Plot twist: Brady is dating some girl who is clearly unattractive, once everybody finds out he'll be further alienated from the team.
War of the Roses | A Tale of Two Families
- Thread starter BlackCaesar-THSLA
- Start date
Aunt Flow’s Boys
“Coach, is there a reason you didn’t shake hands with Coach Hall following the game?”
UL-Lafayette’s coach, Derek Black, was very different from Tulane’s head coach. In his first season in charge of the Ragin’ Cajuns, he’d taken the team to a respectable 7-2 record before leading them into Tulane Stadium. Hailing from the great state of Wisconsin, he was a staunch believer in a power run game and his 46 defense. It had worked in their wins… but not so much against the Green Wave.
“Is there a reason I didn’t shake his hand?” the coach asked, his hands mangling the hat between them. It was his “lucky cap” that he’d been wearing since their seven-game win streak started against Rice in the third week of the season.
“Yes, you walked off the field as soon as the game ended.”
“Damn right, I did and I’d do it all over again given a second chance. The PC people in this sport might thing what I did was disrespectful or unsportsmanlike but you know what I think is disrespectful and unsportsmanlike? When you are up 49-9 and you leave your God damned starters in the game. I think that’s pretty disrespectful… or how about when you are leading 35-0 at halftime and come out in the second half letting your quarterback to throw it eight times on the first fucking drive? I’m sure one of you idiots will try to say that this was a moral victory for us. That we came to New Orleans and didn’t get shutout. Well, you can shove that moral victory right up your ass because the Green Wave only had one mission today and that was to embarrass my players. Those receivers didn’t need to celebrate every fucking touchdown. Those defenders didn’t need to celebrate every fucking tackle or sack or damn interception. How many did we throw anyway? 4 or 5? Yeah, I knew the deal coming into the game. We get some money and they get to sharpen their play before heading back into their ‘real’ games but I know if you handed me a ballot right now and asked me to vote for the top 25, I wouldn’t even include them. They don’t deserve to play in the National Championship after what I saw on that field today but that’s exactly what we are going to get still going by this BCS bullshit. Everyone has to get their God damned style points. Tulane couldn’t just win the game as everyone knew they would, they had to run the score up. It’s sickening that we have to subject our young men to that for a few hundred thousand dollars. Downright sickening. I’ll be praying to everything that is holy that Alabama destroys them next week.”
Jason swung his legs over the edge of the bed and immediately regretted the sudden movement. Last night’s party had gotten a little too crazy but everyone was so ecstatic over such a dominating performance from the team, albeit against an opponent like ULL. He’d caught two touchdowns in the drubbing and it seemed like everytime he ran low on beer, a fresh congratulatory brew was shoved into his hand.
After rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he noticed there were four bodies in his roommate’s bed. He stood up slowly, hoping not to aggravate the hangover and laughed to himself as some of the events of the night came back to him.
It’d been a long time since Caesar had made an appearance at a late-night campus gathering but the junior wasted no time in getting back into the swing of things following his own three touchdown day against the Ragin’ Cajuns.
Jason was just happy that when Caesar decided he was going to go home with three girls for his three touchdowns that he somehow got blessed with a quick lay from “the uglier one” as Caesar had termed one of the three, a blonde with a decent set of assets of he had to say so himself. He was also happy that alcohol made him a heavy sleeper because he didn’t think he could have survived listening to a foursome on the opposite side of the room.
Picking up a sock, he tossed it at his teammate to wake him up, “Caesar!”
A few shouts later, Caesar managed to untangle himself from the mess of limbs and pulled himself up against the wall.
“Had a little too much fun, buddy?” Jason joked. Considering the amount of clothing on the floor, he was pretty glad that he was only able to see Caesar’s upper body. They were teammates but there was only so much of a person you wanted to see in the morning.
“To be completely honest, I might not have had enough fun,” Caesar tried to get his legs out from under the girls but soon realized it was a losing battle, “Two of them were pretty lazy and it’s hard enough to deal with one lazy lay but two?” he nodded to the blonde, “She was the most enthusiastic. Probably trying to get off since you didn’t get her off.”
“Orgasms are like opinions, man. I only care about mine. I don’t care if she has hers.”
“Read that on the internet?”
“It’s a fountain of wealth,” Jason shrugged, “Better get them out of here before Jimmy gets back. He’ll be pissed you fucked up his sheets.”
Caesar shook his head, “Jimmy came back a couple hours ago. I gave him a hundred bucks and he suddenly had no problem with it.”
“Money talks. You know all three of them are cheerleaders?”
“I don’t pay attention to the cheerleaders, Jason. I’m not some prepubescent kid getting his first stiffy because of short skirts and spanks but I guess they were into some vintage porn shit. Cheerleaders and the big stud football player. Can’t say I’m too bothered about any of it.”
“’Course you ain’t. How are you going to get rid of them?”
“I’m not,” the upperclassman laughed, “I’m going to try to convince them to go for round two when they get up.”
“Remind me to leave when you start that. Don’t you have a girlfriend?”
“And a bitch on the side… and a bitch on the side of that bitch.”
“Well with all those bitches, make sure you have some energy left for Bama.”
“Don’t worry about me, youngster. I’ll be ready for Aunt Flow’s boys.”
"It's freezing out here."
"You don't say," Devin grinned widely. "Hanging by a river in the middle of November before the sun is up? Go figure."
"I'm being nice by agreeing to come out here with you. Don't make me change my mind, Devinho."
Devin kept smiling as he hugged Alessa closer, leaning down to rest his chin on her shoulder which no small feat with their difference in height. Soon she'd be heading home to Brazil where he knew beautiful scenery could be found anywhere she looked. He wanted the chance between both of their hectic schedules to show that Louisiana had something to offer too. Maybe, he could convince her to hang around after she graduated if there was something in Louisiana worth hanging around for.
"Just wait a few minutes. Patience," Devin whispered in her ear.
“Wait for what? You to shove me in the river?”
“You can swim, can’t you? They don’t teach y’all how to swim in the Amazon?”
Alessa elbowed Devin in his stomach and glared over her shoulder, “Yes, they do, right after they teach us Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Would you like to see what I have learned?”
“So violent.”
“What can I say? I get angry when I’m cold.”
“Yeah, yeah. Look,” he pointed towards the east where the sun was starting its daily climb, shedding the day’s first rays of light over the river causing the water to sparkle.
A smile spread across Alessa’s face, “You dragged me out here to watch the sunrise, Devinho? I didn’t know you could be so… cheesy.”
“Whatever. You know you think it’s nice.”
“I do. Who knew New Orleans could look so nice if you got up at some ungodly hour on Sunday morning? It’s beautiful.”
“Eh, I’ve seen better.”
She turned her head and caught him staring at her. Despite him pulling out his best lines, she smiled and shook her head, “Penso que somos para além do ponto da lisonja, Devinho.”
“You ever going to teach me Portuguese?”
“Não, então não seria capaz de importuná-lo na sua cara,” she winked before turning back towards the river.
Devin laughed softly. He didn’t mind not knowing what the Brazilian girl in his arms was saying in her native tongue. It made him forget about everything else on his mind. At that moment, he didn’t have to think about last week’s game against ULL or next week’s game against Alabama. He didn’t have to think about the Heisman, the National Championship or going pro. It was just the two of them.
“We come to you live from Tulane Stadium where the second-ranked Green Wave are looking to extend their winning streak to 12 games dating back to last season’s SEC Champions Game but they are up against a tough opponent in the Alabama Crimson Tide who are coming off their second loss of the season last week against Tulane’s in-state rival LSU.”
“I’m sure the Crimson Tide will be looking to give UL-Lafayette head coach Derek Black and every team under Tulane in the BCS standings exactly what they are looking for by upsetting this Green Wave team.”
“It’s sure to be a good game and after this commercial break we’ll be back with the opening kick.”
…
Brady felt as if he was staring at the execution squad as the Crimson Tide defense crept closer to the line. It was a radical change from what he’d seen over the first nine games of the season where teams kept their safeties deep to deal with Caesar and Jason’s ability to stretch the field vertically. Alabama had all their defenders within eight yards of the line.
It didn’t take a cerebral quarterback to know the blitz was coming. Arm-chair quarterbacks around the country were probably barking the “proper” adjustments at the screen.
He jogged up to his offensive line and pointed out the potential blitzers in hopes he’d be able to get the ball away before getting destroyed in the backfield. Teams had gotten used to facing a mobile quarterback in Tulane’s backfield over the last four years but it looked like they were starting to realize that Brady wasn’t anywhere near the athlete Darren Eguia was.
…
“The snap is low but Rodgers is able to get it. Alabama is bringing the house! Rodgers tries to step up in the pocket but is blasted from behind and does well to just hold onto to the ball there.”
“That’s one way to derail this offense. The receivers were barely into their routes when Brady Rodgers was brought down. Remember this kid is a major 180 from what the Green Wave had last season in Darren Eguia. Rodgers can pick you apart with his arm but doesn’t move around too well.”
“The Green Wave elect to keep it on the ground for second and long but Desmond Smith is swarmed in the backfield for a loss on the play.”
“The Tide sent another blitz. It looks like they are trying to shake this freshman quarterback even when the ball isn’t in his hands.”
“Another run on third down and the Wave will have to punt it away. Three and outs haven’t been too common for this team this season.”
…
“Alabama takes the field for their first drive of the game but all eyes will be on the Green Wave’s star cornerback Devin King who already is up to 13 interceptions on the season after his three-pick day last week against the Ragin’ Cajuns.”
“Teams haven’t seemed to be able to figure out a way to avoid throwing to his side of the field all season and he’s getting closer to the single-season record for interceptions in a season. That being said, junior Ross Petty has been doing well for the Tide since taking the starting job from Skyler Hunt.”
“Petty hands it off to Freddie Muse who darts forward for a gain of five. You think Alabama is looking to keep the ball on the ground to keep it away from King?”
“It hasn’t worked before and I don’t think that’s what they are going to do today. This Green Wave team has too much talent in their front seven to allow anyone to run over them so they’ll have to put it in the air eventually.”
“Speak of him and he will come! Petty thought he had Yusuf Montoya wide open on the comeback but King shoots in to knock the ball away at the last second.”
“When you see that burst of speed you forget that this guy is actually called ‘too tall’ for a cornerback standing at 6’2”. With speed like that, he can play any position he wants for my team.”
“Zach Sears on the receiving end of that Petty pass but is only able to pick up three yards before being dragged to the ground by Adrian Taylor. It looks like the Crimson Tide and going to play it safe and bring on their punt team here.”
…
When the boos started showering the field, it was clear that the Tulane fans had been spoiled over the 2054 season. Very few times had it looked like there was a chance that the Green Wave could actually lose a game and the offense had never been slowed by an opponent. However, after two quarters of play, they had only managed a field goal and had gained a shade over one hundred yards of total offense.
Alabama had set out with a clear gameplan to hassle Brady as much as possible and get in his head before he was able to settle into the game. The offensive line was being run ragged as they tried to deal with the six and seven man blitzes.
The freshman���s psyche wasn’t helped by the insults tossed at him from the home crowd on the two occasions that he threw an interception in the first half.
While the Tide only led by four points, netting a touchdown on their final drive of the half, the pressure was quickly building on the Green Wave players. The players who’d been there for the past two years vividly remembered the lone three games that they’d lost ending both of their chances at an undefeated season.
The very thought of possibly losing another game towards the tail end of an undefeated season was enough to spark Tulane’s most outspoken player into being a bit more vocal on the field.
…
Caesar ripped off his helmet and tossed it against the bench after another round of plays that ended with a punt and a missed opportunity. He saw Brady grabbing a cup of Gatorade from a manager and decided to give the freshman some of his patented advice, “What the fuck is wrong with you, freshman? I was open on that last play. Wide fucking open. Do I need to explain to you how to throw the fucking ball? Man the fuck up, take the hit and throw the fucking ball.”
“What do you think I’m trying to do Caesar? I’m getting fucking tired of you jumping down my throat everytime you don’t get the fucking ball,” Brady snapped back.
“You’re the quarterback, aren’t you? I’m the receiver. That’s how this operation works. You throw it. I catch it. I can’t do my job if you don’t do your job. That’s why I’m getting on your fucking case about it!”
“You’ve been on the fucking field. They are sending the house every play.”
“So make adjustments.”
“What the fuck do you think I’ve been trying to do?!”
“I don’t care what you’ve been trying to do. Get your damn head out of the sand and do something to fix this shit because if we lose I’m going to kick your ass. I want a fucking National Championship before I leave, got it?”
…
“The Tide are driving here and looking to put what could be the nail in the coffin if the Green Wave offense continues to perform like it has so far today.”
“Alabama has come out here so far and showed that they don’t fear that offense which you have to respect them for. They’ve bottled up Caesar Jenkins and Jason Williams, kept Desmond Smith from getting any momentum and Brady Rodgers looks very much the freshman he is. And on top of all that, Ross Petty hasn’t thrown an interception today. Getting to this point in the game without an interception could be counted as a win.”
“And as if on cue, Petty completes a pass to LaShawn Irving for a gain of eleven yards down to the Green Wave 22 yardline.”
“That quick slant has been there all game whether it against Devin King or any of the other Tulane defensive backs.”
“Hand-off to Freddie Muse but he is stacked up at the line of scrimmage by Geoff Smith. Good penetration off the snap by the senior defensive tackle. Alabama are actually rushing back to the line for second down. A toss to Muse but it’s only good for a gain of two as Clint Bingham is there to bring him down.”
“I liked the idea behind that from the Crimson Tide, just not the execution. Sometimes, you can catch a team off-guard with a bit of change of pace but the Green Wave practice against a no-huddle offense week-in and week-out. You’ll have to do better than that.”
“Petty drops back to pass on third and nine. King’s coming on the blitz. Petty has to get the ball away. He sees the blitz but it’s too late. He tries to throw it away but it looks like that’ll be intentional grounding.”
“Doesn’t matter either way. As has been the story of this game, the Crimson Tide offense sputtered when they had the chance to put some distance between them and the Green Wave. Alabama is going to have to kick a field goal here.”
…
“Caesar Jenkins doesn’t look too happy about that pass even though it was completed for a gain of six yards.”
“Rodgers had to throw off his back foot to avoid the sack and it forced Jenkins to take a shot from Tyshaun Kelly that he might have been able to stay away from if the ball was on target.”
“Williams comes in motion. Rodgers snaps it and hands it off to… Williams! Reverse! Reverse! Alabama’s defense is out of position as Williams sprints away. Clayton Culver catches him at the ten yardline but what a play from the Green Wave!”
“Sometimes you have to reach into your bag of tricks to get something going. I have to admit that I didn’t expect that either. Once Jenkins and Willie Ramirez set the edge, it was just a foot race.”
“And for the first time today, first and goal for the Green Wave. Rodgers drops back and throws the quick screen to Williams who dives forward for six yards.”
“Feed the hot hand, Jesse.”
“Second and goal from the four yardline. This is fade territory and it looks like that’s exactly where Rodgers is going as he lobs the ball up to Jenkins in the corner of the endzone. Damarcus Avery is trying to fight for position but the junior receiver jumps up and snatches it out of the air, getting both feet down before stumbling out of the endzone. Touchdown Green Wave! It’s a tie game!”
“It seems that for the past three years it’s been an automatic touchdown for the Green Wave when they get that close to the endzone. There aren’t many defensive backs who can jump high enough to beat Caesar Jenkins in a jump ball situation.”
…
“The Green Wave are driving again late in the fourth quarter but it looks like they are starting to use a bit of steam after Brady Rodgers goes down for yet another sack. Third and thirteen from the Alabama 27 yardline. Tulane’s going to take a time out to think about it. What do you do here, Clark?”
“There’s only three minutes left on the clock and your defense has been playing well all game. I’d run the ball. Let the clock run down as far as I can then take the points. The field goal should be enough for them to get out of here with the win when you put Alabama in a situation where they have to throw the ball. I know Devin King hasn’t been involved in any big plays today but you have to feel confident in that situation with that player on your team.”
“It looks like Rock Hall agrees with you as the Green Wave come out in the I-formation. Smith takes the handoff and pushes forward for four yards. Max Longwell trots out onto the field for the field goal attempt now on fourth down.”
…
Devin looked up at the scoreboard as the Alabama offense broke the huddle, trailing 13-10. 2:30 remained in the game and they had at least 60 yards to go before they could give themselves a shot at overtime with a last-second field goal.
It was more than enough time with their two timeouts and the clock stopping after every first down. He just hoped the defense would be able to keep their gains to a minimum to keep the clock running as much as possible.
…
“The crowd is trying to make it hard for Ross Petty and the Green Wave defenders are encouraging t hem to get louder.”
“They do have a strong homefield advantage here.”
“Petty drops back to pass and flicks it out to Muse in the flat. He picks up a quick seven yards before being tripped up in bounds.”
“That’s a decent play by the Green Wave. Now, the clock is running.”
“Petty’s back to pass on second down. Good coverage downfield but he has time to look for an open receiver. Rolls to his right, still searching and he hits Prince Sands over the middle for a gain of thirteen. The clock is going to stop while the referees reset the chains.”
“Alabama doesn’t have to rush just yet but they are still running to the line. You have to think that they want to make sure they get into field goal range before burning some time off the clock and keeping the ball away from Tulane’s offense.”
“Another dropback from Petty. Taylor’s coming on a late blitz and Petty isn’t going to be able to get away and he goes down for the sack! Tulane rolled the dice with a safety blitz and came up big!”
“Around 1:40 left on the clock now. You’d think Alabama would call their second to last timeout now to give their team a chance to recompose themselves after that play but it looks like there are going to rush back to line.”
“Petty fakes the handoff to Muse. Irving is on the receiving end of that one. Fifteen yard gain to the Green Wave 48 yardline and the Tide take the timeout here. 1:19 remaining in the game.”
“You can feel the tension in the air. The Green Wave know they could possibly lose their shot at the National Championship should Alabama put the ball in the endzone on this drive while the Crimson Tide know they could fall further down the bowl seedings with another division loss.”
“Tulane will surely have the last two seasons’ upset losses in their mind as they finish out this game. The referee signals for play to begin again. Alabama comes out with four wide. Tulane with six defensive backs on the field. Petty gets the snap. He pump fakes once, pump fakes twice, steps up, lets it go… HE’S GOING DEEP! Sears and King are battling for position downfield! This could be the play of the game and…”
“IT’S INTERCEPTED! IT’S INTERCEPTED! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT! WHAT A CATCH!”
“Devin King comes down with it at the Green Wave five yardline! For the umpteenth time this season, Devin King has come through for Tulane when they needed a play!”
“To all the people saying this kid doesn’t deserve the Heisman because he didn’t have a Heisman moment, there you go ladies and gentlemen. If Zach Sears would have come down with that ball, Alabama would have won this game but King high-pointed that pass and did what he does best… make plays! When the season is on the line and the chips are down, big time players make big time plays! Take a bow, young man, take a bow!”
“Coach, is there a reason you didn’t shake hands with Coach Hall following the game?”
UL-Lafayette’s coach, Derek Black, was very different from Tulane’s head coach. In his first season in charge of the Ragin’ Cajuns, he’d taken the team to a respectable 7-2 record before leading them into Tulane Stadium. Hailing from the great state of Wisconsin, he was a staunch believer in a power run game and his 46 defense. It had worked in their wins… but not so much against the Green Wave.
“Is there a reason I didn’t shake his hand?” the coach asked, his hands mangling the hat between them. It was his “lucky cap” that he’d been wearing since their seven-game win streak started against Rice in the third week of the season.
“Yes, you walked off the field as soon as the game ended.”
“Damn right, I did and I’d do it all over again given a second chance. The PC people in this sport might thing what I did was disrespectful or unsportsmanlike but you know what I think is disrespectful and unsportsmanlike? When you are up 49-9 and you leave your God damned starters in the game. I think that’s pretty disrespectful… or how about when you are leading 35-0 at halftime and come out in the second half letting your quarterback to throw it eight times on the first fucking drive? I’m sure one of you idiots will try to say that this was a moral victory for us. That we came to New Orleans and didn’t get shutout. Well, you can shove that moral victory right up your ass because the Green Wave only had one mission today and that was to embarrass my players. Those receivers didn’t need to celebrate every fucking touchdown. Those defenders didn’t need to celebrate every fucking tackle or sack or damn interception. How many did we throw anyway? 4 or 5? Yeah, I knew the deal coming into the game. We get some money and they get to sharpen their play before heading back into their ‘real’ games but I know if you handed me a ballot right now and asked me to vote for the top 25, I wouldn’t even include them. They don’t deserve to play in the National Championship after what I saw on that field today but that’s exactly what we are going to get still going by this BCS bullshit. Everyone has to get their God damned style points. Tulane couldn’t just win the game as everyone knew they would, they had to run the score up. It’s sickening that we have to subject our young men to that for a few hundred thousand dollars. Downright sickening. I’ll be praying to everything that is holy that Alabama destroys them next week.”
Jason swung his legs over the edge of the bed and immediately regretted the sudden movement. Last night’s party had gotten a little too crazy but everyone was so ecstatic over such a dominating performance from the team, albeit against an opponent like ULL. He’d caught two touchdowns in the drubbing and it seemed like everytime he ran low on beer, a fresh congratulatory brew was shoved into his hand.
After rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he noticed there were four bodies in his roommate’s bed. He stood up slowly, hoping not to aggravate the hangover and laughed to himself as some of the events of the night came back to him.
It’d been a long time since Caesar had made an appearance at a late-night campus gathering but the junior wasted no time in getting back into the swing of things following his own three touchdown day against the Ragin’ Cajuns.
Jason was just happy that when Caesar decided he was going to go home with three girls for his three touchdowns that he somehow got blessed with a quick lay from “the uglier one” as Caesar had termed one of the three, a blonde with a decent set of assets of he had to say so himself. He was also happy that alcohol made him a heavy sleeper because he didn’t think he could have survived listening to a foursome on the opposite side of the room.
Picking up a sock, he tossed it at his teammate to wake him up, “Caesar!”
A few shouts later, Caesar managed to untangle himself from the mess of limbs and pulled himself up against the wall.
“Had a little too much fun, buddy?” Jason joked. Considering the amount of clothing on the floor, he was pretty glad that he was only able to see Caesar’s upper body. They were teammates but there was only so much of a person you wanted to see in the morning.
“To be completely honest, I might not have had enough fun,” Caesar tried to get his legs out from under the girls but soon realized it was a losing battle, “Two of them were pretty lazy and it’s hard enough to deal with one lazy lay but two?” he nodded to the blonde, “She was the most enthusiastic. Probably trying to get off since you didn’t get her off.”
“Orgasms are like opinions, man. I only care about mine. I don’t care if she has hers.”
“Read that on the internet?”
“It’s a fountain of wealth,” Jason shrugged, “Better get them out of here before Jimmy gets back. He’ll be pissed you fucked up his sheets.”
Caesar shook his head, “Jimmy came back a couple hours ago. I gave him a hundred bucks and he suddenly had no problem with it.”
“Money talks. You know all three of them are cheerleaders?”
“I don’t pay attention to the cheerleaders, Jason. I’m not some prepubescent kid getting his first stiffy because of short skirts and spanks but I guess they were into some vintage porn shit. Cheerleaders and the big stud football player. Can’t say I’m too bothered about any of it.”
“’Course you ain’t. How are you going to get rid of them?”
“I’m not,” the upperclassman laughed, “I’m going to try to convince them to go for round two when they get up.”
“Remind me to leave when you start that. Don’t you have a girlfriend?”
“And a bitch on the side… and a bitch on the side of that bitch.”
“Well with all those bitches, make sure you have some energy left for Bama.”
“Don’t worry about me, youngster. I’ll be ready for Aunt Flow’s boys.”
"It's freezing out here."
"You don't say," Devin grinned widely. "Hanging by a river in the middle of November before the sun is up? Go figure."
"I'm being nice by agreeing to come out here with you. Don't make me change my mind, Devinho."
Devin kept smiling as he hugged Alessa closer, leaning down to rest his chin on her shoulder which no small feat with their difference in height. Soon she'd be heading home to Brazil where he knew beautiful scenery could be found anywhere she looked. He wanted the chance between both of their hectic schedules to show that Louisiana had something to offer too. Maybe, he could convince her to hang around after she graduated if there was something in Louisiana worth hanging around for.
"Just wait a few minutes. Patience," Devin whispered in her ear.
“Wait for what? You to shove me in the river?”
“You can swim, can’t you? They don’t teach y’all how to swim in the Amazon?”
Alessa elbowed Devin in his stomach and glared over her shoulder, “Yes, they do, right after they teach us Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Would you like to see what I have learned?”
“So violent.”
“What can I say? I get angry when I’m cold.”
“Yeah, yeah. Look,” he pointed towards the east where the sun was starting its daily climb, shedding the day’s first rays of light over the river causing the water to sparkle.
A smile spread across Alessa’s face, “You dragged me out here to watch the sunrise, Devinho? I didn’t know you could be so… cheesy.”
“Whatever. You know you think it’s nice.”
“I do. Who knew New Orleans could look so nice if you got up at some ungodly hour on Sunday morning? It’s beautiful.”
“Eh, I’ve seen better.”
She turned her head and caught him staring at her. Despite him pulling out his best lines, she smiled and shook her head, “Penso que somos para além do ponto da lisonja, Devinho.”
“You ever going to teach me Portuguese?”
“Não, então não seria capaz de importuná-lo na sua cara,” she winked before turning back towards the river.
Devin laughed softly. He didn’t mind not knowing what the Brazilian girl in his arms was saying in her native tongue. It made him forget about everything else on his mind. At that moment, he didn’t have to think about last week’s game against ULL or next week’s game against Alabama. He didn’t have to think about the Heisman, the National Championship or going pro. It was just the two of them.
“We come to you live from Tulane Stadium where the second-ranked Green Wave are looking to extend their winning streak to 12 games dating back to last season’s SEC Champions Game but they are up against a tough opponent in the Alabama Crimson Tide who are coming off their second loss of the season last week against Tulane’s in-state rival LSU.”
“I’m sure the Crimson Tide will be looking to give UL-Lafayette head coach Derek Black and every team under Tulane in the BCS standings exactly what they are looking for by upsetting this Green Wave team.”
“It’s sure to be a good game and after this commercial break we’ll be back with the opening kick.”
…
Brady felt as if he was staring at the execution squad as the Crimson Tide defense crept closer to the line. It was a radical change from what he’d seen over the first nine games of the season where teams kept their safeties deep to deal with Caesar and Jason’s ability to stretch the field vertically. Alabama had all their defenders within eight yards of the line.
It didn’t take a cerebral quarterback to know the blitz was coming. Arm-chair quarterbacks around the country were probably barking the “proper” adjustments at the screen.
He jogged up to his offensive line and pointed out the potential blitzers in hopes he’d be able to get the ball away before getting destroyed in the backfield. Teams had gotten used to facing a mobile quarterback in Tulane’s backfield over the last four years but it looked like they were starting to realize that Brady wasn’t anywhere near the athlete Darren Eguia was.
…
“The snap is low but Rodgers is able to get it. Alabama is bringing the house! Rodgers tries to step up in the pocket but is blasted from behind and does well to just hold onto to the ball there.”
“That’s one way to derail this offense. The receivers were barely into their routes when Brady Rodgers was brought down. Remember this kid is a major 180 from what the Green Wave had last season in Darren Eguia. Rodgers can pick you apart with his arm but doesn’t move around too well.”
“The Green Wave elect to keep it on the ground for second and long but Desmond Smith is swarmed in the backfield for a loss on the play.”
“The Tide sent another blitz. It looks like they are trying to shake this freshman quarterback even when the ball isn’t in his hands.”
“Another run on third down and the Wave will have to punt it away. Three and outs haven’t been too common for this team this season.”
…
“Alabama takes the field for their first drive of the game but all eyes will be on the Green Wave’s star cornerback Devin King who already is up to 13 interceptions on the season after his three-pick day last week against the Ragin’ Cajuns.”
“Teams haven’t seemed to be able to figure out a way to avoid throwing to his side of the field all season and he’s getting closer to the single-season record for interceptions in a season. That being said, junior Ross Petty has been doing well for the Tide since taking the starting job from Skyler Hunt.”
“Petty hands it off to Freddie Muse who darts forward for a gain of five. You think Alabama is looking to keep the ball on the ground to keep it away from King?”
“It hasn’t worked before and I don’t think that’s what they are going to do today. This Green Wave team has too much talent in their front seven to allow anyone to run over them so they’ll have to put it in the air eventually.”
“Speak of him and he will come! Petty thought he had Yusuf Montoya wide open on the comeback but King shoots in to knock the ball away at the last second.”
“When you see that burst of speed you forget that this guy is actually called ‘too tall’ for a cornerback standing at 6’2”. With speed like that, he can play any position he wants for my team.”
“Zach Sears on the receiving end of that Petty pass but is only able to pick up three yards before being dragged to the ground by Adrian Taylor. It looks like the Crimson Tide and going to play it safe and bring on their punt team here.”
…
When the boos started showering the field, it was clear that the Tulane fans had been spoiled over the 2054 season. Very few times had it looked like there was a chance that the Green Wave could actually lose a game and the offense had never been slowed by an opponent. However, after two quarters of play, they had only managed a field goal and had gained a shade over one hundred yards of total offense.
Alabama had set out with a clear gameplan to hassle Brady as much as possible and get in his head before he was able to settle into the game. The offensive line was being run ragged as they tried to deal with the six and seven man blitzes.
The freshman���s psyche wasn’t helped by the insults tossed at him from the home crowd on the two occasions that he threw an interception in the first half.
While the Tide only led by four points, netting a touchdown on their final drive of the half, the pressure was quickly building on the Green Wave players. The players who’d been there for the past two years vividly remembered the lone three games that they’d lost ending both of their chances at an undefeated season.
The very thought of possibly losing another game towards the tail end of an undefeated season was enough to spark Tulane’s most outspoken player into being a bit more vocal on the field.
…
Caesar ripped off his helmet and tossed it against the bench after another round of plays that ended with a punt and a missed opportunity. He saw Brady grabbing a cup of Gatorade from a manager and decided to give the freshman some of his patented advice, “What the fuck is wrong with you, freshman? I was open on that last play. Wide fucking open. Do I need to explain to you how to throw the fucking ball? Man the fuck up, take the hit and throw the fucking ball.”
“What do you think I’m trying to do Caesar? I’m getting fucking tired of you jumping down my throat everytime you don’t get the fucking ball,” Brady snapped back.
“You’re the quarterback, aren’t you? I’m the receiver. That’s how this operation works. You throw it. I catch it. I can’t do my job if you don’t do your job. That’s why I’m getting on your fucking case about it!”
“You’ve been on the fucking field. They are sending the house every play.”
“So make adjustments.”
“What the fuck do you think I’ve been trying to do?!”
“I don’t care what you’ve been trying to do. Get your damn head out of the sand and do something to fix this shit because if we lose I’m going to kick your ass. I want a fucking National Championship before I leave, got it?”
