He found Matt and his dad waiting in his outer office. Here was something else he didn’t need: an overprotective parent. Coach Clayton thought about telling Matt’s dad to wait outside, but then he had another idea.
“Join me, gentlemen,” Coach Clayton said to invite them both into his office.
They took their seats as Coach Clayton walked in and sat at his desk.
“Your little stunt today blew up in your face, didn’t it?” Coach Clayton asked Matt.
“What’s he talking about?” Mr. Long asked his son.
Matt thought about lying, but his dad stared him down.
“I might have put some ideas into John’s head, and he tried to hurt David,” Matt admitted.
“Oh, Matt,” his dad said with a disappointed look. “I saw that video of the fight you were in. This is how you treat the guy who saved you?” Then he turned to Coach Clayton. “I didn’t know anything about this. What does my son have to do to make this right?”
Coach Clayton internally let out a sigh of relief. Most parents would have defended their son to the hilt no matter whether they were in the wrong or not.
“First, Matt will sit out the first game of the coming season,” Coach Clayton began.
“Will Dawson start?” Matt asked, suddenly realizing his worst nightmare.
“He just might,” Coach Clayton said, knowing that would get Matt’s full attention. “Just remember that you made your own bed on this one. First, you got into a fight with a bunch of frat boys, and Dawson had to save your butt. He wasn’t even practicing with the offense until that happened, and you were injured. And now this. There’s other fallout from this stunt: Marcus was injured on that play as well, and we don’t know when or if he’s coming back. I’m beginning to wonder if you have what it takes to lead this team.”
Matt didn’t have anything to say to that, so Coach Clayton continued.
“You and Dawson need to get together and work this out, and I mean like right now. I will not stand for this going on any longer. I don’t expect you to be best friends, but you have to be teammates. This is the kind of thing that will destroy my locker room, and I won’t tolerate it.
“You’ll also apologize to the team,” Coach Clayton added.
“Yes, sir,” Matt said.
Coach Clayton gave him a long, hard look before sighing.
“Matt, you have a ton of talent. Quit worrying about David and what he’s doing. He agreed to play defense, which we are thrilled with. If you get your head on straight and do what I tell you, you’ll be fine. If this kind of stuff continues...” Coach Clayton left the rest to his imagination.
“I’ll make this right,” Matt assured his coach.
“And talk to John,” Coach Clayton added.
“Yes, sir.”
“Matt, you had a good spring practice, what there was of it. Let’s get this put behind us so we can focus on the fall,” Coach Clayton added to soften the blow.
Matt and his father took their leave.
Coach Clayton was running late to the annual post-spring-game booster party. Each year after the game, he was required to make an appearance so the boosters got their shot at pointing out everything he was doing wrong. Well, it might not be that bad, but it required that he dress up in a suit and tie and make nice.
It also gave his wife a chance to spend money on a new dress, so she was happy.
When they walked in, his wife spotted some of the other coaches’ wives and left him to his own devices. Coach Farrow and Coach Thomas soon sought him out.
“You’ll never guess who’s here,” Coach Farrow said.
There was a roar of laughter. Coach Clayton turned to see what had caused it and spotted David Dawson talking to Ron Pennington, Gabe Francis, and the coach’s boss, Jaxson Pettis. The men were surrounded by onlookers who were riveted to whatever David was telling them.
“Oh, crap. We’d better get over there,” Coach Clayton worried.
His two assistants didn’t comment but followed him so they could hear what David was saying.
“When we were done shooting at a location and planned to move, they usually gave us a day or two off. That often gave the crew a chance to go out and blow off some steam. This one time, in Darwin, Australia, a couple of guys who’d traveled with me wanted to go to this seedy bar they’d found. They were hitting on this group of chicks, buying them drinks and such, chatting them up.
“They had this cute one that I was interested in join them, so I sent her a drink to keep her from feeling left out. She got her drink and gave me a look that she must have perfected to let unwanted suitors know they had zero chance. Then she marched over to confront me. In a loud voice and using small words, as if she was speaking to a child or her poor dog, she launched into a diatribe. She went into great detail, explaining how inappropriate it was for some presumptuous Yank to even think of sending a proper Aussie girl a drink.
“I hadn’t said a word in response to this point. That was when one of her girlfriends explained who I was. The look on her face was priceless. Suddenly, I was her long-lost mate, and we should go back to her place,” David shared.
“Did you?” Gabe asked.
“Hell, no,” David said, throwing a face of complete disbelief that the question had even been asked, which got some chuckles.
“I think you may have avoided your first wife with that one,” Ron said sagely to more laughs.
“Coach Clayton,” Gabe said in greeting when he spotted him.
The head coach noticed how the demeanor of the boosters and his boss went from open and joyous to more formal in the blink of an eye. Coach Clayton had a sudden insight into David’s charisma and how it put those around him at ease.
For the rest of the night, he kept track of David as the young man deftly worked the room. Whoever David talked to had a smile on their face and treated him like they’d known him forever, even though Coach knew they were meeting him for the first time.
He thought back and couldn’t remember the last time a player had come to this particular event and wondered how David had wangled an invitation. He thought back to other events that players did attend and tried to think of any who’d garnered the type of response David was receiving. The closest was Ridge Townsend, but that hadn’t happened until he’d led the team to an eleven-win season. David had yet to take a snap, and they all loved him. He might have to rethink how he was handling David. The young man could either be a tremendous asset or serious trouble.
Developmental Editors: XofDallas and Bud Ugly
Line / Copy Editors: Bud Ugly, TheMikeBomb, Zom, and Old Rotorhead
Continuity Editor: Rusty
Last One Through: Bud Ugly
Chapter 64
David
David woke to find his knee was aching and slightly swollen. Coach Clayton had asked him to come in before the team meeting at eleven. He had plenty of time, so he took two ibuprofen, grabbed a baggie, filled it with ice, and went downstairs for breakfast.
He had the cooks make him a couple of omelets and grabbed a big bowl of fruit. Turning towards the tables, David spotted Veronica and her two minions, Christian and Peter. Since she’d done him a solid and gotten him into the party last night, he decided to play nice and sit with them.
“Hey,” David said as he took his seat.
Veronica smiled while both Christian and Peter looked at her curiously. David guessed that she hadn’t told them she had taken him as her plus-one last night.
“Why are you talking to us?” Peter asked.
“David was my date to the booster party,” Veronica explained.