Junior Year Box Set

I felt that a level of trust had been broken. It made me sad to think my mom would keep Dad’s affair from me. I somewhat accepted her irrational behavior. This was the ‘mother-of-all-reasons:’ if she’d just told me why, instead of playing ‘because I told you so,’ I could’ve accepted it. Finding out the real reason later had changed my relationship with my parents. Trust was a big deal for me. I hadn’t had the best luck with relationships; it was the one facet of my life I couldn’t seem to get right. I had only now realized that I felt the same way about my relationship with my mom as I did about my relationship with Tami. While I loved them both, our relationships had fundamentally changed.

I thought about that last statement. I recognized that my dad’s infidelity was a big deal and understood my mom not wanting to talk about it. They needed to work that out themselves. My problem was that I felt Mom took it out on me. It was as if she fell into frustrated-parent mode. Mom had found it easier to boss me around than talk to me. Mom and Dad had never been those parents that would tell you to do something just because they said so. We had in-depth conversations, not platitudes or superficial one-liners.

This led me back to the conversation I was having with Tami. In the past, I would have shared with her everything I was going through with my parents, but she was just a friend now. I wouldn’t tell anyone else about my father’s infidelity. It wasn’t my place to share that kind of information. So I wasn’t going to talk to Tami about it. If my mom wanted to tell her, fine.

“I guess it would’ve been nice if she’d told me that. Did Mom tell you when they’d be back?” I asked.

I could see Tami debate whether she should tell me or not. I turned my back on her and finished unpacking.

“How did things get so bad?” Tami asked.

Was she serious?

“It started when you decided to change our relationship.”

I shook my head and walked out the door, leaving her to her thoughts, and took the elevator down to the lobby to wait for everyone.

◊◊◊

Candy was waiting in the lobby, and she was alone. Most of the rest of our group was already downstairs. A bus had been arranged to drive all the recruits and their families over to the stadium. There were others that I assumed were also there to catch the bus. I snuck up behind Candy, wrapped her in my arms and kissed her neck. She twisted around and kissed me, and it was more than hello.

“What the hell, Dawson?” Flee said as he and his mom walked up.

I reached for him and hugged him also. He had to fight me off when I tried to kiss him. When I was done, Mrs. Johnson, Flee’s mom, held out her arms.

“Do I get one too?” she asked, which caused me to blush.

She didn’t give me a choice and gave me a big hug. Thankfully, she just kissed my cheek.

“I want you to meet my teammates,” I said, grabbing Candy’s hand. Flee just rolled his eyes as I dragged her across the lobby.

I’d had several conversations with other quarterbacks about Flee’s girlfriend. Everyone agreed he was outclassed. The jokes about her being a stripper weren’t just because of her name. Her body reminded me of what Pamela Anderson would have looked like as a teenager. The only difference was I was pretty sure Candy’s breasts were real. So why was she with Flee? Their best guess was that he must be packing a monster in his trousers. I had roomed with him and knew that wasn’t really the case. I happened to think they loved each other.

When I walked up with Candy in tow, everyone turned to stare at us.

“He’s been here thirty minutes and already found the best-looking girl in Evanston,” Wolf said.

“Hey, Candy,” I heard, and turned to see Ben Luck and his family walk up.

She hugged him also, but he didn’t get a kiss, I was happy to see.

“If I’d known you were going to be here, I would have skipped,” Ben said to me.

“I agree,” Flee joined in.

“I want you guys to meet my teammates,” I said, and then turned to my guys. “This is Candy, who for some reason loves this scrawny Elite 11 quarterback, Flee Johnson. Someday she’ll come to her senses and leave him for me, but for now, I suffer. This is Ben Luck, another quarterback I met at a camp this summer. I’d like you to meet Jim Ball, my left tackle, and currently rated one of the five best linemen in the Midwest. Ty Wilson just transferred to Lincoln and is the best running back you haven’t heard of yet. This is Tim Foresee, our defensive captain and a heck of a linebacker. Finally, this is Wolf Tams. He’ll be playing on Sundays as a tight end.”

The guys all puffed up when I introduced them, and their parents smiled as well. I then introduced everyone else.