Chapter 10

It was after 6 pm when Jared Winslow finally pushed the key to his backdoor into the slot and turned it open. His day started 12 hours ago almost 3 hours away and since he had taken a half of a yellow legal pad in notes and walked the perimeter of Meditek Stadium turf a few dozen times to watch different "skills" being exhibited. The perimeter was so cluttered with sleds, tackle makers, 2 and 5 man wheel trainers, steppers and line chutes that the field resembled some weird torture palace. Only the running and passing drills in the center of the field made you know it was football that it was all about. He was sorry he hadn't gotten to the other field to see the special teams drills but he was aware of the pressure the kickers alone were under and he didn't want them to try to do something extra when he got there. To walk away from a mini-camp with no injuries was a priority.

After a shower and donning fresh sweats he settled into his easy chair after wheeling a modified video editor to the side of the chair. He could load 4 tapes and watch them on split screens or individually. For the new season he had already requested digital video equipment which was lighter and less cumbersome to use and had become cheaper in the past few years. To Jared, this was like being let loose in a store with an unlimited gift certificate. He loved seeing players try to show off their skills in the free arena because he could see things that wouldn't show up in a game or a practice. He spent the night making new notes and comparing old, getting numbers off jerseys and comparing them to his master list of signees.

He was most impressed with Brian Faraday who suddenly had a great interest in his experiment to become a place kicker. When they first spoke about coming to the camp and trying it out Jared felt Brian was appeasing him, rather than having a real interest in it. Somewhere along the line someone got to him and let him know what it could all mean if he became successful at it. Someone who recognized his overall athletic ability saw his potential and put it into simple terms for him. Also the fact there were two other candidates that showed up to create competition may have helped. If you weren't impressed by the talent of Julie Murcer you needed glasses. The tiny thing could powerfully boot 35 to 40 yards consistently. When she came back out in pads and football pants he saw what Ger had said earlier. They must have been Pop Warner sized pants to get to fit her, and they were very tight. There was no mistaking she was female even in shoulder pads and helmet. He knew he wanted to carry a second female if Oksana Cushman made the team and Julie was one that could actually play in the right situations. The only thing that bothered him was that he caught her twice, on the video tape, seeming to grab Brian Faradays ass. One could have been in passing but the second brought a smile from him to her that she returned. Romance was a problem they could work around, but he hoped her interest was in him and not players in general. Football bunnies were a problem and having one in the locker room could be a disaster.

He knew it was still early, but was surprised it had turned 9:30 when his phone rang.

"Hello Jared?" Said the voice

"Who is this?" He queried

"It's Ann from University." She answered sloppily.

"Have you been drinking?" He asked suspiciously as her words slurred.

"Yes, that's the problem. I went out with some of the women in the admin building and I can't drive home. Can I get a cab to your place?" She stammered out.

"Why not get a cab HOME?" He wondered.

"It's too far to get a cab back to get my own car in the morning, plus it's embarrassing ... and I need someone..." She added sheepishly.

"Where are you?" He asked exhaling in a resigned tone.

"I'm at Corky's, I can get a cab." Ann insisted.

"No, I'm far too visible in this town to have cabbies dropping drunken women off at my residence. Corky's is in that little strip mall next to the Super Drug?"

"Yes, it's not 5 minutes from you." She said.

"I'm leaving now, be in front of the drug store." He said abruptly hanging up.

"SHIT!", he thought to himself, "I don't mind she had the common sense to not drive, but am I the only friend she has to call? Wait, she said "I need someone", Good Lord am I the target of a booty call?" Her thought chuckling to himself.

It was a cool late spring evening and Jared slipped into some no-tie canvas shoes he kept by the door for just this type of quick errand where bare feet wouldn't do. He left the lights on and slipped through the mud room into the garage activating the opener. By the time he got to the security shack at the top of the block the garage door was re-closed and his place secure. The guard paid little attention to cars leaving and little more to those going in. Residents and regular visitors usually slowed and waved, others obeyed the stop sign. If an unknown drove right through he would call campus police for a drive by, but there was rarely any problem.

Ann Comeche was, like Jared asked her to be, waiting by the drug store when he pulled up. She slid in and he sped away.

"Save your lecture for the morning and don't worry, I'm not falling down and puking kind of drunk. I usually know my limits but the talk got long and sexy, we all got giggly, and someone kept buying. The next thing I know they all had rides show up, husbands or boyfriends, and there I was, drunk and alone." She said without looking at him.

" ... and feeling sorry for your self." He added.

"Yes, little Miss Career who doesn't want to be tied to a man until she finds it convenient. I never felt so lonely in my life. When I was 20 I could just undo a couple buttons on my blouse and find a guy to flop with. Now, I have to be more discreet and I knew you'd be alone. Please don't be pissed off at me. I would do this for you, both personally and professionally." She said without getting her tongue tied too much by her state.

"I know we kind of agreed to be there if we got lonely, as you put it, but I never expected THIS." Jared said in a semi-confused state.

"Come ON Jared, you really don't think I do this every week do you? Nothing has to happen, I just don't need the DUI or everyone knowing I got so drunk I had to take a cab home. You don't have to take advantage of a drunk lady." She said disgusted with herself.

"Get down in the seat and turn your head away so I can get by the guard shack OK." He advised her as he drove by and waved to the unsuspecting man with a badge seated in the 4 window post.

