Chapter 8: What’s Wrong With My Balls?

Friday June 17

Duke and I took the boys running in the morning. They seemed to enjoy the runs since it got them out of the house. Peggy had to finish writing a paper for one of her summer classes. I gave her a hard time about being a slacker. That was until she explained how much time the boys took up each day. That shut me up.

I was impressed that she could handle raising the boys and going to school. I just seemed to be able to take off and assume everything was being taken care of. I vowed to spend more time with the boys when I could.

With that in mind, I spent the morning with Little David and Coby instead of taking them to daycare. Duke seemed to think I wasn’t doing it right because he kept nudging me. The good news was we all survived the morning.

During our time together, Little David had to have his diaper changed. I put a little too much baby powder on his bottom, which didn’t make Duke happy. Little David was lying face down on the changing table when suddenly some baby powder shot straight up. Even the fragrant smell of the powder could not cover up the gas that came from his bottom. We needed to check what he was being fed. Either that, or something had died in there. Duke shook his head and sneezed. I about fell down laughing at his antics.

I’d skipped lifting today but did make it to football practice. Tami’s car pulled up and she had Wolf and Tim with her.

“Jack fired you already?” I asked.

Tim picked me up in a bear hug as he grinned from ear to ear.

“Easy, big guy. I’m happy to see you too,” I said as he put me down.

“Damn, it’s good to see you,” Tim said.

Wolf just slapped me on the back, but Tami gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“Jack has been great. He’s worked our butts off, but we’re learning a lot. This week, I helped one of the electricians, while Tim worked with a plumber. In a couple of weeks, we’ll switch,” Wolf explained.

“What about you?” I asked Tami.

“When we have free time, they let us watch surgeries,” she said with a big smile.

I held up my hand.

“I don’t need any details. How are you getting along with the Mass family?”

“Good. Mike planned to visit this weekend, so we decided we needed to come see you before you left again,” Tim said.

“He’s an even bigger douche, now that he goes to a private school,” Wolf shared.

“Hey,” Tami complained.

“You know what I mean,” Wolf said, to defend himself.

“She is a little stuck-up,” Tim observed.

“David, what did your old PA do to her brother?” Tami asked.

“Superglued his nuts to his thigh.”

“This stuck-up prep-school girl might have to go shopping,” she warned them.

It was good to see that my friends liked each other. I wasn’t really worried, but you never knew. They seemed to feel comfortable enough to give each other a hard time.

Yuri and Ty came onto the field while Wolf and Tim went to change. Ty handed Tami his tablet with the coaching software so she could call out plays. She had helped coach us last year and didn’t miss a beat. I liked Coach Mason’s offense. It focused on moving the ball downfield in chunks. It was similar to a fast-break offense in basketball. It was intended to be run at a relentless clip with the intention of scoring a lot of points.

Since today was my last day until I came back from baseball, Ty decided to have me run the plays against our defense. It was clear right away that the addition of Tim at middle linebacker made a difference. He’d worked hard to come back from his knee injury and he moved well in shorts and a t-shirt. He was also becoming a beast. Kevin Goode, our all-state linebacker freshman year, didn’t have Tim’s lateral speed. If, once we put pads on, Tim could hit as hard as Kevin, he could write his own ticket to wherever he wanted to play college ball.

The other player that stood out was Roc. He’d grown taller and put on muscle since last year. The good news was he was even faster. He had a long, easy gait that ate up yardage in a hurry. In a lot of ways, he reminded me of Damion Roth, probably the high school receiver with the highest ceiling I’d ever played with. Damion had enrolled at Wesleyan and would be Mike’s number one target. Damion reminded me of a young Randy Moss, or a more recent example would be Odell Beckham Jr. Granted, Damion had issues, but he was a freak athletically. Roc had sneaky-good speed because it didn’t seem like he was running hard. When he kicked it into overdrive, I would bet he could outrun Bill, who’d gotten himself a scholarship to play at USC and was the Gatorade Player of the Year for our state his senior year. I honestly felt Roc could be special.

