Senior Year Box Set

“Is she still threatening to move in with you guys?” I asked.

Cora had talked about moving into Pam’s condo with their mom.

“She asked if she could move into your LA condo. It is a four-bedroom, and at this point, one bedroom is empty,” Pam said.

“She wouldn’t pass the application criteria. She doesn’t have any rental history,” I came up with on the fly.

“I don’t either,” Pam said with a twinkle in her eyes.

“You’re a personal friend of the owner,” I assured her.

“The friend you like best,” Pam said. She bit her bottom lip so as not to laugh at me.

“What will Tracy say if you tell her that I not only love you best, but you’re also my best friend?” I asked.

“She can be second,” Pam offered.

“Okay. I just wanted to make sure you understand the can of worms you’re opening.”

“So, I can tell Cora she has to find somewhere else to live?” Pam asked.

“Yes. Cora cannot move into the condo,” I said.

“And I’m your best friend?”

“And you’re my best friend,” I assured her.

She finally smiled. My work here was done.

“Let’s go take our finals,” I said as the first bell rang.

◊◊◊

Joey was waiting for me when I came out of the locker room for my Strength and Conditioning test.

“Let’s get your final measurements and compare them with when we started,” Joey said.

I’d made a noticeable improvement in my flexibility, speed, and strength. My weight was down to 212 pounds, which meant I was leaner. I had to admit that she’d solved the plateau problem that some athletes encountered.

“When you get ready for football season, you should work at bulking up to handle the pounding. I thought that for baseball, it would be better to have you slim down some,” Joey explained.

“Are we giving him a ‘B’?” Cassidy asked.

“You get whatever grade he gets,” Joey said.

“Oh,” Cassidy said and thought for a moment. “‘A’ it is.”

“David, could we talk for a moment?” Joey asked.

Cassidy got the hint and left us alone. Mr. Happy was hoping she finally realized I was graduating Saturday and would be willing to hook up with me.

“Is Greg seeing Scarlet?” she asked.

My mind went to a dark place for a moment when I imagined my brother might replace me in all my fantasies with my hot trainer. Then I remembered what I’d told my younger brother. Brothers were half dick to each other and half there for them. Greg needed a break.

“I usually don’t share stuff like this, but I’ll make an exception this time because I know Greg is into you. He and Scarlet are hooking up to help each other out. Greg is busy with school, raising his kids, and running a business, which leaves him with no time to meet anyone since Angie left. Scarlet’s friend returned to California for work, so Scarlet and Greg decided to help each other out.

“I guess what I’m trying to say is that when Scarlet moves to Malibu, they won’t be seeing each other anymore, and you can swoop in,” I said.

“He’s into me?” she asked.

“I’m into you as well. You do understand that come Saturday afternoon, I’ll no longer be a student,” I said as I gave her a smoky look.

“So, I should wait until next week to make my move on Greg?” Joey asked.

I’d tried.

“Yep,” I said unenthusiastically.

“Are you still going to pay me to train him now that your mom and dad are leaving?”

I wanted to say ‘Hell, no,’ but both my dad and Greg had lost weight and were starting to look like their old selves. That reminded me that I needed to make sure my dad didn’t slack off. I would put Lexi in charge of finding him, and anyone else who wanted it, a gym membership. And I’d have her get him a personal trainer.

“Greg seems to enjoy you torturing him, so I’d say you should continue doing that,” I said and changed the topic. “I want to thank you for all you’ve done for me. Without your help, I would never have improved as much.”

“Honestly, you surprised me. I thought several times you were going to push back on what I was doing with you because it was either unconventional or, at times, too much. I’ve never had anyone with your determination and acceptance of what I was doing before,” she said.

“Before I go, I just wanted to make sure that you’re not interested in all this. I can take my shirt off if that helps,” I teased.

“No, thanks. But I bet if you made that same offer to either Jill or Becky, they’d go for it,” Joey said to throw her fellow trainers to the wolves.

I waggled my eyebrows.

“Why don’t all three of you meet me Saturday, and we’ll all get sweaty?”

By the way she rolled her eyes, it was clear I had no shot. I must be losing my touch. Oh, well, if I couldn’t have her, then I wanted Greg to. I would bet she could get him into the best shape of his life. He might someday be able to have the hashtag #HotDad on social media.

◊◊◊

Ms. Lowden handed out our test results in Calculus. When Dare got his, he showed Gina and me that he’d gotten all the answers right. Once we got ours back, we didn’t turn our tests over to check how we scored. With Suzanne tutoring us, we knew we’d done well. Besides, we wanted to torture him a bit.

“What did you get?” Dare blurted out.