Chapter 8: Game of Phones

Sunday September 25
I woke up because my bed moved. When we arrived at the hotel, Cindy Lewis was there with her boyfriend Kevin. He played defensive end for Ohio State and had taken to the training a little too seriously. If I had to guess, he was juicing. I shuddered to think of him looping around a tackle with me in his sights.

Cindy wanted to go to a party, but I begged off. The last time I’d seen Cindy, she’d talked me into a threesome with her and Kevin. I didn’t want to do that to Brook. Plus, I was tired and had the thoughts and conversations of the last few days in mind.

Everyone else went with Cindy and Kevin while the dads and I stayed at the hotel. The dads planned to hit the hotel bar and relax. I went to my room and ended up doing homework and reading the next chapter in each of my classes. I chuckled when I thought about how everyone thought my life was so glamorous.

I checked to make sure it was Brook who’d climbed in beside me, and then fell back to sleep.

I woke later to her snoring loud enough to wake the dead. I chuckled and found my pants where my phone was in the front pocket. I made sure the sheets covered everything and then shot a quick video so there would be proof when she later denied her ‘heavy breathing.’ I put my phone on the nightstand so it would be handy when she woke up.

I took my shower, and when I came out, Brook was gone. The plan was to meet Cindy and Kevin at Buckeye Donuts for breakfast and then go to the football offices.

I met everyone downstairs where we checked our bags. We planned to pick them up on the way to the airport. We decided to walk since the restaurant was close by. Everyone had stopped at the doughnut shop after the party because they were open 24/7. When we arrived at Buckeye Donuts, they were packed. Kevin had waited outside.

“David, good to see you,” he said in greeting and then gave me a fist bump.

“Do you think we can get a seat?” I asked as I tilted my head towards the donut shop.

“Sunday mornings are a zoo. I’d suggest we send someone in to buy a couple of dozen and eat elsewhere.”

The dads went in and ordered the doughnuts and coffee for everyone. The ones that went out last night seemed a little hungover, so that seemed to be a good choice. While they did that, Kevin and I got reacquainted.

“Cindy’s excited that you’re here. She wants to meet with you after you’re done with football to talk about the project she’s working on for you.”

It took me a moment to remember what he was talking about. Then it dawned on me that “the project” was renovating my California house. I’d had Caryn speak to Cindy about possibly doing the interior design. Cindy had good taste, and she was going to Ohio State to someday have a degree in Interior Decorating. Refurbishing the California house was something I’d left to Caryn and her team to figure out. I suspected my mom was also involved. She loved that sort of stuff. I just wanted the house to look updated and attractive. If we flipped it, the ‘60s-era look wouldn’t cut it. At the very least we wanted to spruce it up.

“I can’t wait to see what she’s come up with,” I said, warming to the conversation.

“Between us,” he said conspiringly, “she sees this as a big opportunity. To be able to say she did the design on your home will mean a lot for her.”

I sometimes forgot how people perceived actors. I could see it being a feather in her cap.

“I hope she knows that I’m giving her a shot with no guarantees,” I said to give myself an out if her design ideas weren’t something I liked.

“I know, but I’m just saying...” he trailed off.

... that she would be crushed if she didn’t get the job. I would have to really hate her ideas to ruin her dreams.

Kevin took us to the center of campus to the oval. It was a quad that was huge, almost 11 acres. At one end was the Thompson Library, which had been recently renovated. We found a spot on the library steps where we could sit down and eat our doughnuts. They had one called the Buckeye that had chocolate frosting and peanut butter filling the center. It was better than I expected. They’d included a menu that said I could get an egg sandwich for $2.25. I could see why this place was packed with broke college kids. I put that information away in case we ended up coming here.

Tami and I were the only ones who had seen the campus before, so Kevin volunteered to show the others around. I wanted to spend some time with my friend. It was a beautiful early fall late morning, so we found a big oak tree on the quad to sit under. It allowed us to people-watch as we talked.

“How is Alan doing?” I asked, surprising her.

“Do you really want to know?”