…
“The Tide are driving here and looking to put what could be the nail in the coffin if the Green Wave offense continues to perform like it has so far today.”
“Alabama has come out here so far and showed that they don’t fear that offense which you have to respect them for. They’ve bottled up Caesar Jenkins and Jason Williams, kept Desmond Smith from getting any momentum and Brady Rodgers looks very much the freshman he is. And on top of all that, Ross Petty hasn’t thrown an interception today. Getting to this point in the game without an interception could be counted as a win.”
“And as if on cue, Petty completes a pass to LaShawn Irving for a gain of eleven yards down to the Green Wave 22 yardline.”
“That quick slant has been there all game whether it against Devin King or any of the other Tulane defensive backs.”
“Hand-off to Freddie Muse but he is stacked up at the line of scrimmage by Geoff Smith. Good penetration off the snap by the senior defensive tackle. Alabama are actually rushing back to the line for second down. A toss to Muse but it’s only good for a gain of two as Clint Bingham is there to bring him down.”
“I liked the idea behind that from the Crimson Tide, just not the execution. Sometimes, you can catch a team off-guard with a bit of change of pace but the Green Wave practice against a no-huddle offense week-in and week-out. You’ll have to do better than that.”
“Petty drops back to pass on third and nine. King’s coming on the blitz. Petty has to get the ball away. He sees the blitz but it’s too late. He tries to throw it away but it looks like that’ll be intentional grounding.”
“Doesn’t matter either way. As has been the story of this game, the Crimson Tide offense sputtered when they had the chance to put some distance between them and the Green Wave. Alabama is going to have to kick a field goal here.”
…
“Caesar Jenkins doesn’t look too happy about that pass even though it was completed for a gain of six yards.”
“Rodgers had to throw off his back foot to avoid the sack and it forced Jenkins to take a shot from Tyshaun Kelly that he might have been able to stay away from if the ball was on target.”
“Williams comes in motion. Rodgers snaps it and hands it off to… Williams! Reverse! Reverse! Alabama’s defense is out of position as Williams sprints away. Clayton Culver catches him at the ten yardline but what a play from the Green Wave!”
“Sometimes you have to reach into your bag of tricks to get something going. I have to admit that I didn’t expect that either. Once Jenkins and Willie Ramirez set the edge, it was just a foot race.”
“And for the first time today, first and goal for the Green Wave. Rodgers drops back and throws the quick screen to Williams who dives forward for six yards.”
“Feed the hot hand, Jesse.”
“Second and goal from the four yardline. This is fade territory and it looks like that’s exactly where Rodgers is going as he lobs the ball up to Jenkins in the corner of the endzone. Damarcus Avery is trying to fight for position but the junior receiver jumps up and snatches it out of the air, getting both feet down before stumbling out of the endzone. Touchdown Green Wave! It’s a tie game!”
“It seems that for the past three years it’s been an automatic touchdown for the Green Wave when they get that close to the endzone. There aren’t many defensive backs who can jump high enough to beat Caesar Jenkins in a jump ball situation.”
…
“The Green Wave are driving again late in the fourth quarter but it looks like they are starting to use a bit of steam after Brady Rodgers goes down for yet another sack. Third and thirteen from the Alabama 27 yardline. Tulane’s going to take a time out to think about it. What do you do here, Clark?”
“There’s only three minutes left on the clock and your defense has been playing well all game. I’d run the ball. Let the clock run down as far as I can then take the points. The field goal should be enough for them to get out of here with the win when you put Alabama in a situation where they have to throw the ball. I know Devin King hasn’t been involved in any big plays today but you have to feel confident in that situation with that player on your team.”
“It looks like Rock Hall agrees with you as the Green Wave come out in the I-formation. Smith takes the handoff and pushes forward for four yards. Max Longwell trots out onto the field for the field goal attempt now on fourth down.”
…
Devin looked up at the scoreboard as the Alabama offense broke the huddle, trailing 13-10. 2:30 remained in the game and they had at least 60 yards to go before they could give themselves a shot at overtime with a last-second field goal.
It was more than enough time with their two timeouts and the clock stopping after every first down. He just hoped the defense would be able to keep their gains to a minimum to keep the clock running as much as possible.
…
“The crowd is trying to make it hard for Ross Petty and the Green Wave defenders are encouraging t hem to get louder.”
“They do have a strong homefield advantage here.”
“Petty drops back to pass and flicks it out to Muse in the flat. He picks up a quick seven yards before being tripped up in bounds.”
“That’s a decent play by the Green Wave. Now, the clock is running.”
“Petty’s back to pass on second down. Good coverage downfield but he has time to look for an open receiver. Rolls to his right, still searching and he hits Prince Sands over the middle for a gain of thirteen. The clock is going to stop while the referees reset the chains.”
“Alabama doesn’t have to rush just yet but they are still running to the line. You have to think that they want to make sure they get into field goal range before burning some time off the clock and keeping the ball away from Tulane’s offense.”
“Another dropback from Petty. Taylor’s coming on a late blitz and Petty isn’t going to be able to get away and he goes down for the sack! Tulane rolled the dice with a safety blitz and came up big!”
“Around 1:40 left on the clock now. You’d think Alabama would call their second to last timeout now to give their team a chance to recompose themselves after that play but it looks like there are going to rush back to line.”
“Petty fakes the handoff to Muse. Irving is on the receiving end of that one. Fifteen yard gain to the Green Wave 48 yardline and the Tide take the timeout here. 1:19 remaining in the game.”
“You can feel the tension in the air. The Green Wave know they could possibly lose their shot at the National Championship should Alabama put the ball in the endzone on this drive while the Crimson Tide know they could fall further down the bowl seedings with another division loss.”
“Tulane will surely have the last two seasons’ upset losses in their mind as they finish out this game. The referee signals for play to begin again. Alabama comes out with four wide. Tulane with six defensive backs on the field. Petty gets the snap. He pump fakes once, pump fakes twice, steps up, lets it go… HE’S GOING DEEP! Sears and King are battling for position downfield! This could be the play of the game and…”
“IT’S INTERCEPTED! IT’S INTERCEPTED! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT! WHAT A CATCH!”
“Devin King comes down with it at the Green Wave five yardline! For the umpteenth time this season, Devin King has come through for Tulane when they needed a play!”
“To all the people saying this kid doesn’t deserve the Heisman because he didn’t have a Heisman moment, there you go ladies and gentlemen. If Zach Sears would have come down with that ball, Alabama would have won this game but King high-pointed that pass and did what he does best… make plays! When the season is on the line and the chips are down, big time players make big time plays! Take a bow, young man, take a bow!”
little bit of the old caesar showing out, both on and off the field. minor blip on the radar with julie and ron jr hanging around. and devin getting pretty close to making alessa wifey status. wonder if thatll keep panning out especially with his busy schedule sure to get even busier with games like that. Heisman or bust for devin!
Devin ain't winning no Heisman. In fact, Brady should get the trophy just for having to put up with Caesar all season
![[face_tongue]](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.ignboards.com/styles/ign/ign/smilies/classic/stickouttongue.gif "Stick Out Tongue [face_tongue]")
Two. Mississippi State and LSU. I know that doesn't mean much just with throwing those teams out, but we'll elaborate shortly. Next update will be today after my final. 
Football Playing Dudes
“With two weeks left in this college football season, the national championship race is looking like it’s going to come down to three teams; USC, Tulane and Arizona State. The Trojans, led by senior quarterback Alex Morales, have blown through most of their opponents and no one is expecting any slip-ups from them as they travel to South Bend this weekend to square off against the 4-6 Notre Dame Fightin’ Irish, a team that is down to their fourth string quarterback and that’s only the top of their ever-growing list of injuries. Following their date with the Irish, USC returns to Los Angeles for their annual matchup with UCLA who hasn’t won a game all season. Barring upsets of the century, USC should be considered a lock for the 2054 BCS National Championship game which coincidentally is in Los Angeles at the Rose Bowl this season.
As for the Green Wave, they have a bit of a tougher road to Pasadena. This Saturday, they head to Starksville where the Mississippi State Bulldogs will be looking to repeat their upset victory of two years ago. The Bulldogs will be buoyed by the return of senior runningback Tom Clayton who has racked up over nine hundred yards in his first season as a start and Rock Hall will have to ensure that his team doesn’t go into the game with one eye on their rivals. LSU has largely bounced back from a season which saw them need win against the then-11-0 Green Wave just to become bowl-eligible. Evan McCollough has settled in with a season under his belt and the Tigers currently sit at 7-3. Let us not forget, should Tulane win against Mississippi State, they will book a place in the SEC Championship Game against a 2-loss Florida State squad that has lost by a combined 10 points. It makes you wonder if this Green Wave team has enough big game experience to finally finish out the season.
Almost a full hundredth-point behind Tulane, Arizona State will have to rely on Tulane doing what Tulane has done in the past two seasons and lose. The freshly-crowned Mountain West champions and suffering from a bad case of the weak schedule. Outside of their conference, the only automatic qualifying team they face was the Big East’s Kentucky in the first week of the season. Hardly a notch on the belt for any team. Of course, all of this could be blown to hell if two of these teams slip up. Then we’d be having some pretty interesting debates for the 1-loss teams.”
“Well, if you didn’t know about the national championship contenders before, I think that about sums it up. But, there is another race that people are going to be watching heading into the final weeks of the season that involves these three teams – the race for the Heisman.”
“Of course. Morales at USC has already racked up 3,500 yards and 32 touchdowns this season while only throwing two interceptions. More shocking than that is his 72% completion percentage. The guy is a machine. NFL teams were tanking for him last year but he broke a lot of hearts when he decided to return to school for his senior season. But it was the right decision. In 2053, he would have been a late 1st round pick but now he is an unquestioned top five selection and could be the first player off the board depending on what some of the underclassmen around the country do.
As of now the experts have Arizona State’s sophomore wideout Graham Rimando as the player to finish runner-up to Morales. 1,700 yards and 14 touchdowns from two different quarterbacks is impressive but he can do it all. Rimando has 400 rushing yards and 3 rushing touchdowns, threw a touchdown against Arizona last week and he has 3 punt returns. He’s the quintessential do-it-all college wide receiver that we’ve all come to know and love over the years.
Then we have our two darkhorses, Tulane’s junior cornerback Devin King and Texas quarterback Johnny Davidson. Davidson’s numbers aren’t anywhere near as gaudy as Morales with a more pedestrian 2,300 yards and 21 touchdowns on the season but what Davidson lacks in the passing department, he more than makes up for with his ability to run. The freshman signal-caller is up to 1,400 yards rushing on the season and has found himself in the endzone on 10 occasions running. By far, the most interesting inclusion in this list in Devin King. Most of the time when you see a defensive player in the running for the Heisman, he’s returning punts and kickoffs while moon-lighting as a wide receiver but not King. Don’t let that fool into thinking he doesn’t deserve the praise. 58 tackles, 5 sacks, 14 interceptions, 3 forced fumbles, 3 fumble recoveries and 4 touchdowns. Those are the defensive stats of some teams but that’s what HE has done this season. That being said, I think it’s Morales’s to lose.”
“Thanks, Nick. Coming up next on College Football Live, how does a team throw two interceptions on one play? The SWAC’s Southern University will show you how when we return.”
Kaley slapped her pen down in frustration. For the past two hours, she’d been trying to figure out ways to cut some of her spending to save every penny possible in hopes that she wouldn’t have to take out too many student loans to afford law school. Unfortunately, it wasn’t looking like anything short of finding a sugar daddy or becoming a stripper would curb the borrowing she was going to have to do to make ends meet—and neither of those were options for her. She’d sooner rob a bank. At least then she’d be able to put her meager pre-lawyering skills to test.
She was still going through money-saving techniques when a knock at the door made her glance up at the clock on the opposite wall. It took her brain a few moments to process the time before she shot up off the sofa, “Shit, shit, shit!”
She’d completely forgotten Cody had offered to take her out to celebrate her passing the LSAT. Practically jogging to the door, she opened it with excuses and apologies poised on her lips but Cody was busy staring back at the driveway.
He slowly turned around and whistled. He jerked a thumb over his shoulder at Caesar’s Aston Martin, “Expensive ride. One of your roommate’s?”
“I wouldn’t exactly call them a roommate,” she said, shaking her head. Caesar was definitely at the house enough to be one of her roommates, “I completely forgot about—“
“Figured as much myself,” he chuckled, nodding to her old sweatpants and sweatshirt, “If you need to get changed, I can wait.”
“Are you sure?”
He nodded, “I’m sure. Cleared my entire schedule out anyway. S’not like I can find something else to do on short notice.”
Shrugging, she stepped back and allowed him through the door. He looked around for a moment before walking straight to the kitchen and opening the refrigerator. She rolled her eyes, “Help yourself. I won’t be long.”
“Thanks,” he threw over his shoulder.
“Don’t drink the cranberry juice, though. Alison will probably kill you for that,” she gave the warning as she passed by him to get to her room but he didn’t seem too concerned.
After a considerable search, Cody grabbed a Coke. Cranberry juice was never his style, anyway. Taking another look around the house, he smirked to himself. He felt things were going pretty well between him and Kaley—a lot better than one would have imagined considering how they’d met one another. She had to be the most down-to-earth sorority girl he’d ever come across. Overly stressed and frazzled but down-to-earth, nonetheless.
Cody peeked down the hall when he heard a door slam against a wall followed by the sound of someone stomping towards the living room. He had to jump out of the way to avoid catching a shoulder to the face.
Barely noticing him, Sophie stormed into the living room with Caesar on her heels.
“Why the fuck are you being so difficult? I just asked you to make me a damn sandwich!” Caesar shouted.
“Who does that? Oh, of course, you do that,” Sophie spun around and stopped long enough to wave her hands in his face to make her point before plopping down on the sofa.
“It’s not like I asked you for a five-course meal. It’s a sandwich, Sophie. Bread, ham, mayonnaise, some damn chips and something to drink. Surely, I deserve that.”
“Deserve that? Deserve it for what? You didn’t do anything. I sucked your dick. You just laid there. Make your own fucking sandwich. You know where the kitchen is.”
Cody chuckled, finding the entire situation hilarious.
Caesar, however, didn’t share his humor as he walked into the kitchen with a few more choices words through at Sophie. He started to open the fridge but Cody was standing too close to the door. Finally noticing the other guy in the house, Caesar leaned back and looked at him, “Mind getting the fuck out of the way?”
“Sorry, bro,” Cody said, hands raised in apology as he shuffled aside.
“And who are you… bro? I didn’t know Mormons started dressing so poorly when they went door-to-door.”
“Kaley’s friend. Name’s Cody,” he put his hand out towards Caesar, “Nice to meet you…”
Caesar looked at his hand and scoffed before going to rummage through the fridge for what he needed to make a sandwich. He stopped wanting to know who this guy was as soon as he referred to himself as “Kaley’s friend.” It made him want to smash the poor kid’s face against the counter. Very few college guys wanted to be friends with Kaley if that didn’t include being able to put their dick in her every once in a while.
After all, he was living proof of that.
“Sorry about eavesdropping on you and your girlfriend, bro.”
“Sophie’s not my girlfriend and stop fucking calling me bro.”
“Well, I don’t know your name…”
“Caesar.”
“Thought you looked familiar. You’re that football playing dude, right?”
Caesar laughed, “Yeah, the football playing dude.”
“I’m not a big fan of it but I hear you guys are pretty good.”
“You know, at first, I just thought you were some worthless fucking gutter punk Kaley dragged in here to feed,” Caesar said as he brushed past Cody to get the bread, “But now I realize that you are just some fucking dumbass.”
“Whoa, bro, no need for the hostility.”
Sophie looked over the back of the sofa, “Yeah, Caesar, stop being a fucking ass. You’re just mad that Cody’s nicer than you.”
“Who asked you? Go back to pouting,” Caesar said, waving her comment off before turning back to Cody, “And you get the fuck out of my way so I can make my damn sandwich.”
“Alright, man. Chill.”
Cody silently thanked everything that was holy when Kaley walked into the kitchen, purse in hand. He was sure that he was on the verge of getting into a fight with someone who was twice his size which wasn’t exactly something that he wanted to do.
Kaley looked up from rummaging through her purse and smiled apologetically, “Sorry, I took so long.”
“S’not a problem. Ready to go?”
“Yeah. Caesar, I need you to move your car.”
“You can move it,” he reached into his pocket and slid the keys across the counter to her, “Break it, you buy it. Just keep the keys on you until you get back.”
Kaley shrugged and motioned for Cody to follow her out of the house.
“Oh and Kaley?”
She ushered Cody out before turning back towards Caesar, “What?”
“Don’t trust nice guys.”
She rolled her eyes at the comment and shut the door.
“You and Caesar must be close friends for him to let you keep the keys to a hundred thousand dollar car,” Cody said when the door was closed and locked behind them.
“Fishing for information on the particulars of my relationship with Caesar?”
“I mean, if you don’t want to talk about it then…”
“Caesar and I were together for somewhere around four years. On and off for a bit. Pretty serious, though.”
“Wait and he’s…”
“Fucking Sophie. Yes. Longest friends with benefits fling I’ve ever seen. Three years strong.”
“Even trying to wrap my head around that makes my head hurt.”
“Don’t try. So, where are we going?”
The sound of ringing had Devin swatting aimlessly at the nightstand, hoping to silence whatever was interrupting a great post-practice nap.
“Para, Devin, para,” Alessa groaned, pushing his arm down. She reached under the pillow and held up his ringing phone, “É o seu celular.”
He sighed and took the phone from her. He was glad she held it up because his brain was barely functioning enough to try to figure out what she’d just said to him. Slipping out of the bed, he went into the hall to take the call.
“This better be good.”
The person on the other end cleared their throat, “Devin? Devin King?”
“If you’re looking for the fourth one.”
“Yeah, I got your number from your grandfather. My name is Troy Price. I’ve been talking to him about his… financial… problems and I figured I should get in touch with you as well.”
“So are you a lawyer or a loan shark?”
The man laughed, “Neither. Just someone trying to help your family out. I’m actually in New Orleans now if you wouldn’t mind meeting with me. I could swing by the campus…”
“I don’t even know you, buddy.”
“I know but like I said, I’m just trying to help. I’d rather not have this conversation over the phone. If you want to meet at a restaurant or something that’s fine.”
“No, I’m not on the campus,” Devin said, figuring he’d give the man his fifteen minutes before sending him on his way. Chances are he was some reporter trying to earn some stripes in the journalism world and after weathering the storm that was Fiona Sanders, he was sure that he’d be able to handle another one, “Can you meet me in like ten minutes?”
“I mean I’m in traffic…”
“Ten minutes.”
“I’ll be there. Where are you?”
Devin rattled off the address of Alessa’s apartment complex. He figured he’d brave the cold and go stand in the parking lot to wait for this guy. It would only serve to annoy him more. Awakened from a great nap and dragged out of bed, a few minutes in 40 degree weather wouldn’t hurt.
He had to admit that if he was wrong about who this guy was, he’d be pretty mad at ol’ Grandpa Devin. He hadn’t spoken to him since the day he tried to convince Devin to declare early. He was actually surprised that he hadn’t tried his hand a third time. Third time was the charm, right?
He stepped back into the room to look for his hoodie but it didn’t take long for him to notice that Alessa was wearing it and had fallen back asleep. Figures.
After a brief argument with himself to just go back to sleep, he headed downstairs, teeth chattering in the wind. He spotted a mid-level luxury car creeping through the parking lot and figured that was this Troy Price person.
However, when Troy Price stepped out of the car, he had to admit it was not what he was expecting. The guy looked like he couldn’t be much older than Devin was. His clothes were a bit wrinkled and he looked like he had been up for the last week and a half. Zipping up his jacket, he crossed the parking lot to where Devin was standing behind a pillar to block the wind.
“You football guys are always the least afraid of the cold,” he laughed awkwardly as he stuck out a gloved hand which Devin shook quickly before crossing his arms once more, “Troy Price, nice to meet you.”
“What can I do for you, Mr. Price?”
“Please don’t call me Mr. Price. That’s what they call my dad and I’m only 26. Still a long way from adding a prefix to my name, don’t you think?”
Devin nodded, realizing that his assumption about his age was correct, “Well, what can I do for you Troy? I’m actually pretty cold and unlike those offensive linemen who like to walk around sleeveless in the cold, it’s not exactly my cup of tea.”
“Right, right. As I said on the phone, your grandpa came to me and talked a bit about his problems with the IRS. He says that you could probably help him and I think I agree with him.”
“No offense, Troy, but what the fuck is some 26-year-old guy going to do to help some geezer with his tax evasion problems? I’ll admit that I’m not the best judge of occupation but I seriously doubt you are a tax agent.”
“You’re right. I’m not. What I am is an agent.”
Devin gave Troy another once over and started laughing, “Come on, man. That shit isn’t funny. You look like you just rolled out of bed and threw the first clothes you touched on. No offense, but I’m dressed better than you and I literally did just wake up.”
“Yeah, well, I’m still pretty new to all of it,” Troy admitted, “It helps with situations like this though because I doubt anyone would think you are talking to an agent before you declare but the thing is I think you need to declare for April’s draft. Your grandpa is in a bad way, Devin, and I think that you and I could make a lot of money.”
“What do you know about what I need to do? I’m getting fucking tired of everyone telling me what I need to do. If I want to fucking transfer somewhere else and apply for a fifth year of eligibility too then I’ll fucking do that.”
“Don’t be dumb, Devin. You have to strike while the iron is hot and it will never be hotter than it is right now. Couple insiders I talked to…”
“Because you know ‘insiders,’” Devin scoffed at the statement.
Troy was unfazed by the quip and continued, “Couple insiders I talked to have you coming off the board in the top 3 regardless of what happens from not to the end of the season. You could erase your grandpa’s problems with a bit of your signing bonus and have enough to set yourself up comfortable for the rest of your life AND that’s just from your first contract.”
“My grandpa told you to come here and talk to me?”
“Yes, he did.”
“Well, I want you to go back to Houma and tell him something.”
“What’s that?”
Devin turned towards the stairs and started walking away, “Tell him to kiss my fucking ass and if he ever sends another shit-brained agent to talk to me then I’ll kick their ass and his ass. That way the NCAA will have a legit reason to bother me.”
“You’re making a mistake if you don’t declare!”
“Fuck you. Invest in an iron,” Devin said over the banister. He was pretty glad that Troy Price looked more like a college student than anyone’s agent. He didn’t need the stress of worrying about the NCAA debating his eligibility.
“With two weeks left in this college football season, the national championship race is looking like it’s going to come down to three teams; USC, Tulane and Arizona State. The Trojans, led by senior quarterback Alex Morales, have blown through most of their opponents and no one is expecting any slip-ups from them as they travel to South Bend this weekend to square off against the 4-6 Notre Dame Fightin’ Irish, a team that is down to their fourth string quarterback and that’s only the top of their ever-growing list of injuries. Following their date with the Irish, USC returns to Los Angeles for their annual matchup with UCLA who hasn’t won a game all season. Barring upsets of the century, USC should be considered a lock for the 2054 BCS National Championship game which coincidentally is in Los Angeles at the Rose Bowl this season.
As for the Green Wave, they have a bit of a tougher road to Pasadena. This Saturday, they head to Starksville where the Mississippi State Bulldogs will be looking to repeat their upset victory of two years ago. The Bulldogs will be buoyed by the return of senior runningback Tom Clayton who has racked up over nine hundred yards in his first season as a start and Rock Hall will have to ensure that his team doesn’t go into the game with one eye on their rivals. LSU has largely bounced back from a season which saw them need win against the then-11-0 Green Wave just to become bowl-eligible. Evan McCollough has settled in with a season under his belt and the Tigers currently sit at 7-3. Let us not forget, should Tulane win against Mississippi State, they will book a place in the SEC Championship Game against a 2-loss Florida State squad that has lost by a combined 10 points. It makes you wonder if this Green Wave team has enough big game experience to finally finish out the season.
Almost a full hundredth-point behind Tulane, Arizona State will have to rely on Tulane doing what Tulane has done in the past two seasons and lose. The freshly-crowned Mountain West champions and suffering from a bad case of the weak schedule. Outside of their conference, the only automatic qualifying team they face was the Big East’s Kentucky in the first week of the season. Hardly a notch on the belt for any team. Of course, all of this could be blown to hell if two of these teams slip up. Then we’d be having some pretty interesting debates for the 1-loss teams.”
“Well, if you didn’t know about the national championship contenders before, I think that about sums it up. But, there is another race that people are going to be watching heading into the final weeks of the season that involves these three teams – the race for the Heisman.”
“Of course. Morales at USC has already racked up 3,500 yards and 32 touchdowns this season while only throwing two interceptions. More shocking than that is his 72% completion percentage. The guy is a machine. NFL teams were tanking for him last year but he broke a lot of hearts when he decided to return to school for his senior season. But it was the right decision. In 2053, he would have been a late 1st round pick but now he is an unquestioned top five selection and could be the first player off the board depending on what some of the underclassmen around the country do.
As of now the experts have Arizona State’s sophomore wideout Graham Rimando as the player to finish runner-up to Morales. 1,700 yards and 14 touchdowns from two different quarterbacks is impressive but he can do it all. Rimando has 400 rushing yards and 3 rushing touchdowns, threw a touchdown against Arizona last week and he has 3 punt returns. He’s the quintessential do-it-all college wide receiver that we’ve all come to know and love over the years.
Then we have our two darkhorses, Tulane’s junior cornerback Devin King and Texas quarterback Johnny Davidson. Davidson’s numbers aren’t anywhere near as gaudy as Morales with a more pedestrian 2,300 yards and 21 touchdowns on the season but what Davidson lacks in the passing department, he more than makes up for with his ability to run. The freshman signal-caller is up to 1,400 yards rushing on the season and has found himself in the endzone on 10 occasions running. By far, the most interesting inclusion in this list in Devin King. Most of the time when you see a defensive player in the running for the Heisman, he’s returning punts and kickoffs while moon-lighting as a wide receiver but not King. Don’t let that fool into thinking he doesn’t deserve the praise. 58 tackles, 5 sacks, 14 interceptions, 3 forced fumbles, 3 fumble recoveries and 4 touchdowns. Those are the defensive stats of some teams but that’s what HE has done this season. That being said, I think it’s Morales’s to lose.”
“Thanks, Nick. Coming up next on College Football Live, how does a team throw two interceptions on one play? The SWAC’s Southern University will show you how when we return.”
Kaley slapped her pen down in frustration. For the past two hours, she’d been trying to figure out ways to cut some of her spending to save every penny possible in hopes that she wouldn’t have to take out too many student loans to afford law school. Unfortunately, it wasn’t looking like anything short of finding a sugar daddy or becoming a stripper would curb the borrowing she was going to have to do to make ends meet—and neither of those were options for her. She’d sooner rob a bank. At least then she’d be able to put her meager pre-lawyering skills to test.
She was still going through money-saving techniques when a knock at the door made her glance up at the clock on the opposite wall. It took her brain a few moments to process the time before she shot up off the sofa, “Shit, shit, shit!”
She’d completely forgotten Cody had offered to take her out to celebrate her passing the LSAT. Practically jogging to the door, she opened it with excuses and apologies poised on her lips but Cody was busy staring back at the driveway.
He slowly turned around and whistled. He jerked a thumb over his shoulder at Caesar’s Aston Martin, “Expensive ride. One of your roommate’s?”
“I wouldn’t exactly call them a roommate,” she said, shaking her head. Caesar was definitely at the house enough to be one of her roommates, “I completely forgot about—“
“Figured as much myself,” he chuckled, nodding to her old sweatpants and sweatshirt, “If you need to get changed, I can wait.”
“Are you sure?”
He nodded, “I’m sure. Cleared my entire schedule out anyway. S’not like I can find something else to do on short notice.”
Shrugging, she stepped back and allowed him through the door. He looked around for a moment before walking straight to the kitchen and opening the refrigerator. She rolled her eyes, “Help yourself. I won’t be long.”
“Thanks,” he threw over his shoulder.
“Don’t drink the cranberry juice, though. Alison will probably kill you for that,” she gave the warning as she passed by him to get to her room but he didn’t seem too concerned.
After a considerable search, Cody grabbed a Coke. Cranberry juice was never his style, anyway. Taking another look around the house, he smirked to himself. He felt things were going pretty well between him and Kaley—a lot better than one would have imagined considering how they’d met one another. She had to be the most down-to-earth sorority girl he’d ever come across. Overly stressed and frazzled but down-to-earth, nonetheless.
Cody peeked down the hall when he heard a door slam against a wall followed by the sound of someone stomping towards the living room. He had to jump out of the way to avoid catching a shoulder to the face.
Barely noticing him, Sophie stormed into the living room with Caesar on her heels.
“Why the fuck are you being so difficult? I just asked you to make me a damn sandwich!” Caesar shouted.
“Who does that? Oh, of course, you do that,” Sophie spun around and stopped long enough to wave her hands in his face to make her point before plopping down on the sofa.
“It’s not like I asked you for a five-course meal. It’s a sandwich, Sophie. Bread, ham, mayonnaise, some damn chips and something to drink. Surely, I deserve that.”
“Deserve that? Deserve it for what? You didn’t do anything. I sucked your dick. You just laid there. Make your own fucking sandwich. You know where the kitchen is.”
Cody chuckled, finding the entire situation hilarious.
Caesar, however, didn’t share his humor as he walked into the kitchen with a few more choices words through at Sophie. He started to open the fridge but Cody was standing too close to the door. Finally noticing the other guy in the house, Caesar leaned back and looked at him, “Mind getting the fuck out of the way?”
“Sorry, bro,” Cody said, hands raised in apology as he shuffled aside.
“And who are you… bro? I didn’t know Mormons started dressing so poorly when they went door-to-door.”
“Kaley’s friend. Name’s Cody,” he put his hand out towards Caesar, “Nice to meet you…”
Caesar looked at his hand and scoffed before going to rummage through the fridge for what he needed to make a sandwich. He stopped wanting to know who this guy was as soon as he referred to himself as “Kaley’s friend.” It made him want to smash the poor kid’s face against the counter. Very few college guys wanted to be friends with Kaley if that didn’t include being able to put their dick in her every once in a while.
After all, he was living proof of that.
“Sorry about eavesdropping on you and your girlfriend, bro.”
“Sophie’s not my girlfriend and stop fucking calling me bro.”
“Well, I don’t know your name…”
“Caesar.”
“Thought you looked familiar. You’re that football playing dude, right?”
Caesar laughed, “Yeah, the football playing dude.”
“I’m not a big fan of it but I hear you guys are pretty good.”
“You know, at first, I just thought you were some worthless fucking gutter punk Kaley dragged in here to feed,” Caesar said as he brushed past Cody to get the bread, “But now I realize that you are just some fucking dumbass.”
“Whoa, bro, no need for the hostility.”
Sophie looked over the back of the sofa, “Yeah, Caesar, stop being a fucking ass. You’re just mad that Cody’s nicer than you.”
“Who asked you? Go back to pouting,” Caesar said, waving her comment off before turning back to Cody, “And you get the fuck out of my way so I can make my damn sandwich.”
