“David! Welcome! Come meet some of your fans. Your game last night has been a hot topic of conversation,” Granny said, and she guided me through the restaurant.
I spent the next ten minutes going from table to table with Granny, meeting her customers. Most of them I knew because we were a small town. The benefit of the meet-and-greet was it gave me time to come to grips with Tami going with us. She and Alan were two of my best friends, after all. I really would like to go to college with them, even if she and I were not together. When I finally joined Alan and Tami at the table, there was already a plate of hot, just-out-of-the-oven cinnamon rolls there. I focused on putting some butter on mine so it could melt before I ate it.
“Alan tells me you had a good game last night,” Tami said.
I had my mouth full, so Alan talked for me.
“He was showing off last night because there was a bunch of recruiters in the stands.”
I swallowed.
“No, I did it for you, so you could claim to be an undefeated head coach.”
Tami watched as Alan and I traded jabs at each other as we ate our breakfast. I noticed she had my promise ring on a silver necklace. She winked at me when she caught me looking at it to let me know she’d seen me check it out. To say I was uncomfortable with Tami going with us to Northwestern was putting it mildly. It had only been a couple of weeks since Tami had told me she wanted to date other guys. I would have to have a long talk with Alan about him inviting her without talking to me first. It could’ve been she had invited herself, but a heads-up would have been appreciated.
We finished our breakfast and drove to the high school. Tami had called shotgun, and when we came to a stop, Alan jumped out of the car. Tami reached over and touched my arm to stop me from getting out. It was as if she and Alan had planned this.
“Hang on. I think we need to talk,” she said.
“Why are you here?” I asked.
“Are we not still friends? I thought our plan was to go to college together,” Tami said reasonably.
We had planned to go to college together, but that was before. While I had no objection to Tami attending whatever university she wanted, I no longer felt she had a say-so in where I went. In my mind, I had removed her from the equation. We both needed to move on with our lives, even if seeing her reminded me that I still loved her, which in turn took a lot of the joy out of the trip.
“Okay.”
Apparently, I pissed off Tami with my one-word answer.
“Why do you have to be like this? We’ve been best friends since I moved here over ten years ago. I still have plans for us when we grow up and decide to move to that phase of our lives. You made it clear that you care for me when you gave me this ring. At some point, I plan on collecting on the promise it represents.”
“A phone call or a text would have been nice. This is almost sneaky,” I said as Alan and Brandon got in the back seat.
“Out, both of you,” I said to Brandon and Alan. When they stepped out of the car, I turned to Tami. “So, what’s the deal?”
“I figured if I asked, you’d say ‘no.’ It’s always been easier to ask for forgiveness than permission with you. Frankly, I didn’t think I’d need permission to go look at colleges.”
This opened up a whole new set of issues, but everyone was waiting for us. As time dragged on, Tami got a nervous look as if I might actually kick her out of the car. It was tempting to make her ride with someone else, but I knew word would get back to my mom. I would rather suck it up and deal with this than fight any more with my mom.
“I understand why you’re here. What has always been my problem is when I feel like I’ve been manipulated. I’m sure you talked Alan into helping you. It’s the same old crap. You’re always doing an end-run on me,” I said, glaring at her. “Since when have you been afraid to ask me anything? For that matter, if you thought I’d say ‘no,’ why’d you force it?”
“I’m afraid to ask you because this is how you react,” she said.
“In the future can you just talk to me? Our friends don’t need to be in the middle.”
“I agree, and I’m sorry.”
I rolled down the window and told the guys to get into the car.
“Nice,” Brandon said when got in and saw the backseat of the car.
“Check this out,” Alan said as he flipped down the tray in the seat back and showed Brandon that there was a tablet built in for each of them to use.
The guys in the back geeked-out over all the features Range Sports had added to my Charger. Alan pointed out the Wi-Fi and showed Brandon how to use the car to answer his phone or make calls. I focused on not talking to Tami. She let me think about what she’d said as we drove to Evanston.
When we were about halfway, Brandon gave us our itinerary for the weekend.
“I’ve arranged for you to meet with both the Stanford and Northwestern coaching staffs before the game. We’ll do the tour of the Northwestern facilities first. Then, while the tour of the campus is happening for everyone else, you and Jim will meet with Stanford. They’d like to work you out so they can see the two of you in person.”
“Why just the two of them? Why not Tim, Ty, and Wolf also?” Alan asked.
“They want to give the other guys a year to develop. The quarterback position is critical, and they need to see if David is everything they think he is. Jim’s a senior, and they have a high interest in him after what he did at the summer lineman camps.
“This is also not a home game for them, and they don’t want to be poor guests. We arranged to have the workout done off-campus,” Brandon said.
“Will Tami and Alan get a chance to talk to academic advisors?” I asked.
“Yes, that’s been arranged. The advisors will also help them with their applications. Both Alan and Tami have the grades to get in without a problem. I hadn’t realized you all did so well, grades-wise. When do you plan to take the standardized tests?” Brandon asked, referring to the ACT and SAT college entrance exams.
“In the spring,” Tami said as she joined the conversation. “Have you looked into tutors for the exams?”
“Uh …” Brandon stammered.
“I think that was directed at me,” I said to let him off the hook. “I believe in working with others to make me better, whether it’s academics or athletics. I hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to you about that. I think we can set something up for my friends at Lincoln and Wesleyan, so everyone has a good chance to go where they want to. I might need help because I’ll be in LA at the end of the year for my new movie and the release of Star Academy. At some point, I need to prep for the tests in January.”
“That makes sense,” Brandon said as he took notes on his phone.
“What about the game and the rest of the day?” Alan asked.
“I got twenty tickets. We had to pay for Tami, Jim’s sister, and Ty’s two brothers. I went ahead and paid for those. We can bill them for what they owe us,” Brandon said.
“I’ve got Tami. Plan on covering all her expenses when she travels with us,” I said.
“What about me?” Alan asked.
“Send his parents a bill,” I teased, winking at Brandon in the rearview mirror.
He took notes and Alan looked worried. I just let him think I wasn’t paying for him. Alan looked at Tami, and she gave it away.
“‘Stupid boy,’” Alan mumbled.
“What did you say?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he shot back.
“After the game, there’ll be something for the players only. Everyone else is free until the next morning. There’ll be a breakfast, and then you’ll work out. It’s my understanding that two other quarterbacks will be here this weekend, Felix Johnson from Miami, Florida, and Ben Luck from Springfield, Missouri,” Brandon said.
“Flee! I hope he brought Candy,” Tami said.