What made all the difference in the world was the addition of Wolf to our offense. Moving him inside to play tight end made a lot of sense. He was another one who had taken to the training since last year. Even in shorts and t-shirts, he was disruptive in the middle of the field. I was sure Ty would love to have Wolf block for him when he ran the ball. I certainly loved to throw to Wolf. He was my security blanket. We were comfortable with each other, and I knew if I got it near him, he’d catch it.

There were two new receivers, Don Crown and Tom Wells, who’d recently moved to town. Don looked to be Wolf’s backup at tight end and would see the field when we went to either a big package or goal-line set. He was big and strong, but he wasn’t very fast.

Tom looked like he would challenge Ed Pine for the other wide receiver position. While Ed was probably a better fit as a slotback because of his smaller size and speed, Tom just looked the part. I’d had a long talk with Tom about catching the ball. He was taking advantage of our JUGS machines. I told him I wanted him to catch at least a hundred balls a day. Word must have gotten around because all the skill players had taken up my challenge. It was good that the boosters had bought a couple more machines. We now had four going almost constantly.

I worked up a good sweat after an hour of running the team up and down the field. I think the defense was happy to see me leave because I needed to go work on baseball.

“How do you feel?” Moose asked me.

“I’m ready. I’m just glad I did Elite 11 last year or this would be freaking me out.”

“I’m nervous, and I’m not playing,” Coach Haskins shared.

“They were really smart in how they calmed us down at Elite 11. Even though we all knew it was a competition, and ‘everything counted,’” I said, making the appropriate air quotes, “the coaches told us the real competition was with ourselves. We were receiving world-class coaching, and if we were smart, we would focus on making ourselves better. I plan on doing the same at Under-18.”

“I don’t get you sometimes. I’d be checking out all the competition and worried about how I stacked up,” Moose said.

“While you were worrying about me, I’d just be focused and playing ball. I would end up kicking your butt because you would eventually mess up.”

“Why’s that?” Moose asked.

“When you should be 100% focused on baseball, you’d be splitting time seeing what I was doing. The lack of focus would cost you, at some point. Why do you think I trash-talk sometimes? It’s to get into the heads of my opponents. I got this,” I said with a smile.

“I’m going to quit worrying about you,” Coach Haskins said.

“No, don’t. If you guys worry and check out the competition, I won’t have to,” I said with a big smile.

“You’re a dick sometimes,” Moose said with a grin.

I just shrugged.

Tim’s parents had gone to his grandparents’ on his dad’s side for the weekend. What’s the rite of passage for every teen who finds they have a home-alone situation? You throw a party. Tim was smart: he called in our local party planner, Mona, to put it together. We would miss her when she left for college in the fall.

I let Paul have the night off since he had to go with me to North Carolina. Cassidy was in charge of me. She insisted that she drive me in my Jeep and that we pick up Brook. I had a feeling I wouldn’t see either of them for most of the night because they were busy talking to each other. I had to remember that I’d stolen Cassidy for my trip to Cuba while Brook stayed home. It seemed that they had some serious catching-up to do. What confused me was that Cassidy had been home since Sunday.

Tim lived in an older neighborhood with small ranch homes. I was glad to see it was a gorgeous night because his house was too small for the crowd that showed up. I have to be honest, I didn’t miss the heat and humidity of Cuba. It felt good to be home, weather-wise.

I made my rounds to say hi to everyone. There were the usual suspects, except Jim was nowhere to be found. Then I remembered he was off to college to work out and take a couple of summer classes. I’d received a text from Bill when I was in Cuba. He’d done the same and gone back to USC. That would be the case for most of my friends next year.

I did find someone I didn’t expect, Sarah Spence. She was a model I’d worked with and had been Wolf’s prom date. She and I’d attended model camp in New York together. She was one of my favorite people at Wesleyan, besides Tami.

“What brings you here?” I asked.

“Wolf. He and I’ve started dating.”

“When did that happen? He’s been holding out on me.”

“I went to visit my parents for a couple of weeks after school got out, but my dad got another project. I just couldn’t see myself spending the summer in Billings, Montana. You know I’ve stayed at Harper’s now and then. She invited me to move in for the summer,” she explained.

“That has to be a little awkward for Bev and Jack with the two of you there.”

“I think Jack purposely works Wolf’s butt off so he has no energy when he gets home,” Sarah admitted.

Tami, Tim and Wolf found us.

