Chapter 10: Man Down

Brandon led, and I had one arm each around Roxanne and Kara as we left the party. The four of us made it as far as the front porch before we could no longer contain out laughter.

"Holy shit, dude," Brandon exclaimed in between laughs, "That was fucking awesome!"

"Don't give me the credit," I replied, gesturing to Roxanne and Kara, "It was all these two. I just played along." I turned to Kara, "Seriously, did you lick me right there in front of everyone?"

Kara just blushed, and Roxanne piped in with, "She had to. That totally sold it."

"Man, I thought Mark was gonna shit himself," Brandon said as he unlocked his car and we climbed in.

"Yeah, I think it was touch and go there for a while," I said. Kara was riding shotgun, so Roxanne and I could sit close to each other in the back seat. "I really thought he was going to lose his cool there for a minute. And then winning that hand with a four of a kind? Man... craziness."

Kara turned around and looked at us in the back seat. "You guys know he has a gambling problem, right?"

We had no idea, and said as much. "Yeah," she continued. "He'd bet on anything when we were together. It made me really uncomfortable, because sometimes he'd make bets he couldn't cover. Nothing bad ever happened..."

"But there's a first time for everything," I said, finishing her sentence. She nodded. I saw Brandon look up at us in the mirror.

"Did you guys rope Sylvia in to that too?" he asked.

"No," Roxanne said, "We didn't say anything to her at all about it."

Brandon thought about it for a second. "Really? Wow. You think she knew what was going on?"

I just shrugged. "I barely knew what was going on."

"Duuuuude," he said, drawing it out, "Sylvia wants you. Man, I always thought she played for the other team." The reflection of his eyes in the mirror flicked over to his sister. "You better keep a short leash on him," he laughed. I responded by just pulling her tighter to me.

"Sylvia's no threat to her." I said, trying to make light of the whole thing. Roxanne didn't need to know about our 3^rd period conversations.

"I don't know, Nick," Roxanne said, "She does have awfully nice boobs. Maybe you should hit that while the offer's on the table."

"Roxanne!" Kara chastised from the front seat, her eyes wide.

I laughed. "Hit that, huh? Is that what I should do?" Roxanne just laughed along with me at her out-of-character comment, followed by Brandon, and finally Kara, once she realized Roxanne was joking.

It had been a good night, or so I thought. The repercussions, though I didn't know it at the time, would be far reaching, and utterly horrible. I wouldn't learn that for some time yet.

"Hello?" said the deep voice on the other side of the line.

"Hey, Dad, it's me."

"Oh, Nick, how are you? How are things going?"

"Good, actually. I'm glad I caught you."

"Oh, well, we've been at the lake house for about a week now. We'll be here for another week, and then it's off to Spain."

"We?" I asked, but the tone was not accusatory. This was new information to me.

"I've ... met someone, Nick," he said, cautiously. "Her name is Christina. I think it's serious. She's been staying with me for a while."

"Good for you, dad." I said. "Are you going to bring her home anytime soon?"

"I don't know," he replied. "Things are going to get busy again very soon."

"Okay." I said, a little disappointed. I was happy that my dad had found someone that could maybe brighten his life a little. I wasn't going to fault him for that; I knew a thing or two about loneliness.

"What's going on with you?" he asked then. "Rachel tells me you have news."

"Yeah, actually." I said, wondering how much my aunt had told him. "I'm, well, I'm playing football now."

"Football?" he said, surprised. It was the most emotion I'd heard from him in a long time.

"Yeah. I, uh, kind of got roped into it."

"You riding the bench?"

I laughed a bit. "Uh, no, not so much."

"You just started playing? Rachel didn't say you we're trying out for the team."

"Yeah. I wasn't on the team for the first game. I was recruited after that."

"Recruited?" my dad said. His interest was definitely piqued now. "You're playing?"

"Starting," I corrected. "At QB."

"You're joking me."

"Nope. We had our second game last night."

"You're serious."

