“I think I’m a little more mainstream.”
Major snapped his fingers.
“I know, Candy,” he said, pointing at a pretty brunette that I hadn’t seen before. “She’s a great gal. I think every man in the fraternity has tried to date her. It’s not like she’s a bitch or anything, she just gets hit on a lot. She and I are great friends.”
“So what’s she looking for in a guy?” I asked.
“She doesn’t really have a type. What I do know is that she respects confidence. I’ve tried to set her up a couple of times, and whenever I introduce her to a guy, she rejects him. She says if he isn’t man enough to ask her out without my help, he isn’t man enough for her.”
I liked her already.
“Do you have any other tips?” I asked.
He just shrugged. I went over to Candy and her friend Daisy. These nametags were helpful.
“... how can you think he’s sexy? He has such unfortunate red hair,” Daisy said.
“Who has unfortunate red hair?” I asked.
They both turned to see who had interrupted their conversation. I looked right at Candy. In the background, I heard the music stop. I wanted to glance to see what was going on, but I needed to focus.
“Hi ... who has unfortunate red hair?” I repeated.
“Prince Harry. Nancy, I mean Candy, thinks he’s sexy,” Daisy told me.
“That’s funny because I think your friend Candy is sexy.”
Candy got a look of disbelief on her face.
“Yikes! You did not just say that,” Candy shot back at me.
“How old are you?” Daisy said, taking a shot at me.
I gave her the look Tami had given me, many times when I’d said something stupid.
“What are you, thirteen?” I asked.
“Focus; leave her out of this conversation. So, answer the question,” Candy said, trying to wrest control from me.
“What? Are you a lawyer?” I asked Candy.
“Uhh ...” Candy said and shrugged her shoulders.
“Really?” I asked, not believing her.
“She will be,” Daisy supplied.
“Are you really that lame that you need to use cheesy pickup lines?” Candy asked me.
“Objection, leading the witness,” I said to Candy and then turned to Daisy. “Daisy, are you religious? Because you’re the answer to all my prayers.”
“Oh, my,” Daisy giggled.
“Now, that was a pickup line. This isn’t. I was standing on the other side of the room, and as soon as I saw you, I couldn’t take my eyes off of you. There are a lot of gorgeous women here tonight, your friend included,” I said, and then turned to Daisy. “Hi.”
“Forget about her,” Daisy told me.
“But I can’t take my eyes off of you,” I told Candy. “I find you very attractive.” I gave her a smile. “Do you find me attractive?”
“I do!” Daisy declared.
Candy gave me a doubting look.
“I don’t,” she answered me.
I heard some groans. I guess everyone was watching me go down in flames.
“No, I think you do,” I shot back.
“Yes, she does, I do,” Daisy confirmed.
“I don’t!” Candy said emphatically.
“Don’t believe her,” Daisy said.
“I respect that, let me give it one more shot,” I said. “We live in a world where we deny ourselves things, things we later wish we’d allowed ourselves to have. I guarantee you this: you will never regret going home with that one guy you met at a frat party who made your toes curl. But I can guarantee that if you leave here without going home with me, you will regret it.”
“Oh, my! It’s time to get out of here,” she said, getting ready to leave.
“Do you want to go to the Make-Out Lounge, or back to your place?” I teased her as she walked away.
She gave me a royal wave and walked out of the party. I turned back to the crowd and shrugged. Everyone erupted in laughter and clapped. I just bowed and smiled at them.
TWO THINGS HAD HAPPENED by the time we got back to the dorm. The first was I had a new nickname. The second was that the tale of me going down in flames had spread like wildfire. Dad came around and did bed check. He took a moment to make sure I was okay. I just shrugged. It was no big deal. I had done my usual over-the-top approach and it had fallen flat. Now Nancy, a.k.a. Candy, was a challenge.
Chapter 8 – GQ Busted a Move
Thursday June 11
I MADE JOHN RUN BY the Chi Omega house so I knew where Nancy lived. He found no end of amusement in knowing I was interested in the girl who had shot down almost every Theta Chi on campus. It just made me want her more.
We got back to the dorm, showered, and then went to breakfast. Everyone joined us because they wanted the scoop on what really happened last night.
“Come on, GQ, tell us what happened last night,” Jake begged.
I was trying to ignore the nickname because complaining would only make it worse.
“John took us to the Theta Chi house last night because they were having the Chi Omega sorority over. Before you ask, we were only served sodas. Who you should be talking to are the other guys. They had much more success than I did. I thought we’d never find Jim when it was time to go home,” I said, trying to divert the conversation.
“Oh, no, no, no ... we’re talking about your very public and spectacular flameout,” Jim said, sending the mess back into my lap.
“One of the Theta Chis pointed out a girl he thought would be perfect for me, so I went over and said ‘hi.’ She told me she wasn’t interested.”
“Enough of this,” Wolf said. “It was like he was James Bond or something. He walks up to these two sorority girls as if he’s the king of the world. He tells one of them that he can’t take his eyes off of her. No, that’s not right. He said that all the women there were gorgeous, but he only had eyes for this one girl.”
“No, he told her she was sexy first,” Jim corrected. “She accused him of using a line on her. Then he used a line on her friend. I swear I thought she was going to hand him her panties. Then he told her it couldn’t be a line because he only had eyes for her.”
“She didn’t believe him, so he told her she’d regret not spending the night with him,” John said. “I can’t do it justice. Let’s just say I have no idea how the girl walked out. GQ has some serious game. There were panties dropping all around the room, and he wouldn’t look at a one of them after she left.”
“What’s really sad is you all spent so much time worrying about me, when you could have been talking to some reeaallly attractive young women,” I responded.
I left them to debate the finer points of hitting on a girl and went to get ready for practice. John caught up with me.
“I just have one question: why didn’t you hit on any of the other Chi Omegas after Candy left?”
I looked around to make sure no one else was listening.
“Simple: she was testing me,” I answered.
I love it when the light bulb turns on.
“Her sisters would have told her that you were just on the prowl,” John deduced. “You plan on seeing her again.”
I gave him a wink as my answer.
I WAS TOLD TO GO WITH the quarterbacks to start our day. Ned Braun gave us each an envelope and we were told not to open it.
“Inside you’ll find a scouting report from a game you played last year. This afternoon, we’ll bring you in and play sections of the game for you. I want you to identify what the defense is likely to do based on down, distance, formation you’re in, and so forth. Then we’ll run the play so you can see what really happened.
“Open the envelope,” Coach Braun told us.
Mine read ‘Beverly,’ Coach Hope’s old team that had taken us out of the playoffs. I was scheduled for four o’clock, in film room ‘A.’ I’d figured they would put me in one of the small rooms, but this was the large one that could seat the whole team.