“I hear you’re living in sin in Chicago,” I teased Wolf.

“I wish, but I think Bev would string me up if I did that. Oh, sorry. I forgot to tell you I’m dating Sarah,” he said with a big smile.

“She filled me in.” I turned to Tami and Tim. “What’s going on with you two? I mean, Wolf has Sarah, Harper has he who must not be named ... are you two getting out?” I asked.

It was funny to watch their polar-opposite reactions: Tim blushed, and Tami looked pissed.

“Harper thinks it’s her job to find me a man this summer. Have you met her stuck-up friends?” Tami asked.

“Ah, yes. The self-entitled group,” I said with a nod.

“If that wasn’t enough, these two,” she said, pointing at Wolf and Tim, “have been pains in the butt.”

They both suddenly looked too innocent.

“What did you do?” I asked the guys.

“Someone has to look out for her,” Tim blurted.

I thought I saw the problem. They were acting like overprotective big brothers. I snorted while trying not to laugh at the death stare Tami gave them.

“They tossed one of her dates into a dumpster,” Sarah supplied.

“I contend he jumped in,” Wolf said.

“After you two threatened to dismember him,” Tami huffed.

“He was pawing you like a dog hunting for a treat,” Wolf shot back.

“He was not,” Tami complained.

“He had his hand inside your shirt,” Tim said, looking annoyed.

“That was an accident, and besides, he was a total douche-nozzle. He wasn’t getting a kiss goodnight,” Tami assured them.

“They did you a favor, then,” I ventured.

“See, even David agrees he needed to hurry home,” Tim said, a little too excitedly.

Tami just left us to go somewhere else before she killed us.

“‘Douche-nozzle’?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“He really was. Tami won’t admit it, but she appreciated their help,” Sarah said.

“See, I told you she wasn’t mad,” Wolf told Tim.

“She sure seemed like it to me,” Tim said, looking upset.

Someone put some music on, and Wolf pulled Sarah to the patio so they could dance.

“Hey, uhm, David ... uh ... I don’t know ... I’ll be back,” Tim said and bolted.

Hmm, curious.

I finished my Mountain Dew and went to get another one. I found Yuri talking to Roc and my half brother, Phil.

“Where are we going for our trip?” Phil asked.

Yuri and Roc looked at him curiously.

“We’re going for a guys’ week with my dad, uncle, Greg and David,” Phil explained.

It felt a little weird when he said it that way, but he was right. His dad was my dad.

“It’s a surprise,” I said.

“What do you mean, it’s a surprise?” Roc asked.

“I mean even I don’t know,” I said.

“No one will tell me either. I thought you guys were just playing a joke on me,” Phil whined.

“Didn’t you guys go to a brothel or something on your last trip?” Roc asked, and I about choked on my drink.

“How did you hear about that?” I asked, playing along.

“Everyone knows. You’re Dawsons,” Yuri said like it was common knowledge.

“I was told we can’t do anything like that this time,” I said.

“What? Why not?” Phil asked in a panic.

I just rolled my eyes and ended up looking at my half brother in a significant manner. The other two burst out laughing because it wasn’t a secret that the youngest Dawson was a virgin. Poor Phil looked like he might cry. At that moment, I really wished my parents had had another son. Phil was too much fun to tease. I could’ve been doing this for years. At least I had him now to torment. Being a big brother was more fun than I realized.

“Did your mom buy you condoms? You can’t go without them,” I said with a straight face.

The look of horror was too much. None of us could keep it in any longer.

“You all suck!” Phil said as he stomped off.

“That was kind of mean,” Roc said.

“Where did you come up with the brothel story?” I asked.

Roc blushed.

“It was the only thing I could think of.”

Kylie found Roc and pulled him out onto the dance floor. I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t danced yet.

“Uhm ... uh, David ... uhm,” Yuri said, and then suddenly he had to go.

What the hell was going on?

I found Tami in the house, people-watching, and joined her on the couch.

“People are acting weird,” I said, and then told her about Tim and Yuri.

“I have no idea,” she said with a shrug.

I think my head almost snapped off when I did a double take. Did Tami Glade just say she didn’t know what was going on? Was I in some alternate universe?

“Seriously?” I asked.