"As a heart attack. I went in on the second possession of last week's game, and started last night."

"How are you doing?" he asked.

"Uh, ok." I said, "First game was decent, 468 and 5 TDs"

"Five!?" my dad said, sounding shocked.

"Should have been six, but the idiot I threw it at dropped it on the doorstep."

"Picks?"

"None so far," I said. "That apple didn't fall far from the tree."

"I guess not," he said, and I could hear his smile through the phone. "Well that's just outstanding. I had no idea."

"Now you know. Guess we both had surprises."

"I guess so. Is that why you called?"

"No actually. I was wondering, if you weren't coming home anytime soon, if maybe I could move into your bedroom. I could use the space, and, well, I'm getting tired of being in the basement."

There was silence on the other line for a bit before my father responded. "That ... would be fine, Nick. I don't know when I'll be home next, and it's pretty much your house now anyway." He paused for a second. "In fact, go ahead and take the credit card I left for you and outfit it however you see fit. Make it yours."

"Really?"

"Yes. Have fun, get something comfortable. Maybe a big TV or something." I heard a muffled voice in the background. "Nick, we're late for dinner, so I have to run. We'll talk some more soon, okay?"

"Sure, dad. Enjoy your dinner."

"Thanks son. I love you."

"Love you too, dad."

I was still in a good mood after talking to my dad when I walked up to the school Monday morning. I was met at the doors by Lexi, and she looked pissed.

"Hey," I said, cautiously, "What's up?"

"Tell me you didn't," she said in a tight voice.

"Didn't what?"

"Tell me you didn't sleep with Roxanne and Kara. It's making the rounds like you had some kind of orgy Friday night." She was not happy.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." I said. I looked around real quick, figured that no one had noticed us yet, and pulled her into an empty classroom. "No on both counts," I said, and gave her a quick rundown of what happened. She looked relieved. "You should know me better than that," I said to her, a little irritated.

She looked a little sheepish. "I know, I know. I just remember you saying something about just banging a bunch of cheerleaders, and then I heard the rumors flying, and I put two and two together and got six."

"Maybe you need to work on your counting skills." I said, still not real happy with her accusations. "Now c'mon. After last night if anyone saw us go in here, you're gonna be added to my harem." I walked out of the class room, with her right behind me. When I approached my locker and started dialing in the combination, Brandon walked up to me, excited, and punched me in the arm.

"Dude, you're like a god among men here today," he said, clearly enjoying it. "I know they say rumor travels fast, but I've never actually seen it happen like that." At that point, Brandon looked over and saw Lexi standing next to me. "Oh. Hi." He stuck out his hand to her. "Brandon."

Lexi shook it politely. "Lexi."

"Oh. Nice to finally meet you," he said. Lexi raised an eyebrow.

"Finally?"

"My sister talks about you," he said, before motioning to go. "I've got to run. Later, dude. Nice meeting you Lexi." And he was off.

"That was Brandon," I said, as if that was explanation enough.

"I got that, thanks," she replied, giving me that "you're an idiot" look. "I'll see you in class." Lexi headed off, and I grabbed my stuff and headed for my first class.

I thought Brandon had been exaggerating. It seems as though he was not. I can't really explain it though. If I would have been going out with Roxanne, and then started sleeping with Kara without Roxy's knowledge, if everyone found out about that, I would have been a pariah. Yet, if I'm sleeping with both of them, and they both know apparently know about it, then not only am I not treated like I'm carrying the plague, but I'm some kind of super-stud for bagging them both at the same time. High school is fucked up.

The weird part, it wasn't just the guys. Sure I was getting thumbs up and high fives and what not, but I was getting as much, if not more attention from the girls. It was just done in a more subtle way. Apparently everyone by now had heard about Sylvia's "signup sheet" comment. Between the end of first period and the time I walked into 3^rd hour, I got no fewer than five handwritten notes slid into my back pocket while I was in transit.

Which brought me to my next immediate problem; No sooner had I sat in my seat in the last row of class than did Sylvia turn around.