“Alright, man. Chill.”
Cody silently thanked everything that was holy when Kaley walked into the kitchen, purse in hand. He was sure that he was on the verge of getting into a fight with someone who was twice his size which wasn’t exactly something that he wanted to do.
Kaley looked up from rummaging through her purse and smiled apologetically, “Sorry, I took so long.”
“S’not a problem. Ready to go?”
“Yeah. Caesar, I need you to move your car.”
“You can move it,” he reached into his pocket and slid the keys across the counter to her, “Break it, you buy it. Just keep the keys on you until you get back.”
Kaley shrugged and motioned for Cody to follow her out of the house.
“Oh and Kaley?”
She ushered Cody out before turning back towards Caesar, “What?”
“Don’t trust nice guys.”
She rolled her eyes at the comment and shut the door.
“You and Caesar must be close friends for him to let you keep the keys to a hundred thousand dollar car,” Cody said when the door was closed and locked behind them.
“Fishing for information on the particulars of my relationship with Caesar?”
“I mean, if you don’t want to talk about it then…”
“Caesar and I were together for somewhere around four years. On and off for a bit. Pretty serious, though.”
“Wait and he’s…”
“Fucking Sophie. Yes. Longest friends with benefits fling I’ve ever seen. Three years strong.”
“Even trying to wrap my head around that makes my head hurt.”
“Don’t try. So, where are we going?”
The sound of ringing had Devin swatting aimlessly at the nightstand, hoping to silence whatever was interrupting a great post-practice nap.
“Para, Devin, para,” Alessa groaned, pushing his arm down. She reached under the pillow and held up his ringing phone, “É o seu celular.”
He sighed and took the phone from her. He was glad she held it up because his brain was barely functioning enough to try to figure out what she’d just said to him. Slipping out of the bed, he went into the hall to take the call.
“This better be good.”
The person on the other end cleared their throat, “Devin? Devin King?”
“If you’re looking for the fourth one.”
“Yeah, I got your number from your grandfather. My name is Troy Price. I’ve been talking to him about his… financial… problems and I figured I should get in touch with you as well.”
“So are you a lawyer or a loan shark?”
The man laughed, “Neither. Just someone trying to help your family out. I’m actually in New Orleans now if you wouldn’t mind meeting with me. I could swing by the campus…”
“I don’t even know you, buddy.”
“I know but like I said, I’m just trying to help. I’d rather not have this conversation over the phone. If you want to meet at a restaurant or something that’s fine.”
“No, I’m not on the campus,” Devin said, figuring he’d give the man his fifteen minutes before sending him on his way. Chances are he was some reporter trying to earn some stripes in the journalism world and after weathering the storm that was Fiona Sanders, he was sure that he’d be able to handle another one, “Can you meet me in like ten minutes?”
“I mean I’m in traffic…”
“Ten minutes.”
“I’ll be there. Where are you?”
Devin rattled off the address of Alessa’s apartment complex. He figured he’d brave the cold and go stand in the parking lot to wait for this guy. It would only serve to annoy him more. Awakened from a great nap and dragged out of bed, a few minutes in 40 degree weather wouldn’t hurt.
He had to admit that if he was wrong about who this guy was, he’d be pretty mad at ol’ Grandpa Devin. He hadn’t spoken to him since the day he tried to convince Devin to declare early. He was actually surprised that he hadn’t tried his hand a third time. Third time was the charm, right?
He stepped back into the room to look for his hoodie but it didn’t take long for him to notice that Alessa was wearing it and had fallen back asleep. Figures.
After a brief argument with himself to just go back to sleep, he headed downstairs, teeth chattering in the wind. He spotted a mid-level luxury car creeping through the parking lot and figured that was this Troy Price person.
However, when Troy Price stepped out of the car, he had to admit it was not what he was expecting. The guy looked like he couldn’t be much older than Devin was. His clothes were a bit wrinkled and he looked like he had been up for the last week and a half. Zipping up his jacket, he crossed the parking lot to where Devin was standing behind a pillar to block the wind.
“You football guys are always the least afraid of the cold,” he laughed awkwardly as he stuck out a gloved hand which Devin shook quickly before crossing his arms once more, “Troy Price, nice to meet you.”
“What can I do for you, Mr. Price?”
“Please don’t call me Mr. Price. That’s what they call my dad and I’m only 26. Still a long way from adding a prefix to my name, don’t you think?”
Devin nodded, realizing that his assumption about his age was correct, “Well, what can I do for you Troy? I’m actually pretty cold and unlike those offensive linemen who like to walk around sleeveless in the cold, it’s not exactly my cup of tea.”
“Right, right. As I said on the phone, your grandpa came to me and talked a bit about his problems with the IRS. He says that you could probably help him and I think I agree with him.”
“No offense, Troy, but what the fuck is some 26-year-old guy going to do to help some geezer with his tax evasion problems? I’ll admit that I’m not the best judge of occupation but I seriously doubt you are a tax agent.”
“You’re right. I’m not. What I am is an agent.”
Devin gave Troy another once over and started laughing, “Come on, man. That shit isn’t funny. You look like you just rolled out of bed and threw the first clothes you touched on. No offense, but I’m dressed better than you and I literally did just wake up.”
“Yeah, well, I’m still pretty new to all of it,” Troy admitted, “It helps with situations like this though because I doubt anyone would think you are talking to an agent before you declare but the thing is I think you need to declare for April’s draft. Your grandpa is in a bad way, Devin, and I think that you and I could make a lot of money.”
“What do you know about what I need to do? I’m getting fucking tired of everyone telling me what I need to do. If I want to fucking transfer somewhere else and apply for a fifth year of eligibility too then I’ll fucking do that.”
“Don’t be dumb, Devin. You have to strike while the iron is hot and it will never be hotter than it is right now. Couple insiders I talked to…”
“Because you know ‘insiders,’” Devin scoffed at the statement.
Troy was unfazed by the quip and continued, “Couple insiders I talked to have you coming off the board in the top 3 regardless of what happens from not to the end of the season. You could erase your grandpa’s problems with a bit of your signing bonus and have enough to set yourself up comfortable for the rest of your life AND that’s just from your first contract.”
“My grandpa told you to come here and talk to me?”
“Yes, he did.”
“Well, I want you to go back to Houma and tell him something.”
“What’s that?”
Devin turned towards the stairs and started walking away, “Tell him to kiss my fucking ass and if he ever sends another shit-brained agent to talk to me then I’ll kick their ass and his ass. That way the NCAA will have a legit reason to bother me.”
“You’re making a mistake if you don’t declare!”
“Fuck you. Invest in an iron,” Devin said over the banister. He was pretty glad that Troy Price looked more like a college student than anyone’s agent. He didn’t need the stress of worrying about the NCAA debating his eligibility.
This doesn't make sense to me at all. Teams were tanking for a late 1st round pick? C'mon...
Other than that, good update.
#latenightpostingprobz
something tells me theyll choke again. they had a seasoned QB in those stumbles down the stretch. now they have a freshman with this pressure mounting, who knows? and Caesar being his usual charming self. as for Devin, i dont think he'll declare. even in the future its hard for a defensive player to win the heisman, let alone go top 5, no matter what talking there is. hell stay and maybe this agent might leak this meeting to force him to be suspended and go supplemental draft. PLOT TWIST
something tells me theyll choke again. they had a seasoned QB in those stumbles down the stretch. now they have a freshman with this pressure mounting, who knows? and Caesar being his usual charming self. as for Devin, i dont think he'll declare. even in the future its hard for a defensive player to win the heisman, let alone go top 5, no matter what talking there is. hell stay and maybe this agent might leak this meeting to force him to be suspended and go supplemental draft. PLOT TWIST
woy1509
Star
- Jul 24, 2008
- 20,308
- 3,655
I don't think they lose to LSU again, but a loss in the SEC title game or national championship wouldn't shock me. And I don't think either player declares, which obviously ends up pissing off Rex (bet that name hasn't been used for Devin Jr. in a while) and Deion.
No Tulane has to win so everyone can leave happy. Caesar can go out on top, and Devin will have literally nothing left to accomplish on the field.
Through the Mississippi Backwoods
Long bus rides from Mississippi.
If there was anything that Devin had grown to hate during his time playing for Tulane, it was the bus rides from Mississippi. It wasn’t the lack of scenery as most of their routes took them through the more rural areas of the Southeast. Instead, it was the fact that thanks to the 3:30 pm kickoffs for their games against Ole Miss and Mississippi State both this season and two years ago, the coaching staff decided to load the team up and head back to New Orleans instead of footing a second night in a hotel.
It didn’t help that Coach Hall wanted the team to begin the week of preparation for LSU with a night’s sleep in their own beds. Of course, they would probably be getting back to the campus well past midnight barring any random late night traffic in the Crescent City.
At least, they were returning from Starksville with a win this season. The Bulldogs had proved no match for the Green Wave and they rolled over them as they had done most of their opponents this season. Surely, the only talking points any sportscasters would be able to get from the game would be that he’d caught another interception and was one more away from matching Marcus Jenkins’ record for picks in a season.
While the game hadn’t been as exhausting as last week’s tussle with Alabama, he knew he’d rather get in a few extra hours of sleep instead of looking at the trees and red mud of Mississippi pass by. Unfortunately, the medley of noise on the bus was preventing that. Every genre of music one could think of, snoring linemen and hushed conversations made the bus sound more like the dorms.
The sound of pills tumbling in a bottle made him turn to his right.
Caesar glanced up at him before popping a couple of the pills into his mouth. After a few moments, he raised an eyebrow in question, “What is it, King? Never seen anyone take medicine before?”
“I can’t say that I’ve known you to have the best track record with obtaining legitimate prescriptions for shit.”
“For my crazy,” Caesar held up the bottle and pointed to his name on the label, “Not that I owe you, of all people, any explanation.”
“Nope, you don’t,” Devin agreed, looking back towards the front of the bus.
In the silence, he caught his mind wandering a bit. So caught up in debating his own decision on whether or not to enter the draft, it’d slipped his mind that there were multiple players on the team that could have a shot at the NFL and Caesar was chief among them.
He knew asking Caesar for advice wasn’t an option. Hell, the two of them hadn’t had even the slightest of arguments in who knew how long. If the pills for “his crazy” were any sign, he definitely had more on his plate than some age-old family feud.
“You know what, King?”
Devin didn’t bother looking at him, “What?”
“Coming from a wide receiver, having a bunch of interceptions in one season isn’t a sign of a good cornerback. If quarterbacks thought you were as good as everyone is saying then you wouldn’t have half as many picks.”
Spoke too soon, “It’s too late and I’m too tired for you to take shots at me, Caesar.”
“Actually, I’m trying to help you out for a change. But before you go thinking I’m burying the hatchet, I’ll hate you until the day I kick the bucket.”
“That’s really flattering,” Devin said sarcastically, “What’s your point?”
“My point is I know people are in your ear telling you to declare for the draft. Don’t do it. You aren’t ready.”
Devin laughed, “And when did you become a draft expert? I may not be the most in-tune person when it comes to where I am on draft boards but I’m pretty sure that most of the big wigs think that I’d do just fine in the NFL if I called time on college after this season.”
“I’ve been playing against you for years, dumbfuck, and I’m still the best receiver that you’ve ever faced. Sure, you get the best of me every so often but nine times out of ten, you have no chance lined up across from me. These little shit receivers at Mississippi State or UL aren’t going to the league. You’ll get dominated. You aren’t good enough. You need another year and even then you might not be good enough.”
“Go fuck yourself, Caesar. No one fucking asked for your damn opinion. If you asked me, I think you are just pissed that everyone will remember you as a fucking flop at Tulane while I actually contributed to the team.”
“Flop? Have you looked at my numbers?”
Devin shook his head, “Why are we even having this conversation? Pop a few more of those pills and leave me the fuck alone, yeah?”
“Don’t think I won’t tell you I told you so when you are out of the NFL three years after you are drafted way too high. Tim Tebow, Jerome Turner, Khris Khan, Randy Ortega, DeJuan Slate and Devin King, the biggest busts of the century. I can see the stories now. High school scrub to college ‘star’ and right back to scrub. It’s in your genes to fail, buddy. The sooner you realize that, the better off you’ll be.”
Knowing that responding would only keep him going, Devin let him have the last word before his anger got the best of him and he decided to demand they pull over the bus so he could kill Caesar and dump his body somewhere in the Mississippi backwoods. He’d been tempted to throw his night with Kaley at him as something he could add to the list of things that he’d done better than him during their time at Tulane but he felt he had a pretty good idea of how Caesar would react to that tidbit.
While he was sure Caesar’s intentions were just to take a few shots at him, the receiver had actually done the opposite in telling him that he wasn’t good enough for the NFL. Now, he wanted to prove to him or anyone else who doubted him that his play at Tulane would translate to the pros whether he was drafted 1st or 201st.
For him, it wasn’t to further some archaic family feud. He didn’t need to one-up Caesar on the field. He didn’t need to do anything to change the perception of his grandfather’s NFL career or the fact that his father never picked up a football in his life. He needed to do it for himself. He wanted to prove that all of his hard work through the years had paid off.
At the very least, declaring would ensure that he wouldn’t have to spend another season as a teammate of Caesar Jenkins. Of course with his luck, they’d probably drafted to the same team in some strange draft day trade.
Rock Hall walked into his office and sighed as he stood at the threshold, glancing around the room. It was well into the wee hours of Sunday morning and he had let his team go off to parts unknown. He knew that most of them would head straight back to catch up on the sleep they desperately needed after the game and the long trip from Mississippi. It was all a part of his plan. If the players were tired, they wouldn’t go out and do whatever it was college kids did on a Saturday night.
He needed their focus on the LSU game. He knew Thanksgiving was two days before the game and most of the players who were from nearby would go to be with their families but nothing was more important than beating LSU for him—and the higher ups in the department. The times had changed and there were only so many times a Tulane coach could lose to the school from up the river before he got his walking papers.
Unfortunately for the head coach of a college football team, there was always work to be done.
He sat down at his desk and turned towards the white board that hung behind it which held the name of every recruit that he’d targeted. It had been a big week for the Green Wave on the recruiting trail. They’d picked up another six verbals to bring their total to 20. Keeping with his belief in a strong defense, he was happy that five or those six commitments were on the defensive side of the ball.
The commitment of two teammates from Houston would probably go down as one of the biggest recruiting coups of the season. Somewhere along the way, Quincy Mills and Winston Marks decided that they would become a package deal but he wasn’t complaining now that they had pledged their future to Tulane.
Mills was the #2 cornerback in the country. A defensive back very much in the mold of Christian and Devin before him, he was an intelligent player that made very few mistakes but had the athletic ability to make up for the mistakes he did make. Marks, the #4 safety, was the stereotypical ballhawk safety. If a bad pass went into the air, Winston Marks was there to make the quarterback pay. They could both start from day one.
Deep down, he hoped Quincy Mills wouldn’t have to take the reigns as one of the two starters at cornerback next season. Mills stood to learn a lot from Devin if he stayed for his junior season and the defense would be tremendously better if Bobby and Mills were able to split the duties at the #2 spot and the nickel. Marks would likely bed in easily next to Champ as the heir to Adrian’s position.
Of course, there were more than a few top wide receivers dangling the proverbial carrot in front of his face not wanting to make a commitment to the Green Wave until they knew whether or not Caesar Jenkins would be a member of the team in 2055.
If you were to ask him, he would say that Caesar was going to put his name in the hat for the draft in April. The kid had been being groomed for it since he was born. He just hated talking to the mini-diva receivers who were trying to fill his shoes as the “bad boy” of the program, especially the ones who weren’t anywhere near the physical freak and athletic specimen that Caesar was.
Regardless of who was coming and who was going, Rock Hall knew that it wouldn’t matter if they somehow managed to lose to LSU. It wasn’t far-fetched to think the Tigers could pull it off. Last season’s upset was much more of a shock than it would be if Tulane lost to their rivals this season.
They would have to take that next step as a program. Take the step to become one of the country’s true elites. To do that, they would have to beat LSU for the Victory Flag, they would have to beat Florida State in the SEC Championship and they would have to beat whoever they were facing for the National Championship. Otherwise, they would end up being a flash in the pan program similar to that of Boise State in the early part of the century.
Only perfection would be enough for them to finish the season with a perfect record but he was convinced that his future as a college head coach depended on what the Green Wave did in the next two months.
Long bus rides from Mississippi.
If there was anything that Devin had grown to hate during his time playing for Tulane, it was the bus rides from Mississippi. It wasn’t the lack of scenery as most of their routes took them through the more rural areas of the Southeast. Instead, it was the fact that thanks to the 3:30 pm kickoffs for their games against Ole Miss and Mississippi State both this season and two years ago, the coaching staff decided to load the team up and head back to New Orleans instead of footing a second night in a hotel.
It didn’t help that Coach Hall wanted the team to begin the week of preparation for LSU with a night’s sleep in their own beds. Of course, they would probably be getting back to the campus well past midnight barring any random late night traffic in the Crescent City.
At least, they were returning from Starksville with a win this season. The Bulldogs had proved no match for the Green Wave and they rolled over them as they had done most of their opponents this season. Surely, the only talking points any sportscasters would be able to get from the game would be that he’d caught another interception and was one more away from matching Marcus Jenkins’ record for picks in a season.
While the game hadn’t been as exhausting as last week’s tussle with Alabama, he knew he’d rather get in a few extra hours of sleep instead of looking at the trees and red mud of Mississippi pass by. Unfortunately, the medley of noise on the bus was preventing that. Every genre of music one could think of, snoring linemen and hushed conversations made the bus sound more like the dorms.
The sound of pills tumbling in a bottle made him turn to his right.
Caesar glanced up at him before popping a couple of the pills into his mouth. After a few moments, he raised an eyebrow in question, “What is it, King? Never seen anyone take medicine before?”
“I can’t say that I’ve known you to have the best track record with obtaining legitimate prescriptions for shit.”
“For my crazy,” Caesar held up the bottle and pointed to his name on the label, “Not that I owe you, of all people, any explanation.”
“Nope, you don’t,” Devin agreed, looking back towards the front of the bus.
In the silence, he caught his mind wandering a bit. So caught up in debating his own decision on whether or not to enter the draft, it’d slipped his mind that there were multiple players on the team that could have a shot at the NFL and Caesar was chief among them.
He knew asking Caesar for advice wasn’t an option. Hell, the two of them hadn’t had even the slightest of arguments in who knew how long. If the pills for “his crazy” were any sign, he definitely had more on his plate than some age-old family feud.
“You know what, King?”
Devin didn’t bother looking at him, “What?”
“Coming from a wide receiver, having a bunch of interceptions in one season isn’t a sign of a good cornerback. If quarterbacks thought you were as good as everyone is saying then you wouldn’t have half as many picks.”
Spoke too soon, “It’s too late and I’m too tired for you to take shots at me, Caesar.”
“Actually, I’m trying to help you out for a change. But before you go thinking I’m burying the hatchet, I’ll hate you until the day I kick the bucket.”
“That’s really flattering,” Devin said sarcastically, “What’s your point?”
“My point is I know people are in your ear telling you to declare for the draft. Don’t do it. You aren’t ready.”
Devin laughed, “And when did you become a draft expert? I may not be the most in-tune person when it comes to where I am on draft boards but I’m pretty sure that most of the big wigs think that I’d do just fine in the NFL if I called time on college after this season.”
“I’ve been playing against you for years, dumbfuck, and I’m still the best receiver that you’ve ever faced. Sure, you get the best of me every so often but nine times out of ten, you have no chance lined up across from me. These little shit receivers at Mississippi State or UL aren’t going to the league. You’ll get dominated. You aren’t good enough. You need another year and even then you might not be good enough.”
“Go fuck yourself, Caesar. No one fucking asked for your damn opinion. If you asked me, I think you are just pissed that everyone will remember you as a fucking flop at Tulane while I actually contributed to the team.”
“Flop? Have you looked at my numbers?”
Devin shook his head, “Why are we even having this conversation? Pop a few more of those pills and leave me the fuck alone, yeah?”
“Don’t think I won’t tell you I told you so when you are out of the NFL three years after you are drafted way too high. Tim Tebow, Jerome Turner, Khris Khan, Randy Ortega, DeJuan Slate and Devin King, the biggest busts of the century. I can see the stories now. High school scrub to college ‘star’ and right back to scrub. It’s in your genes to fail, buddy. The sooner you realize that, the better off you’ll be.”
Knowing that responding would only keep him going, Devin let him have the last word before his anger got the best of him and he decided to demand they pull over the bus so he could kill Caesar and dump his body somewhere in the Mississippi backwoods. He’d been tempted to throw his night with Kaley at him as something he could add to the list of things that he’d done better than him during their time at Tulane but he felt he had a pretty good idea of how Caesar would react to that tidbit.
While he was sure Caesar’s intentions were just to take a few shots at him, the receiver had actually done the opposite in telling him that he wasn’t good enough for the NFL. Now, he wanted to prove to him or anyone else who doubted him that his play at Tulane would translate to the pros whether he was drafted 1st or 201st.
For him, it wasn’t to further some archaic family feud. He didn’t need to one-up Caesar on the field. He didn’t need to do anything to change the perception of his grandfather’s NFL career or the fact that his father never picked up a football in his life. He needed to do it for himself. He wanted to prove that all of his hard work through the years had paid off.
At the very least, declaring would ensure that he wouldn’t have to spend another season as a teammate of Caesar Jenkins. Of course with his luck, they’d probably drafted to the same team in some strange draft day trade.
Rock Hall walked into his office and sighed as he stood at the threshold, glancing around the room. It was well into the wee hours of Sunday morning and he had let his team go off to parts unknown. He knew that most of them would head straight back to catch up on the sleep they desperately needed after the game and the long trip from Mississippi. It was all a part of his plan. If the players were tired, they wouldn’t go out and do whatever it was college kids did on a Saturday night.
He needed their focus on the LSU game. He knew Thanksgiving was two days before the game and most of the players who were from nearby would go to be with their families but nothing was more important than beating LSU for him—and the higher ups in the department. The times had changed and there were only so many times a Tulane coach could lose to the school from up the river before he got his walking papers.
Unfortunately for the head coach of a college football team, there was always work to be done.
He sat down at his desk and turned towards the white board that hung behind it which held the name of every recruit that he’d targeted. It had been a big week for the Green Wave on the recruiting trail. They’d picked up another six verbals to bring their total to 20. Keeping with his belief in a strong defense, he was happy that five or those six commitments were on the defensive side of the ball.
The commitment of two teammates from Houston would probably go down as one of the biggest recruiting coups of the season. Somewhere along the way, Quincy Mills and Winston Marks decided that they would become a package deal but he wasn’t complaining now that they had pledged their future to Tulane.
Mills was the #2 cornerback in the country. A defensive back very much in the mold of Christian and Devin before him, he was an intelligent player that made very few mistakes but had the athletic ability to make up for the mistakes he did make. Marks, the #4 safety, was the stereotypical ballhawk safety. If a bad pass went into the air, Winston Marks was there to make the quarterback pay. They could both start from day one.
Deep down, he hoped Quincy Mills wouldn’t have to take the reigns as one of the two starters at cornerback next season. Mills stood to learn a lot from Devin if he stayed for his junior season and the defense would be tremendously better if Bobby and Mills were able to split the duties at the #2 spot and the nickel. Marks would likely bed in easily next to Champ as the heir to Adrian’s position.
Of course, there were more than a few top wide receivers dangling the proverbial carrot in front of his face not wanting to make a commitment to the Green Wave until they knew whether or not Caesar Jenkins would be a member of the team in 2055.
If you were to ask him, he would say that Caesar was going to put his name in the hat for the draft in April. The kid had been being groomed for it since he was born. He just hated talking to the mini-diva receivers who were trying to fill his shoes as the “bad boy” of the program, especially the ones who weren’t anywhere near the physical freak and athletic specimen that Caesar was.
Regardless of who was coming and who was going, Rock Hall knew that it wouldn’t matter if they somehow managed to lose to LSU. It wasn’t far-fetched to think the Tigers could pull it off. Last season’s upset was much more of a shock than it would be if Tulane lost to their rivals this season.
They would have to take that next step as a program. Take the step to become one of the country’s true elites. To do that, they would have to beat LSU for the Victory Flag, they would have to beat Florida State in the SEC Championship and they would have to beat whoever they were facing for the National Championship. Otherwise, they would end up being a flash in the pan program similar to that of Boise State in the early part of the century.
Only perfection would be enough for them to finish the season with a perfect record but he was convinced that his future as a college head coach depended on what the Green Wave did in the next two months.
Devin leaves early, Caesar stays so he has one year of being the top dog and Devin not getting all of the attention?
Dinner Plans
Brady wrung his hands together as he paced through the terminal of Louis Armstrong International Airport. He probably looked crazy to the other people waiting for their loved ones or waiting to leave but he couldn’t be bothered with anyone else thought of him. He was more nervous than he had been when coming face-to-face with Alabama’s defensive line.
On second thought, nervous would have been an understatement.
Any minute, Bridgette’s flight would arrive. He knew that she was a bit apprehensive about actually making the trip to New Orleans but he’d somehow managed to convince her. He needed some face-to-face time with her to prove that he was still the guy that she had fallen in love with in Illinois. No matter how many times she tried to say that she had forgiven him for his infidelity, he could hear in her voice that might not be completely true.
He turned his head to the flood of people filing off the latest plane to arrive, looking for his favorite blonde. After a few minutes, he looked up at the board to make sure it was the right flight that had just arrived. The nerves had started to dissipate but they’d come back with a vengeance. Maybe, she’d changed her mind at the last minute and decided not to come. He wouldn’t have blamed her.
Just as he was about to cut his losses, he saw her make her way through the slow moving crowd, muttering “sorry’s” and “excuse me’s” along the way.
He felt his heart beating again and his palms begin to sweat. Fear was a better word to describe what he was feeling. He clutched the bouquet of lilacs, her favorite flower, in his hand harder as he started walking to meet her. She flashed a quick smile and Brady put on his biggest 1000-watt smile he had as he embraced her. He could tell it wasn't the same, like when they hugged following graduation, or before they each went their separate ways before the fall semester.
"I'm so glad you made it," Brady said with nervous excitement. "Was the flight okay?"
"Yeah, it was okay. I talked to this old lady for most of the flight. She was really nice."
Even her voice seemed as disinterested as her hug. Brady curled in his lips and clenched his teeth at the thought of how this trip would go. How long till she finally said she couldn't do it anymore?
"Oh, this is for you."
Brady held out the bouquet defeated and hoped Bridgette would be at least kind enough to accept it even if she did throw it away later.
"Aw... Brady... you sweetheart!"
Bridgette delicately took the arrangement from Brady and smelled it with a genuine smile on her face. She leaned over and pressed her lips against his and suddenly this trip didn't seem so ominous after all...
Kaley watched as Cody tried to talk his way into the restaurant he’d taken her to. She tried to tell him that the chances of them getting into it on short notice were slim but he had been so sweet when he picked her up that she didn’t want to kill his mood—though she was convinced that no matter what she did he would still be that way.
Rubbing her arms at the biting cold, she shifted on her feet impatiently. Wearing a dress had been a bad idea but she also assumed that they would be inside wherever they were going pretty quickly.
She looked up and saw Cody walking back towards her, his head hung in defeat, “Couldn’t get in. I tried to tell ‘em that it’s not some million dollar steak they’re selling in there.”
“It’s okay,” she smiled.
“But you are all dressed up and I’m all dressed up. I feel bad.”
She shrugged, “We can do something else.”
“Like what? Smoke some weed?” he joked, referring to a quip she’d about him being a stoner the last time the two of them had gone out.
“Sure, why not? Got some on you?”
“I was only joking, Kaley.”
“It’s up to you,” she nodded across the street, “There’s a bar over there.”
“I mean, aren’t you pre-law?”
“They don’t drug test us, Cody, and weed is legal anyway.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. Anything to get out of this cold.”
“Okay.”
…
“Oh, shit!”
Kaley couldn’t stop herself from giggling as Cody picked himself up from the floor, having tripped over the welcome mat.
They’d decided to go to the bar that was across the street from the restaurant. After a few drinks, Kaley convinced Cody to smoke the weed that he had stashed away in his pocket citing his roommate’s wandering hands as the reason he carried it with him.
It was a miracle that they’d found a cab driver willing to take their fare. It probably helped that she was showing some leg.
“You’re being loud,” Cody warned as he brushed off his pants, a goofy grin on his face.
“No one’s here,” she said in an exaggerated whisper.
“Oh, yeah. Where do you think your roommates are?”
She shrugged, kicking off her heels and walking over to the sofa, falling ungracefully on it, “Knowing Sophie, getting fucked. Alison, too.”
“Regular bunny ranch in here,” he laughed, sitting down next to her.
“Are you trying to say we all fuck like rabbits?” she asked, barely containing another fit of the giggles.
“Why do you?”
“Why don’t you find out?”
Kaley didn’t know where that sudden burst of confidence came from, but she was willing to wager it was a mixture of the alcohol and Mary Jane in her system. She could never say that she was one to take advantage of the fact that weed had been legal for the last 30 some odd years so her tolerance to it was pretty low.
She didn’t have time to process the reasoning as Cody took her up on her offer. Finding that most places he put his hands seemed to tickle, she couldn’t stop the giggles that bubbled up between the kisses but he didn’t seem to mind too much as he pushed her dress up and hooked a thumb inside her panties.
He pulled them off and knelt down in front of her. With another goofy smile, he wiggled his eyebrows.
“Did you really just—“
A sharp intake of breath stopped her from finishing her question. She found herself biting her hand to not make too much noise out of habit. She’d have to remind herself to commend Cody later on his technique. It wasn’t long before she was helping him out of his pants…
…until she heard a crashing noise coming from the space between the house and their neighbor’s.
She put her hands on his chest to stop him, “Did you hear that?”
He looked around and shook his head, “It’s the weed making you paranoid.’
She waited a moment and heard the crashing noise again.
“There it was again!”
“There was no noise, Kaley. It’s the weed.”
“I keep hearing it.”
“Weed.”
She pushed him away and slipped from under him, “I can’t do this if an axe murderer is about to jump through the window.”
“I mean,” Cody pointed down, “What am I supposed to do with that? Could you at least blow me?”
“Are you serious?”
“Well, yeah.”
“No.”
He sighed and yanked his pants back up, “Definitely thought I’d be leaving here with fucking blue balls. That’s I what get for giving first.”
Kaley didn’t even bother to answer as he stormed out of the house. The thought of someone crashing through the window to kill her was too vivid in her mind and it wasn’t something she wanted to happen with no panties on. Pulling them back on, she laid down on the sofa figuring an intruder might miss her in the dark.
Weed or not, she wasn’t taking any chances.
…
The sound of heavy footsteps walking through the living caused Kaley to roll over and open her eyes but quickly covered them groaned in agony from the amount of sun streaming through the windows.