“Not a clue. Want me to find out?”

“No, no ... no, no ... I’ll figure it out,” I said.

“How’s Trip?” she asked, getting serious.

“It brought back a lot of memories of Jeff,” I admitted.

“I miss him, too,” she said, as she put her hand on mine.

We just sat there in our own thoughts. Finally, I broke the silence.

“You know I want you to be happy. I won’t freak out if you start to date someone,” I said.

“Please. Since when could you ever handle that?” she asked.

I just nodded. I deserved that. I didn’t feel like fighting with her tonight; instead I just got up and walked away. Suddenly I felt tired. I found Cassidy and told her I was going home. She and Brook decided to stay. They assured me they could get a ride.

Saturday June 18

I was in my apartment, packing, when there was a knock on the door. I found Tim standing there, looking nervous. I invited him in.

“I need to talk to you about something personal,” he said.

I wondered if this was what made him so nervous last night.

“What did you say to Tami to make her cry?” he asked out of the blue.

“What are you talking about? When did Tami cry?” I asked.

“Last night after you left.”

“Did she say I made her cry? Because I don’t remember doing anything that could’ve caused her to,” I said.

“Oh, I just assumed,” Tim said.

“Let’s call her and find out,” I said and started to go to my bedroom to grab my phone off the charger.

“No!” Tim said in a panic.

“If she was crying, I want to find out why,” I said.

“Please. I said too much.”

I looked at him and decided he looked stressed enough. I could always wait until he left to find out.

“Okay, calm down. Now tell me why you came here this morning,” I said.

“Couldn’t I just be here because we’re friends?” Tim asked.

“You could, but you told me you needed to talk to me.”

“Oh, that.”

“Yeah, that. What’s up?” I asked.

“You see it’s ... uhm ... I ... ah, shit!”

Something had him tied up in knots.

“Dude, it’s me. Just tell me,” I said.

“I don’t want you getting mad at me, and I’ve tried to tell myself it’s no big deal, that you wouldn’t care. But see, I would care if I was you, and I feel like such a shit that I would even think about it. I just figured if I came to you and we talked you’d be okay with it, but then I realized that I was being insane and you would never talk to me again. This is such a bad idea. I think I should go,” Tim said, and he suddenly stood up.

“Sit!” I ordered, and Tim almost fell back into his seat. “Whatever this is, it’s causing you to act crazy. I thought we were friends. Just tell me.”

“We are friends. That’s why this is so hard. I need to ask your permission.”

I suddenly felt like the Godfather from the movie.

“Tim, I’m gonna make you an offer you can’t refuse,” I said, channeling my best Don Vito Corleone persona. “Tell me, my friend, what bothers you, or I will feed you to the fishes.”

That got a smile out of him.

“It’s no big deal...” he began, and then looked at my death stare. “I like Tami.”

At least he looked me in the eyes.

“I like her too,” I said to tease him.

It was amusing to see him flush.

“See, that was what I was afraid of. I don’t want anything to hurt our friendship. I know you two have a history,” Tim said.

“Calm down. So you like, like her?” I asked.

I know I was being a dick, but I wanted him to say it.

“Yeah, I do,” he admitted.

Of all the guys I knew, Tim would be the one I would trust the most with Tami. I did have a slight twinge of wanting to claim her as mine, but that boat had sailed. I was over the whole ‘someday’ bullshit, and was actually fine with this. At least with Tim, it wasn’t some random dude to be worried about. Tim had a big heart, but he was more than a little inexperienced. Tami would eat him up.

The other problem was he had to build up the intestinal fortitude to tell her he liked her. If his performance telling me was any indication, he needed to up his game about a thousand percent. His only hope would be her feeling pity for him. He would never be equal in their relationship if he started at such an uneven footing. I shook my head sadly.

“You’re so screwed.”

“Why?” he asked in a panic.

“First of all, I’m fine with you dating Tami. I’ll give you one piece of advice: don’t tell her you asked me if it was okay to date her. She might not take that in the spirit you did it in,” I suggested.

“Probably not. I just didn’t want this to be a problem between us.”

“We’re good.”

“How do you think I should tell her?” Tim asked.

I just chuckled.