"So," she said, looking at me.

"So?" I replied, non-committal. I didn't know which way she was going to go.

Unfortunately (or maybe not) she didn't have a chance to continue, as Mr. Simonson walked into the room and started class.

I managed to make through the rest of the class without addressing the situation with Sylvia.

When I exited the class after the period was over, I found both Roxanne and Kara waiting for me.

"Your girls are here to escort you to lunch," Roxanne said, with a laugh. She crooked her arm through my left arm, and Kara crooked hers through my right, and we walked that way towards where my locker was. It was ridiculous, and I broached it with them as we walked.

"This is silly," I said. "People can't believe this."

"You'd be surprised," Kara said, "It doesn't take much truth to make something, well, true."

As absurd as what she said was, I had to admit it made some sort of sense, in a bass-ackwards sort of way. High school was ridiculous. I turned to Roxanne.

"What about you?" I asked her. "How do you feel about this?"

"I know what's real and what's not," she said. "What other people think isn't so important to me right now. You picked me; that's enough for me." She reached up and pecked me on the cheek. "We'll let this go for a while."

After reaching my locker, Roxanne had to depart to go to her next class, while Kara and I had lunch. After grabbing my lunch, the two of us walked to the lunchroom together, but she'd released my arm. Somehow walking arm in arm without Roxanne there would have felt like cheating; both her and I knew that. We parted ways when we reached the lunch room, and I headed towards my table.

"Well, well, well," Paulina said, with a smirk on her face, "If it isn't Mr. 'Making up for lost time'."

"Can it." I said, as I sat down and tore into my lunch sack. I'd been lifting and working out more since starting with the team, and it seemed like I was hungry all the time now.

"Oooh, sensitive," she said, continuing to rib me, "Hey, here comes one of your girlfriends."

"Huh?" I said, looking behind me. Kara was walking up to our table, carrying a lunch tray and looking aghast.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked her.

"I got asked to leave my table," she said. "Can I sit here?"

I looked back at my friends already sitting at the table. Paulina just shrugged.

"Yeah, sure," I said, moving some of my stuff so there was a place to sit. Our cafeteria had round tables, with actual chairs, not the long rectangular ones with benches. I remained seated, but pulled out the chair for her. "Here, sit there."

"Thanks," she said, putting her tray down and sitting down. "I can't believe this. I am so embarrassed."

"Sorry we're not the A-list," Paulina, said, insulted. Kara looked like she got smacked in the face. Then she got it."

"Oh, geez, no that's not what I meant," she said, trying to apologize, "I meant what they did to me over there." Her voice knocked down an octave, "I didn't mean I'm embarrassed to sit here."

"Kara," I said, "that's Paulina; that's Rob; that's Brian, heading over here with the tray." I pointed to each person as I introduced them. Brian arrived shortly, and sat down. "Hey, peeps," he said.

"Hey, Brian." I said. "You know Kara." Brian looked up at her for a moment, but didn't say anything really, just nodded a greeting.

"Why did you get banished?" Paulina asked, the edge gone in her voice.

"I guess I was no longer considered A-list enough to sit there," she said, looking like she was going to cry. "Mark even called me a whore. Can you believe that? He said they don't let whores sit at their table."

"Then what's Samantha doing there?" This from Paulina. Brian laughed at her comment.

"Right," I said. "I'm sorry your little joke backfired," I told Kara. "Maybe we should have thought of the consequences a little harder."

"Well, what's done is done," she said. "It's not like I can change anyone's opinion now."

After practice, I headed over to Carly's place to see how things were progressing.

As I walked up, I noticed the barn full of activity. There were twelve to fifteen girls there, and most were faces I hadn't seen there before. Music was filling the barn from a boom box in the corner. I looked around and noticed Roxanne and Kara standing near the back of the trailer, looking rather perplexed at something. I headed over in their direction.

"Something wrong?" I asked, coming up behind them. The both turned around.