David reasoned.
“Kiss me.”
It was David’s turn to be shocked.
“Kiss me,” Rachel repeated. “Don’t worry, I brushed my teeth.”
David walked around the desk, leaned down, and kissed her. When they broke apart, they each wore a confused look.
“That felt like I was kissing my brother,” Rachel said.
David had to agree. There was like, but no passion.
“I agree.”
“Could we just go out as friends?” Rachel asked.
David smiled.
“I’d like that. Plus, it’ll drive your dad crazy.”
“I think we should put him out of his misery and tell him the truth. He did just clean up after me.”
“Fair enough,” David said.
She looked at the clock on the wall.
“You need to get to practice. I’ll think about our next date. Maybe somewhere that won’t serve me fancy wine and cost a fortune,” Rachel said.
“If I brought you back drunk twice, your dad would never allow you to go out with me again,” David said.
“He was displeased. But I explained what I’d done, and he realized it wasn’t your fault.”
David was glad about that. He didn’t need Coach Farrow letting his defense hit him in practice.
“Let me know when you’re feeling better, and we can do it,” David said.
“I’m looking forward to it.”
David left to get dressed for practice. He would have to remember the kiss trick in the future. Finding out there was no spark between them saved them both from being awkward on their date. But the bottom line was that he liked Rachel as a friend, which was a positive outcome in his book.
◊◊◊
Chapter 41
Cassidy had DVRed the sweep-week episodes of The Young and The Wild she’d missed dealing with Knackers.
Pam and Tracy had waited so the three of them could watch it together. The girls worked together to get ready.
Pam was in charge of making bowls of cheesy, extra-butter popcorn, and Tracy made Sangria. While they were doing that, Cassidy found the episodes on the DVR.
“Tracy! You saw our stupid boy today filming your sports show. Did he give you any hints about what happens?”
Cassidy asked.
“I didn’t see him because his film-class assignment changed. He let me take over his vlog and hooked me up with Joey, Greg’s girlfriend. Did you know she’s the first female head trainer at USC for a men’s sport? Her goal is to someday be the head trainer for either a Power 5 or NFL
football team.”
“What’s his new assignment?” Pam asked.
“He has to do a documentary on something unexpected in his life, one that communicates a life lesson that will benefit everyone,” Tracy said.
“I bet he films the little ninjas and makes a public service announcement about using condoms,” Cassidy quipped.
“He’d never expose his kids like that. While he doesn’t make a secret of them, David loves them too much to put them in the public eye,” Pam said to add her opinion.
Cassidy wrinkled her nose.
“You’re right. I was just trying to be funny,” Cassidy admitted.
“It would make a good PSA, though. His kids could go from sweet little ninjas to terrorizing their daycare,” Tracy suggested.
The girls all found their TV-watching spots, and Cassidy hit play.
After the opening credits, the show began with David’s character, Mick, introducing Kristen—Bec Carson in real life—to the rest of the cast.
Monday’s episode focused on introducing Kristen, which put her in almost every scene. The last one of that day had Kristen and Nikki, Mick’s new love interest, talking about why they’d agreed to such a crazy setup.
“His wife encourages it. She has to travel and knows his sexual appetite,” Kristen said.
“He is a horny goat,” Nikki said.
“Nadia would rather he sleep with a couple of other girls than someone new every night.”
“I guess that makes sense, but if you were married, wouldn’t you want to be exclusive?” Nikki asked.
“I am married,” Kristen admitted.
The show ended with that.
“No!” Pam complained.
Cassidy scowled because they’d been left with a cliffhanger.
“It’s sweeps week. They want people back to watch the next episode,” Tracy explained.
“I call downstairs bathroom,” Cassidy yelled and jumped up.
They took a break between shows to clean up the popcorn and get more drinks. Pam made them all bowls of ice cream. Once everyone was settled, Cassidy started Tuesday’s offering.
“David told me this was the number one show in its time slot by Tuesday,” Tracy said.
It was aired head-to-head with all the talk shows that were shown after the local news to start late night. Talk shows had been the networks’ bread and butter for decades. Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show made popular the
current format of the late-night talk show back in the early 1960s.
“How could that happen?” Pam asked.
“David gave me one example. Just four years ago, the Tonight Show averaged 11 million viewers. Because they decided to go political, and due to the tremendous growth in popularity of streaming video, they only had 2 million watching Tuesday. I guess people would rather see a bunch of twenty-somethings running around half-naked,” Tracy said.
“No contest for me,” Cassidy said, making her roommates smile in agreement.
The second night added more plot twists. It revealed that Mick knew Kristen’s husband. They’d served together in the military. Zak’s character was currently working for a mercenary company in Africa. He’d been there for the past couple of years, and Kristen got lonely.
Tuesday’s cliffhanger was Mick’s wife appearing in the last scene. It was the one Adrienne staged where David was sprawled out naked on their bed, obviously a bit winded by what they’d just done. Adrienne had laid her head on his upper thigh, her hair covering the good stuff. She was lying on her stomach, which put her magnificent derriere on full display.
“Well, that was some kind of welcome home,” Adrienne’s character, Nadia, said as she raised her head, all but revealing Mr. Happy to a worldwide audience.
The credits rolled.
“No!” the three girls cried out in unison.
◊◊◊
“I was talking to Coach Mason, and he says he thinks you have the chops to be an offensive coordinator. Why don’t you put on your coaching hat and tell us how we’ll beat UCLA?” Coach Merritt asked David.
David had been asked to give all the coaches an update on the preparation for Notre Dame. He felt blindsided by a question about this week’s opponent, one that he wasn’t going to play against.
“And none of you are going to be butt hurt if I tell you what I really think?” David asked, looking around the room.
Coach Stackhouse snickered, which drew the eye of her head coach.
“Amy, you have an opinion you wish to share?”
“Only that David was smart enough to ask the question.
If you want his unvarnished opinion, I suggest you assure him that you won’t hold it against him. Otherwise, this exercise is a waste of time because he’ll just tell you what you want to hear or give you a laundry list of meaningless clichés.”
“You would, wouldn’t you?” Coach Merritt asked David.
He just shrugged to give a nonanswer.
“We promise not to get … what did he say?” Coach Merritt asked.
“Butt hurt,” Coach Thomas said.
“We promise not to get butt hurt,” Coach Merritt said.
“Let’s set the stage,” David said. “UCLA is 2–8, but if they beat us, that pain goes away. A ‘W’ against their biggest rival will make their fanbase forget what a dumpster fire of a season they’ve had to this point.