Chapter 59

David
Finally! David was moving out of the football dorm.

The final pre-semester practice had been that morning, so David grabbed lunch with the guys and then packed up. Craig hadn’t been the worst roommate. He was excited because a new batch of jock bunnies would be hitting campus this weekend. Had not David other responsibilities, he might have been right there with him.

But he did, so he’d not partaken when numerous opportunities had been presented over the past few weeks.

He and Matt had continued to go toe-to-toe, so a lot would be decided in the next day’s scrimmage and by how well David performed against UNLV. David felt his destiny was in his hands, and he would be the starter.

He decided to go to Sandoval Hall and check out his room. He wanted to see what he might need before going to the townhouse, packing up all his stuff from this summer, and moving it.

It was move-in day, and David couldn’t imagine a worse version of torture. The dorm should have been declared a disaster area as clueless teenagers wandered around wide-eyed, their parents protectively chasing after them. All of them were similarly drenched in sweat from hauling clothes, boxes, bags, mini-refrigerators, televisions, gaming systems, and miscellaneous odds and ends from the dorm parking lot. If that wasn’t enough, from there, it was either haul the stuff up multiple flights of stairs or wait in line for an overcrowded and slow-moving elevator.

One idiot had left their car blocking the security gate at the entrance to the parking lot. Apparently, they’d just left it there when the line of cars had stopped to unload; now, the cars ahead of it were gone, but this one was left blocking traffic. David pulled up behind it and debated whether to call to have it towed since there was a line of cars waiting to get in. Several honked, and a woman rushed out and flipped everyone off. It felt like they were in New York.

She pulled forward to let the rest of them in. David parked in the back corner, grabbed his football bag, and started toward the dorm.

“You need some help?” David asked when he saw the woman who’d caused the traffic jam looking confused.

She turned around and actually smiled at him, one of those I’m-tired-and-sorry-I-was-bitchy smiles.

“My daughter left me here to watch the car. I think she wanted to meet her roommate without her mom hanging around.”

David got it. None of the freshmen had any idea what to expect. They were moving in with roommates they’d never met. Even if they’d put in a request for a specific person, there was no guarantee. They didn’t know who was waiting to spend the next nine months sleeping six feet away from them until they got their key and opened their door.

“You’re going to be waiting a while; it’ll take your daughter forever to score one of the coveted carts. Do you want to get out of here and grab a coffee? It’ll give you a piece of advice you can give your daughter as to the best place to get decent coffee within walking distance,” David suggested.

“That sounds nice, at that. I need to stretch my legs after the drive.”

“Where are you from?” David asked.

“Palo Alto, near Stanford.”

“One of my best friends goes to college there.”

David played tour guide as they made their way to his favorite coffee shop. Doreen saw him coming and held the door open.

“There’s my favorite customer. Who do you have with you?”

David looked at the woman.

“Sorry. I’m Angelica. I met...”

“David.”

“David in the parking lot of my daughter’s dorm. He said you have the best coffee in town.”

“That’s why he only drinks my tea. What can I get you? If you’re a friend of David’s, you get the first one on the house,” Doreen said.

The two of them grabbed a table and kicked back, relaxing in silence until Angelica spotted his picture on the wall with Doreen.

“Hang on. You’re...”

“Yep,” David admitted. “Want to head back? I can show you my dorm room so you’ll be one more up on your daughter.”

“Can I get a picture, too?” she asked.

“Of course.”

When he walked into Sandoval Hall, one of the RAs handing out welcome packets and room keys jumped up from the table and rushed over with David’s stuff. He felt terrible about the people in the line but was glad his celebrity had paid off today.

The elevator door opened, and people filed off. He saw a bunch of girls from the third floor about to get on.

“Do you have room for two more?” David called out.

They all turned as one to see who’d asked and smiled when they saw him.

“We will if you tell us all about being a hero.”

“Not right now. How about I have dinner with everyone and tell you what happened?” David suggested.

’Nat or Alex must be running their mouth,’ David decided. His money was on Nat because Alex hadn’t mentioned it to the football team.

When they got off on the fourth floor, Angelica received a message.

“My daughter’s at the car, wondering where I am.”

“I’m just at the end of the hall. Let’s go down there, and you can get your picture.”

She agreed.

David opened the door and was immediately hit with a musty odor, the kind that comes from a room that’s been closed and unoccupied for an entire summer. When he walked in, he was greeted by the sight of Alex asleep on the couch ... sort of. David almost laughed. Alex’s body lay on the sofa, but an arm and leg were hanging over the edge, and it looked like he was about to fall off.

“That’s my roommate,” David said, and Angelica shook her head.

“When I was in college, that would have been an invitation for mischief. Do you have any magic markers or shaving cream?”

David might have been on board with the old shaving cream in the hand routine or writing something naughty on Alex’s face, but he had another thought.

“We’d better not mess with him because Alex would get even before the year was out,” David reasoned and added, “But I like how you think.”

