Chapter 12

Tuesday-Wednesday, May 22-23

I put on some workout clothes and headed over to Jed’s a little after 7.

I stepped into the garage, where we usually lifted, to find it totally devoid of exercise equipment.

“Back here, dude!” I heard Jed call from the back yard.

I stepped through the gate to see all the benches and stands, as well as a few pieces we didn’t use, arrayed on the patio.

“Going with the al fresco workout?” I asked my friend.

“Who’s Al Fr...” Jed said before he caught himself. Jed wasn’t really a dumb jock, but he could play one on TV.

“Nah, Dad wants to get the garage cleaned out and Mom had the bright idea of converting the patio into a sun room-slash-exercise room,” he said. “She wanted to see how everything fits into the space before she commits to the project. I told her if she adds about 50 more square feet, she can also have room for a home office.”

“And that will cut down on the amount of back yard you have to mow,” I said.

Jed just grinned and tapped a forefinger alongside his nose.

“Sounds like you’ve already got your lifting in then if you shifted all this equipment,” I said.

“Didn’t get all the right exercises for all the right muscle groups,” he said. “Besides, we never ran that second half mile this morning and I need to burn off the calories.”

I don’t know what Jed’s body-fat percentage was, but I probably had more fat in one buttock that he had in his whole body. The guy was so lean he didn’t look like a hulking lineman, more like a scaled-up a wide receiver.

We quickly progressed through the workout prescribed by his coaches. Jed was pumping a little less weight than normal, going more for speed, but was still well beyond my maxes.

As we were winding down, Jed asked if I would be available to help him with the garage the next day.

“The only thing I’ve done today has been work out with you and spend a couple hours at the driving range,” I said, omitting the interlude in between with Kacie. “I should be free.”

“The two of us should be able to knock it out in just a couple of hours,” he said. “If we get the workout done by 9, we ought to be done by lunch.”

“Sounds fair,” I said, “especially since I’m drafting you the next two days.

“There’s another thing we can do for each other. I’m taking Morgan Ensberry to the picnic Monday and I think she’s planned out my social calendar for the rest of the summer. I may need you to double date or even group date with some other guys and the girls in their gang to keep her parents happy. I have been put in charge of finding suitable guys.”

“So, Little Morgan finally got her hooks into you, huh?” he grinned. “I wondered when she’d make her move. The other girls must be pissed.”

Again, someone other than me who knew what the deal was with these girls. Why had I never noticed?

“I’m trying to stay out of the line of fire and this seems like a good way to do it,” I said. “Find them guys of their own to date and leave me out of it.”

“I guess I could help do that, maybe get a couple of guys from the team, too,” he said. “Those girls are pretty cute. I don’t think you could make a wrong choice with any of them. Would there be designated pairs?”

“That would be up to the individuals,” I said. “Morgan will be gone a lot the next two months and I’m expected to escort any spares in her absence. If a girl and a guy hook up, I can always say that I’m just along to keep an eye on my sister.”

“Good, because there is no way in hell I’m pairing up with Erin Bennett,” Jed said. “Don’t get me wrong. She’s a very nice girl and has a killer bod, but her dad makes my life difficult enough without me giving him that excuse. I might as well cut my balls off now and save him the trouble.”

I went home and took yet another shower — by myself for once — and got ready for bed. Kacie poked her head in and asked how things went with Jed.

“He’s on board and can probably help get some other guys if needed,” I said. “The one issue he has is with Erin B. Her dad’s Jed’s position coach and he doesn’t want to have to deal with that level of drama.”

“Good,” she said. “Maybe we can get together with him and kind of go over things.”

Then she asked what my plans were for the next day.

“I told Jed I’d help him clean his garage,” I said. “We should be done by lunch. After that, I’m free.”

Kacie got a thoughtful look on her face.

“We could try some more stuff,” she said. “Morgan showed me this website that has some interesting things.”

“I can only imagine what kind of website Morgan showed you,” I said. “That’s why mom had the parental controls installed.”

“It’s not like it’s a porn site,” Kacie said. “It’s more about human sexuality. Apparently, it’s an online component for some college course. No fake boobs or giant dongs, just advice on how to improve the sexual part of a relationship.”

“Like eight ounces of pineapple juice every morning?”

Kacie just blew me a raspberry and headed back to her room.

Breakfast the next morning was ... interesting. Mom put four glasses of pineapple juice on the table.

“We’ve got cans of the stuff,” she said, giving Kacie a look. “I’m not letting it go to waste. Drink up.”

Dad sported this shit-eating grin, which I think meant Mom had explained things to him and he was eagerly awaiting the next step in the process. Kacie turned red and kept her head down, while I just tried to act like I still didn’t know what was going on. Sometimes, being clueless has its advantages.

As we broke up to begin our day, Kacie asked me what my plans were for lunch.

“Don’t know,” I said. “Jed sounded like he wanted to go grab something. Worst case, I’ll just come home and make a sandwich.”

“Call me if you go somewhere,” she said. “I may want to tag along.”

I got over to Jed’s and did some stretches to loosen up for the running. The stretching exercises Jed employed were a workout in themselves. I was already sweating before we ran a step.

I survived the first half mile, then the gassers kicked my ass again. Jed finished a good 50 yards ahead of me on our cool down run and I staggered back to his front yard.

I dropped to the grass and stared up into a cloudless sky. I swear I could feel the world spinning as I lay there.

“Get up,” Jed said, dropping a bottled sports drink on my stomach. “Move around. You can’t let the lactic acid build up. That’s why your muscles get sore, why you can’t get out of bed the day after a hard workout.”

All I could think was if this wasn’t a hard workout, I didn’t want to see one. Helping clean his garage after this might do me in.

I struggled to my feet, chugged about half the bottle and followed the driveway around to the garage. Jed told me what needed to go where and we spent the next few hours moving boxes, repacking some items and generally getting the place organized. We finished sweeping the place out by 12:15.

“Looks good,” Jed said. “This ought to meet the old man’s approval. How about we hit the club for lunch? I think I need to try one of those steak sandwiches you were talking about.”

“Sounds good,” I said. “Mind if my sister comes along? She was wanting to talk about this group date thing.”

“Why would I mind?” he said. “Your sister’s a babe. It’s just a shame she won’t date jocks.”

“Let me call her and tell her,” I said. “We driving or walking?”

“Let’s walk. Keep the muscles loose.”

I called Kacie and relayed our plans. She agreed to meet us where one of the alleys abutted the club property near the 14th tee. We could follow the cart path from there to the clubhouse.

We walked into the 19th Hole and Jed picked up one of the menu cards off the bar. After looking it over, he got the attendant’s attention.

“Two steak sandwiches, fries and iced tea,” he said. “What are you two gonna have, Gary?”

I went with one steak sandwich and Kacie ordered a chef’s salad. We took our drinks over to a table in a corner away from the TV and relaxed.