David had come alive and ended up collecting four RBIs and a stolen base. The Trojans won 5–0.
After the game, Andres stopped by his locker.
“What are you doing tonight?”
“I saw several of my friends in the stands. I thought we might grab a bite and hang out,” David shared.
“Invite them to Baseball House. You haven’t been over in a while, and we can order pizza and have a couple of beers. It would be good for you to spend some time with the team since you’ve been busy with football for the last month,” Andres suggested.
“That sounds like a plan. I’ll order the pizzas if you find someone to pass the hat around,” David offered.
“Sounds good,” Andres said and left David to take his shower.
David sent a group text he’d set up for spring break to let everyone know the plans. He got one back from Lexi with a frowny emoji because she hadn’t come to the game.
Allard hadn’t played, so he got dressed and volunteered to walk everyone over to the house.
When David made it back to his locker after his shower, he found Chip Wagner, a reporter who’d interviewed him before, waiting for him. Chip did both print and TV sports for the Times and Channel 10, respectively.
“Good game tonight. You were responsible for four of the five runs.”
“I was worried at first. Their pitcher is one of the better ones I’ve faced this year. He had me guessing the entire game, but I guessed right two times, and that was the difference,” David said to give Chip his soundbite for tomorrow’s article.
“Thanks,” Chip said and acted like he was ready to leave but stopped.
“Off the record, what’s going on with the football team?” Chip asked.
“I’m not sure what you’re asking,” David said.
“USC just had nearly ten percent of their football team leave via transfer. Over the last few years, players that were heralded as difference-makers when recruited have left or never seem to get any playing time. That was fine when you had Ridge Townsend and the group around him, but a lot of talent from last year’s team won’t be playing next year. It doesn’t help when we’re hearing that Matt Long has some maturity issues,” Chip said.
“I’m not your guy for all this. Shouldn’t you be talking to people who’ve been around the program for more than a minute? Plus, if it ever got out that I said anything, I would be transferring before long,” David pushed back.
“I’m not looking to write a hit piece anytime soon, but it looks like you’re going to go from an eleven-win season to five or six wins next year. I’d like to get to know you and pick your brain. We could meet off-campus, and I’d even buy lunch,” Chip offered.
“Does the free lunch gambit normally work?” David asked.
“You’re a college kid ... Oh, never mind,” Chip said when he realized that might not work on David.
“Yes, I’m a college kid, and they asked me to gain twenty pounds. That means I eat four or five times a day, so I would appreciate a free meal. Call my PA and get on the schedule,” David said to tweak Chip.
“You Hollywood types kill me,” Chip fired back.
David gave him Lexi’s number. Chip might as well get used to how things worked. If you couldn’t talk your way past his guard dog, then you weren’t worth David’s time for anything outside of school, family, and sports.
David and Seamus stuck their heads into the coaches’ offices and invited them all to Baseball House for pizza and beer. Coach Hob admitted that in the fifteen years he’d been coaching college ball, he’d never been invited to an after-game player gathering. When Coach Deneau heard, he agreed, which got the other coaches on board.
Seamus pointed out if they were doing that, they should invite all the team’s student managers and support staff. Coach Deneau looked at David, and David thought about it for a second before agreeing. He quickly sent a text to Andres to warn him. David got a text back that contained a trigger word, which made his day.
He did some calculations in his head for how much pizza they’d need and then doubled it. If that wasn’t enough, they could order more. Then he got smart and called Lexi. She also called him a name but agreed to handle the pizza delivery. Lexi was smarter than David because she suggested that they order from several different places so as not to overwhelm one, which would result in it taking forever for the pizzas to arrive.
Yep. Best PA ever.
As David and Seamus walked out, David spotted Milena. He hadn’t expected to see her because she had, in effect, ghosted him since they last talked. Then the whole fiasco with Matt had occurred right after their last conversation, and he’d assumed that she’d cut him loose to maintain peace at the sorority.
He walked up to her, and she ducked her head.
“Hey,” she said softly.
“I’m going to Baseball House to hang out with the team and my friends. If it’s okay with you, I’d love for you to join us,” David said to let her know that he wasn’t looking for a hookup tonight.
Milena gave him a weak smile.
“You having to say that tells me that I’m messing us up,” Milena said.
Seamus had hung back, and when she said that, he raised his voice briefly.
“I’ll see you there,” he said to David, letting him know that he was taking off to give them some privacy.
David looked around, and several of Milena’s sorority sisters were watching them.
“The Baseball House is having a get-together. There’ll be pizza and beer. Why don’t you all head over?” David suggested.
Milena was amazed when the parking lot cleared out of jock bunnies as they all headed to the party.
“You can certainly clear a room.”
David shrugged. It gave them an excuse to go out on a Thursday night. He took Milena to his car, and they rode to the house in silence. He could tell she needed to gather her thoughts.
When they walked in, David quickly found his friends and introduced Milena to them. The girls whisked Milena away to interrogate her, leaving David with Kirk, Seamus, and Allard. Seamus handed him a beer.
“We were just talking about when we discovered Internet porn,” Kirk said.
“I think I was in sixth grade,” David admitted. “We had to do book reports, and I’d read Moby Dick. I asked my teacher, Ms. Blakely, if there really were great white whales. We’d gotten computers in each room that were tied to projectors so they could be used for teaching the whole class.”
David chuckled.
“After we’d learned about different kinds of whales, my friend Alan asked how a whale’s blowhole worked. Ms. Blakely was instantly an advocate for the school to install internet restrictions on their computers. Some of our schoolmates had discovered Internet porn before Alan opened his mouth, and I had to save him from getting a beating after school that day,” David shared.
David was happy to see that the coaches and everyone who worked with the baseball team had all showed up for some pizza and beer. The coaches wisely chowed down and left before anything got too exciting. After two hours, David was ready to pack it in himself, and he started making his rounds to say goodbye. Seamus handed him a wad of cash because Andres had put him in charge of collecting money for the food.
David found Milena talking to his female friends and having a good time.
“I just wanted to let you know I’m taking off.”
Cassidy and Lauren decided to leave with him; Milena chose to stay.
After he dropped off Cassidy, Lauren moved up to the front seat.
“I like Milena, and I think she likes you.”
“And yet you’re the one going home with me,” David said.
“You’re bad.”
She had no idea.
Developmental Editors: XofDallas and Bud Ugly