He remotely opened the garage door and drove in with the door rolling down behind them.

"Let me get you some vitamin B, Tylenol and water. Have you eaten?" He asked as she sat in a kitchen chair.

"No, if I had eaten I might have been able to drive." She responded.

"I hope you like cheese, I'll make you a cheese sandwich. The bread and the protein will help absorb the alcohol and help absorb the B into your system. The water will re-hydrate you and the Tylenol will head off the headache." He said smiling to himself, having been in the same boat many times.

"Yes Dr. Winslow. Does this mean you're not letting me stay the night?" She asked sadly.

"You're still staying, but we'll get you out early to get your car and no one will know the difference, OK?" Jared said as he busied himself preparing her food and laying out the pills and water.

He sat across from her and let her eat and down the pills, refilling her water glass again.

"So going out with the girls wasn't such a good idea?" He asked as he noticed her brighten a bit.

"Normally it's not a problem but Carla, one of Dean Crawford's staff was being picked up by her new boyfriend and she told about how she was so horny and was going to spend the night with him, in great detail. Then Brenda, who just got divorced confessed she had a boyfriend already and he had started sleeping over. Pretty soon I was the only one at the table not getting laid tonight and I don't mind saying I was the best looking one there. Then the 3 extra drinks, then thinking about the last time I had sex, and that was with you, and then I stood up to go and pee and I knew I couldn't drive. I'm sorry if I sound like a desperate woman. I made choices and sometimes they're hard to live with." She said shaking her head.

"Ann, just when do you think you're going to be content enough to let yourself get attached to someone? Love isn't an emotion you can turn on and off. Do you just walk away from anyone you feel yourself getting attached to?" He wondered.

"Yes, ... well, ... sort of ... you see if I think a guy is interested I usually end up in the sack with him to let him see me as something less that he might think. Guys like you, who are just neat and sweet, who have the same kind of "career problems" are nice to hook up with for a safe outlet." She said before downing her second glass of water.

"How do you know I'm not going to fall for you, or you for me. Love IS blind." Jared said wanting to engage her mind.

"Blind, but not deaf, dumb and stupid. You're so career opportunity minded you would never let yourself chase after a co-worker or underling. I know that if you did have those kind of feelings for me you wouldn't have come to get me tonight. Right away I saw you as a comrade I could trust. Although I barely knew you I didn't feel I was fucking a stranger. I know I sound callous or maybe cheap, but I'm not." Ann said pushing her chair back to stand up.

"I don't see you that way and I totally understand what you wanted that night and where we were. Sometimes life is cruel to our ego's and our psyche. Sex isn't the fixer, but it's the relief and the escape from the devils that chase us. You should start chasing opportunities or make the decision to just stay here and make your life whole." He said as Ann hugged him.

"Thank you for the outside perspective. My brother in law can't stay here forever and I bet I could get first shot if he wanted to retire." She said backing away and reaching back to grab the edge of the table to regain her balance.

"I better sit down, I'm not totally seaworthy yet." She said with a chuckle, but continuing to prattle on. "I know he wants to retire soon, but with you here I might have some competition. You're the guarantee that the program will flourish."

"With me at NEAT you've got your guarantee Dean Crawford won't pay another premium salary. You could work at double what you make now and still be an inexpensive replacement for Joe. Don't sell your self short." Jared advised her.

"If I could get that job, fall in love and come home to a man every night I could finally get over this obsession that I have for making SOMETHING out of myself. All I want is to be comfortable, have a secure and sexy home life, and know my work is appreciated. But I want a 9 to 5 guy, one whose home every night. I've dealt with sales guys, coaches, even a few players after they graduated. I'm home, horny and heartachey and I don't KNOW where they are, but if they feel like I'm feeling, they might be cheating." She said, getting a little emotional toward the end of her spiel.

Jared went behind her and rubbed her shoulders to comfort her. She reached up to touch one of his hands saying, "Can I go lay down? Would you lay down with me? You won't be taking advantage of a drunken woman. My heads pretty clear now."

She got up and walked toward the hallway, looking back to Jared with a questioning look.

"Straight ahead, the end of the hall." He said as she walked into his bedroom and saw the king size bed in the low light from the bed stand lamp.

"Let me find you something to sleep in." Jared said looking to the closet.

"No, no, I'm fine." She said sitting on the bed starting to unbutton her blouse. "I sleep in my panties and always have."

"OK then, let me get something and I'll sleep on the sofa." Jared said, assuming nothing.

"You'll do nothing of the sort. I want to sleep with you, feel a strong man next to me. Jared, make love to me. Make me feel like a woman, I need that tonight. If you don't want that, at least lie with me, hold me." She said suddenly going into a quiet sexy voice as she stood and pulled off her blouse and began to unbutton her slacks.

"You really want to use each other like this? The other night there was a little foreplay." Jared said a little stunned at her forwardness.

"We can foreplay in bed, I just want to get under the covers and I'm not wearing my clothes to bed just to take them off and get them all wrinkled." She said showing she was still a little drunk.

Jared began taking his clothes off, not real happy with the situation. He knew they agreed to be "fuck-buddies" but suddenly it didn't seem entirely right because she had gotten drunk.

After sliding off her slacks she sat back down on the bed and unsnapped her bra clasp in the front and took it off her arms, then laying all of her clothes neatly on a chair near the bed and turned to Jared looking as delicious as ever, her breasts an instant temptation, but she read more into his face.