“Of course, I do. I’ve known him since kindergarten, and we were friends for a lot of that time.”

“I think he thought he could bully you and you wouldn’t do anything about it,” Tami said.

I just shook my head. Alan always thought he was the smartest guy in the room. The problem was he had almost no common sense. He was forever making some cutting comment and then wondering why Jeff and I had to protect him.

“Did you know he was talking smack to most of the football players? I didn’t truly appreciate how many people he pissed off until we had our falling out. Most of them just sucked it up because they thought I would defend him. For a smart kid, turning on me was probably the dumbest thing he could’ve done. He had to go to Wesleyan, or he would’ve had to face some hard truths in the form of a butt-whipping. I know for a fact that Yuri was looking forward to seeing him.

“When everyone discovered that he would’ve actually let Lincoln lose a game just to screw Wolf, Tim, and me over, he really put his foot in it. Hell, he almost caused Coach Hope to go down in flames, too. It wasn’t just the team after that. I don’t think there’s anyone left in school who wouldn’t want to join Yuri in a little payback,” I said.

Tami looked thoughtful for a second.

“Alan and I had a long talk. He thought that Mike would welcome him with open arms but soon found out that wasn’t the case. I sat Mike down and told him that, even though you and Alan weren’t currently talking, you wouldn’t put up with something happening to Alan.”

“I’m glad you stepped in,” I mused. “Alan might not be my favorite person right now, but if history is any indication, the two of us will someday mend fences. I doubt we’ll ever be good friends again because I no longer trust him. I can see us being civil, though, and I hope this change works out for him.”

Tami bit her lip while looking at me.

“You know that when the whole Brandon nightmare happened last year, I thought Alan might really have done it. Now I feel guilty about that, but can’t get that thought out of my head.”

“I’m sorry about how I reacted,” I apologized.

“David, I never blamed you for all that. We both know that Brandon staged it to maximize our pain. In the end, you were the one that got me some justice. I talked to your mom, and she told me how you reacted when you found out. I’ve long known that your feelings have always been honest.

“With that in mind, are you really okay with me dating Tim?” she asked.

I shook my head at the sudden change of topic and looked down.

“You know me too well. There’s a part of me that can’t stand seeing you with someone else. The good news is that part of me has gotten smaller over time. Deep down I’ll always think of you as my one and only. I’ve known for a long time that I love you. When I was little, I think I recognized that we would always be best friends.

“I’ve had a lot of time to think since you told me that you weren’t ready for a relationship with me. Since then I’ve learned some things about myself and, if I’m completely honest with myself, you did us a favor. If we’d been together, I would have tried to make everything perfect because you deserve that. You’re too important to me for me not to. I think that if we’d been in that kind of relationship and I was dealing with all my drama, I might have cracked.

“I couldn’t have been the perfect boyfriend, especially in light of what my life has become. I know you felt it too. I think if we had become each other’s one and only, we would have destroyed each other. This last week has been a wake-up call for me.

“What I will say is I know Tim, and I know you. Of all the guys you could have picked, I couldn’t have chosen a better one for you to be with. I see how happy you are with him and there’s no way I can ever begrudge you that happiness,” I said to ease her mind.

“What about you and Brook?”

My face lit up.

“Honestly, with her it’s easy. She totally gets me, and I always look forward to the next time I see her. She’s confident enough that I don’t have to worry that she’ll see or hear something and jump to conclusions. She knows how I feel about her. I never feel like there’s a need for me to play a role when I’m with her, if that makes any sense.”

“After our talk about how you feel like everyone wants a piece of you, I’m glad you don’t think she’s playing any games,” Tami said.

I thought about that for a moment. Something I was sure of was that Brook would never take advantage of our relationship. When I was with her, I was just David, and right now that was exactly what I needed to be.

Then Tami changed the conversation once again. It seemed she wanted to cover as much ground as possible if I was talking to her.

“I talked to Cassidy last night. She told me that your fight with that man in Oklahoma really was bothering you. Are you okay?” she asked.

“Not really. It’s one thing to learn to defend yourself, and I will forever be in Cassidy’s debt for taking me under her wing and teaching me. It’s just that ... I don’t know...” I trailed off.

