The coaches were screaming at the offensive line to do their job, but David and Percy continued to beat their men. Out of frustration, John had reached out and grabbed David’s facemask as David slipped past him once again. That would have been fine, but John had taken a swing at David after the whistle. Luckily, David’s helmet hadn’t come off from the grab, or he might have been down for the count.
David had been so stunned that John would punch him that he hadn’t responded, but that didn’t mean that half the defense hadn’t come to his aid. John had soon been on the ground, buried under several players with ill intent. That had kicked off shoving matches all over the field.
The coaches secretly loved it because it got the team fired up. From there, the practice had felt like a real game. The defense stopped holding back, and when one of the receivers was drilled going over the middle, practice was called before someone got hurt.
Some of that bad blood, David had no doubt, would carry over to the current day’s practice. His taunting Matt the night before would just add fuel to the fire.
David was disappointed in himself that he’d gone for the cheap shot. His only excuse was that Matt looked like a total dork acting like Crystal’s disobedient puppy. Not that he had room to talk; more than once, David had been called a dork, and he was proud of it. What had him upset with himself was that he felt he should be better than that. David now had responsibilities to his fans, to the movies he had coming out, to USC, and to his family and friends. His life no longer centered on just him.
On the other hand, David didn’t regret his night with Milena. She’d confessed why she was hesitant to do more than just hook up. Milena was worried about his fame and that she wouldn’t measure up to some of the women she’d seen him with in the tabloids.
David was sure he could overcome her worries but hadn’t pushed it for now. It was always better to be friends first, and David could tell that the time he’d spent with Milena boded well for that. He even liked her quirky friend Taylor. The only hesitation he had was that her roommate was Matt’s girlfriend, Crystal, and David worried that his and Matt’s rivalry would cause trouble for the girls.
The biggest reason he hadn’t pushed Milena was that David honestly didn’t think he wanted a girlfriend right now. He’d asked Fritz to do a background check to make sure she didn’t hate dogs or children. Fritz had reported that Milena had been popular in high school and crowned Homecoming queen. She still hadn’t declared her major in the second semester of her sophomore year; she’d have to do that soon.
Milena had two younger sisters. One was a high school senior and planned to go to Arizona for college. The youngest was still in middle school. Her parents were both software engineers who worked for the same company in Mountain View, California, in the middle of the Silicon Valley. Her mother had worked her way up to become a vice president, and her father was in middle management, running several project teams.
David recognized that Milena was finding her way right now. She’d been the top girl in high school, but when she joined Alpha Mu, she’d become one of many top girls. David felt that Milena was okay with that for now. But he also sensed that once she had a chance to grow up, she’d find an inner strength that had a lot of potential.
Another work in progress was Kat, the Goth Barbie. In David’s estimation, she was a step further along because she’d discovered that she didn’t need anyone else to be successful. Kat now had a plan to go back to school and make it on her own.
The main obstacle that kept him from getting more involved with Kat was her binge drinking. David knew firsthand how it sucked to be the only sober one at a party, but that was a choice he’d made because of his responsibilities. David wasn’t so naïve as to believe that college kids don’t go out and binge drink; most did. And he had no plans to become the champion who planned to change that. If he were just a regular guy, he would be right there with them.
David liked Kat as a person. He planned to keep track of her because when she became a woman, Kat would be someone David would like to know better, even it was just to be friends.
The two who had it together were Lexi and Fiona. Fiona had been forced to grow up fast because she was in movies, and young, innocent girls didn’t survive in Hollywood. There were too many wolves ready to take advantage of them. David knew she was still young, only a few years older than him, but she was a woman. Kat and Milena were still girls.
David also admired that even though Fiona had survived the wolves and the sharks and learned from those experiences, she had avoided becoming jaded. To him, that was a big plus.
Nevertheless, David never thought anything would come of Fiona and him as a couple. She would always be fighting for the next role or away filming. But when she was free, who knew?
Lexi was the one who worried him. They clicked in bed as only two people who had been together for a year and a half could. It would be unfair to compare Milena and Kat to Lexi in that respect because they hadn’t had that time together with him, and also because they were relatively inexperienced.
Another advantage that Lexi had over the rest of them was that David knew the two of them made a great team. She had his back without question, and people consistently underestimated her. Most thought that a good-looking girl who’d grown up the daughter of one of the top studio execs would be a pampered little princess. But Lexi had the brains and confidence to do anything she put her mind to. David worried that it wouldn’t be long before she left him to go on to bigger and better things.
All these musings led David to decide that, for now, he was happy to have Milena as a hookup.
Shortly after 9:30, Lexi came strolling in, wearing a UCLA t-shirt and a snarky grin.
“Are you kidding me?” David complained.
“Your mom and dad will be here shortly, and they have a jersey for me to wear. I just wanted to see your face when I walked in wearing my school colors.”
“They’re coming here to the dorm?” David asked.
“Your dad hasn’t seen your dorm room yet. We’ll go from here to the townhouse so you can park your car. The girls will be joining us for the game,” Lexi explained.
This was why he had Lexi. She’d worked everything out. USC’s spring football game was going to be played at Cromwell Field, and the big storyline was who would replace Ridge Townsend at quarterback. The game would be played live on Pac-12 Networks.
“Did you get the research material I asked for?” David asked.
As part of his quest to make USC football relevant again, David had gotten an invite through Veronica to a booster party after the game. David wanted to know the people who were really the power behind the scenes. There were two boosters he especially wanted to meet. Combined, the two men had donated an average of a hundred million a year to USC athletics.
Lexi opened her bag and pulled out a binder with an IDC – Public Relations logo on the front. IDC was the PR and personal services firm that David’s PR guy, Frank Ingram, ran. David began reading through the information while Lexi made a pot of coffee.
The first booster was Ron Pennington, the owner of a nationwide trucking company. He was about to retire, and his daughter, Jennifer Tuttle, was in line to take over. Pennington was reported to be close personal friends with USC’s athletic director, Jaxson Pettis, who’d recently been hired. It looked like he’d had a hand in getting his friend the job.