“Let’s take everyone out of the mix. If you had to choose the best situation for you, where would you go?” I asked.
“USC,” he said, without even thinking about it.
“Then call them and lock down the spot they have for you. I promise you that I’ll look at them hard my senior year. I just can’t lock it in right now,” I explained.
Bill went to go talk to his parents. They left for a few minutes and called USC. He came back with a huge grin on his face. We stepped out of the tent and got everyone together so he could make his announcement.
“What’s up?” Tim asked.
“I just accepted an offer to ... USC,” he told us.
I think our teammates were just as excited for him as he was about finally getting the pressure of where to go off his back. He decided to tell Northwestern on Sunday. There was no need to influence any other recruits they had here this weekend. We focused on eating brats and drinking root beer.
THE GAME WAS QUITE enjoyable. Northwestern surprisingly led 17–14 at halftime. Nebraska was just the better team, and they scored 24 unanswered points, 17 in the fourth quarter, to win 38–17.
When the game finally ended, the parents all decided to go out to dinner and rid themselves of us kids. I asked Ryan where we were going and called Christen. The guys were wondering what I was up to.
“Hey, Baby, we’re getting ready to go to the party,” I said.
“How many guys do you have with you?” she asked.
“If you count our guide, we have ten, total. You think you have enough girls to handle that many?” I teased her.
“You’re so bad. I hope you don’t think we’re just going to jump them. We do have standards, you know,” she shot back.
“Just treat them gently. I have to return them to their parents at the end of the night, and I don’t want to have to explain any tattoos or piercings.”
“I take it they’re listening,” she commented.
“Yeah ... also I don’t want you to ruin them for other girls. I don’t want to have to drag them to campuses to find hot college girls each weekend, so nothing too kinky.”
“I might be able to find a strap-on for you,” she threatened.
“That might be over the top. You might scare them if they see something like that. Remember, most of them are virgins, and you’ll need to show them what to do,” I said.
“We’re going to tease the shit out of them,” she assured me and hung up.
I looked up, and they were all staring at me. I just shrugged.
“Wrong number,” I assured them.
In a flash Cassidy had me on the ground, squirming. It took both Jim and Wolf to get her to let go. Needless to say, the guys were in high spirits.
WE ALL WALKED TO A party that was going on at a large old house. Several football players lived there, and we found a keg in the back. I decided that since we weren’t driving, I would have a beer. I will say that college football players do attract some good-looking girls to their parties. I was busy getting to know some of them when my phone chirped. Christen had arrived.
I gathered up all the guys and took them out on the front porch to meet Suzanne’s friends. Cassidy made Jim go get her another beer, but she wasn’t missing this for the world. She latched onto my arm. I personally didn’t think having a girl on my arm was the best approach to meeting someone new. But she’d put me down once already, and I wasn’t willing to chance a repeat performance.
I wasn’t surprised when the girls were wearing clothes that showed off their assets. Christen had brought nine girls with her. They all checked us out, and then Christen sauntered up to Bill. The sway of her hips had everyone looking.
“What’s your name, Cutie?” she asked.
“Bill,” he said as he blushed.
I had to look away so I wouldn’t laugh. Poor Bill was sporting a serious case of wood. Christen led the poor lamb to the slaughter. The girls followed her example and each picked out a guy. We were soon down to just Lydia, Cassidy and I. Lydia was Suzanne’s roommate. I was a little disappointed when Cassidy grabbed Lydia’s arm and led her off to get some scoop. Jim found me on the porch. He had a beer for Cassidy, so I took it.
“What did you do with my girlfriend?” Jim asked.
“I think she stole my date. If we’re patient and let the beer do its work, we might see some hot girl-on-girl action later.”
We both knew that was a pipe dream, but us guys have to have something to look forward to. Jim just took it in stride.
“Hey, have you ever done a beer bong?” Jim asked me.
“You mean smoke pot?” I asked.
“No, drink beer.”
“You have to show me this trick,” I said, and he led me to the back of the house.
There was a bunch of guys there seeming to have a great time. They had a funnel attached to a tube. I watched as they filled it up, one of the guys put his thumb over the tube and put it in his mouth, and what looked like a pitcher of beer disappeared. They were giving the guy high fives. I wasn’t sure it looked like much fun because the guy had tears in his eyes.
“David’s next!” Jim yelled.
I suddenly had the beer bong in my hands and put my thumb over the end. I was debating if I was going to do it when they started chanting, “DRINK, DRINK, DRINK!”
I took a deep breath and put the hose in my mouth, and suddenly a large quantity of beer was rushing down my throat. I started to wonder if it would ever end when I looked up: they had pitchers filling the top as fast as I could drink it! I finally got smart and just jerked it out of my mouth and got my shirt covered in beer. Everyone cheered.
I suddenly didn’t feel great and ran out into the yard to throw up. It was either that, or my stomach was going to explode from too much beer in it. It was the strangest sensation to be puking cold beer. I had never had something cold come up before. I would personally not recommend it. I looked over in time to see Jim do one. He took it like a champ.
Twenty minutes later, Cassidy and Lydia found us, and we were drunk.
“What the hell have you two been doing? I just left you a few minutes ago,” Cassidy complained.
“You’re cute,” I slurred as I swept Lydia into my arms.
“You’re drunk,” Lydia told me.
“We only had three beers,” Jim said reasonably.
I counted on my fingers. Yep, three: two normal-sized ones and a beer bong.
“How the hell ...” Cassidy started, and then Lydia pointed at the beer bong. “You dumbasses.”
Jim just held up his hands.
“I’m a lover, not a fighter,” he told her.
That got me laughing. It was funny how sober people don’t see the humor in certain things.
Cassidy looked to Lydia for guidance.
“You have two choices: either catch up with them, or we go find some other cute guys who aren’t as drunk.”
I was a little irritated that Cassidy thought about it so long. She led Lydia over to the keg and they both slammed a beer, and then filled up another one and came back. Lydia took us inside and introduced us to Goldschläger. It was this cinnamon drink with gold flecks in it. It gave me good breath so I could kiss Lydia.
From there, all I know is I had a really good time. I remember talking all the guys into doing beer bongs, and the girls were doing Goldschläger shots.
Sunday October 19
I WOKE TO SOMEONE SHAKING me.
“Get up, David, you have to go,” said the irritating voice.
Good lord. I felt like a truck had hit me. I ached all over and had the worst case of cotton mouth ever. I cracked my eyes to find someone standing over me. It was Suzanne. Why the hell was she waking me up?
“Go away,” I moaned.
She jabbed me in the ribs again. If I could get up, she was dead.
“Stop,” I whined.
She jumped on me and tickled me. That was unfair. I wiggled out from under her and fell out of bed. She just laughed at me. I finally got my eyes opened and focused. I looked down and I was naked. Not only naked, but someone had written on me with a permanent marker.