The footsteps came closer and the room darkened and felt a hand on her shoulder. Slowly, she opened her eyes once again and saw Caesar standing over her with two aspirin and a glass of water in his other hand. She smiled weakly and took the pills and water from him.
Last night was beginning to turn into a terrible idea.
“Figured you had a rough night,” he said, taking the glass from her and sitting on the coffee table.
“What makes you say…” she trailed off when she saw him nod towards her and noticed she’d fell asleep in her dress from last night. Her eyes widened when she couldn’t remember if anyone had been at the house when she and Cody came stumbling in, “When’d you get here?”
He shrugged and glanced at the clock, “Like twenty minutes ago. Sophie spent the night with me and had her panties all up in a fucking knot because she had to be back here at a certain time so she and Alison could leave to go home for the rest of the week.”
“I keep forgetting Thanksgiving is Thursday.”
“It’s a bit hard to miss. You’re not heading to Covington for the week?”
She shook her head, wincing when it only served to worsen her headache, “My family went to Tennessee for the next two weeks to spend time with my step-dad’s side. There’s no way I’m taking all that time off from work AND school. What about you? Big dinner at the Jenkins mansion Thursday?”
“Not exactly,” he shrugged, “My parents went to Oklahoma for Bedlam.”
“Bedlam?”
“The Bedlam Series between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. The game’s Saturday but there’s all kinds of other shit before it, you know?”
“Yeah. So, what do you mean not exactly then?”
“I’ll be having Thanksgiving dinner at the ‘Jenkins mansion,’ it just won’t be big. Since Erik and I can’t stray too far from Baton Rouge and New Orleans with the game Saturday, we decided that we might as well do the family thing. You’re welcome to come so you don’t have to spend the day alone.”
“Oh no, I couldn’t. I’d feel like I was messing up a family gathering but that’s good that you are two are doing things together.”
“Kaley, he’s bringing his girlfriend and Julie is coming with Ronnie. It’s not exactly a family gathering. More like a bunch of leftovers who don’t have anywhere else to go for Thanksgiving.”
“Doesn’t Gina live in Houma? If Erik is bringing his girlfriend, wouldn’t you?”
Caesar laughed and downed most of the water in the glass he was still holding, “Now, you are just fishing for excuses not to come, Kaley. Gina works at a fucking grocery store. She works in the morning and then will go do whatever she does on Thanksgiving. I didn’t even tell her about this. Don’t worry, no one will think you are my other… other… other… other… other… other woman.”
“Because that’s not disgusting at all.”
“You walked into it. Erik and Julie already know who you are and Jessica doesn’t care as long as her plan to get me and Erik to be more civil towards one another is working. What do you have to lose?”
Kaley sighed, “As long as you aren’t cooking the turkey.”
“I can cook a turkey with the best of them, thank you,” he stood up from the table, a bit surprised that it hadn’t broken under his weight. He drank the rest of the water and put the empty glass down where he’d been sitting before starting for the door, “I’m leaving at 8 on Thursday. I’ll swing by to pick you up.”
“What if I wanted to drive myself?”
He stopped at the door and turned back towards her, “Because that way, you won’t be able to change your mind in Boutte and turn back. But, I’m going to let you get some sleep because you look like shit.”
“Fuck you,” she snapped, throwing a sofa pillow at him which he easily caught and tossed aside. She sighed, “Of course, you catch the damn pillow.”
“Hands of God, baby,” he laughed, “See you Thursday.”
Kaley sighed when the door closed behind him. After that invitation, she would have to put down the last twelve hours as some of the strangest in her life but it was something that she would have to wait to reflect on after the jackhammer crew in her head took a break.
Devin walked through a nearly-empty courtyard. Tulane’s campus had quickly become a ghost town as soon as classes ended for the Thanksgiving break. He knew that they would all be back Friday night or Saturday morning, ready to tailgate for the game against LSU.
It was probably some expert planning on the part of the administration to have the semester end immediately following the football team’s biggest game every season. Every student on the campus would be able to unwind with some intense tailgate and some intense partying or drowning of sorrows following the game depending on its result.
There would probably be a lot of people drowning in the liquor if Tulane somehow lost Saturday.
Fortunately for him, the quiet around the campus gave him time to properly clear his head and focus on the task ahead of him. A lot of the other players on the team were more concerned with what they were going to do on Thankgiving than how much effort they were going to put into prepping for the Tigers’ visit to New Orleans. Not that he blamed any of them, coaches had been planning practice around Thanksgiving long enough to know exactly how to pull it off and it wasn’t like LSU didn’t have to deal with the day as well.
Deciding to take advantage of the relative peacefulness of the campus, he sat down on a bench under a tree.
He was in the process of debating whether or not to take a nap under that tree when he heard his phone starting to vibrate in his duffel. Sighing, he fished through the bag for it. He was really beginning to want to get rid of the phone altogether after the ridiculous amount of phone calls he had been receiving over the past few weeks.
“Yeah?” he answered the phone a bit angrier than he thought he would.
“Devin Xavier King, IV! Is that anyway to answer when your mother calls?!”
“Sorry, ma. I thought it was someone else.”
“Right, well, I’ve been wondering why you haven’t called in so long. I know we’ve had this conversation before.”
“We have.”
“Devin!”
“Sorry.”
“I know that you are very busy these days with all your football stuff but you should still be able to make some time for your family. That being said, when are you going to be able to make it down to Houma for Thanksgiving so I know when to start cooking.”
“Grandpa going to be there?”
“Of course, he is.”
“Then I’m not,” he said plainly.
“What do you mean you’re not?”
“I’m not going to be there. I don’t need another lecture about what to do with my life and if that means that I have to avoid Thanksgiving with my family then I’m going to avoid Thanksgiving.”
“That’s not funny, Devin.”
“No one’s trying to be funny, ma. It’s the same shit over and over again and I got tired of it a long time ago.”
“Watch your mouth when speaking to me. I don’t know who put this crazy idea in your head but you WILL be here, with your family on Thursday to give thanks for everything we’ve been given this year.”
“If it makes you feel better to hear me say that I’ll be there, then I’ll be there.”
“I thought I raised you better than this, Devin.”
“Look, I gotta go. I’ll—“
Before he could finish his sentence, the line went dead. He knew he would have really gotten a piece of his mother’s mind if he had been ten years younger and standing in front of her but he would consider himself lucky to be 45 minutes away and a young man.
Many people would tell him that he was wrong for saying that he wouldn’t be at Thanksgiving dinner with his family but he had every intention to stand by his decision.
Sometime between his run in with Troy Price and this phone call, he’d come to the conclusion that he was going to do everything in his power to keep interaction between him and his family to a minimum. It was a tough decision for him considering he did want to have a good relationship with them but he didn’t need them in his ear trying to influence his decision especially in the middle of getting his fill of turkey and pumpkin pie.
Thursday would be a lonely day spent in the film room for him.
Brady wrung his hands together as he paced through the terminal of Louis Armstrong International Airport. He probably looked crazy to the other people waiting for their loved ones or waiting to leave but he couldn’t be bothered with anyone else thought of him. He was more nervous than he had been when coming face-to-face with Alabama’s defensive line.
On second thought, nervous would have been an understatement.
Any minute, Bridgette’s flight would arrive. He knew that she was a bit apprehensive about actually making the trip to New Orleans but he’d somehow managed to convince her. He needed some face-to-face time with her to prove that he was still the guy that she had fallen in love with in Illinois. No matter how many times she tried to say that she had forgiven him for his infidelity, he could hear in her voice that might not be completely true.
He turned his head to the flood of people filing off the latest plane to arrive, looking for his favorite blonde. After a few minutes, he looked up at the board to make sure it was the right flight that had just arrived. The nerves had started to dissipate but they’d come back with a vengeance. Maybe, she’d changed her mind at the last minute and decided not to come. He wouldn’t have blamed her.
Just as he was about to cut his losses, he saw her make her way through the slow moving crowd, muttering “sorry’s” and “excuse me’s” along the way.
He felt his heart beating again and his palms begin to sweat. Fear was a better word to describe what he was feeling. He clutched the bouquet of lilacs, her favorite flower, in his hand harder as he started walking to meet her. She flashed a quick smile and Brady put on his biggest 1000-watt smile he had as he embraced her. He could tell it wasn't the same, like when they hugged following graduation, or before they each went their separate ways before the fall semester.
"I'm so glad you made it," Brady said with nervous excitement. "Was the flight okay?"
"Yeah, it was okay. I talked to this old lady for most of the flight. She was really nice."
Even her voice seemed as disinterested as her hug. Brady curled in his lips and clenched his teeth at the thought of how this trip would go. How long till she finally said she couldn't do it anymore?
"Oh, this is for you."
Brady held out the bouquet defeated and hoped Bridgette would be at least kind enough to accept it even if she did throw it away later.
"Aw... Brady... you sweetheart!"
Bridgette delicately took the arrangement from Brady and smelled it with a genuine smile on her face. She leaned over and pressed her lips against his and suddenly this trip didn't seem so ominous after all...
Kaley watched as Cody tried to talk his way into the restaurant he’d taken her to. She tried to tell him that the chances of them getting into it on short notice were slim but he had been so sweet when he picked her up that she didn’t want to kill his mood—though she was convinced that no matter what she did he would still be that way.
Rubbing her arms at the biting cold, she shifted on her feet impatiently. Wearing a dress had been a bad idea but she also assumed that they would be inside wherever they were going pretty quickly.
She looked up and saw Cody walking back towards her, his head hung in defeat, “Couldn’t get in. I tried to tell ‘em that it’s not some million dollar steak they’re selling in there.”
“It’s okay,” she smiled.
“But you are all dressed up and I’m all dressed up. I feel bad.”
She shrugged, “We can do something else.”
“Like what? Smoke some weed?” he joked, referring to a quip she’d about him being a stoner the last time the two of them had gone out.
“Sure, why not? Got some on you?”
“I was only joking, Kaley.”
“It’s up to you,” she nodded across the street, “There’s a bar over there.”
“I mean, aren’t you pre-law?”
“They don’t drug test us, Cody, and weed is legal anyway.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. Anything to get out of this cold.”
“Okay.”
…
“Oh, shit!”
Kaley couldn’t stop herself from giggling as Cody picked himself up from the floor, having tripped over the welcome mat.
They’d decided to go to the bar that was across the street from the restaurant. After a few drinks, Kaley convinced Cody to smoke the weed that he had stashed away in his pocket citing his roommate’s wandering hands as the reason he carried it with him.
It was a miracle that they’d found a cab driver willing to take their fare. It probably helped that she was showing some leg.
“You’re being loud,” Cody warned as he brushed off his pants, a goofy grin on his face.
“No one’s here,” she said in an exaggerated whisper.
“Oh, yeah. Where do you think your roommates are?”
She shrugged, kicking off her heels and walking over to the sofa, falling ungracefully on it, “Knowing Sophie, getting fucked. Alison, too.”
“Regular bunny ranch in here,” he laughed, sitting down next to her.
“Are you trying to say we all fuck like rabbits?” she asked, barely containing another fit of the giggles.
“Why do you?”
“Why don’t you find out?”
Kaley didn’t know where that sudden burst of confidence came from, but she was willing to wager it was a mixture of the alcohol and Mary Jane in her system. She could never say that she was one to take advantage of the fact that weed had been legal for the last 30 some odd years so her tolerance to it was pretty low.
She didn’t have time to process the reasoning as Cody took her up on her offer. Finding that most places he put his hands seemed to tickle, she couldn’t stop the giggles that bubbled up between the kisses but he didn’t seem to mind too much as he pushed her dress up and hooked a thumb inside her panties.
He pulled them off and knelt down in front of her. With another goofy smile, he wiggled his eyebrows.
“Did you really just—“
A sharp intake of breath stopped her from finishing her question. She found herself biting her hand to not make too much noise out of habit. She’d have to remind herself to commend Cody later on his technique. It wasn’t long before she was helping him out of his pants…
…until she heard a crashing noise coming from the space between the house and their neighbor’s.
She put her hands on his chest to stop him, “Did you hear that?”
He looked around and shook his head, “It’s the weed making you paranoid.’
She waited a moment and heard the crashing noise again.
“There it was again!”
“There was no noise, Kaley. It’s the weed.”
“I keep hearing it.”
“Weed.”
She pushed him away and slipped from under him, “I can’t do this if an axe murderer is about to jump through the window.”
“I mean,” Cody pointed down, “What am I supposed to do with that? Could you at least blow me?”
“Are you serious?”
“Well, yeah.”
“No.”
He sighed and yanked his pants back up, “Definitely thought I’d be leaving here with fucking blue balls. That’s I what get for giving first.”
Kaley didn’t even bother to answer as he stormed out of the house. The thought of someone crashing through the window to kill her was too vivid in her mind and it wasn’t something she wanted to happen with no panties on. Pulling them back on, she laid down on the sofa figuring an intruder might miss her in the dark.
Weed or not, she wasn’t taking any chances.
…
The sound of heavy footsteps walking through the living caused Kaley to roll over and open her eyes but quickly covered them groaned in agony from the amount of sun streaming through the windows.
The footsteps came closer and the room darkened and felt a hand on her shoulder. Slowly, she opened her eyes once again and saw Caesar standing over her with two aspirin and a glass of water in his other hand. She smiled weakly and took the pills and water from him.
Last night was beginning to turn into a terrible idea.
“Figured you had a rough night,” he said, taking the glass from her and sitting on the coffee table.
“What makes you say…” she trailed off when she saw him nod towards her and noticed she’d fell asleep in her dress from last night. Her eyes widened when she couldn’t remember if anyone had been at the house when she and Cody came stumbling in, “When’d you get here?”
He shrugged and glanced at the clock, “Like twenty minutes ago. Sophie spent the night with me and had her panties all up in a fucking knot because she had to be back here at a certain time so she and Alison could leave to go home for the rest of the week.”
“I keep forgetting Thanksgiving is Thursday.”
“It’s a bit hard to miss. You’re not heading to Covington for the week?”
She shook her head, wincing when it only served to worsen her headache, “My family went to Tennessee for the next two weeks to spend time with my step-dad’s side. There’s no way I’m taking all that time off from work AND school. What about you? Big dinner at the Jenkins mansion Thursday?”
“Not exactly,” he shrugged, “My parents went to Oklahoma for Bedlam.”
“Bedlam?”
“The Bedlam Series between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. The game’s Saturday but there’s all kinds of other shit before it, you know?”
“Yeah. So, what do you mean not exactly then?”
“I’ll be having Thanksgiving dinner at the ‘Jenkins mansion,’ it just won’t be big. Since Erik and I can’t stray too far from Baton Rouge and New Orleans with the game Saturday, we decided that we might as well do the family thing. You’re welcome to come so you don’t have to spend the day alone.”
“Oh no, I couldn’t. I’d feel like I was messing up a family gathering but that’s good that you are two are doing things together.”
“Kaley, he’s bringing his girlfriend and Julie is coming with Ronnie. It’s not exactly a family gathering. More like a bunch of leftovers who don’t have anywhere else to go for Thanksgiving.”
“Doesn’t Gina live in Houma? If Erik is bringing his girlfriend, wouldn’t you?”
Caesar laughed and downed most of the water in the glass he was still holding, “Now, you are just fishing for excuses not to come, Kaley. Gina works at a fucking grocery store. She works in the morning and then will go do whatever she does on Thanksgiving. I didn’t even tell her about this. Don’t worry, no one will think you are my other… other… other… other… other… other woman.”
“Because that’s not disgusting at all.”
“You walked into it. Erik and Julie already know who you are and Jessica doesn’t care as long as her plan to get me and Erik to be more civil towards one another is working. What do you have to lose?”
Kaley sighed, “As long as you aren’t cooking the turkey.”
“I can cook a turkey with the best of them, thank you,” he stood up from the table, a bit surprised that it hadn’t broken under his weight. He drank the rest of the water and put the empty glass down where he’d been sitting before starting for the door, “I’m leaving at 8 on Thursday. I’ll swing by to pick you up.”
“What if I wanted to drive myself?”
He stopped at the door and turned back towards her, “Because that way, you won’t be able to change your mind in Boutte and turn back. But, I’m going to let you get some sleep because you look like shit.”
“Fuck you,” she snapped, throwing a sofa pillow at him which he easily caught and tossed aside. She sighed, “Of course, you catch the damn pillow.”
“Hands of God, baby,” he laughed, “See you Thursday.”
Kaley sighed when the door closed behind him. After that invitation, she would have to put down the last twelve hours as some of the strangest in her life but it was something that she would have to wait to reflect on after the jackhammer crew in her head took a break.
Devin walked through a nearly-empty courtyard. Tulane’s campus had quickly become a ghost town as soon as classes ended for the Thanksgiving break. He knew that they would all be back Friday night or Saturday morning, ready to tailgate for the game against LSU.
It was probably some expert planning on the part of the administration to have the semester end immediately following the football team’s biggest game every season. Every student on the campus would be able to unwind with some intense tailgate and some intense partying or drowning of sorrows following the game depending on its result.
There would probably be a lot of people drowning in the liquor if Tulane somehow lost Saturday.
Fortunately for him, the quiet around the campus gave him time to properly clear his head and focus on the task ahead of him. A lot of the other players on the team were more concerned with what they were going to do on Thankgiving than how much effort they were going to put into prepping for the Tigers’ visit to New Orleans. Not that he blamed any of them, coaches had been planning practice around Thanksgiving long enough to know exactly how to pull it off and it wasn’t like LSU didn’t have to deal with the day as well.
Deciding to take advantage of the relative peacefulness of the campus, he sat down on a bench under a tree.
He was in the process of debating whether or not to take a nap under that tree when he heard his phone starting to vibrate in his duffel. Sighing, he fished through the bag for it. He was really beginning to want to get rid of the phone altogether after the ridiculous amount of phone calls he had been receiving over the past few weeks.
“Yeah?” he answered the phone a bit angrier than he thought he would.
“Devin Xavier King, IV! Is that anyway to answer when your mother calls?!”
“Sorry, ma. I thought it was someone else.”
“Right, well, I’ve been wondering why you haven’t called in so long. I know we’ve had this conversation before.”
“We have.”
“Devin!”
“Sorry.”
“I know that you are very busy these days with all your football stuff but you should still be able to make some time for your family. That being said, when are you going to be able to make it down to Houma for Thanksgiving so I know when to start cooking.”
“Grandpa going to be there?”
“Of course, he is.”
“Then I’m not,” he said plainly.
“What do you mean you’re not?”
“I’m not going to be there. I don’t need another lecture about what to do with my life and if that means that I have to avoid Thanksgiving with my family then I’m going to avoid Thanksgiving.”
“That’s not funny, Devin.”
“No one’s trying to be funny, ma. It’s the same shit over and over again and I got tired of it a long time ago.”
“Watch your mouth when speaking to me. I don’t know who put this crazy idea in your head but you WILL be here, with your family on Thursday to give thanks for everything we’ve been given this year.”
“If it makes you feel better to hear me say that I’ll be there, then I’ll be there.”
“I thought I raised you better than this, Devin.”
“Look, I gotta go. I’ll—“
Before he could finish his sentence, the line went dead. He knew he would have really gotten a piece of his mother’s mind if he had been ten years younger and standing in front of her but he would consider himself lucky to be 45 minutes away and a young man.
Many people would tell him that he was wrong for saying that he wouldn’t be at Thanksgiving dinner with his family but he had every intention to stand by his decision.
Sometime between his run in with Troy Price and this phone call, he’d come to the conclusion that he was going to do everything in his power to keep interaction between him and his family to a minimum. It was a tough decision for him considering he did want to have a good relationship with them but he didn’t need them in his ear trying to influence his decision especially in the middle of getting his fill of turkey and pumpkin pie.
Thursday would be a lonely day spent in the film room for him.
tis the season to give thanks! agreed on the fun update. and i doubt devin would tag along. he doesnt want to deal with family he definitely doesnt want to deal with jenkins. im more interested to see if cody gets a second chance there haha
Welcomed Surprise
True to his word, Devin remained in New Orleans for Thanksgiving. His phone rang non-stop for hours until he decided to turn it off and leave it in his room – couldn’t be too sure. There was no reason for him to try to justify his decision to his family again. If Thanksgiving was a day for giving thanks then he was thankful for being a college football player who could hole up in a dark film room with tape on the team’s next opponent’s offense.
He wasn’t too surprised that he was alone in the building. There was a team dinner for the guys who couldn’t hop in a car and head home for the day and the ones who could did. It didn’t bother him, a few hours of extra preparation wouldn’t hurt.
LSU’s offense had evolved immensely from the past season’s mostly disjointed attack. Evan McCollough was a year older and the trial by fire that he went through as a freshman looked to have turned him into quite the field general in his second year. He looked more confident, had a better pocket presence and outside of their three losses seemed to read defenses like a seasoned vet.
It did hurt his heart a bit to see Hasan had mostly been relegated to spell duty after being unseated by a freshman. Not that he didn’t think it was the right thing for the Tigers to do, Jaxson Bolt was an amazing player who fit his name perfectly. Some of the runs that he’d made this season were jaw-dropping. His official 40 time was in the low 4.3 region but there were rumors that he’d once clocked in a 4.24. Simply put, there was no catching him if they let him get going.
Doing to LSU what they had done to most offenses this season would be no small task. Not only did they have a strong offense with talented players at every position but they were going to be coming into the game with a lot of confidence after beating Tulane last season and would be looking to derail their rival’s National Championship hopes once more.
“Devin? What are you doing in here, son? Shouldn’t you be stuffing your face with turkey?”
He looked over his shoulder to see Coach Wesley standing in the doorway, “Just taking the opportunity to look at some more tape. Can’t be too prepared, right?”
“Sure, you can,” the coach laughed as he walked over to one of the seats next to Devin and sat down, “I remember one time back in my playing days, I tried to memorize every little move a quarterback made at the line. Everything. I spent so much time on it that I forgot to bring my lucky socks with me and we loss 42-7.”
“I don’t think that had anything to do with socks, coach.”
“It had everything to do with the socks. We never lost a game that I wore those socks in. That’s why we always beat Texas.”
“Well, I don’t think any of the guys here have any lucky socks or any other mumbo jumbo and we’re doing just fine.”
Coach Wesley clicked his tongue and shook his head, “That’s what you think. DeJordan hasn’t cleaned his mouthpiece since the SEC Championship last year and he didn’t even play in it, James eats exactly forty-one jellybeans before every game and Lance on the d-line downs a glass of vinegar. Now, you don’t tell me why don’t have any mumbo jumbo in our locker room.”
Devin shivered at the thought of not, at the very least, rinsing a mouthpiece off for almost a year. A year of dried blood, sweat and who knows what else being in his mouth for prolonged periods of time just didn’t sit well with him. He’d have to recommend DeJordan go get a tetanus shot… or five… after the season.
“So, you didn’t answer my question. Why are you here instead of with your family? My knowledge of Louisiana is still pretty foggy but aren’t you from close to here?”
“I’d rather not talk about it, if that’s alright with you.”
“’Course, it’s alright with me. I was just wondering. I’m probably going to be getting a call from the missus soon. The entire family came down to Louisiana for the first time, wanted some real ‘Cajun cooking’ but I told them burnt food isn’t really Cajun, you know?”
Devin chuckled, “I don’t think your wife would be too happy about you saying she burns food, coach.”
“Who said I was talking about her? The only reason I’m here is because I set a pie on fire and Rock told me to come get one from here. I could play football, coach football and strike fear in the hearts of young men but I can’t bake a damn pie.”
“We all have our faults.”
It was the coach’s turn to laugh, “That we do, son. Look, I don’t know why anyone would choose to spend their Thanksgiving watching film but I’m ordering you to get your ass up and go do something else. Don’t tell anyone else I told you this but you are probably the best player I’ve ever coached. Not only talent-wise but the whole package. You just go out there and do your damn job. No lip, no nothing. If we needed you to put your hand on the ground and play end, you’d do it. Not too many guys like that around. You make my job a helluva lot easier.”
Devin was a bit shocked. He and Coach Wesley never pushed their conversations past the Xs and Os on the field so he wasn’t aware that Tulane’s defensive coordinator thought so highly of him but that had been the attitude of the Green Wave defense for the three years he’d been there – tote the lunch pail and leave everything else for later.
“Thanks, coach.”
“Don’t thank me,” Wesley stood up and patted Devin on the shoulder, “I should be thanking you. If I had a vote for the Heisman, you’d get it but they don’t like giving that thing to us defensive guys especially the big lugs in the front seven like I was. Now, I better run before Mrs. Wesley comes looking for me and you see a grown man cry. Go get you something to eat.”
“Will do, coach.”
The defensive coordinator gave Devin’s shoulder one last pat before turning to leave. Devin heard him stop and chuckle, “Well, hello Miss Vieira. I’ll have you know I just told our boy over there that he has to go do something else so don’t work him too hard.”
Devin glanced back to find Alessa leaning against the wall next to the door.
“Don’t worry, Coach Wesley. I think he’ll be fine.”
“I’m trusting you,” the coach joked before leaving.
Alessa waited until Coach Wesley’s footsteps disappeared down the hall, “Can’t answer your phone, Devinho?”
“Left it in my room.”
“It’s a good thing you aren’t hard to find or I’d be pretty pissed off right now.”
“Why?”
“I have something to show you.”
“What?”
“Show. You. Let’s go,” she waved for him to get up.
“It’s not a headstone, is it?”
She smiled mischievously, “It might be if you don’t get up. Come on, we have to hurry.”
After unlocking the door to her apartment, Alessa turned her back to it and faced Devin, uncertainty on her face, “Close your eyes.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“I’m really starting to think that you have someone in there waiting to kill me.”
“Stop that. I’m not trying to kill you. Just close your eyes, please.”
He made a show of closing his eyes and covering them with his hand, “Okay, lead the way but remember not to walk me into a wall because they might actually need me Saturday.”
“Está empurrando-o, Devinho.”
She opened the door and grabbed his other hand, leading him into the apartment. After walking him into the small dining area, she placed a hand on his chest to stop him from walking over her. He started to move his hand but she stopped him.
“What now?” he asked.
“I’m just going to warn you before you open your eyes that you might not like all of this and if you don’t, just tell me and we can forget about all of it.”
“Alessa…”
“Alright, open your eyes.”
Devin peaked through his fingers, jokingly making sure that it was only the two of them in the apartment. Moving his hand, he noticed the spread of food on the counter. Outside of the small turkey and pumpkin pie, it could pass as the most hastily thrown together Thanksgiving dinner that he’d ever seen but he still smiled at the sight of it.
“Before you say anything, remember that we don’t observe Thanksgiving in Brazil and I’ve never really given it any thought until you told me that you weren’t going home today and I didn’t want you spending the day watching film and worrying about LSU when I could do something about it. So, Happy Thanksgiving?”
He wasn’t used to seeing Alessa so uncertain in her actions but he did like that she’d gone out of her way to do something for him, especially something that she probably only vaguely cared about before that day. He knew that she didn’t have a turkey stashed in the freezer the night before so she probably had to go on a wild… turkey… chase to find somewhere that was open and selling cooked turkeys on Thanksgiving Day. Knowing that, he couldn’t possibly turn this meal down.
Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he hugged her to his side, “You know you didn’t have to do all this for me, right?”
“But I did.”
“I’m thankful that I was lucky enough to find you. You are one of the good things that has happened to me thanks to all this Heisman bullshit.”
She poked him in the side, “Heisman bullshit? That’s been part of my job all semester. You aren’t exactly the easiest person to work with sometimes.”
“Gotta keep you on your toes, Miss Vieira.”
“Whatever. Now, we eat. It’s all probably cold because I had to look for you for thirty minutes instead of you being a normal person who keeps their only means of communication with them.”
“I’m sure it’s fine, but you do know that Brazilian looking food over there isn’t part of traditional Thanksgiving cuisine, right?”
“Cale-se, it’s part of ours.”
Devin silently admitted that he liked the sound of the word “ours” when referring to he and Alessa. Once again, she’d come through when he needed her to, even when he didn’t know that he needed her, and had turned a day that would probably have been one to never bring up in the future into one that he’d look back on and smile.
It was crazy to think that it wasn’t long ago that he didn’t even know who she was, only had an idea of someone from other people who’d crossed her path, but she’d managed to quickly become a major part of his life and this gesture was just another example of how happy he was that he’d found someone who didn’t drive him crazy more often than she made him smile.
He’d probably never fully understand Portuguese or her obsession with soccer but those things didn’t matter to him. It’d probably take him weeks to decide whether or not he was going to call time on his college career but at the moment, standing in that kitchen on Thanksgiving, he decided that wherever his decisions took him, he wanted Alessa by his side.
True to his word, Devin remained in New Orleans for Thanksgiving. His phone rang non-stop for hours until he decided to turn it off and leave it in his room – couldn’t be too sure. There was no reason for him to try to justify his decision to his family again. If Thanksgiving was a day for giving thanks then he was thankful for being a college football player who could hole up in a dark film room with tape on the team’s next opponent’s offense.
He wasn’t too surprised that he was alone in the building. There was a team dinner for the guys who couldn’t hop in a car and head home for the day and the ones who could did. It didn’t bother him, a few hours of extra preparation wouldn’t hurt.
LSU’s offense had evolved immensely from the past season’s mostly disjointed attack. Evan McCollough was a year older and the trial by fire that he went through as a freshman looked to have turned him into quite the field general in his second year. He looked more confident, had a better pocket presence and outside of their three losses seemed to read defenses like a seasoned vet.
It did hurt his heart a bit to see Hasan had mostly been relegated to spell duty after being unseated by a freshman. Not that he didn’t think it was the right thing for the Tigers to do, Jaxson Bolt was an amazing player who fit his name perfectly. Some of the runs that he’d made this season were jaw-dropping. His official 40 time was in the low 4.3 region but there were rumors that he’d once clocked in a 4.24. Simply put, there was no catching him if they let him get going.
Doing to LSU what they had done to most offenses this season would be no small task. Not only did they have a strong offense with talented players at every position but they were going to be coming into the game with a lot of confidence after beating Tulane last season and would be looking to derail their rival’s National Championship hopes once more.
“Devin? What are you doing in here, son? Shouldn’t you be stuffing your face with turkey?”
He looked over his shoulder to see Coach Wesley standing in the doorway, “Just taking the opportunity to look at some more tape. Can’t be too prepared, right?”
“Sure, you can,” the coach laughed as he walked over to one of the seats next to Devin and sat down, “I remember one time back in my playing days, I tried to memorize every little move a quarterback made at the line. Everything. I spent so much time on it that I forgot to bring my lucky socks with me and we loss 42-7.”
“I don’t think that had anything to do with socks, coach.”
“It had everything to do with the socks. We never lost a game that I wore those socks in. That’s why we always beat Texas.”
“Well, I don’t think any of the guys here have any lucky socks or any other mumbo jumbo and we’re doing just fine.”
Coach Wesley clicked his tongue and shook his head, “That’s what you think. DeJordan hasn’t cleaned his mouthpiece since the SEC Championship last year and he didn’t even play in it, James eats exactly forty-one jellybeans before every game and Lance on the d-line downs a glass of vinegar. Now, you don’t tell me why don’t have any mumbo jumbo in our locker room.”
