some way. I think if I hadn’t already seen the movie and gotten positive feedback, I might have become a basket case.

Then I remembered that these really were my friends. They’d support me even if I crashed and burned.

As people arrived, I made it a point to greet them and spend some time talking to each one. I was glad I hadn’t dressed up, because no one else had.

I took a break to grab some pizza—it was the reason I picked Monical’s, after all—when I felt someone grab my butt. I turned around to find the girls from Wesleyan.

“Didn’t your mother teach you to wear underwear?” Tami asked.

“I have on a thong,” I lied.

“Oh, dear God! What have they done to you in LA? Next, you’ll tell us you had your nails done,” Harper teased.

I blushed and stuffed my hands into my pockets. Our makeup girl on set had trimmed and put a clear coat on my nails. I wasn’t about to argue with her, because she gave me some of the best blowjobs I’d ever had.

“Does he have eyeliner on?” Lisa asked.

“I think I have that lip gloss,” Missy teased.

It was good to see them again and with their teasing, I began to feel better about tonight. It felt good to have friends around that treated you the same as always. I had counted on that when my uncle warned me how people would treat me differently.

It was soon time for everyone to go the Field House. When we arrived at the high school, it was a madhouse. I was glad we had the limo and didn’t have to deal with parking. As soon as I got out of the limo, I was swarmed by people wishing me well.

I slowly worked my way inside. The Field House was a large building; it was big enough for half a football field for indoor workouts. At one end, they’d set up a large screen and huge speakers. They’d brought in bleachers for the back, and then there were folding chairs for people up front. Behind the bleachers, the booster club had set up a concession stand as a fundraiser.