Chapter 14

David
Pam, Cassidy, and Tracy had joined David for his trip to Malibu on Sunday to see his kids. Much to his chagrin, the kids were more excited about seeing Cassidy than anyone else. She enlisted her two friends, along with David and Peggy, to help teach her future ninjas to protect themselves.

Cassidy had them all hold pillows in front of their young charges. The munchkins twisted back and forth with their arms straight out as they whacked the cushions.

Cassidy explained that this was the way she’d first learned. Since they weren’t coordinated or strong enough yet, swinging their arms was the best they could hope for. David could only imagine Coby cornering a bully and swinging his little arms back and forth as he pummeled him.

Peggy wasn’t happy because she felt the ‘run and tell’ approach was the best. She was also afraid they weren’t old enough to not just decide to whack other kids for no good reason. She knew better than Cassidy that it would, in fact, happen at some point.

What made her get on board was that Dawson had been pushed down by a bigger child at daycare. He was sporting a welt on the back of his head from the confrontation. Cassidy assured her that ‘run and tell’ was fine, but there would be times when they had to defend themselves.

The side benefit of letting them beat the stuffing out of pillows was that when nap time arrived, they went down without a fuss.

Come Monday morning, David was a bit apprehensive about visiting the coffee shop, enough that he hesitated outside the door. The decision of whether or not to go in was taken from him when the door swung open and Doreen all but dragged him inside.

“Spill it. What went wrong on your date with Kat? She’s not talking,” all came out in a rush.

“Doreen! Leave David alone,” Kat said as she came out from the back and glared at her boss. She then got a bashful look as she turned to David. “Come to the back so we can talk.”

Doreen looked at them with an arched brow, and what David was sure was a ‘the two of them are doing it’ look.

When they got to the back room, Kat wouldn’t look at him. She bit her bottom lip before talking.

“I have so many questions,” she said as she finally looked him in the eyes.

“I have a few of my own,” David replied. “Like, what did you take to make you all goofy?”

“If you hadn’t noticed, I was freaking out when we got to the party. My friend gave me one of her anti-anxiety medications. I called her on Saturday, and she apologized because it shouldn’t be mixed with alcohol. The combination can cause poor judgment,” Kat explained.

“What made you freak out?”

“I’d thought you were ... uhm.”

“Fat?”

“Not exactly, but not built like you are. You have to understand that guys like you don’t date girls like me,” Kat said.

“I think you’re selling yourself short. I hear what the guys in my dorm think, and they would all kill to go out with you. Why do you think I make this the first stop of each day? It’s to see you.”

“What?” Kat asked, confused.

“Uh, oh. I overshared on the postmortem of our first date, didn’t I? Broke the first rule of dating, according to Cosmo magazine,” David said as he shook his head in mock shame.

“Does that mean you want to go out with me again?” she asked.

“I figure our second date has to be better than the first.”

“You didn’t like our first date?”

“Let’s see. Your roommate refused to let me in and slammed the door in my face. While we drove to the party, you talked without taking a single breath the whole way. Once we arrived, you abandoned me. An hour later, you found me and were Ms. Drunkie, so I had to take you home.

“I think we set the bar pretty low. So, yeah, we can do better on our second date,” David surmised.

“Ms. Drunkie?”

David thought she was cute when she was flustered.

“I did like one thing, though,” he admitted.

“What’s that?”

David closed the gap between them and pulled Kat into his arms.

“This,” he said as he leaned down and kissed her.

He could tell that the confusion fled her mind as he laid a serious lip-lock on her because she became a very enthusiastic participant. When they pulled apart, she was a happy girl.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” David promised as he left her in the back room.

He came out front, and Doreen handed him his tea with a big smile on her face.

After his morning classes and before he went to work out with Ridge, David had his first tutoring session with Margaret. He’d remembered Andres’s recommendation of Verde as having good Mexican food, so he’d arranged to meet her there. That way, they could eat lunch, too.

He found Margaret outside the restaurant, waiting for him.

“How did you know this is one of my favorite places to eat?” she said in greeting.

“I’ve learned it pays to do a bit of research on what makes my tutors happy. I figured if I fed you lunch, you might do a better job.”

He didn’t think she believed him but just decided to go along with his line of BS.

As they found a table, David spotted Andres eating lunch with the Alpha Mu he was infatuated with. He and Andres did the head bob guys do to let the other know they saw the other across a room.

“I take it you know him,” Margaret said as they sat down.

“He’s wanted to date her for a while, and they finally connected Saturday night.”

“You need to warn him.”

“About...?” David asked.

“That’s Crystal Knaggy. She’s got a reputation of going after guys who can help her get ahead.”

“You can’t leave it at that,” David said.

Margaret huffed her frustration. He wasn’t sure what that even meant.

“Crystal dated Tim Carlyle, our starting point guard, until he blew his knee out. Last I heard, she was working on Ridge Townsend.”

“That can’t be true. I know Ridge, and he has a longtime girlfriend,” David shared.

“What does your friend do?” Margaret asked.

“He’s the starting first baseman for the baseball team,” David admitted.

“See a pattern?”

“Maybe she likes athletes,” David ventured.

“Maybe,” Margaret conceded.

They spent the rest of their lunch going over each of David’s classes, and she quizzed him on how he was doing. The plan was to meet at least once a week to touch base, and when he started to need her help, they would get together more often.