Devin shivered at the thought of not, at the very least, rinsing a mouthpiece off for almost a year. A year of dried blood, sweat and who knows what else being in his mouth for prolonged periods of time just didn’t sit well with him. He’d have to recommend DeJordan go get a tetanus shot… or five… after the season.
“So, you didn’t answer my question. Why are you here instead of with your family? My knowledge of Louisiana is still pretty foggy but aren’t you from close to here?”
“I’d rather not talk about it, if that’s alright with you.”
“’Course, it’s alright with me. I was just wondering. I’m probably going to be getting a call from the missus soon. The entire family came down to Louisiana for the first time, wanted some real ‘Cajun cooking’ but I told them burnt food isn’t really Cajun, you know?”
Devin chuckled, “I don’t think your wife would be too happy about you saying she burns food, coach.”
“Who said I was talking about her? The only reason I’m here is because I set a pie on fire and Rock told me to come get one from here. I could play football, coach football and strike fear in the hearts of young men but I can’t bake a damn pie.”
“We all have our faults.”
It was the coach’s turn to laugh, “That we do, son. Look, I don’t know why anyone would choose to spend their Thanksgiving watching film but I’m ordering you to get your ass up and go do something else. Don’t tell anyone else I told you this but you are probably the best player I’ve ever coached. Not only talent-wise but the whole package. You just go out there and do your damn job. No lip, no nothing. If we needed you to put your hand on the ground and play end, you’d do it. Not too many guys like that around. You make my job a helluva lot easier.”
Devin was a bit shocked. He and Coach Wesley never pushed their conversations past the Xs and Os on the field so he wasn’t aware that Tulane’s defensive coordinator thought so highly of him but that had been the attitude of the Green Wave defense for the three years he’d been there – tote the lunch pail and leave everything else for later.
“Thanks, coach.”
“Don’t thank me,” Wesley stood up and patted Devin on the shoulder, “I should be thanking you. If I had a vote for the Heisman, you’d get it but they don’t like giving that thing to us defensive guys especially the big lugs in the front seven like I was. Now, I better run before Mrs. Wesley comes looking for me and you see a grown man cry. Go get you something to eat.”
“Will do, coach.”
The defensive coordinator gave Devin’s shoulder one last pat before turning to leave. Devin heard him stop and chuckle, “Well, hello Miss Vieira. I’ll have you know I just told our boy over there that he has to go do something else so don’t work him too hard.”
Devin glanced back to find Alessa leaning against the wall next to the door.
“Don’t worry, Coach Wesley. I think he’ll be fine.”
“I’m trusting you,” the coach joked before leaving.
Alessa waited until Coach Wesley’s footsteps disappeared down the hall, “Can’t answer your phone, Devinho?”
“Left it in my room.”
“It’s a good thing you aren’t hard to find or I’d be pretty pissed off right now.”
“Why?”
“I have something to show you.”
“What?”
“Show. You. Let’s go,” she waved for him to get up.
“It’s not a headstone, is it?”
She smiled mischievously, “It might be if you don’t get up. Come on, we have to hurry.”
After unlocking the door to her apartment, Alessa turned her back to it and faced Devin, uncertainty on her face, “Close your eyes.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“I’m really starting to think that you have someone in there waiting to kill me.”
“Stop that. I’m not trying to kill you. Just close your eyes, please.”
He made a show of closing his eyes and covering them with his hand, “Okay, lead the way but remember not to walk me into a wall because they might actually need me Saturday.”
“Está empurrando-o, Devinho.”
She opened the door and grabbed his other hand, leading him into the apartment. After walking him into the small dining area, she placed a hand on his chest to stop him from walking over her. He started to move his hand but she stopped him.
“What now?” he asked.
“I’m just going to warn you before you open your eyes that you might not like all of this and if you don’t, just tell me and we can forget about all of it.”
“Alessa…”
“Alright, open your eyes.”
Devin peaked through his fingers, jokingly making sure that it was only the two of them in the apartment. Moving his hand, he noticed the spread of food on the counter. Outside of the small turkey and pumpkin pie, it could pass as the most hastily thrown together Thanksgiving dinner that he’d ever seen but he still smiled at the sight of it.
“Before you say anything, remember that we don’t observe Thanksgiving in Brazil and I’ve never really given it any thought until you told me that you weren’t going home today and I didn’t want you spending the day watching film and worrying about LSU when I could do something about it. So, Happy Thanksgiving?”
He wasn’t used to seeing Alessa so uncertain in her actions but he did like that she’d gone out of her way to do something for him, especially something that she probably only vaguely cared about before that day. He knew that she didn’t have a turkey stashed in the freezer the night before so she probably had to go on a wild… turkey… chase to find somewhere that was open and selling cooked turkeys on Thanksgiving Day. Knowing that, he couldn’t possibly turn this meal down.
Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he hugged her to his side, “You know you didn’t have to do all this for me, right?”
“But I did.”
“I’m thankful that I was lucky enough to find you. You are one of the good things that has happened to me thanks to all this Heisman bullshit.”
She poked him in the side, “Heisman bullshit? That’s been part of my job all semester. You aren’t exactly the easiest person to work with sometimes.”
“Gotta keep you on your toes, Miss Vieira.”
“Whatever. Now, we eat. It’s all probably cold because I had to look for you for thirty minutes instead of you being a normal person who keeps their only means of communication with them.”
“I’m sure it’s fine, but you do know that Brazilian looking food over there isn’t part of traditional Thanksgiving cuisine, right?”
“Cale-se, it’s part of ours.”
Devin silently admitted that he liked the sound of the word “ours” when referring to he and Alessa. Once again, she’d come through when he needed her to, even when he didn’t know that he needed her, and had turned a day that would probably have been one to never bring up in the future into one that he’d look back on and smile.
It was crazy to think that it wasn’t long ago that he didn’t even know who she was, only had an idea of someone from other people who’d crossed her path, but she’d managed to quickly become a major part of his life and this gesture was just another example of how happy he was that he’d found someone who didn’t drive him crazy more often than she made him smile.
He’d probably never fully understand Portuguese or her obsession with soccer but those things didn’t matter to him. It’d probably take him weeks to decide whether or not he was going to call time on his college career but at the moment, standing in that kitchen on Thanksgiving, he decided that wherever his decisions took him, he wanted Alessa by his side.
it is almost cuffing season and looks like devins decided on that. havent heard hasan mentioned in a while.. wonder if he'll shake some things up the next few updates despite being a spell back for LSU. two young guns for the LSU offense might spell some trouble but iirc Tulane has a veteran defense, so maybe not.
and i think we need to get devin a nice pregame ritual going should he stay for his senior year.
and i think we need to get devin a nice pregame ritual going should he stay for his senior year.
If For a Day
Everything seemed fine when Caesar came to pick Kaley up and it was fine when they made idle chit chat for about five minutes before riding in peaceful silence, but once Caesar put the car in park Kaley had all kinds of second thoughts about actually coming to this dinner.
The nerves reached a high once Caesar got out of the car and waited for Kaley to follow suit. Maybe it was the house... the gigantic house staring down at her and all the other houses in the neighborhood.
"Overcompensating much?" Kaley asked with a guffawing laugh.
Caesar gave Kaley a funny look as he started heading for the door.
"You've seen my house before."
Kaley cleared her throat, "I know. Just been a while. I’d forgotten exactly how rich your family was.”
“You’ve been slumming it for too long.”
“I’ve never seen the family safe, though."
"And I'll never show you or I'd have to kill you. As it is I'm already going to have to kill Erik for knowing. I don't like sharing." Caesar smiled as he held the door open, "After you."
Kaley walked into the house and was hit by the smells of Thanksgiving but this time it didn’t take as long for her to remember that the Jenkins family spent lavishly on the things they wanted, right down to who cooked Thanksgiving dinner.
Three chefs busied themselves in the kitchen, bouncing from place to place clearly in a rush to get everything finished.
“I’m struggling to get used to it myself.”
Kaley jumped when she heard another voice where she’d thought Caesar was still standing but a quick look around the room told her that he’d gone to greet Julie and Ronnie. She looked up at Erik and shrugged, “It’s just different, I guess. Everyone has their own way of doing things.”
“Yeah, I’m just used to Mom waking up at four in the morning to make sure that everything was done by noon. Not only did they come here thirty minutes ago with a turkey already done but two of them don’t even speak English.”
“And then there’s the Jenkins way.”
Erik laughed, “Do I need to show you my birth certificate? I’m still driving a burnt-out Scion from 2044. You think ‘big bro’ will buy me a car for Christmas if I asked?”
“Nope, but I will if you fake a broken ankle Saturday to make it a little easier for us to beat you,” Caesar said as he walked up next to Erik, Ronnie in his arms, “Where’s your wife? Should I be telling her that you are trying to cheat on her?”
“You’re married?” Kaley asked, eyes wide in shock.
“No, not yet, but Caesar is jealous of my loving girlfriend so he teases me about her.”
“Jealous of the roast beef? I think not. I’m not putting my dick anywhere around a pussy that looks like it was cut at the deli counter in a supermarket.”
“Don’t talk like that around my son!” Julie shouted from the kitchen.
“Because he’s going to understand it,” Caesar rolled his eyes.
“I don’t care! Come pay these people and get them out of here so we can eat. They don’t even speak fucking English!”
Erik laughed at his brother as he trudged into the kitchen, balancing the baby in one arm while he fished out his wallet with the other.
Kaley couldn’t help but find the humor in the situation as well. Erik seemed to fit the role of annoying little brother even though she was sure that the two of them were only months of part while Julie filled in as the demanding older sister. It was a strange dynamic considering the three of them hadn’t known each other for more than a handful of years but it seemed to be slowly working itself out for them.
"Who the hell is doing all of that yelling?"
"Julie, baby."
"Well if she keeps that up she's going to start making Ronnie start fussing. I love y'all and Thanksgiving, but I don't think I can deal with a crying baby over dinner."
Erik laughed as he hugged Jessica closer, "You know Julie has it under control. Besides what are you going to do in a few years when you're taking care of our baby?"
“Telling our very, very old babysitter to handle it for us," Jessica answered with a laugh, playfully slapping Erik.
"Old?" Caesar asked with a disgusted look on his face as he came back into the foyer with Julie and baby Ronnie trailing behind him. "I could never."
"And neither will Erik."
"You don't have to worry about that. My little... brother here is clearly very committed to you. Surprised the two of you aren't already married and going for the two kids and a dog. Or is it three kids now?"
Kaley noted the hesitation and slight pain on Caesar's face as he said the word brother, but even she had to admit that was a huge step for him as awkward as it probably was. Erik rolled his eyes and groaned as Caesar led everyone to the dinner table. Seemed that Caesar was settling into the role of the brother that liked to embarrass his young brother at any opportunity, something he was clearly born to do.
"Keep in mind my offer. Brand new car..."
"Yeah, that's not going to happen."
"Brand new car?!" Jessica asked. "Whatever it is, do it. Baby, I'm sorry, but you need one."
"See? Told you, Erik. You should do it. You don't want little Erik, Jr. being in a shitty car," Caesar laughed, “What about a week at dad’s beach house in San Diego, too?”
“Old man Deion has a beach house in Dago?”
Caesar nodded, “But don’t feel like you have to…”
“You should take him up on that, Erik. I always wanted to go to California,” Jessica added, “Kaley, you’d have to come, too, though. I wouldn’t want to be around these two and their football all day.”
“I don’t know…”
“Invite Sophie and Alison,” Caesar suggested, “It’s not like there is anything to pay for. We just hop on the jet, fly to San Diego, have some fun, hop on the jet, come home.”
“Sounds good to me,” Erik agreed.
“A broken ankle to LSU’s best defensive back sounds good, too.”
“No. Fuck that—“
"Enough you two! My god. I'm starving and if I don't give Ronnie something to eat soon we will both make your lives a living hell."
"Let's eat then,” Caesar said, reaching for the knife stabbed into the turkey.
“We have to say grace, man,” Erik stopped him.
“Do what?”
“Say grace.”
“Fuc—“
“Thank you Lord for this food,” Julie cut him off with a glare as she began to pray.
“There it is! Picked off!” Caesar jumped up from the couch as an Oklahoma City cornerback picked off a pass from Dallas’s quarterback. Following their meal, the rag-tag dinner party had retired to the living room to watch the Cowboys’s traditional Thanksgiving Day game, this time against their rivals, the Outlaws.
Erik waved the play off, “That was fucking luck.”
“Luck? There was nothing lucky about that. Joe Starks can’t throw to save his fucking life.”
“No quarterback can hit his receiver is mauled by the DB. Look at the replay. Nicks damn near tackled Reed before he even touched the ball.”
“You Cowgirl fans would know a thing or two about cheating, right?” Caesar asked before taking a swig of the beer in his hand.
“Probably something we learned from you ****s. Taking that whole ‘Outlaw’ thing a little too literally.”
“When was the last time Dallas won a Super Bowl? 1992?”
“’95,” Erik said proudly.
“Because that’s soooooo much better.”
“The Outlaws didn’t even exist then or we would have been kicking their ass, too.”
Caesar laughed, “Dallas didn’t beat us until dad hung them up. The Cowgirls just aren’t that good of a franchise. Haven’t been since the early otts. I’d be more afraid of facing the Saints.”
“Fuck the Saints and fuck the Outlaws.”
Jessica leaned over to Kaley, “How mad do you think they’d be if they got drafted to one of those teams they hate?”
“Knowing Caesar, he’d refuse to play.”
“Damn right, I’d refuse to play for the fucking Cowboys. I’d rather put on that hideous fucking purple and gold shit.”
Ronnie let out a hearty wail that made Julie sigh, “Thanks for being so loud, Caesar. I know you won’t mind if I steal a room so this one can sleep in peace? Of course, you wouldn’t.”
“Sorry,” Caesar said to Julie as she walked up the stairs.
“Now that the baby’s out of the room, I’m going to need you to take back what you said about LSU before I kick your ass.”
“What that it’s fucking ugly? The colors don’t even match.”
“Match better than green and blue.”
“Olive and blue,” Kaley corrected, “And he’s right. Purple and gold is an ugly combination for a football team.”
“Kaley, I thought we were becoming friends but you can’t talk trash about the Tigers,” Jessica said.
“Talking shit about them won’t be the worst of it when we win Saturday and take the Victory Flag,” Caesar shrugged.
“Win? Are you smoking fucking crack? Y’all can’t beat us. And it’s the Tiger Rag,” Erik laughed, “Stick to the books. We’ll handle the things that take talent.”
“Prove it,” Caesar challenged.
“How?”
Caesar glanced at the beer bottle in his hand, a smirk forming on his face, “Follow me.”
Erik, Jessica and Kaley shared confused looks before following Caesar back into the dining room where he had a stack of cups, two unopened bottles, two ping pong balls, a sheet of paper and a pencil. He leaned down and quickly drew a makeshift Tiger Rag.
“What does beer pong prove?” Erik asked.
“Well, I figured we have two Tulane students and two people who go to LSU in here.”
“We’re students, too,” Jessica said.
“Yeaaaaah. Like I said, two people who go to LSU. These two lovely ladies clearly can’t keep up with us in any real athletic shit so here we go,” Caesar slid five of the cups across the table, “There’s only ten cups though.”
“I’m game,” Kaley shrugged.
“Looks like we have no choice, baby,” Erik walked around the table to where Caesar had slid the extra cups and set them up.
The games turned out to be more competitive than Caesar had initially imagined. It didn’t help matters that Kaley and Jessica talked as much shit as he and Erik did. It seemed that once school pride was tossed into the mix, the two couples couldn’t bite their tongues. What was originally supposed to be a one off game quickly turned into ten straight rounds of beer pong, each of the pairs winning five.
“Gotta break the tie,” Erik said, feeling a little light-headed as he’d done most of the drinking to save Jessica from the taste of the beer.
“No, shit,” Caesar filled the cups once more then turned to Kaley, “No misses, yeah?”
“I’ll try but I’m making no promises.”
“Us first,” Jessica quickly bounced one of the balls into a cup on the other side, “Looks like you have to get rid of two cups!”
Caesar groaned, “That’s not fair. She’s barely been drinking.”
“All part of the plan,” Erik laughed as he tossed the ball in his hand into a third cup.
“I really don’t want to drink ten cups of beer right now,” Kaley said as she stared down at their two remaining cups. She barely had time to reach for a cup to drink before Jessica bounced another ball into one of the cups.
“And that’s game! LSU wins again. Nothing new there.”
“Hell no!” Caesar shouted, “We get redemption.”
“You go first, Caesar.”
He caught the ball that Erik tossed him but only managed to sink one cup before missing the table completely.
“Don’t choke, Kaley,” Erik teased.
Trying to drum up some composure, she hit the first two cups with ease before almost missing the third. Fortunately, the ball somehow fell into the cup instead of out of it.
“Who gets a shooter’s roll in beer pong?” Erik laughed.
“Clearly I do,” Kaley shot back before tossing the ball into the last cup.
“So now what?” Jessica asked.
“Overtime,” Caesar answered, “But since this whole thing started over college football, we’re going to use college football’s overtime rules. One chance to hit all five cups. Whoever sinks the most wins.”
Erik shrugged, “We’re still going to win.”
Erik shot first, hitting two cups before his third attempt nearly knocked one of them over which didn’t make Caesar too happy. Jessica also drained a pair of cups before missing the final one giving Caesar and Kaley a chance to win.
“Go first,” Caesar held one of the ping pong balls out to Kaley.
“Are you sure? I still don’t want to drink all that.”
“Yes, I’m sure, Have to ride the hot hand,” he said, “But, I don’t want to drink that either. This beer wasn’t as great tasting as I thought it’d be when I bought it.”
Kaley shrugged, hoping that Caesar knew more about beer pong strategy than she did. Her first two shots were shaking but they managed to fall into the cups. The second two looked better but the end results were the same, leaving one cup. Knowing Caesar still had to shoot, she got a bit overconfident and closed her eyes before shooting.
She didn’t need to open them to know if it had gone in as Caesar lifted her up and spun her around in celebration.
“Fuck yeah, bitches!” Caesar shouted, “Just call me Coach Jenkins! Tulane wins again. Nothing new there though, right?”
Kaley tapped Caesar on his shoulder, “Uh, you can put me down now.”
“Are you crazy? My good luck charm? You’re lucky I ain’t kiss ya. Why the fuck do I not drag you to every game anymore?”
Kaley was going to answer his question but decided to just join in with Erik and Jessica as they laughed at Caesar’s antics. It had been a good day and she didn’t want to be the one to mess it up by bringing up the past.
Even if it had felt so natural to sink back into the role of being Caesar’s other half, if only for a day.
Everything seemed fine when Caesar came to pick Kaley up and it was fine when they made idle chit chat for about five minutes before riding in peaceful silence, but once Caesar put the car in park Kaley had all kinds of second thoughts about actually coming to this dinner.
The nerves reached a high once Caesar got out of the car and waited for Kaley to follow suit. Maybe it was the house... the gigantic house staring down at her and all the other houses in the neighborhood.
"Overcompensating much?" Kaley asked with a guffawing laugh.
Caesar gave Kaley a funny look as he started heading for the door.
"You've seen my house before."
Kaley cleared her throat, "I know. Just been a while. I’d forgotten exactly how rich your family was.”
“You’ve been slumming it for too long.”
“I’ve never seen the family safe, though."
"And I'll never show you or I'd have to kill you. As it is I'm already going to have to kill Erik for knowing. I don't like sharing." Caesar smiled as he held the door open, "After you."
Kaley walked into the house and was hit by the smells of Thanksgiving but this time it didn’t take as long for her to remember that the Jenkins family spent lavishly on the things they wanted, right down to who cooked Thanksgiving dinner.
Three chefs busied themselves in the kitchen, bouncing from place to place clearly in a rush to get everything finished.
“I’m struggling to get used to it myself.”
Kaley jumped when she heard another voice where she’d thought Caesar was still standing but a quick look around the room told her that he’d gone to greet Julie and Ronnie. She looked up at Erik and shrugged, “It’s just different, I guess. Everyone has their own way of doing things.”
“Yeah, I’m just used to Mom waking up at four in the morning to make sure that everything was done by noon. Not only did they come here thirty minutes ago with a turkey already done but two of them don’t even speak English.”
“And then there’s the Jenkins way.”
Erik laughed, “Do I need to show you my birth certificate? I’m still driving a burnt-out Scion from 2044. You think ‘big bro’ will buy me a car for Christmas if I asked?”
“Nope, but I will if you fake a broken ankle Saturday to make it a little easier for us to beat you,” Caesar said as he walked up next to Erik, Ronnie in his arms, “Where’s your wife? Should I be telling her that you are trying to cheat on her?”
“You’re married?” Kaley asked, eyes wide in shock.
“No, not yet, but Caesar is jealous of my loving girlfriend so he teases me about her.”
“Jealous of the roast beef? I think not. I’m not putting my dick anywhere around a pussy that looks like it was cut at the deli counter in a supermarket.”
“Don’t talk like that around my son!” Julie shouted from the kitchen.
“Because he’s going to understand it,” Caesar rolled his eyes.
“I don’t care! Come pay these people and get them out of here so we can eat. They don’t even speak fucking English!”
Erik laughed at his brother as he trudged into the kitchen, balancing the baby in one arm while he fished out his wallet with the other.
Kaley couldn’t help but find the humor in the situation as well. Erik seemed to fit the role of annoying little brother even though she was sure that the two of them were only months of part while Julie filled in as the demanding older sister. It was a strange dynamic considering the three of them hadn’t known each other for more than a handful of years but it seemed to be slowly working itself out for them.
"Who the hell is doing all of that yelling?"
"Julie, baby."
"Well if she keeps that up she's going to start making Ronnie start fussing. I love y'all and Thanksgiving, but I don't think I can deal with a crying baby over dinner."
Erik laughed as he hugged Jessica closer, "You know Julie has it under control. Besides what are you going to do in a few years when you're taking care of our baby?"
“Telling our very, very old babysitter to handle it for us," Jessica answered with a laugh, playfully slapping Erik.
"Old?" Caesar asked with a disgusted look on his face as he came back into the foyer with Julie and baby Ronnie trailing behind him. "I could never."
"And neither will Erik."
"You don't have to worry about that. My little... brother here is clearly very committed to you. Surprised the two of you aren't already married and going for the two kids and a dog. Or is it three kids now?"
Kaley noted the hesitation and slight pain on Caesar's face as he said the word brother, but even she had to admit that was a huge step for him as awkward as it probably was. Erik rolled his eyes and groaned as Caesar led everyone to the dinner table. Seemed that Caesar was settling into the role of the brother that liked to embarrass his young brother at any opportunity, something he was clearly born to do.
"Keep in mind my offer. Brand new car..."
"Yeah, that's not going to happen."
"Brand new car?!" Jessica asked. "Whatever it is, do it. Baby, I'm sorry, but you need one."
"See? Told you, Erik. You should do it. You don't want little Erik, Jr. being in a shitty car," Caesar laughed, “What about a week at dad’s beach house in San Diego, too?”
“Old man Deion has a beach house in Dago?”
Caesar nodded, “But don’t feel like you have to…”
“You should take him up on that, Erik. I always wanted to go to California,” Jessica added, “Kaley, you’d have to come, too, though. I wouldn’t want to be around these two and their football all day.”
“I don’t know…”
“Invite Sophie and Alison,” Caesar suggested, “It’s not like there is anything to pay for. We just hop on the jet, fly to San Diego, have some fun, hop on the jet, come home.”
“Sounds good to me,” Erik agreed.
“A broken ankle to LSU’s best defensive back sounds good, too.”
“No. Fuck that—“
"Enough you two! My god. I'm starving and if I don't give Ronnie something to eat soon we will both make your lives a living hell."
"Let's eat then,” Caesar said, reaching for the knife stabbed into the turkey.
“We have to say grace, man,” Erik stopped him.
“Do what?”
“Say grace.”
“Fuc—“
“Thank you Lord for this food,” Julie cut him off with a glare as she began to pray.
“There it is! Picked off!” Caesar jumped up from the couch as an Oklahoma City cornerback picked off a pass from Dallas’s quarterback. Following their meal, the rag-tag dinner party had retired to the living room to watch the Cowboys’s traditional Thanksgiving Day game, this time against their rivals, the Outlaws.
Erik waved the play off, “That was fucking luck.”
“Luck? There was nothing lucky about that. Joe Starks can’t throw to save his fucking life.”
“No quarterback can hit his receiver is mauled by the DB. Look at the replay. Nicks damn near tackled Reed before he even touched the ball.”
“You Cowgirl fans would know a thing or two about cheating, right?” Caesar asked before taking a swig of the beer in his hand.
“Probably something we learned from you ****s. Taking that whole ‘Outlaw’ thing a little too literally.”
“When was the last time Dallas won a Super Bowl? 1992?”
“’95,” Erik said proudly.
“Because that’s soooooo much better.”
“The Outlaws didn’t even exist then or we would have been kicking their ass, too.”
Caesar laughed, “Dallas didn’t beat us until dad hung them up. The Cowgirls just aren’t that good of a franchise. Haven’t been since the early otts. I’d be more afraid of facing the Saints.”
“Fuck the Saints and fuck the Outlaws.”
Jessica leaned over to Kaley, “How mad do you think they’d be if they got drafted to one of those teams they hate?”
“Knowing Caesar, he’d refuse to play.”
“Damn right, I’d refuse to play for the fucking Cowboys. I’d rather put on that hideous fucking purple and gold shit.”
Ronnie let out a hearty wail that made Julie sigh, “Thanks for being so loud, Caesar. I know you won’t mind if I steal a room so this one can sleep in peace? Of course, you wouldn’t.”
“Sorry,” Caesar said to Julie as she walked up the stairs.
“Now that the baby’s out of the room, I’m going to need you to take back what you said about LSU before I kick your ass.”
“What that it’s fucking ugly? The colors don’t even match.”
“Match better than green and blue.”
“Olive and blue,” Kaley corrected, “And he’s right. Purple and gold is an ugly combination for a football team.”
“Kaley, I thought we were becoming friends but you can’t talk trash about the Tigers,” Jessica said.
“Talking shit about them won’t be the worst of it when we win Saturday and take the Victory Flag,” Caesar shrugged.
“Win? Are you smoking fucking crack? Y’all can’t beat us. And it’s the Tiger Rag,” Erik laughed, “Stick to the books. We’ll handle the things that take talent.”
“Prove it,” Caesar challenged.
“How?”
Caesar glanced at the beer bottle in his hand, a smirk forming on his face, “Follow me.”
Erik, Jessica and Kaley shared confused looks before following Caesar back into the dining room where he had a stack of cups, two unopened bottles, two ping pong balls, a sheet of paper and a pencil. He leaned down and quickly drew a makeshift Tiger Rag.
“What does beer pong prove?” Erik asked.
“Well, I figured we have two Tulane students and two people who go to LSU in here.”
“We’re students, too,” Jessica said.
“Yeaaaaah. Like I said, two people who go to LSU. These two lovely ladies clearly can’t keep up with us in any real athletic shit so here we go,” Caesar slid five of the cups across the table, “There’s only ten cups though.”
“I’m game,” Kaley shrugged.
“Looks like we have no choice, baby,” Erik walked around the table to where Caesar had slid the extra cups and set them up.
The games turned out to be more competitive than Caesar had initially imagined. It didn’t help matters that Kaley and Jessica talked as much shit as he and Erik did. It seemed that once school pride was tossed into the mix, the two couples couldn’t bite their tongues. What was originally supposed to be a one off game quickly turned into ten straight rounds of beer pong, each of the pairs winning five.
“Gotta break the tie,” Erik said, feeling a little light-headed as he’d done most of the drinking to save Jessica from the taste of the beer.
“No, shit,” Caesar filled the cups once more then turned to Kaley, “No misses, yeah?”
“I’ll try but I’m making no promises.”
“Us first,” Jessica quickly bounced one of the balls into a cup on the other side, “Looks like you have to get rid of two cups!”
Caesar groaned, “That’s not fair. She’s barely been drinking.”
“All part of the plan,” Erik laughed as he tossed the ball in his hand into a third cup.
“I really don’t want to drink ten cups of beer right now,” Kaley said as she stared down at their two remaining cups. She barely had time to reach for a cup to drink before Jessica bounced another ball into one of the cups.
“And that’s game! LSU wins again. Nothing new there.”
“Hell no!” Caesar shouted, “We get redemption.”
“You go first, Caesar.”
He caught the ball that Erik tossed him but only managed to sink one cup before missing the table completely.
“Don’t choke, Kaley,” Erik teased.
Trying to drum up some composure, she hit the first two cups with ease before almost missing the third. Fortunately, the ball somehow fell into the cup instead of out of it.
“Who gets a shooter’s roll in beer pong?” Erik laughed.
“Clearly I do,” Kaley shot back before tossing the ball into the last cup.
“So now what?” Jessica asked.
“Overtime,” Caesar answered, “But since this whole thing started over college football, we’re going to use college football’s overtime rules. One chance to hit all five cups. Whoever sinks the most wins.”
Erik shrugged, “We’re still going to win.”
Erik shot first, hitting two cups before his third attempt nearly knocked one of them over which didn’t make Caesar too happy. Jessica also drained a pair of cups before missing the final one giving Caesar and Kaley a chance to win.
“Go first,” Caesar held one of the ping pong balls out to Kaley.
“Are you sure? I still don’t want to drink all that.”
“Yes, I’m sure, Have to ride the hot hand,” he said, “But, I don’t want to drink that either. This beer wasn’t as great tasting as I thought it’d be when I bought it.”
Kaley shrugged, hoping that Caesar knew more about beer pong strategy than she did. Her first two shots were shaking but they managed to fall into the cups. The second two looked better but the end results were the same, leaving one cup. Knowing Caesar still had to shoot, she got a bit overconfident and closed her eyes before shooting.
She didn’t need to open them to know if it had gone in as Caesar lifted her up and spun her around in celebration.
“Fuck yeah, bitches!” Caesar shouted, “Just call me Coach Jenkins! Tulane wins again. Nothing new there though, right?”
Kaley tapped Caesar on his shoulder, “Uh, you can put me down now.”
“Are you crazy? My good luck charm? You’re lucky I ain’t kiss ya. Why the fuck do I not drag you to every game anymore?”
Kaley was going to answer his question but decided to just join in with Erik and Jessica as they laughed at Caesar’s antics. It had been a good day and she didn’t want to be the one to mess it up by bringing up the past.
Even if it had felt so natural to sink back into the role of being Caesar’s other half, if only for a day.
Fuckin' love this shit. MOAR
nothing says thanksgiving dinner with the family like a heated game of beer pong. a trip to cali, even if sophie and alison tag along, seems like a recipe for caesar and kaley to get back together
Finish the Job
As he stood on the sideline, warming up his arm with Chance, Brady felt rejuvenated. He finally believed that he and Bethany had put his stumble behind them and they had a great Thanksgiving with his parents. Now, they were up in the stands somewhere to watch what was, arguably, the most important game of his college career to date. It wasn’t the SEC Championship or the National Championship but losing to LSU was not something that he wanted on his resume.
