Tracy had used the body towel like a gladiator’s net and snagged Precious. She’d stuffed Precious, towel and all, into her crate—the one they’d bought in case men were coming over.
That was when the police had shown up with siren blaring and lights flashing, which in turn attracted the neighbors. The cops did call Animal Control because Big-and-Bad was not venturing out from under the couch, and all attempts to dislodge him were met with hissing, teeth, and claws.
The capper was that Big-and-Bad had a collar with a name tag. His name was ‘Admiral Snuggles.’ With a name like that, you would have to either learn to fight or get your ass kicked regularly. He was one happy cat when his owner came and got him. Who, by the way, had no idea how he got out in the first place.
That was why Tracy was dragging today.
“David took his clothes off at the party, so ‘Operation Nerd Boy’ is officially dead,” Cassidy announced.
Neither Tracy nor Pam was surprised that David would take his clothes off in public. The boy had no modesty and had been tricked into taking his shirt off numerous times while in high school.
“Did he do it to get laid?” Pam asked.
“No, he was playing some strange strip beer-pong game. The bad news is that Lexi showed up, and they hooked up,” Cassidy shared.
The girls had speculated whether David had hooked up with her while filming his movies. This seemed to confirm their fears.
“You know how he is. He falls in love at the drop of a hat,” Pam worried.
“I don’t think it’s like that with Lexi. I’ve been working out with him five days a week, and he and Ridge are pretty open about that sort of stuff. He never talked about her. I was more worried about that Goth girl,” Cassidy shared.
“You said, ‘was?’” Pam asked.
“He was a bad boy,” Cassidy giggled.
“Bitch! Have you been holding out on us?” Tracy complained.
“Back off. If I blabbed everything I heard, David would clam up around me,” Cassidy said to defend herself.
“Spill it,” Pam ordered.
“You know how I mentioned that he was getting frustrated because every time they went out, she got smashed?”
They all knew of his code of conduct. It was all common-sense rules that his brother had taught him, like ‘no means no’ and ‘you don’t sleep with someone in a relationship.’ One of his big ones was, ‘you don’t sleep with someone the first time if they are under the influence.’
While it was a good rule in general, it made a lot of sense for him in particular because of his stardom. All a good lawyer would need was the hint that there wasn’t consent, and instant payday! David had to worry about stuff that ‘normal’ folks would never worry about.
Heck, Tracy would be willing to bet a large sum of money that over 80% of hookups involved alcohol in some way. You went out, had a few drinks to give you liquid courage, and found yourself a hot guy to scratch your itch. The beautiful thing about college was that getting your itch scratched didn’t mean you had to actually date the guy first. In fact, most of them you never saw again. Especially if they were crap in bed.
“What happened?” Pam asked.
“She did it again, and he took her home. He put her to bed, and she passed out, leaving him unsatisfied. Then David banged her roommate,” Cassidy shared.
“What?” Pam asked, not believing he would do something like that.
“It gets better,” Cassidy said with glee. “The roommate was a screamer and woke up the Goth babe. She walked in on them doing it.”
“That didn’t go well,” Tracy guessed.
“David’s been too chicken to go find out if she wants to neuter him. He has been complaining that he needs to find a new coffee place,” Cassidy said.
’Only David would get himself into something like that,’ Tracy thought.
“Back to Lexi ... is that going to be a problem?” she asked Cassidy.
“I think they just hook up when they need relief.”
“He could come over here,” Pam said.
“I’m sure he will, slut,” Tracy said to her best friend.
“Just sayin’.”
“If you want him, tell him,” Tracy said to Pam and then turned to Cassidy. “Same goes for you.”
“What about you?” Cassidy asked.
“We’re just friends.”
“Right,” Pam said doubtfully.
Sadly, that ship had sailed for David and Tracy. She would take his friendship, though.
David had agreed to do his first interview at USC with Tracy. When she’d told her professor, he’d arranged for someone to film it. Tracy wasn’t too surprised when David’s publicist had called her and offered to distribute the footage around the country.
Being the one to get the interview was a big deal. Speculation had been building as to where David had disappeared to. He’d been incredibly lucky that no one in the know had leaked it to this point.
That was until last night. Social media had blown up with pictures of him in his underwear at his dorm party. By the time Tracy arrived at the baseball field, the place was crawling with press eager to take advantage of his coming-out party.
She found her cameraman, and they made their way to the locker room. They found a couple of reporters arguing with a man at the door.
“We always have access. Why can’t we get in?” one of them complained.
“Coach Deneau wants his players focused on getting ready. He will make selected members of the team available after the game,” he said and then spotted Tracy. “Are you Tracy Dole?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Step inside, and someone will show you where to go,” he said.
That just stirred the hornet’s nest. The team was in various stages of undress. That was something Tracy would have to get used to if she ever planned to do interviews in locker rooms. She spotted David in what looked like a bodysuit.
“I’ll be with you in a minute,” he said as he got dressed.
One of the team’s helpers showed Tracy where she could conduct her interview. Her assistant set up his cameras, checked the lighting and sound, and told her he was good to go.
David came in a few minutes later, decked out in his baseball gear. He gave Tracy one of his devastating smiles when he saw her.
“You look professional,” he commented.
“That’s because I am. Now play nice and let me do my job,” she shot back.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Let’s get started,” she said as they took their seats.
Tracy ran through her introduction and then jumped right into the interview.
Tracy: “It’s been reported that Oklahoma’s athletic department went back on their word to offer you waivers to promote your movies. Is that why you came to USC?”
David: “The NCAA gave me a waiver, but I also needed one from OU. When I got on campus, I was told that they had a new interim athletic director who decided not to honor his predecessor’s decision. Without it, I had to find somewhere else to play ball.”
Tracy: “Why did you pick USC?”
David: “When I picked Oklahoma, it had come down to them or USC. So, picking USC was the natural choice. They also have a long tradition of getting quarterbacks to the NFL. Ridge Townsend is a great example.”
Tracy: “Does that mean that you’ll be taking his place as next year’s starter?”
Tracy was impressed that David didn’t even flinch. She knew he wasn’t happy that they’d not given him a scholarship and wanted him to play defense. He might not let on to the world that it bothered him, but she knew him too well.
David: “Who knows? I will do whatever the coaches want me to do. I trust they’ll put me where I’m needed the most to help us win football games. Don’t be surprised if that means I have to make a position change because we have an excellent quarterback in Matt Long, who has been groomed to take over for Ridge.”