David could feel it. Colorado was going to wish they hadn’t played them. The energy in practice went up another notch. This wasn’t the typical kind of practice where they ran through plays. Coach Thomas was out for blood this week, and if you didn’t know your job, you would be sitting on the bench with John.
◊◊◊
After practice, Coach Merritt told the team they could go, but David stood up.
“Hang on. Cassidy Hope returned to campus today ….”
There were moans and comments of ‘no!’ and ‘send her back.’
David knew they all liked her, but they were smart enough to see what was coming.
“I was thinking we do some personal training and have a session of ‘sixty minutes of hell’ in her honor.”
The coaching staff was all smiling. Tank stepped up.
“You heard the man! David, lead us!” Tank’s voice boomed.
“Line up!” David called out.
David did a credible job of working them out. He let up some when a few of his teammates wanted to take a knee.
His goal was for them to have a good workout as a team, not kill them, something he felt Cassidy missed.
◊◊◊
After his film session, David was too late for the cafeteria, so he stopped at Rock and Reilly’s at the USC
Village and picked up their ultimate grilled cheese and tomato soup with a side of wings.
Instead of going to his room, he went to the roof so he didn’t have Alex pestering him about where his food was.
He found the fire going and Emily and Wren there. He’d arranged for Emily to have access to the roof. Each of the girls was drinking a beer.
“You want one?” Wren asked.
“Grab me a Mountain Dew,” David said as he got settled.
Before taking a bite, he dunked the corner of his grilled cheese into the soup. Emily’s nose turned up at the sight.
“Come here and try it before you make that face,” David ordered.
He dunked the other corner and offered her a bite. She nibbled off a small piece, and her eyes lit up.
“Not bad, right?”
“It’s better than I expected,” Emily admitted.
“Are those wings I smell?” Wren asked.
David opened the container and offered one to each of them.
“Crystal talked to Lars and Chuy,” Emily said.
David glanced at Wren and recognized that Emily had told her what had happened.
“And?” David asked.
“Lars got barred from being a big brother for any sorority.”
“That sounds extreme,” David said.
“He made the mistake of telling Crystal that if he got another chance, he would tag-team me again,” Emily said and blushed.
“He was just being a jerk. Crystal will ease up on him once he apologizes,” Wren predicted.
“What did she do to Chuy?” David asked.
“Talked to him and confirmed he hadn’t used a condom.
She’s now calling him Daddy Chuy,” Wren said.
David wanted to smile, but his concern for Emily won out.
“Shit! Are you on birth control?” David asked.
“I am now. I also took the Plan B pill to make sure. My STI test results come back tomorrow,” Emily said.
David let her have another wing because she looked sad.
Wren gave him her begging face that little Carol pulled on him, so she got another one, too. His boys had figured out he was a pushover for his daughter, so she was now the designated ‘asker of Dad.’ He was going to have to man up at some point soon before it got out of control.
“So, what’s next? Partner swapping or an orgy?” David teased.
Wren chuckled.
“No!” Emily said. “I’m so embarrassed it even happened.”
“I was just kidding. I know how things can escalate in the heat of the moment,” David admitted.
“She said she’d be up for two girls on a guy action if you were the guy,” Wren said.
Emily smacked her arm.
“Wren! I said nothing of the sort.”
“I might have added the extra girl part,” Wren said with a gleam in her eye.
“Wren! I’m going to kill you later,” Emily said.
“Before this goes too far, I’m dating Crystal. Then there’s the issue of you dating Big Cat,” David said to
Wren.
“It’s just casual between us. I need someone to … uhm
… satisfy my needs, and I don’t want to become that girl who’ll sleep with anyone. Big Cat knows we aren’t exclusive,” Wren said.
“What if Crystal said it was okay?” Emily blurted out and turned five shades of red.
“I’m not green-lighting you to harass Crystal about that.”
David felt guilty because what had he done at lunch today? It wasn’t that he wouldn’t enjoy sleeping with Emily, Wren, or Rachel. David could very well do it. The problem was, what kind of guy did he want to be? That seemed to always be the question.
Truth be told, he saw how men in Hollywood became man whores. It would be easy to find someone to spend time with if he was open to it. That was why he ignored 99% of the come-ons he received. Looking back to the summer, he should have been at 100%, but that would have meant he wouldn’t be with Crystal now.
Back then, he didn’t much like Crystal, and it had taken time for him to see the good in her. The question he had to ask himself was if he was using Crystal as an excuse or not.
Did he like her, or was she the reason he gave to keep himself out of trouble?
The alternative was being single; he knew what that would lead to. Looking at Emily and Wren had Mr. Happy voting for single, but the big brain kicked in. He did like Crystal.
The girls began to talk about sorority stuff and the next big party while David finished his dinner. When he was done, he left to go study.
◊◊◊
When he got downstairs, he found Crystal had taken over his room.
“Sorry, I have a project due and needed room to spread out,” she said to explain the mess.
She had his bed covered in papers and was using his computer to write her project.
“It’s fine if you leave us a place to sleep tonight.”
“That sounds so good, but I’ll go back to my place tonight. I have to get dressed bright and early for my presentation.”
Mr. Happy reminded him that two girls had just offered him sex, and it looked like he wasn’t getting any.
“I’ll go to the living room to let you focus,” David said.
“You’re the best.”
Crystal went back to furiously typing. He didn’t really get the concept of waiting until the last minute, but much of that had to do with how busy he was. He had to be organized and ahead, or he would quickly get overwhelmed.
As he was closing the door, his phone rang. David smiled because it was Darius.
“What’s up, nerdling?” David asked.
“I have good news, jocktard.”
“I could use some good news. What’s up?”
“We’re out of beta testing and have sent the final code to VRS,” Dare said. VR Synthesis, Inc., aka VRS, was the startup company they’d selected to work with on Dare and Corvus’s VR technology project. They were now calling the project ‘RTVR’ for ‘Real-Time Virtual Reality.’
“I have, like, fifty buyers who want it. When will it be ready?” David asked.
Word had leaked out during the Houston Elite camp.
Matt Styles even called David, saying he’d heard about it and teasing, “I thought I was your friend.” Bo Harrington had told him coaches had been calling him to get his opinion on RTVR, and Coach Thomas had said the same.