It made him feel like he was back at Joliet, playing in front of his loved ones on a team where everyone was there for one another and the crowd was taking the 12th man moniker to heart – not that the Green Wave faithful were quiet more so quick to turn on a player when they were having a bad game.
Even Caesar had given him a good luck smack on the helmet as they walked out onto the field. Maybe it was the situation or maybe Caesar had gone out and done whatever it was that he needed to do to calm his usual overzealous bravado and focus on the team’s goal of winning it all.
The reason didn’t concern Brady as much as the outcome. If he could finally have a connection with the receiver who was without a doubt the most physically dominating player he’d ever shared a field with for a full 60 minutes then he was sure that the Green Wave would have no problem avoiding the rivalry game trap.
“The Tigers offense takes the field following a 24-yard kick return by Jaxson Bolt. Sophomore quarterback Evan McCollough and Bolt, the freshman scatback from Lake Charles, have carried this offense this season.”
“That’s right. LSU has never been known as a team that lined up five receivers and let their quarterback run around until he found someone open downfield or took it himself but the arrival of Bolt has transformed this team. Option football has become their bread and butter and considering how well McCollough played against this Tulane defense last year, we may be looking at an abnormally high scoring game.”
“McCollough lines up in the shotgun with Bolt to his right, three receivers split out wide. Ralph Carter comes in motion to the near side of the field. Here’s the snap. Looks like a handoff. No, McCollough pulls it away at the last minute and heads for the outside. He has a bit of daylight but Devin King and Adrian Taylor are there to bring him down just as he gets to the first down marking.”
“There is a prime example of what Jaxson Bolt brings to this offense. He didn’t even get the ball but the entire Green Wave defense crashed towards the line of scrimmage as soon as it looked like he would because they know that if he breaks into the open field then it’s a sure six. Fortunately for Tulane, King and Taylor are veteran defenders who didn’t follow the rest of the defense or McCollough would have torn off a huge chunk of yardage.”
“LSU back at the line of scrimmage. Quick snap this time. McCollough tosses the ball to Bolt. The freshman has nowhere to go, but he refuses to go down. He jukes right, jukes left, spins and reverses the field. He throws on the brakes and leaves Bobby Chambers grasping at air! Throws it back into drive and explodes forward! There’s only one man left for him to beat! Champ Murray has an angle on him. He tries to cut to inside but the sophomore safety is able to trip him up before he manages to pick up any more yardage. What a run!”
“The Tigers aren’t playing afraid tonight but you expect that in a rivalry game. The Green Wave were playing to defend Bolt’s speed but the problem is he knows where he going. You almost have to put all corners and safeties on the field and hope they don’t run it up the middle to cope with that type of speed.”
“Do you think Tulane would be better prepared if their offense was still based around a mobile quarterback?”
“It definitely wouldn’t hurt.”
…
Devin had to resist the urge to throw his helmet at the bench as he walked off the field. All the preparation in the world couldn’t compared someone for the speed that Jaxson Bolt had and the Green Wave defense showed that they might have been out of their depth with the first drive of the game.
LSU only need another four plays to punch the ball into the endzone after Bolt’s big run on the second snap from scrimmage of the game. The Tigers hadn’t looked like they’d broken a sweat as they celebrated their way off the field but Tulane looked like they had just taken a few too many body blows in the first round.
What made him angriest was the fact that he hadn’t been able to influence play as he’d grown used to over the season. LSU ran the ball all six plays but it wasn’t the tentative, scared rushing attack that other teams had employed against the Wave.
One look at their yards per attempt so far and you’d think they’d been mistaken for passing yards. No one expected such a salvo from the Tigers to begin the game, especially not Devin. With the pace of the Green Wave offense, the game could turn into a shootout and he wasn’t too sure that Tulane would be able to prevail.
…
“Tulane’s offense takes the field hoping to answer their rivals with a touchdown of their own.”
“In this game last year, LSU moved Erik Jenkins from his position at safety to play man coverage against his brother Caesar Jenkins and it paid off for them as Erik kept Caesar in check for the entire game and made the game-sealing interception. However, it looks like Erik Jenkins will be at safety this year with Taylor Wolf serving as the man hoping to hobble Tulane’s passing attack by taking out their biggest threat.”
“Could it be a case of not wanting to go to the well too many times?”
“It very well could be. If there is anyone who is going to know how to play against someone it’s their own family but last year may have been a case of shock for Caesar as everyone knows that Erik is a safety and known more for his ability to cover large swaths of the field, not to man up to a guy.”
“Let’s see what the Green Wave have up their sleeves. Brady Rodgers settles down in the shotgun with Desmond Smith to his left. Jason Williams and Jenkins out to his right, Raphael Jefferson and Victor Armstrong out to the left. Rodgers passes quickly to Williams for a pick-up of five on the play.”
…
“Third and two. Rodgers drops back and hits Jenkins across the middle. Jenkins makes a man miss and shoots forward for eleven yards on the play.”
…
“Toss to Smith. Looks like a pick-up of four there. This drive has been a lot slower than the Green Wave are used to.”
“Well, they say no one knows you better than your family and as far as football teams go, these two are family. Big brother LSU isn’t going to make it easy for little brother Tulane.”
…
Brady ran the play-fake to perfection, keeping the ball in Desmond’s arms for as long as necessary to sell it. He watched at the weakside defensive end crashed towards the middle of the line, hoping to stop the play and force the Green Wave to punt.
Stepping back, he brought the ball up and looked through his options. His primary read, Jason, wasn’t open. Neither was Raphael or Victor, but he didn’t want to go with the long ball to Caesar. Wolf bit on the fake but Erik Jenkins was shifting over to cover the corner’s mistake.
It’d be a tough window to fit it in but he remembered Coach Xavier’s suggestion to trust Caesar to come through in a big game. There were probably a lot of scouts in the stands – scouts looking at Caesar for next year’s draft.
So, he decided to roll the dice.
…
“Rodgers heaves it deep to Jenkins. He’s going to have to battle for that. He’s up… and he comes down with it at the ten! Erik Jenkins wraps him up but he’s still fighting forward. Wolf’s joining in the tackle. He stretches for the pylon and… touchdown!”
“What I would have done to be that tall and that strong during my playing days! I once asked a cornerback who faced him what it was like to try to tackle Caesar Jenkins and he said it was like trying to bring down a raging bull especially when he starts throwing around those stiff-arms or as this guy called them ‘stiff-jabs.’”
…
The young Illinoisan couldn’t help but fist pump when he heard the crowd erupt. Caesar catching the ball wasn’t that surprising considering what he’d seen first-hand over the season from him but that show of strength was a bit frightening.
He only wished that was what he got week-in and week-out.
…
“Bolt with a huge return to the LSU forty-five!”
“I thought he was going to go all the way there. Tulane will have to thank their special teamers for that shoe-string tackle.”
…
“Bolt gets eight yards on the play.”
…
“McCollough dives forward for four on the play.”
…
“Bolt with a quick scamper for three yards.”
…
“McCollough takes it himself again and picks up the first down.”
…
“Bolt with a huge gain of 23 yards down to the Green Wave’s six.”
“I think they are just going to punch it in here.”
“Surely, the Green Wave will be expecting another run.”
“I mean, they haven’t thrown a single pass yet unless you want to count that attempted shovel option to Carter on the second play of this drive.”
“Let’s see what they do. The Tigers are back at the line of scrimmage. Bolt dots the I behind senior fullback Courtney Jackson. McCollough has the ball, sprints out to the left. King is there. McCollough pitches it to Bolt and the freshman can walk into the endzone for the touchdown. 14-7 LSU.”
“Apparently the Tigers are going with the old adage: if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”
…
Caesar slapped his hands together in frustration and pointed to where Brady should have thrown the ball if he expected him to have any chance at it. If any thought their first drive was moving slow for what the team had been accustomed to then their second drive was absolutely crawling down the field. It was a miracle that they had been able to get to the LSU forty in the number of plays that did.
He wasn’t the only one getting frustrated. He could see the doubts starting to creep up in the eyes of some of the other guys. They knew what LSU was able to do to them in a season where the Tigers were barely bowl eligible but this team was much better and had come out swinging for the fences on their first two drives.
Despite the winning, this team hadn’t been the most mentally strong over the season. Anxiety flared up anytime they didn’t have a firm grasp on the game.
Having a freshman quarterback meant that they didn’t have that one guy who could step into the huddle and take over when things hit a rough patch. Their field general was still wet behinds the ears and had benefitted from some good play on the other side of the ball to keep him in positions where his leadership skills weren’t needed that much.
Seven minutes into the first quarter and it seemed that abnormally clutch defense was nowhere to be found when it came to stopping Jaxson Bolt and Evan McCollough seminar on how to effectively run the option.
…
“Rodgers has to throw that away and it looks like the Green Wave are going to be forced to attempt the thirty-six yard field goal here.”
“LSU played that entire drive well considering how easy it has been for this offense to score this season. They didn’t allow any big plays and kept everything in front of them. It’s one of those things that Rock Hall at Tulane and Tony Battaglia at LSU have in common. They coach their defenses and they expect good solid play out of them.”
“Max Longwell trots out onto the field for the attempt. Punter Steve Snyder is the holder. The snap is down, the kick is up and Longwell easily puts that one through the uprights. 14-10 LSU.”
…
“This has been a good game so far. I’m excited to see what Bolt does on this kick return. He’s already brought five returns back to the house this season.”
“They say it’s like trying to catch greased lightning. Longwell signals that he’s ready to kick. He boots it deep and Bolt is going to bring it out of the endzone. Bolt pauses at the five yardline to let his blockers set up in front of him. He breaks for the wide side of the field. At the 20, the 30 and DeJordan Payne takes him down before he can squirt away.”
“Bolt looked like he was walking a little gingerly when he got up there. I think he might have rolled his ankle when Payne tackled him.”
“It doesn’t look like he’s asking to come out of the game down on the sideline and he waved the trainers away.”
“Good luck getting one of these guys out of this game without having to carry them off.”
…
“LSU heads to the line of scrimmage with McCollough in the shotgun and Bolt to his left. Four receivers split out wide. McCollough gets the snap and it’s a quick toss to Bolt but he’s going to have some work to do with Bingham in the backfield. He feints to his left and stumbles as Bingham dives at him for the tackle. He’s down for a loss on the play.”
“That ankle may have given him some trouble there.”
“Bolt is slow to get up and the LSU players are calling for the trainers. He looks to be grabbing his knee. Let’s take a look at the replay to see if we can figure out what happened.”
“It looks to me that Bingham hit him square on his right knee when he stumbled. Hopefully, it’s just a stinger because you never want to see a kid tear anything.”
“Classy stuff from the Tulane fans to applaud him as he’s helped off the field but it doesn’t look good from up here. He’s not putting any weight on that right leg.”
“Hasan Santiago hasn’t gotten a lot of snaps this season as Bolt took over the starting runningback role but you have to remember that this guy was a four-star recruit two years ago and was a key fixture on the Tigers’ offense in his first two seasons in Baton Rouge. He actually played high school ball with Caesar Jenkins and Devin King if that’s any indication of how talented this guy could be.”
“For three high school teammates, they forged three very different paths during their college careers.”
“Yeah, I don’t think anyone thought Devin King would be the first one of them to be a finalist for the Heisman.”
…
“Since Jaxson Bolt left the game in the first quarter, the LSU offense has looked disjointed and they’ve struggled to move the ball.”
“They have to count themselves lucky that they are still leading as they line up for another drive here. Tulane has been playing things pretty conservatively so far but you have to feel like the Tigers have to put some points on the board here if they expect to keep the momentum going in their favor.”
“LSU comes out in the I formation. McCollough gets the snap and hands it off to Santiago. Santiago dances around in the backfield and cuts it outside.”
…
Devin fought his way through the receiver’s block just in time to line Hasan up for a tackle in the backfield. Both of them only had a second to make their next moves. Hasan decided to try to juke past Devin but failed to keep the ball secure against his body.
Taking the opportunity that was presented, Devin wrapped his arm around the ball and ripped it away just as his former teammate was running by him. The ball flew towards the turf and Devin moved to scoop it up but Hasan had managed to twist his body around enough to dive and slap his feet out from under him.
Tyjuan Joyce jumped over Devin to try and fall on top of the ball but it squirted out from under him which started a pile-up of players.
Devin hovered close to the pile of bodies as the referees rushed in to find out who’d ended up with the ball. Just as he was about to back away, he was shoved to the side and almost took a tumble if it weren’t for the LSU lineman inadvertently holding him up. He thought it was an overzealous ref until he saw Champ push Hasan and jab a finger in his face, giving him a piece of his mind.
The runningback shove Champ but Devin quickly moved to diffuse the situation before the referees were wise to what was going on behind them. Champ could be a bit of a hot head and it was normally the person who retaliated that was caught.
By the time all the bodies were separated, it was the Green Wave who had possession of the ball thanks to Geoff’s partner in the middle “Big” Frank. There was no prying that ball out of his hands as he ran to the Tulane sideline.
“Fucking lucky bitch,” Hasan snapped through his mouthpiece as he brushed by Devin and Champ.
…
“Tulane Stadium has sprung back to life after yet another Devin King highlight play. The Green Wave offense takes over already in scoring position. Rodgers sets up in the pistol formation with Smith behind him. Rodgers takes a moment to quiet the crowd. It’s a good snap. He hands it off to Smith up the middle. Smith is looking—Wait! He tosses it back to Rodgers! It’s a flea flicker! Rodgers steps up and throws towards the endzone! Jenkins is wide open! Touchdown Green Wave! Just like that it’s 17-14 Tulane!”
“That’s exactly what a team should do after a pivotal turnover. Come out on the next play and just chuck it towards the endzone. Rock Hall dug deep into his bag of tricks with the flea flicker and not even LSU’s veteran defense was able to avoid biting on it. It helps that was probably the first time Tulane has run that play under this coaching regime.”
…
“1st and 10 for LSU at midfield. McCollough takes a step back, turns and fires it short to Car—WHOA! Picked off! Devin King has it and there is no one in front of him! He’s going to walk that in for the touchdown. Don’t blink, ladies and gentlemen because you might miss Tulane putting up another pair of touchdowns!”
“Not only did he just put his team ahead ten points but he just moved even with Marcus Jenkins for the all-time record for interceptions in a season. It’s staggering to think that this guy has 16 interceptions with 2 and a half games left to play. When Jenkins broke the record for Wake Forest in 2012, he caught his 16th pick in the Demon Deacons’ bowl game. King is on pace to break 20 at this rate.”
…
“Halfway through the third quarter and the Green Wave are driving to extend their lead. Rodgers drops back. Fires a rocket to Williams and he makes the catch at the 11 yardline. He makes a man miss and strolls into the endzone for the score. 31-17 Tulane.”
…
“Caesar Jenkins makes another catch and that’s his ninth of the game! Gain of 13 on the play.”
…
“Smith takes it straight up the middle and breaks for 15 yards.”
…
“Santiago is bottled up in the backfield for a loss on the play.”
…
“McCollough is sacked at the Tigers will be forced to punt.”
…
“Rodgers finds Jenkins yet again. He’s wrapped up at the one but falls into the endzone for the score! That’s four passing touchdowns for Brady Rodgers and three of them have gone to Caesar Jenkins! 38-14 Tulane with a little over seven minutes remaining in the game.”
“LSU has been playing like a boxer who’s been knocked out on his feet since the two-touchdown salvo from the Green Wave in the first half. I’m surprised that they only have 38 points because this could have easily been much, much worse.”
…
Caesar tossed the ball to the referee after being brought down well short of the first down. He didn’t care though. He’d just caught his fourteen pass of the game, falling only a few short of the record he’d set as a freshman. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t have the chance to improve on the record. The first team offense had seen their last action of the game as Max jogged onto the field to increase Tulane’s lead.
Erik jogged over to him and helped him to his feet. He pulled him in for a one-armed hug, smacking him on the back of the helmet, “Y’all got lucky this year.”
“Y’all got lucky we didn’t put up more points.”
“We’ll see who wins next year,” Erik chuckled as he started back towards LSU’s sideline.
“Won’t matter to me, I won’t be here.”
“So you keep telling me!” Erik shouted.
…
“These are the scenes that make us love college football. Just look at Tulane’s sideline as Chance Young trots out in the victory formation. Those players have worked hard all season to keep their undefeated record and beating their bitter rivals like this is the icing on the 12-0 cake.”
“Or you could look at the crowd. I have a feeling they are about to rush the field.”
…
The team could feel the energy pulsing through the stadium as Chance kneeled the ball down and set the clock on its way to triple-zero. As soon as the referees started making their way off the field, some of the Green Wave players sprinted onto the field, helmets raised in the arm and huge smiles on the faces. It wasn’t long before the fans took advantage of Tulane Stadium’s low walls and flooded the field with their football team.
Everyone knew there would be an imminent fine from the SEC for the fans rushing the field. Everyone knew there would be some people in the college football world that would say it showed Tulane’s “little brother” mentality to rush the field after finishing a 12-0 regular season.
But no one cared.
The players didn’t care as they celebrate with the rest of the student body, they didn’t care as Devin was hoisted on the shoulders of a few frat guys, Victory Flag in hand and they didn’t care that they were chanting “We’re goin’ to the ‘ship!” and were completely forgetting about the one in Atlanta.
As he stood on the sideline, warming up his arm with Chance, Brady felt rejuvenated. He finally believed that he and Bethany had put his stumble behind them and they had a great Thanksgiving with his parents. Now, they were up in the stands somewhere to watch what was, arguably, the most important game of his college career to date. It wasn’t the SEC Championship or the National Championship but losing to LSU was not something that he wanted on his resume.
It made him feel like he was back at Joliet, playing in front of his loved ones on a team where everyone was there for one another and the crowd was taking the 12th man moniker to heart – not that the Green Wave faithful were quiet more so quick to turn on a player when they were having a bad game.
Even Caesar had given him a good luck smack on the helmet as they walked out onto the field. Maybe it was the situation or maybe Caesar had gone out and done whatever it was that he needed to do to calm his usual overzealous bravado and focus on the team’s goal of winning it all.
The reason didn’t concern Brady as much as the outcome. If he could finally have a connection with the receiver who was without a doubt the most physically dominating player he’d ever shared a field with for a full 60 minutes then he was sure that the Green Wave would have no problem avoiding the rivalry game trap.
“The Tigers offense takes the field following a 24-yard kick return by Jaxson Bolt. Sophomore quarterback Evan McCollough and Bolt, the freshman scatback from Lake Charles, have carried this offense this season.”
“That’s right. LSU has never been known as a team that lined up five receivers and let their quarterback run around until he found someone open downfield or took it himself but the arrival of Bolt has transformed this team. Option football has become their bread and butter and considering how well McCollough played against this Tulane defense last year, we may be looking at an abnormally high scoring game.”
“McCollough lines up in the shotgun with Bolt to his right, three receivers split out wide. Ralph Carter comes in motion to the near side of the field. Here’s the snap. Looks like a handoff. No, McCollough pulls it away at the last minute and heads for the outside. He has a bit of daylight but Devin King and Adrian Taylor are there to bring him down just as he gets to the first down marking.”
“There is a prime example of what Jaxson Bolt brings to this offense. He didn’t even get the ball but the entire Green Wave defense crashed towards the line of scrimmage as soon as it looked like he would because they know that if he breaks into the open field then it’s a sure six. Fortunately for Tulane, King and Taylor are veteran defenders who didn’t follow the rest of the defense or McCollough would have torn off a huge chunk of yardage.”
“LSU back at the line of scrimmage. Quick snap this time. McCollough tosses the ball to Bolt. The freshman has nowhere to go, but he refuses to go down. He jukes right, jukes left, spins and reverses the field. He throws on the brakes and leaves Bobby Chambers grasping at air! Throws it back into drive and explodes forward! There’s only one man left for him to beat! Champ Murray has an angle on him. He tries to cut to inside but the sophomore safety is able to trip him up before he manages to pick up any more yardage. What a run!”
“The Tigers aren’t playing afraid tonight but you expect that in a rivalry game. The Green Wave were playing to defend Bolt’s speed but the problem is he knows where he going. You almost have to put all corners and safeties on the field and hope they don’t run it up the middle to cope with that type of speed.”
“Do you think Tulane would be better prepared if their offense was still based around a mobile quarterback?”
“It definitely wouldn’t hurt.”
…
Devin had to resist the urge to throw his helmet at the bench as he walked off the field. All the preparation in the world couldn’t compared someone for the speed that Jaxson Bolt had and the Green Wave defense showed that they might have been out of their depth with the first drive of the game.
LSU only need another four plays to punch the ball into the endzone after Bolt’s big run on the second snap from scrimmage of the game. The Tigers hadn’t looked like they’d broken a sweat as they celebrated their way off the field but Tulane looked like they had just taken a few too many body blows in the first round.
What made him angriest was the fact that he hadn’t been able to influence play as he’d grown used to over the season. LSU ran the ball all six plays but it wasn’t the tentative, scared rushing attack that other teams had employed against the Wave.
One look at their yards per attempt so far and you’d think they’d been mistaken for passing yards. No one expected such a salvo from the Tigers to begin the game, especially not Devin. With the pace of the Green Wave offense, the game could turn into a shootout and he wasn’t too sure that Tulane would be able to prevail.
…
“Tulane’s offense takes the field hoping to answer their rivals with a touchdown of their own.”
“In this game last year, LSU moved Erik Jenkins from his position at safety to play man coverage against his brother Caesar Jenkins and it paid off for them as Erik kept Caesar in check for the entire game and made the game-sealing interception. However, it looks like Erik Jenkins will be at safety this year with Taylor Wolf serving as the man hoping to hobble Tulane’s passing attack by taking out their biggest threat.”
“Could it be a case of not wanting to go to the well too many times?”
“It very well could be. If there is anyone who is going to know how to play against someone it’s their own family but last year may have been a case of shock for Caesar as everyone knows that Erik is a safety and known more for his ability to cover large swaths of the field, not to man up to a guy.”
“Let’s see what the Green Wave have up their sleeves. Brady Rodgers settles down in the shotgun with Desmond Smith to his left. Jason Williams and Jenkins out to his right, Raphael Jefferson and Victor Armstrong out to the left. Rodgers passes quickly to Williams for a pick-up of five on the play.”
…
“Third and two. Rodgers drops back and hits Jenkins across the middle. Jenkins makes a man miss and shoots forward for eleven yards on the play.”
…
“Toss to Smith. Looks like a pick-up of four there. This drive has been a lot slower than the Green Wave are used to.”
“Well, they say no one knows you better than your family and as far as football teams go, these two are family. Big brother LSU isn’t going to make it easy for little brother Tulane.”
…
Brady ran the play-fake to perfection, keeping the ball in Desmond’s arms for as long as necessary to sell it. He watched at the weakside defensive end crashed towards the middle of the line, hoping to stop the play and force the Green Wave to punt.
Stepping back, he brought the ball up and looked through his options. His primary read, Jason, wasn’t open. Neither was Raphael or Victor, but he didn’t want to go with the long ball to Caesar. Wolf bit on the fake but Erik Jenkins was shifting over to cover the corner’s mistake.
It’d be a tough window to fit it in but he remembered Coach Xavier’s suggestion to trust Caesar to come through in a big game. There were probably a lot of scouts in the stands – scouts looking at Caesar for next year’s draft.
So, he decided to roll the dice.
…
“Rodgers heaves it deep to Jenkins. He’s going to have to battle for that. He’s up… and he comes down with it at the ten! Erik Jenkins wraps him up but he’s still fighting forward. Wolf’s joining in the tackle. He stretches for the pylon and… touchdown!”
“What I would have done to be that tall and that strong during my playing days! I once asked a cornerback who faced him what it was like to try to tackle Caesar Jenkins and he said it was like trying to bring down a raging bull especially when he starts throwing around those stiff-arms or as this guy called them ‘stiff-jabs.’”
…
The young Illinoisan couldn’t help but fist pump when he heard the crowd erupt. Caesar catching the ball wasn’t that surprising considering what he’d seen first-hand over the season from him but that show of strength was a bit frightening.
He only wished that was what he got week-in and week-out.
…
“Bolt with a huge return to the LSU forty-five!”
“I thought he was going to go all the way there. Tulane will have to thank their special teamers for that shoe-string tackle.”
…
“Bolt gets eight yards on the play.”
…
“McCollough dives forward for four on the play.”
…
“Bolt with a quick scamper for three yards.”
…
“McCollough takes it himself again and picks up the first down.”
…
“Bolt with a huge gain of 23 yards down to the Green Wave’s six.”
“I think they are just going to punch it in here.”
“Surely, the Green Wave will be expecting another run.”
“I mean, they haven’t thrown a single pass yet unless you want to count that attempted shovel option to Carter on the second play of this drive.”
“Let’s see what they do. The Tigers are back at the line of scrimmage. Bolt dots the I behind senior fullback Courtney Jackson. McCollough has the ball, sprints out to the left. King is there. McCollough pitches it to Bolt and the freshman can walk into the endzone for the touchdown. 14-7 LSU.”
“Apparently the Tigers are going with the old adage: if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”
…
Caesar slapped his hands together in frustration and pointed to where Brady should have thrown the ball if he expected him to have any chance at it. If any thought their first drive was moving slow for what the team had been accustomed to then their second drive was absolutely crawling down the field. It was a miracle that they had been able to get to the LSU forty in the number of plays that did.
He wasn’t the only one getting frustrated. He could see the doubts starting to creep up in the eyes of some of the other guys. They knew what LSU was able to do to them in a season where the Tigers were barely bowl eligible but this team was much better and had come out swinging for the fences on their first two drives.
Despite the winning, this team hadn’t been the most mentally strong over the season. Anxiety flared up anytime they didn’t have a firm grasp on the game.
Having a freshman quarterback meant that they didn’t have that one guy who could step into the huddle and take over when things hit a rough patch. Their field general was still wet behinds the ears and had benefitted from some good play on the other side of the ball to keep him in positions where his leadership skills weren’t needed that much.
Seven minutes into the first quarter and it seemed that abnormally clutch defense was nowhere to be found when it came to stopping Jaxson Bolt and Evan McCollough seminar on how to effectively run the option.
…
“Rodgers has to throw that away and it looks like the Green Wave are going to be forced to attempt the thirty-six yard field goal here.”
“LSU played that entire drive well considering how easy it has been for this offense to score this season. They didn’t allow any big plays and kept everything in front of them. It’s one of those things that Rock Hall at Tulane and Tony Battaglia at LSU have in common. They coach their defenses and they expect good solid play out of them.”
“Max Longwell trots out onto the field for the attempt. Punter Steve Snyder is the holder. The snap is down, the kick is up and Longwell easily puts that one through the uprights. 14-10 LSU.”
…
“This has been a good game so far. I’m excited to see what Bolt does on this kick return. He’s already brought five returns back to the house this season.”
“They say it’s like trying to catch greased lightning. Longwell signals that he’s ready to kick. He boots it deep and Bolt is going to bring it out of the endzone. Bolt pauses at the five yardline to let his blockers set up in front of him. He breaks for the wide side of the field. At the 20, the 30 and DeJordan Payne takes him down before he can squirt away.”
“Bolt looked like he was walking a little gingerly when he got up there. I think he might have rolled his ankle when Payne tackled him.”
“It doesn’t look like he’s asking to come out of the game down on the sideline and he waved the trainers away.”
“Good luck getting one of these guys out of this game without having to carry them off.”
…
“LSU heads to the line of scrimmage with McCollough in the shotgun and Bolt to his left. Four receivers split out wide. McCollough gets the snap and it’s a quick toss to Bolt but he’s going to have some work to do with Bingham in the backfield. He feints to his left and stumbles as Bingham dives at him for the tackle. He’s down for a loss on the play.”
“That ankle may have given him some trouble there.”
“Bolt is slow to get up and the LSU players are calling for the trainers. He looks to be grabbing his knee. Let’s take a look at the replay to see if we can figure out what happened.”
“It looks to me that Bingham hit him square on his right knee when he stumbled. Hopefully, it’s just a stinger because you never want to see a kid tear anything.”
“Classy stuff from the Tulane fans to applaud him as he’s helped off the field but it doesn’t look good from up here. He’s not putting any weight on that right leg.”
“Hasan Santiago hasn’t gotten a lot of snaps this season as Bolt took over the starting runningback role but you have to remember that this guy was a four-star recruit two years ago and was a key fixture on the Tigers’ offense in his first two seasons in Baton Rouge. He actually played high school ball with Caesar Jenkins and Devin King if that’s any indication of how talented this guy could be.”
“For three high school teammates, they forged three very different paths during their college careers.”
“Yeah, I don’t think anyone thought Devin King would be the first one of them to be a finalist for the Heisman.”
…
“Since Jaxson Bolt left the game in the first quarter, the LSU offense has looked disjointed and they’ve struggled to move the ball.”
“They have to count themselves lucky that they are still leading as they line up for another drive here. Tulane has been playing things pretty conservatively so far but you have to feel like the Tigers have to put some points on the board here if they expect to keep the momentum going in their favor.”
“LSU comes out in the I formation. McCollough gets the snap and hands it off to Santiago. Santiago dances around in the backfield and cuts it outside.”
…
Devin fought his way through the receiver’s block just in time to line Hasan up for a tackle in the backfield. Both of them only had a second to make their next moves. Hasan decided to try to juke past Devin but failed to keep the ball secure against his body.
Taking the opportunity that was presented, Devin wrapped his arm around the ball and ripped it away just as his former teammate was running by him. The ball flew towards the turf and Devin moved to scoop it up but Hasan had managed to twist his body around enough to dive and slap his feet out from under him.
Tyjuan Joyce jumped over Devin to try and fall on top of the ball but it squirted out from under him which started a pile-up of players.
Devin hovered close to the pile of bodies as the referees rushed in to find out who’d ended up with the ball. Just as he was about to back away, he was shoved to the side and almost took a tumble if it weren’t for the LSU lineman inadvertently holding him up. He thought it was an overzealous ref until he saw Champ push Hasan and jab a finger in his face, giving him a piece of his mind.
The runningback shove Champ but Devin quickly moved to diffuse the situation before the referees were wise to what was going on behind them. Champ could be a bit of a hot head and it was normally the person who retaliated that was caught.
By the time all the bodies were separated, it was the Green Wave who had possession of the ball thanks to Geoff’s partner in the middle “Big” Frank. There was no prying that ball out of his hands as he ran to the Tulane sideline.
“Fucking lucky bitch,” Hasan snapped through his mouthpiece as he brushed by Devin and Champ.
…
“Tulane Stadium has sprung back to life after yet another Devin King highlight play. The Green Wave offense takes over already in scoring position. Rodgers sets up in the pistol formation with Smith behind him. Rodgers takes a moment to quiet the crowd. It’s a good snap. He hands it off to Smith up the middle. Smith is looking—Wait! He tosses it back to Rodgers! It’s a flea flicker! Rodgers steps up and throws towards the endzone! Jenkins is wide open! Touchdown Green Wave! Just like that it’s 17-14 Tulane!”