Tami pulled a Dawson on me and waited me out.

“I guess that once it was over and I looked back on what happened, I saw how easy it was for me to hurt him. You had to be there. This guy wasn’t a typical dad. He’d grown up in a rough part of Dallas and could handle himself. Were I a regular high school kid, he would have kicked my butt effortlessly. The man was a bull and walked right through several of my punches.

“I don’t know if you understand the type of training Cassidy has had me doing. It isn’t about doing forms and looking good. For the most part, we go full-out. She never backs off and has forced me to learn to protect myself and know that even if the tide of a fight is going against me, I have the skills to turn it around. Without that, I could have been seriously hurt.

“What I was doing with him wasn’t working, and it was like my body just reacted and changed tactics. I knew I had to put him down hard. That man was not going to back off. When I reacted, it was almost too easy. He started to go down, and I used a finishing move intended to either disable or kill him. If medical help hadn’t been close at hand, he might have died,” I said.

“How do you feel about that?” she asked.

I gave her my one-eyebrow-raised look. Tami sounded way too much like my uncle.

“It’s messed up,” I admitted.

“Cassidy said you haven’t been back to the dojo.”

“Cassidy has a big mouth.”

“Settle down. Have you forgotten I can find out anything I want to know about you?” Tami asked with a grin.

That had been one of our biggest issues. It brought a small smile to my face.

“I need time to figure things out. I’m sure that I’ll eventually be back to training with Cassidy. The dojo helps me with a lot of my life that’s not related to self-defense. It makes me a better ballplayer and helps me with my focus. It’s also a great way for me to work out my frustrations.”

“Good. The only other advice I want to give you is to talk to Brook about what’s going on with you.”

“For once I beat you to the punch. She and I had a good talk.”

I could tell that Tami was taken aback by that. It seemed she’d never thought I would find anyone else to help work through all my ‘stupid boy’ problems, as she called them.

Our conversation drifted to safer ground as she updated me on all my friends at Wesleyan. I planned to go visit sometime soon. That was if I could ever find the time.

Ohio State was on a bye week, so they didn’t have any recruits on campus, other than us. Kevin had been instructed to bring us over to the Woody Hayes Athletic Center when we were done with the campus tour. Brook and Cassidy joined my dad and me, and we soon found ourselves in Coach Casey’s office. We were joined there by John Lunt, their quarterback coach.

“It’s good to see you. I understand that you’ve been up north this weekend,” Coach Casey said.

“What is it with neither of you being able to say the actual name?” I asked.

“I know it sounds silly, but once you’re here, you’ll understand. Our fan bases get a little excited when we talk about each other.”

“I see that you’re ranked number two after your win at Oklahoma last weekend.”

“That was a key game for us,” he admitted. “Anytime you can go into their stadium and come out with a win it’s a big deal. I think we’re in a good position to run the table and win the national championship again. I also wanted to point out that we had 16 players from last year’s team sign NFL contracts.”

“I’m well aware of that. I’m also aware that your starting quarterback will be a senior next year and I know that you’re not opposed to starting a freshman at that position.”

“If he’s the right freshman,” Coach Lunt jumped into the conversation.

Coach Casey raised an eyebrow.

“I would think the number one quarterback might be good enough,” Dad inserted.

Coach Lunt held up his hands.

“Sorry, we just make it a habit not to promise playing time. I hope you understand that if you are the best for the job, it’ll be yours,” he said for the save.

“Since John stepped in it, I might as well address another issue. We’re not prepared to offer either Wolf Tams or Tim Foresee at this time,” Coach Casey said, and then paused to see my reaction.

When I didn’t show any, he continued.

“Before you get upset, let me explain. We have a couple of recruits rated higher that have verbaled. While I’d like to offer Wolf, I just don’t have the room. With Tim, it’s just that he’s a three-star recruit. He would be a project and, not to sound arrogant, we don’t need to recruit projects.”