“Look, I said I’m good with it, but trust me, Tami doesn’t want me involved in her love life. Talk to Wolf about this one,” I suggested.

“He said I should just show her my dick,” Tim said.

I just blinked as my brain wrapped itself around that.

“Okay, don’t talk to Wolf,” I said, and then thought who he could talk to. “Call my brother. He can give you advice on this.”

“Will he tell me the Dawson secrets to dating lots of girls?” he asked.

“Not if you plan to date Tami,” I said as my eyebrows shot up.

He held up his hands in defeat. I kicked him out of my apartment so I could finish getting ready. I wished I could be a fly on the wall when he finally got up the courage to talk to Tami.

I found Yuri at my door.

“What’s up?” I asked as he came into my apartment.

“I need your help with something. Jan wants to do a threesome, and she wants you to be the other guy.”

“No,” I said, without even thinking about it.

I don’t think Yuri even considered I would say ‘no.’ I mean seriously, what guy would turn down something like that? On second thought, most guys my age would turn it down. They just weren’t confident enough to have sex with another guy in the room, let alone take the risk of [shudder] touching each other. Yuri had to know that wasn’t the case with me.

“What? No? Why not?” he asked.

“Three reasons. The first is Jan has a boyfriend: you. Second, you said it was all Jan’s idea. I’m not getting the feeling you want to do this. Finally, Jan and I have a history, and I’m not sure I want to go there,” I said.

“But you’re the only person I trust,” he admitted.

“I appreciate the vote of confidence. Let me ask you something. Have you thought this through?”

“What do you mean?”

“Have you really thought about the, ah, logistics?” I asked.

“Logistics?”

“Yeah. Do we take turns? Does she do us both at once? If so, how will that work?” I asked.

“I guess I don’t get it,” he admitted.

“What if our balls touch?” I asked.

He closed his eyes, and I could see him physically shake.

“Jesus, Dawson! Why the hell did you have to put that image in my head?”

“Why? What’s wrong with my balls?” I asked, to give him a hard time.

“I don’t even know where to begin.”

“Exactly. You haven’t thought this through. Tell Jan that if she pushes you on this, I’ll spank her bottom.”

“I’m not telling her that! She would never leave me alone,” he complained.

“How’s your grandma like living with mine?” I asked, to change the subject.

“She loves it. She was bored, even with Jan around. I wasn’t happy when she took Jan with her.”

“It was probably for the best. A guy needs his own time now and then.”

“I see your point. The problem is we never have time to spend together.”

“Yuri, I have faith that you can figure that part out. Teenagers have been doing that for generations.”

“I guess. But what do I tell Jan?” he asked.

“Tell her I said ‘no.’ That takes it off you. It is what I said,” I said with a smile.

“You know she’s going to ask why.”

“Tell her I said ‘no’ and wouldn’t even consider it. Tell her that I was afraid that once she had me, she would dump you.”

The boy had no sense of humor. I kicked him out of my place, too.

“David! Come help me with the boys,” Peggy called from downstairs as Duke bounded up the stairs to say hello.

I took Little David and the diaper bag. She parked the stroller and carried Coby upstairs. Peggy looked exhausted. The boys looked like they were ready for naps, so we put them down.

“They’re getting big and my back is killing me,” she complained.

“I can fix that,” I offered.

“No funny stuff,” she warned.

I sighed.

“You say that now.”

I took her into my bedroom and had her strip down to her panties. As I gave her a massage I found that her back was tight. I must have done my magic because she was soon asleep.

I went into the living room and Coby was still awake, so I picked him up and held him. He was such a good baby. Just looking into his blue eyes made me melt. This was my son. I’d imagined what that would mean to me before we had him, but nothing prepared me for how he made me feel.

Having a child really does change you. I hated to be away from him while making movies or playing baseball. I felt selfish for letting my parents and Peggy take on the burden of raising him. Deep down, I knew it was for the best. He was safe and secure with them. It just made me feel like a part-time dad. I guess that was exactly what I would be, until after college graduation. It reminded me that most young dads didn’t have that option, and that was why I loved my parents.

Coby drifted off, so I put him in his crib. Duke took advantage of my empty lap and jumped on the couch so he could lay his head on it. I rubbed his ears to assure him that I still loved him too.