“That’s exactly what a team should do after a pivotal turnover. Come out on the next play and just chuck it towards the endzone. Rock Hall dug deep into his bag of tricks with the flea flicker and not even LSU’s veteran defense was able to avoid biting on it. It helps that was probably the first time Tulane has run that play under this coaching regime.”
…
“1st and 10 for LSU at midfield. McCollough takes a step back, turns and fires it short to Car—WHOA! Picked off! Devin King has it and there is no one in front of him! He’s going to walk that in for the touchdown. Don’t blink, ladies and gentlemen because you might miss Tulane putting up another pair of touchdowns!”
“Not only did he just put his team ahead ten points but he just moved even with Marcus Jenkins for the all-time record for interceptions in a season. It’s staggering to think that this guy has 16 interceptions with 2 and a half games left to play. When Jenkins broke the record for Wake Forest in 2012, he caught his 16th pick in the Demon Deacons’ bowl game. King is on pace to break 20 at this rate.”
…
“Halfway through the third quarter and the Green Wave are driving to extend their lead. Rodgers drops back. Fires a rocket to Williams and he makes the catch at the 11 yardline. He makes a man miss and strolls into the endzone for the score. 31-17 Tulane.”
…
“Caesar Jenkins makes another catch and that’s his ninth of the game! Gain of 13 on the play.”
…
“Smith takes it straight up the middle and breaks for 15 yards.”
…
“Santiago is bottled up in the backfield for a loss on the play.”
…
“McCollough is sacked at the Tigers will be forced to punt.”
…
“Rodgers finds Jenkins yet again. He’s wrapped up at the one but falls into the endzone for the score! That’s four passing touchdowns for Brady Rodgers and three of them have gone to Caesar Jenkins! 38-14 Tulane with a little over seven minutes remaining in the game.”
“LSU has been playing like a boxer who’s been knocked out on his feet since the two-touchdown salvo from the Green Wave in the first half. I’m surprised that they only have 38 points because this could have easily been much, much worse.”
…
Caesar tossed the ball to the referee after being brought down well short of the first down. He didn’t care though. He’d just caught his fourteen pass of the game, falling only a few short of the record he’d set as a freshman. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t have the chance to improve on the record. The first team offense had seen their last action of the game as Max jogged onto the field to increase Tulane’s lead.
Erik jogged over to him and helped him to his feet. He pulled him in for a one-armed hug, smacking him on the back of the helmet, “Y’all got lucky this year.”
“Y’all got lucky we didn’t put up more points.”
“We’ll see who wins next year,” Erik chuckled as he started back towards LSU’s sideline.
“Won’t matter to me, I won’t be here.”
“So you keep telling me!” Erik shouted.
…
“These are the scenes that make us love college football. Just look at Tulane’s sideline as Chance Young trots out in the victory formation. Those players have worked hard all season to keep their undefeated record and beating their bitter rivals like this is the icing on the 12-0 cake.”
“Or you could look at the crowd. I have a feeling they are about to rush the field.”
…
The team could feel the energy pulsing through the stadium as Chance kneeled the ball down and set the clock on its way to triple-zero. As soon as the referees started making their way off the field, some of the Green Wave players sprinted onto the field, helmets raised in the arm and huge smiles on the faces. It wasn’t long before the fans took advantage of Tulane Stadium’s low walls and flooded the field with their football team.
Everyone knew there would be an imminent fine from the SEC for the fans rushing the field. Everyone knew there would be some people in the college football world that would say it showed Tulane’s “little brother” mentality to rush the field after finishing a 12-0 regular season.
But no one cared.
The players didn’t care as they celebrate with the rest of the student body, they didn’t care as Devin was hoisted on the shoulders of a few frat guys, Victory Flag in hand and they didn’t care that they were chanting “We’re goin’ to the ‘ship!” and were completely forgetting about the one in Atlanta.
Catching up on this shit over the course of a few days was such a terrible decision. Now I have to wait for updates :/
see thats why you dont put your best player as a return man, shit happens. i was kinda half expecting hasan to get a little redemption here and help carry the load. guess his ship has sailed though. LSU was their hump and they got over it, so its national championship time. SECCG is a formality at this point
Nice Guy Syndrome
For football players, uncertainty was a fatal flaw. One step too soon or too late, one moment of hesitation, one inch too short or too far, there were so many ways that a player could give up a game-changing play whether that be a dropped touchdown by an offensive player or one given up by a defender.
Uncertainty on the field was the least of Devin’s worries. He’d more than proven to himself that he can act on instinct when it came to playing the game. His problem was not being able to make decisions off the field.
After trying the single-season interception record, there was no doubting that he would be in New York for one award ceremony or another whether that included the Heisman’s or not. However, due to the current strife between him and the rest of his family, he wasn’t sure that he wanted to bring them along to New York. Taking home any amount of hardware would only strengthen his grandfather’s resolve to push for him to declare for the draft. And that was the last thing he needed.
Deciding to get a second opinion on the situation, he went to the coach who would know him best.
“You know what I’ve grown to love the most about Louisiana? The food,” Coach Xavier said as Devin walked into his office. He was sitting at his desk with a fully-dressed fried shrimp poboy in hand and enough fries to give a man an instant heart attack, “This is probably the only state where you can eat the unhealthiest stuff and no one will bat an eye at it. I don’t think there is anything that hasn’t been dipped in grease here.”
Devin chuckled, sitting down in one of the empty chairs opposite from the offensive coordinator, “You’re going to lose that former quarterback physique if you keep eating like that, coach.”
“I’ll be fine. Doc told me I got a high metabolism. So what can I do you for, Devin?”
“I need some advice.”
“That’s quickly becoming my strong suit as long as it isn’t about paternity tests. Townsend came in here last week telling me he’d gone and gotten some poor girl pregnant but didn’t really think it was his. I told him we’d know for sure if she popped out a 30-pound baby big as he is. Of course, no one wants to wait nine months to know if it’s theirs or not.”
“Uh, well…” Devin trailed off not knowing how to transition for hearing that Glenn Townsend, one of the Green Wave’s heftiest player had baby mama troubles. The guard weighed in over 350 pounds and considering the type of girls who tended to be jersey chasers… God, bless ‘em, “No, it isn’t about that.”
“I figured. I think if you walked in here and told me you had six kids on the way, I’d have no more hope for humanity.”
“Well, it’s my family. I’m probably going to be invited to this or that in the next few weeks and we aren’t exactly on the best terms right now. I feel like bringing them along would just cause more problems than it will solved but I also feel like it will look bad on me if I don’t. Not to mention, I’ll have to try to come up with a suitable excuse not to tell them though I’m sure they know. Apparently I’m mentioned on ESPN more than Tim Tebow was way back when.”
“They do talk about you a lot but you aren’t anywhere near Tim Tebow proportions, I’m sure, but why do you have to tell them anything?”
“What?”
“Why do you have to tell them anything? You’re 20, almost 21. Making decisions bigger than most people your age. I think that qualifies you as an adult so you don’t need to explain a decision you make.”
“I think I’m missing the boat here, coach.”
“To me, it seems like you’ve already decided that you don’t want to take them with you. The reason isn’t anyone else’s business nor will most people care. So when you win something you won’t have the cliché run over to your mama to hug her and cry on her shoulder, but I think we’ll all be fine without another awkward embrace from a football player and his mama.”
“But that’s like part of the whole tradition.”
“Devin, people are saying you are going to win the Heisman. If there is anything that flies in the face of tradition, it’s you winning the damn Heisman. Fuck their traditions. Make your own. You aren’t more of a man just because you are still sucking from your mother’s teat or bouncing on your father’s knee all wide-eyed and rosey cheeked at 20 years old. Drag Caesar along. I’m sure that will get your name in some headlines.”
Devin chuckled at the suggestion, “I think I’m in enough headlines already. I don’t need to spend any more time with Caesar than absolutely necessary.”
“That’s why I work mostly with the quarterbacks,” Xavier shrugged, “But anyway, don’t feel like you have to do something that you don’t want to do for everyone else’s sake. That’s when you start making decisions that mess up the rest of your life. If you are at odds with your family, leave ‘em in Houma. Besides, it’s not like this is your first time going to these things. I think everyone will give you a pass. Just focus on Florida State next Saturday. It’d suck if we finally got over the LSU hump just to lose in the conference championship game.”
“You’re right. Thanks, coach.”
“Damn right, I’m right. That’s why they pay me the big bucks, kid, but they’d pay me more if you would agree to hopping on the offensive side of the ball for a few plays like I had you do back at Terrebonne. They’d call me the Genius of New Orleans. I can see it now.”
Devin shook his head as Coach Xavier’s antics but the man was right. He didn’t need to worry about others’ perception of him. He was already known as the good guy of Tulane. He could afford a few strikes against his record.
Taking Coach Xavier’s advice, he’d focus on the conference championship game against Florida State and worry about his parents and they likely anger towards his decisions later.
Kaley jumped at the sound of the front door opening. She was pretty sure Alison and Sophie were in their rooms as far as she knew. Blindly, she reached out and grabbed whatever was nearest.
“What are you going to do, Kaley? Swat me to death with a spatula? I have to say that isn’t the most frightening weapon. Would you like me to walk outside so you can try that again? Maybe pick up something with a pointy end this time?”
She narrowed her eyes at Caesar as he closed the door behind him, “Don’t you ever knock?”
“Don’t you ever lock your door?”
“Whatever. What we do doesn’t excuse your boorishness.”
“Have you gotten into the dictionary, again? If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a million times. That thing is going to fry your brain, Kaley.”
“I hope you didn’t come here just to annoy me because you can just go ahead and walk on to the back for your daily blowjob.”
“It’s more like four times a day.”
“I didn’t need to know that.”
Caesar shrugged as he turned one of the chairs at the table around to face her, “Well, I told you anyway besides I didn’t come here to see Sophie. Not immediately. I came here to talk to you.”
“Hopefully not for one of your four lip service appointments.”
“’Course not, that was never really one of your strong suits.”
“Damn, going to have to scratch that off my resume. So disappointed.”
“Moving on from your lack of fellating ability, you have everything sorted for our trip to San Diego?”
“What trip?”
“The one I said I’d ‘treat’ Erik to if he faked an injury Saturday.”
“Erik didn’t get hurt in the game.”
“Oh, you went to a game for once? No wonder I caught three touchdowns.”
“I didn’t think you were being serious.”
“About you being my good luck charm or us going to San Diego because I was being serious about them both.”
“Caesar—“
“I know I smelled a dog in here,” Alison said as she walked into the kitchen with Sophie not too far behind her, “What were you being serious about?”
“Going to San Diego for a week.”
“Who?” Sophie asked, sitting down across from Caesar.
“Whoever wants to go,” Caesar shrugged.
“Okay, a better question. Who’s paying?”
“It’d be free. You know, rich kid’s family owning a private plane and shit. You just have to be at the airport next week when I say.”
“So what’s the catch?” Alison asked suspiciously.
“You have to convince your friend here to go. I’m dragging my brother along and his girlfriend took a liking to her. Thinks they could be BFFs.”
Alison looked at Kaley who shook her head, “She’s going.”
“What? I can’t.”
“Why not?” Sophie asked her, “Couldn’t possibly be the cost. He just said it’s free.”
“Well, I—“
“You nothing,” Alison waved her hand to cut off the oncoming excuse, “We’re all going to San Diego. It’s about damn time Caesar proves that he’s actually useful for something other than putting dents in the wall behind Sophie’s bed.”
“There are no dents in the wall,” Sophie protested.
Alison raised an eyebrow before heading back down the hall, throwing over her shoulder, “Are there?”
Sophie shot up from the chair to check for whatever dents Alison was referring to. The last thing she wanted to do was lose her third of the security deposit.
“You planned that, didn’t you?”
Caesar chuckled and got up, walking over to stand next to Kaley, “Obviously. You know how Alison will just do anything for me.”
“No, but she’ll help Sophie given the right circumstances and Sophie will do anything for you.”
“What’s wrong, Kaley?” he turned and put one hand on either side of her on the counter, “Don’t think you’ll be able to control yourself around me for an entire week?”
“I think I’ll be able to manage, but I’m going to need you to move. I need to check my cake.”
Confused, Caesar turned around and opened the oven where there was indeed a cake baking, “What the fuck are you randomly baking a cake for? Is that some way of telling everyone you got something in your oven?”
“A girl can get her Susie Homemaker on from time to time? If I were pregnant from the last time I had sex, I’d either be ready to pop or there’d already be a little one running around. I don’t keep a diary of that sort of thing.”
“For fuck’s sake, Kaley, that long? You mean the gutter punk hasn’t knocked the dust off that for you?”
“Not exactly,” she shoved him aside to see if the cake was ready, “Why are we discussing my sex life anyway?”
“Because it sounds like you haven’t had a sex life since it was our sex life. Let me guess, nice guy wasn’t so nice when he found out he wasn’t going to fuck?”
“No.”
“I bet you haven’t talked to him since the last time you saw him.”
“No.”
“And there it is. You don’t trust the fucking nice guys. He was one of the guys who sit around and whine about finishing last complaining about girls picking the assholes and other sappy shit like that. I call it ‘Nice Guy Syndrome.’ What they don’t know is that, us assholes may be assholes but at least we are genuine. You know I just don’t go around being nice to girls for some pussy. It’s a bit honorable of me, in my opinion.”
“You have that speech thought out already?”
Caesar shrugged, “I’ve had a skeleton in my head for a while. I’m serious though. I warned you he was going to be a piece of shit. Maybe, this trip will be good for you. You might find romance on the beach or some shit and get you some dick because you get grumpy when you don’t get a good fucking in a long time.”
“Fuck you.”
“Naaaa, not today. Not going to waste a perfectly willing and talented mouth back there. If only she wasn’t so fucking stupid… Fucking dents,” Caesar shook his head and started down the hall, “By the way, that cake better be edible because I want at least half of it.”
Kaley rolled her eyes. Sometimes, she didn’t know why she still put up with him.
For football players, uncertainty was a fatal flaw. One step too soon or too late, one moment of hesitation, one inch too short or too far, there were so many ways that a player could give up a game-changing play whether that be a dropped touchdown by an offensive player or one given up by a defender.
Uncertainty on the field was the least of Devin’s worries. He’d more than proven to himself that he can act on instinct when it came to playing the game. His problem was not being able to make decisions off the field.
After trying the single-season interception record, there was no doubting that he would be in New York for one award ceremony or another whether that included the Heisman’s or not. However, due to the current strife between him and the rest of his family, he wasn’t sure that he wanted to bring them along to New York. Taking home any amount of hardware would only strengthen his grandfather’s resolve to push for him to declare for the draft. And that was the last thing he needed.
Deciding to get a second opinion on the situation, he went to the coach who would know him best.
“You know what I’ve grown to love the most about Louisiana? The food,” Coach Xavier said as Devin walked into his office. He was sitting at his desk with a fully-dressed fried shrimp poboy in hand and enough fries to give a man an instant heart attack, “This is probably the only state where you can eat the unhealthiest stuff and no one will bat an eye at it. I don’t think there is anything that hasn’t been dipped in grease here.”
Devin chuckled, sitting down in one of the empty chairs opposite from the offensive coordinator, “You’re going to lose that former quarterback physique if you keep eating like that, coach.”
“I’ll be fine. Doc told me I got a high metabolism. So what can I do you for, Devin?”
“I need some advice.”
“That’s quickly becoming my strong suit as long as it isn’t about paternity tests. Townsend came in here last week telling me he’d gone and gotten some poor girl pregnant but didn’t really think it was his. I told him we’d know for sure if she popped out a 30-pound baby big as he is. Of course, no one wants to wait nine months to know if it’s theirs or not.”
“Uh, well…” Devin trailed off not knowing how to transition for hearing that Glenn Townsend, one of the Green Wave’s heftiest player had baby mama troubles. The guard weighed in over 350 pounds and considering the type of girls who tended to be jersey chasers… God, bless ‘em, “No, it isn’t about that.”
“I figured. I think if you walked in here and told me you had six kids on the way, I’d have no more hope for humanity.”
“Well, it’s my family. I’m probably going to be invited to this or that in the next few weeks and we aren’t exactly on the best terms right now. I feel like bringing them along would just cause more problems than it will solved but I also feel like it will look bad on me if I don’t. Not to mention, I’ll have to try to come up with a suitable excuse not to tell them though I’m sure they know. Apparently I’m mentioned on ESPN more than Tim Tebow was way back when.”
“They do talk about you a lot but you aren’t anywhere near Tim Tebow proportions, I’m sure, but why do you have to tell them anything?”
“What?”
“Why do you have to tell them anything? You’re 20, almost 21. Making decisions bigger than most people your age. I think that qualifies you as an adult so you don’t need to explain a decision you make.”
“I think I’m missing the boat here, coach.”
“To me, it seems like you’ve already decided that you don’t want to take them with you. The reason isn’t anyone else’s business nor will most people care. So when you win something you won’t have the cliché run over to your mama to hug her and cry on her shoulder, but I think we’ll all be fine without another awkward embrace from a football player and his mama.”
“But that’s like part of the whole tradition.”
“Devin, people are saying you are going to win the Heisman. If there is anything that flies in the face of tradition, it’s you winning the damn Heisman. Fuck their traditions. Make your own. You aren’t more of a man just because you are still sucking from your mother’s teat or bouncing on your father’s knee all wide-eyed and rosey cheeked at 20 years old. Drag Caesar along. I’m sure that will get your name in some headlines.”
Devin chuckled at the suggestion, “I think I’m in enough headlines already. I don’t need to spend any more time with Caesar than absolutely necessary.”
“That’s why I work mostly with the quarterbacks,” Xavier shrugged, “But anyway, don’t feel like you have to do something that you don’t want to do for everyone else’s sake. That’s when you start making decisions that mess up the rest of your life. If you are at odds with your family, leave ‘em in Houma. Besides, it’s not like this is your first time going to these things. I think everyone will give you a pass. Just focus on Florida State next Saturday. It’d suck if we finally got over the LSU hump just to lose in the conference championship game.”
“You’re right. Thanks, coach.”
“Damn right, I’m right. That’s why they pay me the big bucks, kid, but they’d pay me more if you would agree to hopping on the offensive side of the ball for a few plays like I had you do back at Terrebonne. They’d call me the Genius of New Orleans. I can see it now.”
Devin shook his head as Coach Xavier’s antics but the man was right. He didn’t need to worry about others’ perception of him. He was already known as the good guy of Tulane. He could afford a few strikes against his record.
Taking Coach Xavier’s advice, he’d focus on the conference championship game against Florida State and worry about his parents and they likely anger towards his decisions later.
Kaley jumped at the sound of the front door opening. She was pretty sure Alison and Sophie were in their rooms as far as she knew. Blindly, she reached out and grabbed whatever was nearest.
“What are you going to do, Kaley? Swat me to death with a spatula? I have to say that isn’t the most frightening weapon. Would you like me to walk outside so you can try that again? Maybe pick up something with a pointy end this time?”
She narrowed her eyes at Caesar as he closed the door behind him, “Don’t you ever knock?”
“Don’t you ever lock your door?”
“Whatever. What we do doesn’t excuse your boorishness.”
“Have you gotten into the dictionary, again? If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a million times. That thing is going to fry your brain, Kaley.”
“I hope you didn’t come here just to annoy me because you can just go ahead and walk on to the back for your daily blowjob.”
“It’s more like four times a day.”
“I didn’t need to know that.”
Caesar shrugged as he turned one of the chairs at the table around to face her, “Well, I told you anyway besides I didn’t come here to see Sophie. Not immediately. I came here to talk to you.”
“Hopefully not for one of your four lip service appointments.”
“’Course not, that was never really one of your strong suits.”
“Damn, going to have to scratch that off my resume. So disappointed.”
“Moving on from your lack of fellating ability, you have everything sorted for our trip to San Diego?”
“What trip?”
“The one I said I’d ‘treat’ Erik to if he faked an injury Saturday.”
“Erik didn’t get hurt in the game.”
“Oh, you went to a game for once? No wonder I caught three touchdowns.”
“I didn’t think you were being serious.”
“About you being my good luck charm or us going to San Diego because I was being serious about them both.”
“Caesar—“
“I know I smelled a dog in here,” Alison said as she walked into the kitchen with Sophie not too far behind her, “What were you being serious about?”
“Going to San Diego for a week.”
“Who?” Sophie asked, sitting down across from Caesar.
“Whoever wants to go,” Caesar shrugged.
“Okay, a better question. Who’s paying?”
“It’d be free. You know, rich kid’s family owning a private plane and shit. You just have to be at the airport next week when I say.”
“So what’s the catch?” Alison asked suspiciously.
“You have to convince your friend here to go. I’m dragging my brother along and his girlfriend took a liking to her. Thinks they could be BFFs.”
Alison looked at Kaley who shook her head, “She’s going.”
“What? I can’t.”
“Why not?” Sophie asked her, “Couldn’t possibly be the cost. He just said it’s free.”
“Well, I—“
“You nothing,” Alison waved her hand to cut off the oncoming excuse, “We’re all going to San Diego. It’s about damn time Caesar proves that he’s actually useful for something other than putting dents in the wall behind Sophie’s bed.”
“There are no dents in the wall,” Sophie protested.
Alison raised an eyebrow before heading back down the hall, throwing over her shoulder, “Are there?”
Sophie shot up from the chair to check for whatever dents Alison was referring to. The last thing she wanted to do was lose her third of the security deposit.
“You planned that, didn’t you?”
Caesar chuckled and got up, walking over to stand next to Kaley, “Obviously. You know how Alison will just do anything for me.”
“No, but she’ll help Sophie given the right circumstances and Sophie will do anything for you.”
“What’s wrong, Kaley?” he turned and put one hand on either side of her on the counter, “Don’t think you’ll be able to control yourself around me for an entire week?”
“I think I’ll be able to manage, but I’m going to need you to move. I need to check my cake.”
Confused, Caesar turned around and opened the oven where there was indeed a cake baking, “What the fuck are you randomly baking a cake for? Is that some way of telling everyone you got something in your oven?”
“A girl can get her Susie Homemaker on from time to time? If I were pregnant from the last time I had sex, I’d either be ready to pop or there’d already be a little one running around. I don’t keep a diary of that sort of thing.”
“For fuck’s sake, Kaley, that long? You mean the gutter punk hasn’t knocked the dust off that for you?”
“Not exactly,” she shoved him aside to see if the cake was ready, “Why are we discussing my sex life anyway?”
“Because it sounds like you haven’t had a sex life since it was our sex life. Let me guess, nice guy wasn’t so nice when he found out he wasn’t going to fuck?”
“No.”
“I bet you haven’t talked to him since the last time you saw him.”
“No.”
“And there it is. You don’t trust the fucking nice guys. He was one of the guys who sit around and whine about finishing last complaining about girls picking the assholes and other sappy shit like that. I call it ‘Nice Guy Syndrome.’ What they don’t know is that, us assholes may be assholes but at least we are genuine. You know I just don’t go around being nice to girls for some pussy. It’s a bit honorable of me, in my opinion.”
“You have that speech thought out already?”
Caesar shrugged, “I’ve had a skeleton in my head for a while. I’m serious though. I warned you he was going to be a piece of shit. Maybe, this trip will be good for you. You might find romance on the beach or some shit and get you some dick because you get grumpy when you don’t get a good fucking in a long time.”
“Fuck you.”
“Naaaa, not today. Not going to waste a perfectly willing and talented mouth back there. If only she wasn’t so fucking stupid… Fucking dents,” Caesar shook his head and started down the hall, “By the way, that cake better be edible because I want at least half of it.”
Kaley rolled her eyes. Sometimes, she didn’t know why she still put up with him.
well if hes not taking the family, then he has to take his girl. which of course is gonna make it that much worse when his grandfather or even his parents get ahold of him via phone or what have you. and yes with kaley going i stand by that the magic will happen.
Business as Usual
It is just another game.
Every athlete in the world had heard that phrase before. Whenever a coach wanted to take the pressure off their team they uttered those five little words: “It is just another game.”
Rarely was it true. No, most of the time it was much bigger than any other game. No coach looked for ways to take the weight of the world off their players’ shoulders for just any old game. Those words were normally reserved for the days when the team had better chance winning the lottery than they did winning the game or for the days when the entire season hung in the balance, dependent on what would happen in the next sixty minutes.
But this wasn’t the case for the Green Wave.
When Coach Hall stood in front of his team, moments before they were set to take the field against the Florida State Seminoles, and dug in his bag of clichés only to come back up with “It’s jus’ anotha game,” the team knew it was pretty close to the truth.
Tulane playing in the SEC Championship Game had become a bit of a formality – four straight dating back to the last cycle of stars and three of the four coming against Florida State. Last season, they’d made it over the hump of winning the conference. This season, they’d jumped the final hurdle in finishing the regular season undefeated.
Yes, it was a championship game. Yes, it was against one of the best teams in the country. But the Green Wave knew that they’d already taken that step to reaching the goal they’d set for themselves when they began the season months ago.
For the next sixty minutes, they’d play the way they had all season and when the dust settled at the end of the game, they expected to lift the SEC conference title for the second-straight year and book their trip to Pasadena.
“Courtney Cabral fields the ball at the eight yardline. He’s to the ten, the twenty and spun down at the twenty-eight yardline. The Florida State offense will take the field led by junior quarterback Brenton Kidd who has posted some pretty impressive numbers in his first season in Tallahassee after transferring from Blinn College down in Texas.”
“We probably say it too often but he has never seen anything like this Tulane defense. What they did last week against LSU was an example of what can happen when this team is playing at the top of their game. Yes, the Tigers unfortunately lost their star runningback Jaxson Bolt to injury but it was the Green Wave’s defense that turned it around.”
“Kidd gets the snap from center, drops back and looks to Dontae Foreman on the bubble screen. And Freeman’s decleated as soon as he touches the ball! What a huge hit from Tulane’s star cornerback Devin King!”
“King looks like he might have taken a bit more of his own hit than he would have liked but I bet Donate Foreman will look twice before catching the ball for the rest of the game.”
…
“Kidd somehow makes an impossible pass to Anthony Mobley through double coverage on third down and the Seminoles’ opening drive lives on.”
…
“Dedrick Washington takes it up the middle for a gain of six on the play.”
…
“Kidd takes it himself for a pickup for three yards but takes a huge shot from Champ Murray. Kidd’s slow to get up. The Green Wave certainly aren’t going easy on the Noles.”
…
“Another third down conversion for Florida State as Kidd links up with his tight end Zeph Ewing for a gain of eleven.”
“Tulane has been struggling to get them off the field so far and this drive has already eclipsed the ten-play mark. If this becomes a trend then we could see some tired legs out there on that field. The Green Wave aren’t too used to long drives.”
…
“Mobley catches another and another big hit from a Tulane defensive back, this time it’s Adrian Taylor. Five yards on the play.”
…
“Washington bounces it outside, makes the first man miss and waltzes into the endzone for the first points of the game.”
“Seventeen plays, Tom. The Seminoles kept that drive going through sheer force of will and did the one thing the Green Wave have prevented opponents from doing all year – finished the drive.”
…
“Tulane takes the field looking to answer the Noles’ opening salvo.”
“Brady Rodgers had a good game last week against the Tigers, linking up with Caesar Jenkins for three touchdowns. If they can find their rhythm early-on in this one then that’ll be one less thing the Green Wave has to worry about.”
“Rodgers lines up in the shotgun with Desmond Smith to his right. He gets the snap and hands it off to Smith up the middle. He pushes forward for a gain of four on the play.”
…
“Jenkins reels it in for a gain of twelve.”
…
“Jason Williams stretches out and makes the reception to pick up the first down.”
…
“Smith sprints to the outside. He’s wrapped up by Skyler Dykes but he fights forward for a few extra yards. Looks like he got eight on the play.”
…
“Williams makes another catch and that’s another first down. Tulane is up to their old tricks again with this quick hitting offense!”
“I’m wondering if it’ll come back to bite them. They’re going to be asking a lot of their defense if they don’t give them a chance to catch their breath on the sidelines.”
…
“Rodgers hits Raphael Jefferson over the middle for a gain of seven and the Green Wave are in the redzone.”
…
“Third and goal for Tulane. Rodgers drops back, fakes to his left, turns and throws a laser through the defenders and into Jason Williams’s grateful grasp at the back of the endzone. Touchdown Green Wave!”
“That was great execution by the young quarterback, Brady Rodgers. He knew the defense would be looking for the fade to Caesar Jenkins and he faked it at just the right moment to freeze the safeties and give him enough space to fire it to Williams. Of course, he had to show off a little arm strength to make sure it wasn’t a duck waiting to get picked off.”
…
“Slow and methodical from Florida State again as they drive down the field. Kidd steps up to the line, first and ten at the Tulane 45. He gets the ball, fakes the hand off and rolls to his left and he’s crushed by Clint Bingham!”
“I’m surprised he held onto the ball.”
…
“Mobley’s dragged down by King just short of the first down. Simon Larsen trots out onto the field to attempt the field goal.”
…
“Late in the second quarter, Smith starts things off for the Green Wave with a big run for eleven yards.”
…
“Willie Ramirez makes the catch and rumbles forward for eight yards.”
…
“Jenkins makes the grab. Fifteen on the play.”
…
“Smith finds a hole and picks up the first down.”
…
“Williams finds a way to bring it on the sideline and Tulane is down to the Florida State 30 yard line.”
…
“Rodgers drops back on second and long. The protection is good in front of him but so is the coverage downfield. Rodgers climbs up in the pocket and zips it to Jenkins who makes the catch at the 11. Desi Ingram tries to shove him out of bounds but to no avail and the junior receiver darts into the endzone to give Tulane a four point lead.”
“That was a poor excuse for tackling by Ingram. Caesar Jenkins has shown how strong he is throughout his career. A shove like that probably didn’t even register to him. Ingram is going to hear it from his coach when he goes to the sideline.”
…
“Brenton Kidd comes out looking to put some more points on the board before the end of the half. Three minutes remaining in the quarter. Four receivers split out wide. Tulane in their dime package. The snap is high but Kidd manages to reel it in. There’s a lot of pressure in the backfield! Kidd shrugs out of a sack, spins and gets out of the pocket! Steps back and avoids another sack! Heaves it deep and it’s picked off! Devin King has it at midfield!”
“What a terrible decision by Brenton Kidd. He could have taken that himself and picked up some yards but instead he threw it into coverage where college football’s ultimate ball hawk was waiting to make him pay.”
“That’s also Devin King’s seventeenth interception of the season giving him sole possession of the all-time record for most interceptions in a single season.”
“He’s worked hard for that record this year and I don’t think anyone deserves it more than he does.”
…
Devin was mobbed by his teammates as he got to his feet. He wanted to get the record out of the way in this game to avoid any unnecessary hype during the National Championship and it was a huge relief to be clutching that ball to his chest as he jogged towards the sideline. Now, everyone would be able to focus on the task at hand instead of worrying about if and when he’d break Marcus Jenkins’s record.