While I appreciated that Coach Casey was honest with me, I wasn’t happy. I took a moment and worked through what he’d just told me. I realized that if I wanted to go to Ohio State or Alabama, I might have to go alone. I suddenly felt terrible that I’d brought them here and set them up like this.

“What do you plan to tell them?” I asked.

“Don’t worry, we’re going to tell them we’re interested, but we want to continue to evaluate them. Heck, who knows, we might even end up signing them.”

“Thanks. I guess we should have talked about this before showing up with them.”

“No, but you do need to decide if you’re okay if they don’t get offers from us. I don’t want to promise you something I can’t deliver,” Coach Casey explained.

Once that was out of the way, we had a productive conversation. He showed me film of them playing and how he thought I would fit in. He then talked in terms of getting me positioned for the NFL. From what I saw, I was a perfect fit for their offense. The only negative was he told me that I would absolutely never see the field on defense. By the time we were done, I had a much better respect for Coach Casey. I got the feeling he would always tell it to me straight, even if I didn’t want to hear it.

We were the first ones out of the meeting, so we started toward the coffee shop the girls had agreed to meet us at when my phone made a weird noise. I’d set my phone up with custom sounds and ringtones several months ago, and this wasn’t one of them. I checked, and the screen showed there was a new text from Oliver. Who the heck was Oliver? I tried to log in, and my PIN didn’t work. I quickly put two and two together, and the light bulb lit up: this was Brook’s phone.

“Hey, I accidentally picked up Brook’s phone and need to make a call. What’s her PIN number?” I asked Cassidy.

“Oh seven oh four.”

I smiled because that was my birthday. I punched it in so I could read what Oliver had to say.

‘When and where are we meeting?’

Interesting! My girlfriend planned to meet someone named Oliver. The only way the message had his name was if she’d added it to her contacts. Otherwise, it would have just shown a phone number.

‘Free Now. At Athletic Offices. Text me when you get here’

‘BRT’

It took me a second to figure out he’d just said he would ‘Be Right There.’ I led the way to the entrance. Cassidy and Dad gave me a curious look when I just stood in the middle lobby and didn’t head towards the door. I stared at Cassidy until I saw her cringe. She wasn’t good at keeping secrets. I turned and noticed a student with a backpack was looking around for someone.

“Sheeit,” Cassidy hissed when I made a beeline for him.

“Oliver?” I asked.

He looked up at me and blinked. I sometimes had people realize I was someone they should know when they first met me. Then it dawned on him who I was.

“You’re David A. Dawson. I loved you in The Secret Circle.”

I was a little surprised because it was usually either football or Star Academy that got me recognized. Oliver then seemed very confused.

“How did you know my name?” he asked, and then he saw Cassidy. “Hey. Good to see you. I was actually meeting your friend, Brook.”

Thankfully Dad had guessed that something was up and grabbed Cassidy’s arm and pulled her out the front door. I figured I only had a few minutes before Brook found I was talking to Oliver. I plowed on, not wanting him to get any more suspicious.

“Brook should be here shortly,” I said to draw his attention back to me.

“You know her too?” he asked, looking concerned.

“Don’t worry, we’re just friends. So, did the two of you hook up last night?” I asked, taking a shot in the dark.

“I wish. I did get her number, though. I was hoping to grab a coffee or something, so I could get to know her better.”

I felt the Alpha Male in me peek out and then dismiss Oliver as a threat. I chose to believe she’d given him her number just to get rid of him last night. Of course, the devil on my shoulder was whispering evil things in my ear. I think he was trying to provoke the Alpha Male.

I looked up and saw Brook, Tami, and Sarah rush into the lobby.

“Hey, Brook,” Oliver called and waved.

My eyebrows went up when Sarah waved back and then flushed. Brook marched up to me with her hand out.

“Give me my phone,” she demanded.

“Not so fast, Hotness,” I said, trying to hide my grin.

“This is just like Game of Thrones, except we should call it Game of Phones because someone always seems to die in each episode,” Tami observed.

Brook and Tami grabbed my arms and pulled me outside.

“Cassidy actually bought me an iced tea,” Dad said as he and Cassidy joined us.