The doors to both singles next to David and Alex’s suite opened. Kirk came out of one, and the guy who came out of the other had to be Alex’s security. David didn’t recognize him as one of Fritz’s regular guys. That meant they would have to break him in.

“Hey, Kirk. Would you take our picture?” David asked as Angelica handed him her phone.

Kirk snapped the pic, and she left to find her daughter.

“I swear. I just get to sleep, and you come in making a racket,” Alex complained before going to his room.

“Mr. Dawson, I’m Galen. I work for Fritz and wanted to introduce myself.”

David shook his hand. Then Kirk and David stared at him.

“Right. I’ll be next door.”

When he left, Kirk asked, “Who’s that?”

“Alex’s security.”

“The girls are on the roof. I told them I’d grab you when you got in.”

“Let me dump my bag in my room, and I’ll be right up.”

The girls wanted to take advantage of David having a car to pick up their books for the coming semester. David was glad they’d taught him to order them with the bookstore app because the place was a zoo. All the five of them had to do was get in line and pay, and their books were waiting for them behind the counter.

He learned Lindsey was single again; she and Allard had run their course. But Jamie and Kirk were still dating. Lauren was also single.

“What about you? Are you still seeing Lexi?” Lindsey asked.

“No. My love life has been one long busted play this summer. Lexi hooked up with Ben Cowley...”

“The actor? I thought you two were friends,” Jamie said.

“I did, too. Lexi worked as his PA while Ben was filming in Paris. Then she got into a me-too scandal that shut down the film’s production when Ben’s girlfriend got wind of what was happening. To fix it, they came up with the brilliant plan to fake Lexi’s pregnancy. They even got engaged for a minute,” David shared.

“Then what happened?” Lauren asked.

“I met someone in my film class. She was my TA.”

“How did that go wrong?” Kirk asked.

“I caught her in bed with some guy who I guess was her ex-fiancé. The weird part? He was a production assistant on the movie Ben was making. The only reason he was in LA was the Lexi-Ben saga.”

“There you go, Linds; he’s single,” Jamie said with a smirk.

“Not exactly. I’ve been seeing someone,” David deflected.

Not that he didn’t like Lindsey, just not in that way.

They ended up in David’s room, catching up. There was a steady stream of visitors, including Nat and Chloe.

Kirk said he was hungry, so they all went downstairs for dinner. They were joined by several of the girls from the third floor, who insisted David tell them about the incident in Colombia. Since Chloe had joined them for dinner and had been with David in Colombia, she was able to tell part of the story. That way, it wasn’t just David doing all the talking. Though she did go a bit overboard describing David’s heroics, in his opinion.

After dinner, everyone took off because a couple of frats were having parties. Crystal called and invited him to join the women of Alpha Mu, who were headed to the Phi Sigs’ house. She was playing her role as president and wanted to keep an eye on her girls. David decided to stay in and watch streaming video since he had a scrimmage tomorrow.

The following day, David was lying on his couch, enjoying a cup of tea, while Chloe was sitting in one of the gaming chairs, web browsing on her tablet.

“You’re nine likes away from a hundred thousand on that video you shot last night. Do you have any idea how many people that is?”

Kirk, Jamie, Lauren, and Lindsey had come back drunk last night and barged into his room. David had grabbed his phone to record the idiots because he wanted proof of how drunk they were.

“I was drinking tequila. We should all do another shot,” Jamie slurred.

“One more shot, and I think it will te-kill-ya,” Kirk said, which they thought was hilarious as only drunk people can.

Lindsey almost coughed it up after downing her shot all at once.

“We might have killed her,” Lauren worried.

“That’s what her 19-year-old liver’s for: nights like this,” Kirk said.

That made David laugh and was why he’d posted it. Kirk was right. If it weren’t for their young livers, college kids would be dropping like flies.

David rolled his eyes at Chloe and answered her question.

“Yeah. Ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-one.”

“Dick,” Chloe grumped.

David was startled when Cassidy burst through the door, looking pissed.

“What’s wrong?” David asked.

“The paparazzi were hanging around the back door of the townhouse, waiting to take your picture. When I came out, they started to snap away and ask rude questions.”

David gave her a confused look because that wasn’t anything new. Cassidy sighed and continued.

“One of them said, and I’ll quote him... ‘Hang on, guys. It’s just the housekeeper.’”

Chloe made the mistake of laughing. David leaped off the couch before Alex lost his girlfriend.

“What do you want me to do about it?” David asked to divert Cassidy’s attention.

“You’re going back with me and giving me a big kiss in front of those jerks.”

“How about I just give you a big kiss now, and you forget the paparazzi? Trust me, you don’t want them to think you’re my love interest,” David said.

With a kiss, Cassidy stopped David from teasing her. A serious kiss. A steal-your-breath-away-and-make-you-wonder-where-your-toes-went kiss.

Cassidy must not have closed the door because there was a gasp behind them. David and Cassidy turned to find someone’s mom looking scandalized.

“Well, I never!”

’Well, I never did, either. But I wouldn’t mind doing it again.’ David thought.

The woman hurried off down the hall. David glanced down, and Cassidy looked happy.