I could tell Ridge and Penny had done this dance many times. He seemed to sense what she needed, and Penny was an enthusiastic lover. She met him thrust for thrust as he began to hammer her from behind. I had a little smile when I saw the determined look come across his face. I knew Penny was in trouble.
She released me and I could tell she had a big orgasm. The look of rapture on her face made me envious. I wished I had a girl with me right now who I could make look like that. Ridge reached down and smacked her butt. A grin came across Penny’s face.
“Do me, baby!” she yelled.
Ridge finally got his and he slumped over Penny as she worked to catch her breath. When Ridge finally was able to stand back up, Penny looked at me and tried to crawl into bed with me, but I stopped her. I was not going to follow Ridge. Not with the woman he so clearly loved. I wasn’t that guy.
“Thanks, but I’m good,” I told her.
Ridge looked at her funny.
“I thought you said he was willing to do this?” he asked her.
She gave him her puppy-dog eyes.
“I figured if he got started he’d be on board,” she told him.
“Did you say you’d do this?” he asked me.
I just shook my head ‘no.’
“Dude, I’m so sorry. C’mon, Penny, leave him alone.”
They left. Now I was aroused and couldn’t sleep. Great!
Saturday July 12
WHEN I CAME BACK FROM my run, it was obvious that Ridge and Penny had been fighting. Hunter and Sam looked like shit. They must have been out most of the night. I just ignored them all, went and showered. I came out, took my supplements, and just left. I needed to be alone.
I went to the restaurant because I was in no mood to find another one. I found a table for two and fell into thought. I quickly decided I wasn’t going to let some random girl derail my chance this weekend. I had invested too much time into football for that to happen. I felt better when they all came in to eat. I was a little surprised when Penny sat down with me. I did the smart thing and waited her out.
“I was going to give you a piece of my mind, but I can see it from your side. I know I’d be screaming ‘rape’ if you pulled what I did. I’m sorry,” she told me.
I just nodded. She waited for me to say something, and when she saw I wasn’t going to, she got a sad look in her eyes, got up, and sat next to Ridge. When I was done, I walked to the cash register to pay. Hunter slid up next to me.
“I don’t know what happened, but are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“I don’t know how to ask this, but I spent all my money last night. Can you loan me a few bucks?”
I reached into my wallet and gave him sixty dollars. I paid for my breakfast and took off to the complex to get ready. A few minutes later Ridge and Hunter showed up. Hunter made himself scarce as Ridge sat next to me at my locker.
“Are we okay?” he asked me.
“We’re okay. I just thought I’d made it clear to Penny I wasn’t willing to do a threesome. Once it started, I didn’t want to be a dick and make her feel bad. But I couldn’t do more than just lay there. I’m sorry.”
“I wasn’t thrilled with the idea, but she said you were up for it. I figured if it was anyone, that you at least were out of state. So the odds of it happening again were slim to none.”
“Are you guys okay?” I asked him.
“Not really. I’ve never had a reason to doubt her until now. It was also painful to watch her be with you. I wish I’d never caved into her fantasy.”
“Don’t let it ruin what you guys have. You two have a lot of years invested in your relationship.”
“She told me last week she’s going to Cal Berkeley. I brought her this week to see if we were going to try the whole long-distance arrangement. I thought we were going to the same college and we could be there for each other. I guess she doesn’t feel the same way. Hell, I don’t know what to do,” he moaned.
“Bullshit. You’re Ridge Townsend, the number one quarterback in the senior class. You’re not some normal wuss who’s going to let a girl run his life. Man up. I know you know what you want to do. You just need the courage to do it,” I told him.
“What if I said I wanted to marry her?” he asked.
“Then do it!”
He chuckled. I had no idea what he was going to decide, but he had a bounce in his step. We were goofing off when we joined Hunter for the film session. He looked relieved.
OVER THE NEXT HOUR, Coach Mason showed us how much we’d improved. I still had a lot to learn, but I had made big strides in the last few days. He then analyzed my dance moves, to the amusement of everyone. I should have remembered that all this is videotaped.
The rest of the day was spent working on different scenarios. Coach Mason would call out a down and distance and we had to get a first down. I found I was much more likely to go for a score as to try to move the ball. I asked Quaid about it.
“Don’t worry about it. I like how you go for it, and I know Coach does too. His background is in stretching the field vertically. It makes for exciting football. Don’t get hung up on style right now. When you get to college, you’ll need to fit a system. There’s always a place for a guy who makes things happen.
“To be honest with you, the others aren’t seeing the openings you are. They’re too focused on getting the first down. Coach Mason is going to get on them if you keep throwing scores,” he assured me.
The next round, Ridge was up.
“Third and seven,” Coach Mason called out.
Ridge hit his guy for the first down.
“STOP! EVERYONE FREEZE!” Coach Mason yelled.
“Ridge, look at your slot receiver,” Coach Mason told him.
He was a couple of steps past the safeties. Ridge looked at me and got a funny grin on his face.
“You’re only going to get so many opportunities in a game. If you have a receiver that wide open and miss him, I could forgive you. But good golly, at least try to score,” Coach Mason told us. “I truly appreciate a first down. I love how you march down a field, but you’ll crush a team’s spirit by scoring on big plays. Dinking and dunking down the field may have the same result on the scoreboard, but a quick score takes the air out of them. Keep your eyes open, boys.”
From that point on, we just had fun. We even gave Quaid some turns. We thanked all the guys for volunteering their time. Coach Mason took a moment to point out what they were doing right and a couple of suggestions for getting better.
We hadn’t realized it, but Coach Mason had put a freeze on interviews until after he was done with us. He let us go early, and we soon found ourselves answering the same questions over and over again. I told Ridge about my top five and he told me to expand it to a top ten in no particular order. He said to leave Notre Dame in if I was interested in going there. I decided to say I had a verbal with State. I figured it was true, so why deal with the mess of the rest of it?
My media requests were more than the other two guys because I was just going to be a sophomore. So I didn’t get to say goodbye, because I was still being interviewed when they left. They had booked earlier flights. I sat down with Bo and he said I didn’t need to stay another day, so I booked a flight that would get me into Chicago by ten o’clock. I called home and arranged for someone to pick me up.
I WAS HAPPY TO SEE Tami and my car waiting on me. I talked the poor girl’s ear off telling her about everything that happened. It had been the best week all summer, and there had been some good ones. Then she said the words I dreaded hearing.