“I have to call bullshit on that one. Cassidy never spends her own money,” I said, doubting the veracity of my dad’s claim.

“I was shocked too.”

Cassidy gave us both looks that made us stop teasing her. I then turned on Brook and Tami.

“You might want to start explaining who Oliver is,” I suggested.

Tami was the most experienced at talking to me, so Brook deferred to her.

“Last night the guys all took off to meet football players and do male-bonding stuff. We soon found out that Cindy’s a bad influence. She plied us with Jäger Bombs,” Tami said as if that explained everything, and then she paused. “Did you know that she and Kevin have an open relationship?”

I wasn’t about to let her steer this conversation towards me.

“Back on topic,” I prodded.

Tami gave Brook a look, and then Brook glared at me.

“Anyways...” Tami said to draw Brook away from having words with me. “She suggested that we switch names and give guys each other’s phone numbers. Whoever could get the most, won.”

“Won what?” Dad asked, suddenly throwing cold water onto the conversation.

Tami seemed to suddenly comprehend that a parental unit was present. One who knew her mother.

“Yeah, what he said,” I added with raised eyebrows.

“Nothing. It was just in fun,” Tami explained, and then shut up.

Sarah came out of the building without Oliver. She gave me a funny look.

“I explained to them that what happens on recruiting trips ... stays on recruiting trips,” Cassidy said and dared me to contradict her.

“I take it that Wolf is to never know about Oliver,” I guessed.

“I would be in your debt,” Sarah admitted.

Tami whacked Sarah on the forehead like she used to do to Alan.

“Ow!”

“You never want to owe David a debt. He collects,” she explained.

They all looked at her, and I just shrugged. I swear, women never forget anything.

“When we were in third grade we watched The Godfather. David was goofing around and said he would make me an offer I couldn’t refuse. I don’t even remember what it was.”

“I got you a Coke,” I interjected.

“That’s right,” Tami said, remembering. “I made the mistake of telling him I was forever in his debt and made a big show of kissing his imaginary ring. This ‘stupid boy’ would remind me of this debt every time he wanted something. I played along until he asked me to buy him an ice cream cone. It wasn’t that I didn’t have the money, but I knew if I did it he would badger me about buying him more stuff in the future. I explained to him if we were going to be friends, he was the boy and had to pay for everything.”

“Really?” Dad asked incredulously.

“I asked Mom about it, and she confirmed that was the rule. She added a bunch more rules about opening doors, letting the girl pick the movie, and other things a ‘young man’ should do,” I shared, using air quotes.

Brook hugged Tami.

“I wondered who trained him.”

I was glad when Tim and Wolf joined us.

Everyone wanted to go with me to my meeting with Cindy. She’d sent me a text with the location and directions to Hayes Hall, the oldest standing building on the Ohio State campus. It was located on the oval. We found her with what looked like a mixture of students and professors. I’d thought this was just supposed to be a one-on-one meeting. Come to think of it, strike that, I’d received an email from Caryn that held no details. It looked like my rants about her being in charge and not to bother me about details had just bit me in the butt—not that I would change that.

I noticed that Cindy and everyone else was dressed professionally. I felt a little out of place in an Ohio State t-shirt and jeans. Cindy motioned for me and my dad to join her talking to the three professors: Dean Lloyd, College of Engineering; Professor Donaldson, Knowlton School of Architecture; and Professor Katz, Interior Design.

“I didn’t expect so many people,” I said, looking around.

“When Cindy came to us and said she had a project for your house in LA, I assumed it was just a remodel. Then as she started to uncover all the additional requirements, it sort of snowballed,” Professor Katz said.

“Snowballed?” I asked.

“Yes. The security systems, updated entertainment features, roof deck, detached garage with apartments, and security hub. We will go over all of it in the presentation,” Dean Lloyd explained.

My dad grabbed me and guided me out of the room so we could talk.

“Did you know about any of this?” I asked.

“A little bit, but I suspect that Fritz and his team got involved, and then your mother talked to Rita about what all she would want in a home. You either need to decide if you want to get involved in all the details or just write a check. I’ll have a talk with Caryn and make sure this doesn’t get out of hand,” Dad assured me.

I was torn between the idea this might be my home someday and the desire to back off and just let my mom have her way. The only good news was that mom had explained the real estate market in the Malibu area and I really couldn’t get hurt. Someone would either write a song, pick up a TV series, or star in a movie and have money burning a hole in their pocket and want something ready to go.

I had to remind myself to focus and keep my goals in mind.

“Just keep me from losing my mind over this.”

“You know I will,” Dad said with a smile, knowing full well he never had a chance with that.

Dean Lloyd spoke first. He was leading this interdisciplinary project and introduced Cindy and several of her classmates who potentially would be involved. Most were graduate level with Cindy being the only junior. If I agreed with what they proposed today, they would use this project as an internship. The dean assured me that they would have professionals in LA review everything to ensure what they created was up to code and didn’t violate any land use or association covenants for the subdivision.

What they showed me was a possible outcome based on the requirements that had been collected to this point. It seemed a trip to LA was in their offering so they could get a better feel for the house’s layout and structure. They also wanted to walk the lot to confirm what was possible.

I was impressed with what I saw so far, so I signed a letter of intent to allow them to get started. We would sign a contract with the university to do the internships and give them capital to be able to cover their costs. Dad talked to the dean to work out the logistics and make sure we understood what they were supposed to deliver. I suspected that part of it would be to get Ms. Dixon involved. Dad shared that he’d been in contact with Jack Mass who would also look at everything. That was one of the perks of having a builder as a business partner.

I admit that after the meeting I was more on board with having a home in LA. Up to this point, I’d just taken advantage of Rita and Halle’s generosity. If I planned to make more movies, it would be nice to have my own place, even if it turned into some kind of compound or estate.

I made a point to thank everyone who helped put together today’s presentation. Cindy was treated like a rock star for snagging this project for them.

Talking to the students was interesting. They had some seriously creative ideas. I would never have thought about leather floors, or glass walls, or windows that you could either see through or change to opaque with a flip of a switch.

Wolf and Tim didn’t want to leave. I saw them both in deep conversations with some of the students as they bounced ideas off each other. I suddenly couldn’t wait to get to college. From listening to the students and professors, everything seemed possible. I stepped back so I could observe the room’s dynamics.

“What are you thinking?” Brook asked me.

“That this will be us next year. I don’t believe I’m about to say this, but I can’t wait to get out of high school.”

“Have you figured out what you want to be when you grow up?” she teased.

“I have no idea, but I see why people want to go to college for like eight years. Tami might have the right idea.”

“You could always get your MBA or law degree. Heck, if you like it enough, we might someday be calling you Dr. Dawson.”

“I can see it now. I’ll get my doctorate in something useful like philosophy and have to work at a Wendy’s drive-through when I graduate.”

“You really are a ‘stupid boy.’ If you got your doctorate in philosophy, you would obviously be a professor. It would be like you’d never leave university life,” Brook quipped.

“As long as I had cute grad assistants, I’d probably be okay.”

“I’d never allow that. I’d make sure you were so happy at home you wouldn’t care about all those hot coeds that would be trying to catch your eye.”

I kissed her forehead. She was right about that. If anyone could keep my eye from wandering it was Brook.

On the flight home, Brook joined me in the back of the plane. She noticed me scrolling through text messages. It suddenly dawned on her that I had her phone.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she hissed.

“Haven’t you ever been curious about what your boyfriend gets up to when you’re not around? My PIN is double oh eleven,” I shared.

I could see her mind working, but her curiosity won out. I hit pay dirt when I found her photo storage app. It had pictures of her and her friends from before she moved here. I realized that if we’d met in middle school, she would have been way out of my league. I found several pictures of a guy who looked older.

“Who’s this?” I asked.

“Hey, what are you doing?” she complained.

I showed her where I kept my photos online.

“That’s an ex who was in college,” she explained.

I could see how she’d go for him. I just couldn’t figure out why a good-looking college guy would date a high school girl.