Handing the ball to one of the team’s managers for safe keeping, he immediately quelled the celebrations of his teammates and stood on the sideline hoping that the offense would be able to put some distance between them and Florida State before the end of the half.
…
“The pass is batted down and the Green Wave will be facing third and long.”
“I was thinking that Tulane had a chance to break this game open on this drive but with the yardage needed to pick up the first, I think we’ll go into halftime with the score at 14-10 in favor of the Green Wave. It doesn’t sound too bad when you think about Tulane getting the ball to begin the second half but it’ll give the Seminoles some confidence that they’ll still be in this game.”
“Tulane calls a timeout. It looks like they want to talk about it.”
…
“…and that’s what we’re going to do,” Coach Xavier said to the offense as he mapped out the play on his playcard.
“Are you sure that’s going to work, coach?” Brady asked, apprehension in his voice, “It sounds a little crazy.”
“That’s why it’s going to work,” the offensive coordinator said with a nod of finality, “It’s worked before. Just have a little faith.”
The referee blew his whistle to call the teams back to the field of play. Caesar couldn’t help but chuckle to himself as he jogged to the far side of the field. He never liked trick plays especially when they needed fifteen yards to pick up the first down. There were too many variables, too many things that could go wrong and lead to the Seminoles turning the play into a defensive touchdown.
Brady settled into the shotgun, barking out his cadence. He glanced over at Caesar and waved him for him to motion to the other side of the field.
The freshman quarterback called for the snap just as Caesar passed in front of him. Caesar caught the ball and continued his run for another few steps before stopping and bringing the ball up to pass. He rolled back into the pocket, stepped up and launched the ball downfield towards Jason who had a step or two on the safety who was struggling to get back.
The pass was a bit short but Jason was able to contort his body enough to make the catch and jog into the endzone for the touchdown.
…
“Oh my! What a play! Caesar Jenkins channeled all of his dad’s passing ability to heave that ball to Jason Williams for the touchdown!”
“He did that a couple times in high school as well. The kid can sling it. I know a few people just got hit with a wave of nostalgia seeing Jenkins and #17 on the back of a player’s jersey who was throwing the ball.”
“I don’t think I’ve seen Jenkins celebrate this much since his freshman season.”
“After that pass, he deserves to rub it in a little.”
It was just another game.
The celebrations on the field for the Green Wave were subdued compared to last season’s triumph in Atlanta over the Florida Gators. They added another touchdown late in the game while managing to hold the Seminoles to a pair of field goals in the second half. Little more than business as usual for them.
They still reveled in being SEC Champions for the second year running. They cheered when Caesar was named the game’s offensive player of the game and Devin was given the award as the defensive most valuable player, they cheered as they circled the field with the conference’s logo and it’s trophy, celebrating with the fans who made the trip to Atlanta and they cheered when Devin’s record was recognized by the commissioner of the conference – another feather in the SEC’s hat.
But as they walked back into the locker room, the celebrations ended for the most part.
Tomorrow, they would find out whether or not they would be heading to Pasadena for the National Championship Game. Considering their strength of schedule compared to Arizona State’s, it wasn’t much more than a formality that the selection committee builds up their choice as a three-horse race.
USC knew who they would be playing in the Rose Bowl in a month’s time and Tulane knew that they would be the ones standing on the other side of the field.
The Green Wave would give themselves a few days to bask in the glory of their back-to-back conference titles but they had more important goals ahead of them. They’d jumped the conference hurdle.
Now, they needed to finish.
It is just another game.
Every athlete in the world had heard that phrase before. Whenever a coach wanted to take the pressure off their team they uttered those five little words: “It is just another game.”
Rarely was it true. No, most of the time it was much bigger than any other game. No coach looked for ways to take the weight of the world off their players’ shoulders for just any old game. Those words were normally reserved for the days when the team had better chance winning the lottery than they did winning the game or for the days when the entire season hung in the balance, dependent on what would happen in the next sixty minutes.
But this wasn’t the case for the Green Wave.
When Coach Hall stood in front of his team, moments before they were set to take the field against the Florida State Seminoles, and dug in his bag of clichés only to come back up with “It’s jus’ anotha game,” the team knew it was pretty close to the truth.
Tulane playing in the SEC Championship Game had become a bit of a formality – four straight dating back to the last cycle of stars and three of the four coming against Florida State. Last season, they’d made it over the hump of winning the conference. This season, they’d jumped the final hurdle in finishing the regular season undefeated.
Yes, it was a championship game. Yes, it was against one of the best teams in the country. But the Green Wave knew that they’d already taken that step to reaching the goal they’d set for themselves when they began the season months ago.
For the next sixty minutes, they’d play the way they had all season and when the dust settled at the end of the game, they expected to lift the SEC conference title for the second-straight year and book their trip to Pasadena.
“Courtney Cabral fields the ball at the eight yardline. He’s to the ten, the twenty and spun down at the twenty-eight yardline. The Florida State offense will take the field led by junior quarterback Brenton Kidd who has posted some pretty impressive numbers in his first season in Tallahassee after transferring from Blinn College down in Texas.”
“We probably say it too often but he has never seen anything like this Tulane defense. What they did last week against LSU was an example of what can happen when this team is playing at the top of their game. Yes, the Tigers unfortunately lost their star runningback Jaxson Bolt to injury but it was the Green Wave’s defense that turned it around.”
“Kidd gets the snap from center, drops back and looks to Dontae Foreman on the bubble screen. And Freeman’s decleated as soon as he touches the ball! What a huge hit from Tulane’s star cornerback Devin King!”
“King looks like he might have taken a bit more of his own hit than he would have liked but I bet Donate Foreman will look twice before catching the ball for the rest of the game.”
…
“Kidd somehow makes an impossible pass to Anthony Mobley through double coverage on third down and the Seminoles’ opening drive lives on.”
…
“Dedrick Washington takes it up the middle for a gain of six on the play.”
…
“Kidd takes it himself for a pickup for three yards but takes a huge shot from Champ Murray. Kidd’s slow to get up. The Green Wave certainly aren’t going easy on the Noles.”
…
“Another third down conversion for Florida State as Kidd links up with his tight end Zeph Ewing for a gain of eleven.”
“Tulane has been struggling to get them off the field so far and this drive has already eclipsed the ten-play mark. If this becomes a trend then we could see some tired legs out there on that field. The Green Wave aren’t too used to long drives.”
…
“Mobley catches another and another big hit from a Tulane defensive back, this time it’s Adrian Taylor. Five yards on the play.”
…
“Washington bounces it outside, makes the first man miss and waltzes into the endzone for the first points of the game.”
“Seventeen plays, Tom. The Seminoles kept that drive going through sheer force of will and did the one thing the Green Wave have prevented opponents from doing all year – finished the drive.”
…
“Tulane takes the field looking to answer the Noles’ opening salvo.”
“Brady Rodgers had a good game last week against the Tigers, linking up with Caesar Jenkins for three touchdowns. If they can find their rhythm early-on in this one then that’ll be one less thing the Green Wave has to worry about.”
“Rodgers lines up in the shotgun with Desmond Smith to his right. He gets the snap and hands it off to Smith up the middle. He pushes forward for a gain of four on the play.”
…
“Jenkins reels it in for a gain of twelve.”
…
“Jason Williams stretches out and makes the reception to pick up the first down.”
…
“Smith sprints to the outside. He’s wrapped up by Skyler Dykes but he fights forward for a few extra yards. Looks like he got eight on the play.”
…
“Williams makes another catch and that’s another first down. Tulane is up to their old tricks again with this quick hitting offense!”
“I’m wondering if it’ll come back to bite them. They’re going to be asking a lot of their defense if they don’t give them a chance to catch their breath on the sidelines.”
…
“Rodgers hits Raphael Jefferson over the middle for a gain of seven and the Green Wave are in the redzone.”
…
“Third and goal for Tulane. Rodgers drops back, fakes to his left, turns and throws a laser through the defenders and into Jason Williams’s grateful grasp at the back of the endzone. Touchdown Green Wave!”
“That was great execution by the young quarterback, Brady Rodgers. He knew the defense would be looking for the fade to Caesar Jenkins and he faked it at just the right moment to freeze the safeties and give him enough space to fire it to Williams. Of course, he had to show off a little arm strength to make sure it wasn’t a duck waiting to get picked off.”
…
“Slow and methodical from Florida State again as they drive down the field. Kidd steps up to the line, first and ten at the Tulane 45. He gets the ball, fakes the hand off and rolls to his left and he’s crushed by Clint Bingham!”
“I’m surprised he held onto the ball.”
…
“Mobley’s dragged down by King just short of the first down. Simon Larsen trots out onto the field to attempt the field goal.”
…
“Late in the second quarter, Smith starts things off for the Green Wave with a big run for eleven yards.”
…
“Willie Ramirez makes the catch and rumbles forward for eight yards.”
…
“Jenkins makes the grab. Fifteen on the play.”
…
“Smith finds a hole and picks up the first down.”
…
“Williams finds a way to bring it on the sideline and Tulane is down to the Florida State 30 yard line.”
…
“Rodgers drops back on second and long. The protection is good in front of him but so is the coverage downfield. Rodgers climbs up in the pocket and zips it to Jenkins who makes the catch at the 11. Desi Ingram tries to shove him out of bounds but to no avail and the junior receiver darts into the endzone to give Tulane a four point lead.”
“That was a poor excuse for tackling by Ingram. Caesar Jenkins has shown how strong he is throughout his career. A shove like that probably didn’t even register to him. Ingram is going to hear it from his coach when he goes to the sideline.”
…
“Brenton Kidd comes out looking to put some more points on the board before the end of the half. Three minutes remaining in the quarter. Four receivers split out wide. Tulane in their dime package. The snap is high but Kidd manages to reel it in. There’s a lot of pressure in the backfield! Kidd shrugs out of a sack, spins and gets out of the pocket! Steps back and avoids another sack! Heaves it deep and it’s picked off! Devin King has it at midfield!”
“What a terrible decision by Brenton Kidd. He could have taken that himself and picked up some yards but instead he threw it into coverage where college football’s ultimate ball hawk was waiting to make him pay.”
“That’s also Devin King’s seventeenth interception of the season giving him sole possession of the all-time record for most interceptions in a single season.”
“He’s worked hard for that record this year and I don’t think anyone deserves it more than he does.”
…
Devin was mobbed by his teammates as he got to his feet. He wanted to get the record out of the way in this game to avoid any unnecessary hype during the National Championship and it was a huge relief to be clutching that ball to his chest as he jogged towards the sideline. Now, everyone would be able to focus on the task at hand instead of worrying about if and when he’d break Marcus Jenkins’s record.
Handing the ball to one of the team’s managers for safe keeping, he immediately quelled the celebrations of his teammates and stood on the sideline hoping that the offense would be able to put some distance between them and Florida State before the end of the half.
…
“The pass is batted down and the Green Wave will be facing third and long.”
“I was thinking that Tulane had a chance to break this game open on this drive but with the yardage needed to pick up the first, I think we’ll go into halftime with the score at 14-10 in favor of the Green Wave. It doesn’t sound too bad when you think about Tulane getting the ball to begin the second half but it’ll give the Seminoles some confidence that they’ll still be in this game.”
“Tulane calls a timeout. It looks like they want to talk about it.”
…
“…and that’s what we’re going to do,” Coach Xavier said to the offense as he mapped out the play on his playcard.
“Are you sure that’s going to work, coach?” Brady asked, apprehension in his voice, “It sounds a little crazy.”
“That’s why it’s going to work,” the offensive coordinator said with a nod of finality, “It’s worked before. Just have a little faith.”
The referee blew his whistle to call the teams back to the field of play. Caesar couldn’t help but chuckle to himself as he jogged to the far side of the field. He never liked trick plays especially when they needed fifteen yards to pick up the first down. There were too many variables, too many things that could go wrong and lead to the Seminoles turning the play into a defensive touchdown.
Brady settled into the shotgun, barking out his cadence. He glanced over at Caesar and waved him for him to motion to the other side of the field.
The freshman quarterback called for the snap just as Caesar passed in front of him. Caesar caught the ball and continued his run for another few steps before stopping and bringing the ball up to pass. He rolled back into the pocket, stepped up and launched the ball downfield towards Jason who had a step or two on the safety who was struggling to get back.
The pass was a bit short but Jason was able to contort his body enough to make the catch and jog into the endzone for the touchdown.
…
“Oh my! What a play! Caesar Jenkins channeled all of his dad’s passing ability to heave that ball to Jason Williams for the touchdown!”
“He did that a couple times in high school as well. The kid can sling it. I know a few people just got hit with a wave of nostalgia seeing Jenkins and #17 on the back of a player’s jersey who was throwing the ball.”
“I don’t think I’ve seen Jenkins celebrate this much since his freshman season.”
“After that pass, he deserves to rub it in a little.”
It was just another game.
The celebrations on the field for the Green Wave were subdued compared to last season’s triumph in Atlanta over the Florida Gators. They added another touchdown late in the game while managing to hold the Seminoles to a pair of field goals in the second half. Little more than business as usual for them.
They still reveled in being SEC Champions for the second year running. They cheered when Caesar was named the game’s offensive player of the game and Devin was given the award as the defensive most valuable player, they cheered as they circled the field with the conference’s logo and it’s trophy, celebrating with the fans who made the trip to Atlanta and they cheered when Devin’s record was recognized by the commissioner of the conference – another feather in the SEC’s hat.
But as they walked back into the locker room, the celebrations ended for the most part.
Tomorrow, they would find out whether or not they would be heading to Pasadena for the National Championship Game. Considering their strength of schedule compared to Arizona State’s, it wasn’t much more than a formality that the selection committee builds up their choice as a three-horse race.
USC knew who they would be playing in the Rose Bowl in a month’s time and Tulane knew that they would be the ones standing on the other side of the field.
The Green Wave would give themselves a few days to bask in the glory of their back-to-back conference titles but they had more important goals ahead of them. They’d jumped the conference hurdle.
Now, they needed to finish.
Mile High Club
Erik whistled as he stared up at the plane in front of him. He’d been on commercial liners plenty of times but that didn’t compare to standing a few feet away from an expensive private jet, shrouded in a bit of morning fog. Let alone one that – technically – he could say he owned.
“Bae, are you going to help me with my bags?” Jessica called from behind his car.
Shaking his head as he tried to work out how much Deion shelled out for this, he jogged around the car and pulled Jessica’s and his bags from the trunk.
The flight attendant turned towards Kaley, smiled and shook her hand with a bit more genuine politeness than she’d parted to the others, “It’s a pleasure to you flying with us again, Ms. Parfait. It’s been so long.”
“Yeah, like four or five years,” Kaley said awkwardly as she returned the handshake, “I would be lying if I didn’t say I was surprised you remembered me.”
“But of course. Normally the only people we have with us are Mr. Jenkins, his family and the odd client of his. It helps that I’m pretty good with matching faces and names. I hope you enjoy your flight today.”
Alison and Sophie walked up to either side of Kaley as the flight attendant stepped back onto the plane.
“You’ve flown on this thing before, Kaley?” Sophie asked.
“Years ago.”
“But you’ve been on it before?” Alison pressed for clarity.
Kaley nodded, “It was back when I’d just gotten with Caesar. He brought me along to Ohio when his dad was inducted into the Hall of Fame.”
“Damn, Kaley,” Erik laughed as he and Jessica passed by the three girls to get onto the plane, “You’re more of a Jenkins than I am. They didn’t invite me to go to the damn induction ceremony. I’m a bit jealous.”
“It was just a trip to Ohio. It wasn’t even that nice. I mean if you are into the whole ego-stroking thing then maybe you would have enjoyed yourself but I could have definitely down without it,” Kaley said as she boarded the plane.
“You don’t have to lie to us, Kaley,” Alison chided from behind her, “We all know being Caesar’s arm candy didn’t really bother you all that much. Sure, there were a few select times when even I wanted to wring his neck but I have to admit it doesn’t seem like too bad of a job. Sophie seems to enjoy it.”
Sophie shrugged, “He doesn’t buy me anything.”
“Sounds like you are sucking his dick good enough anymore,” Alison laughed, “Maybe you can join the Mile High Club. I’m sure Kaley did way back when.”
“Can we not discuss this?” Kaley asked.
Jessica elbowed Erik to get his attention, “Your brother is a bit of a man-whore, isn’t he?”
“Apparently.”
The banter between the five of them continued as they waited for Caesar. The flight attendant looked nervously to the cockpit as she checked her watch. Almost as if she was waiting for it, the captain burst through the door and looked around at the passengers.
“Where’s the kid? He was the one who scheduled the flight. How is he the one who is late?” the man asked the flight attendant.
“Well, maybe he overslept?”
“It pisses me off that I have to fly this rich little shit around and he doesn’t even have the courtesy to be on fucking time for a departure time that he requested,” the pilot said to the flight attendant through clenched teeth.
Caesar ducked under the door and glanced at the pilot, “Probably because this rich little shit’s father cuts the check that pays you. God forbid someone has car trouble. I think we’re all ready to go when you are.”
“My apologies, Mr. Jenkins. We’ll be taking off in as soon as we get clearance,” the pilot said, ashen-faced, as he and the flight attendant returned to their pre-flight routine.
“Fucking hate that guy,” Caesar mumbled.
He stepped into the cabin with Gina following closely behind him, hand-in-hand. As he had done many times, he walked to the final pair of seats at the back of the cabin and plopped down into one of them before waving for Gina to take the one next to him.
Alison leaned over to Erik and nodded towards the couple, “Who’s that?”
“I’m pretty sure that’s his girlfriend.”
“What?!”
Sophie’s outburst drew the attention of everyone on the plane.
She cleared her throat, “Sorry. Thought you said something about snakes on the plane.”
…
As the group headed to cars waiting to take them to the beach house, Erik put his arm around Caesar’s shoulder and pulled him closer so the two of them could have a private family chat, “Can I ask you what the hell you think you are doing?”
“What are you talking about?” Caesar resisted the urge to shove him away. Somewhere in the air above Arizona or New Mexico, he’d made a promise to himself that he’d continue to extend the olive branch to Erik instead of a fist full of arrows. Besides, it was something suggested to him by Dr. Naquin in his last session – to see Erik as an ally instead of an enemy. He thought he’d already been doing that.
“You know what I’m fucking talking about. You decided to bring your girlfriend along on a trip with your ex-girlfriend and the girl you cheated on both of them with? Do you want to get smothered in your sleep or something?”
“I couldn’t tell Gina where I was going for a week and not offer her the same thing, Erik. It’s not going to be a problem. Kaley might be my ex, but we’re only friends now and Sophie… Sophie knows the score. Don’t worry about me. I’ve been doing the whole juggling women thing for years. Only football is easier,” Caesar chuckled.
Erik stopped them and turned towards his brother, a cautioning finger pointed at his chest, “As long as you don’t start a man-hating crusade this week. You know how women like to band together against men. I’ve been on Jessica’s good side for weeks now. I’d like to go back to Louisiana still on her good side.”
Devin sat on the edge of Alessa’s bed watching as she packed her bags for her trip back home. He had to admit that she wasn’t the most organized person when it came to packing. She’d spent most of the time running from one side of the room to the other only to misplace something and have to go looking for it under piles of clothes that he wasn’t even aware she had.
“When are you leaving again?”
“Next Monday.”
“So, why are you packing a week before?”
Alessa stopped for a moment as she looked around the room, trying to figure out what to pack next, “I don’t want to spend all night doing this next Sunday because I don’t like sleeping on planes.”
“On a 10-hour flight, though?”
“Are you trying to talk me out of leaving?”
“I’m trying to talk you out of doing this right now. I’m going to New York Wednesday and won’t be back until Sunday and you’ll be leaving the next day.”
“Aw, Devinho,” she walked over to him and straddled his legs, placing her arms over his shoulders, “Are you going to miss me?”
He looked at the girl on his lap, barely taller than him as they were. It was hard to think about his problems when this exotic beauty was so close to him. It didn’t help that his mind went straight into the gutter considering her leisurely attire and their position.
“Of course, I am. I’ve spent more time with you this semester than I have with the team. I’ve gotten pretty used to having you around.”
“I’m only going to be in Brazil for two weeks. You’re more than welcomed to come with me.”
“I don’t know about all that. They’ll need me to come back for the National Championship and I might say something to piss your dad off enough for him to send your brothers after me.”
“He’d probably assume you could outrun them so he’d get João for you.”
“Come on, I think I can take a soccer player.”
Alessa narrowed her eyes at Devin using the word soccer. She’d been trying to wean him off it for months but to no avail, “Soccer players are what you have here in America. João is a futebolista. One of the best zagueiros in the Brasileirão. He’s probably as tall as you.”
“I have to admit, calling a man a futebolista doesn’t strike fear in me.”
“The Corinthians fans call him ‘O Diabo de São Paulo’ if that is better for you,” she laughed at the nervous look on Devin’s face knowing that he’d worked out what that meant in English on his own, “He’s like a big teddy bear to me, though.”
He shook his head, “I’m going to give it a bit longer before I meet him then but really, almost three weeks is a long time. Then when you get back we’ll be practicing for the game in Pasadena then going to Pasadena then playing the National Championship then coming back and you’ll be doing whatever it is you do during basketball season and—“
Alessa pushed his chin up to close his mouth and shut him up. Devin started to resume his diatribe but she pressed a finger over his lips and shushed him.
“You’re rambling, Devinho. Three weeks is a long time but as long as they don’t rip up my student visa at the border, it’s not like I’ll never come back.”
“Is that even possible?”
“I’m sure it is then you’ll have to move to Brazil and become a futebolista or marry me so I can come back to finish my degree.”
“Such difficult choices.”
She rolled her eyes, “Tal brincalhão. And my internship with the athletic department is ending after this semester. They offered me a permanent job but I am taking an internship with Green Wave TV starting in January so I can learn what I want to do when I finish school.”
“So I won’t have to worry about anyone blowing their top because we’re together?”
“No, not really.”
“Come to New York with me then.”
“Come to New York with you?”
“Yeah, come with me. You’re already packed.”
“Devin, that’s crazy. I can’t afford another plane ticket and even if I could do you know how difficult it would be for me to get one for Wednesday?”
“I’ll pay for the ticket. I have some money saved up and I’m sure there aren’t hundreds of people flying from here to New York on a Wednesday at the beginning of December.”
“I can’t let you do that.”
“Why not? It’s not like I’m hurting for money and I’m not paying for my own ticket or my hotel room. Are you going to make me beg? I’ll do it.”
“Do you really want me to come?”
“Obviously or I wouldn’t have asked you,” Devin chuckled, “Really though, Alessa, I wouldn’t even be looking at this many trophies, awards, ceremonies and whatever else if it wasn’t for you. I would have told half of these people to go fuck themselves and just played football. Now, maybe, I might make some history and you are as much a part of that as I am.”
Alessa smiled softly, “Okay then, I’ll come. Now, let me finish packing.”
She tried to get up but Devin wrapped his arms around her waist and held her in place.
“What now?”
“I’ve gotten pretty comfortable with you there and I don’t think I’m ready to let you up.”
“You’re lucky you make a good place to sit.”
A smirk spread across Devin’s face as his mind jumped straight into the gutter, “I’m sure we can figure out a way to make me a better a place for you to sit.”
“Don’t push it, Devinho,” Alessa chided.
“A man has to try.”
Erik whistled as he stared up at the plane in front of him. He’d been on commercial liners plenty of times but that didn’t compare to standing a few feet away from an expensive private jet, shrouded in a bit of morning fog. Let alone one that – technically – he could say he owned.
“Bae, are you going to help me with my bags?” Jessica called from behind his car.
Shaking his head as he tried to work out how much Deion shelled out for this, he jogged around the car and pulled Jessica’s and his bags from the trunk.
The flight attendant turned towards Kaley, smiled and shook her hand with a bit more genuine politeness than she’d parted to the others, “It’s a pleasure to you flying with us again, Ms. Parfait. It’s been so long.”
“Yeah, like four or five years,” Kaley said awkwardly as she returned the handshake, “I would be lying if I didn’t say I was surprised you remembered me.”
“But of course. Normally the only people we have with us are Mr. Jenkins, his family and the odd client of his. It helps that I’m pretty good with matching faces and names. I hope you enjoy your flight today.”
Alison and Sophie walked up to either side of Kaley as the flight attendant stepped back onto the plane.
“You’ve flown on this thing before, Kaley?” Sophie asked.
“Years ago.”
“But you’ve been on it before?” Alison pressed for clarity.
Kaley nodded, “It was back when I’d just gotten with Caesar. He brought me along to Ohio when his dad was inducted into the Hall of Fame.”
“Damn, Kaley,” Erik laughed as he and Jessica passed by the three girls to get onto the plane, “You’re more of a Jenkins than I am. They didn’t invite me to go to the damn induction ceremony. I’m a bit jealous.”
“It was just a trip to Ohio. It wasn’t even that nice. I mean if you are into the whole ego-stroking thing then maybe you would have enjoyed yourself but I could have definitely down without it,” Kaley said as she boarded the plane.
“You don’t have to lie to us, Kaley,” Alison chided from behind her, “We all know being Caesar’s arm candy didn’t really bother you all that much. Sure, there were a few select times when even I wanted to wring his neck but I have to admit it doesn’t seem like too bad of a job. Sophie seems to enjoy it.”
Sophie shrugged, “He doesn’t buy me anything.”
“Sounds like you are sucking his dick good enough anymore,” Alison laughed, “Maybe you can join the Mile High Club. I’m sure Kaley did way back when.”
“Can we not discuss this?” Kaley asked.
Jessica elbowed Erik to get his attention, “Your brother is a bit of a man-whore, isn’t he?”
“Apparently.”
The banter between the five of them continued as they waited for Caesar. The flight attendant looked nervously to the cockpit as she checked her watch. Almost as if she was waiting for it, the captain burst through the door and looked around at the passengers.
“Where’s the kid? He was the one who scheduled the flight. How is he the one who is late?” the man asked the flight attendant.
“Well, maybe he overslept?”
“It pisses me off that I have to fly this rich little shit around and he doesn’t even have the courtesy to be on fucking time for a departure time that he requested,” the pilot said to the flight attendant through clenched teeth.
Caesar ducked under the door and glanced at the pilot, “Probably because this rich little shit’s father cuts the check that pays you. God forbid someone has car trouble. I think we’re all ready to go when you are.”
“My apologies, Mr. Jenkins. We’ll be taking off in as soon as we get clearance,” the pilot said, ashen-faced, as he and the flight attendant returned to their pre-flight routine.
“Fucking hate that guy,” Caesar mumbled.
He stepped into the cabin with Gina following closely behind him, hand-in-hand. As he had done many times, he walked to the final pair of seats at the back of the cabin and plopped down into one of them before waving for Gina to take the one next to him.
Alison leaned over to Erik and nodded towards the couple, “Who’s that?”
“I’m pretty sure that’s his girlfriend.”
“What?!”
Sophie’s outburst drew the attention of everyone on the plane.
She cleared her throat, “Sorry. Thought you said something about snakes on the plane.”
…
As the group headed to cars waiting to take them to the beach house, Erik put his arm around Caesar’s shoulder and pulled him closer so the two of them could have a private family chat, “Can I ask you what the hell you think you are doing?”
“What are you talking about?” Caesar resisted the urge to shove him away. Somewhere in the air above Arizona or New Mexico, he’d made a promise to himself that he’d continue to extend the olive branch to Erik instead of a fist full of arrows. Besides, it was something suggested to him by Dr. Naquin in his last session – to see Erik as an ally instead of an enemy. He thought he’d already been doing that.
“You know what I’m fucking talking about. You decided to bring your girlfriend along on a trip with your ex-girlfriend and the girl you cheated on both of them with? Do you want to get smothered in your sleep or something?”
“I couldn’t tell Gina where I was going for a week and not offer her the same thing, Erik. It’s not going to be a problem. Kaley might be my ex, but we’re only friends now and Sophie… Sophie knows the score. Don’t worry about me. I’ve been doing the whole juggling women thing for years. Only football is easier,” Caesar chuckled.
Erik stopped them and turned towards his brother, a cautioning finger pointed at his chest, “As long as you don’t start a man-hating crusade this week. You know how women like to band together against men. I’ve been on Jessica’s good side for weeks now. I’d like to go back to Louisiana still on her good side.”
Devin sat on the edge of Alessa’s bed watching as she packed her bags for her trip back home. He had to admit that she wasn’t the most organized person when it came to packing. She’d spent most of the time running from one side of the room to the other only to misplace something and have to go looking for it under piles of clothes that he wasn’t even aware she had.
“When are you leaving again?”
“Next Monday.”
“So, why are you packing a week before?”
Alessa stopped for a moment as she looked around the room, trying to figure out what to pack next, “I don’t want to spend all night doing this next Sunday because I don’t like sleeping on planes.”
“On a 10-hour flight, though?”
“Are you trying to talk me out of leaving?”
“I’m trying to talk you out of doing this right now. I’m going to New York Wednesday and won’t be back until Sunday and you’ll be leaving the next day.”
“Aw, Devinho,” she walked over to him and straddled his legs, placing her arms over his shoulders, “Are you going to miss me?”
He looked at the girl on his lap, barely taller than him as they were. It was hard to think about his problems when this exotic beauty was so close to him. It didn’t help that his mind went straight into the gutter considering her leisurely attire and their position.
“Of course, I am. I’ve spent more time with you this semester than I have with the team. I’ve gotten pretty used to having you around.”
“I’m only going to be in Brazil for two weeks. You’re more than welcomed to come with me.”
“I don’t know about all that. They’ll need me to come back for the National Championship and I might say something to piss your dad off enough for him to send your brothers after me.”
“He’d probably assume you could outrun them so he’d get João for you.”
“Come on, I think I can take a soccer player.”
Alessa narrowed her eyes at Devin using the word soccer. She’d been trying to wean him off it for months but to no avail, “Soccer players are what you have here in America. João is a futebolista. One of the best zagueiros in the Brasileirão. He’s probably as tall as you.”
“I have to admit, calling a man a futebolista doesn’t strike fear in me.”
“The Corinthians fans call him ‘O Diabo de São Paulo’ if that is better for you,” she laughed at the nervous look on Devin’s face knowing that he’d worked out what that meant in English on his own, “He’s like a big teddy bear to me, though.”
He shook his head, “I’m going to give it a bit longer before I meet him then but really, almost three weeks is a long time. Then when you get back we’ll be practicing for the game in Pasadena then going to Pasadena then playing the National Championship then coming back and you’ll be doing whatever it is you do during basketball season and—“
Alessa pushed his chin up to close his mouth and shut him up. Devin started to resume his diatribe but she pressed a finger over his lips and shushed him.
“You’re rambling, Devinho. Three weeks is a long time but as long as they don’t rip up my student visa at the border, it’s not like I’ll never come back.”
“Is that even possible?”
“I’m sure it is then you’ll have to move to Brazil and become a futebolista or marry me so I can come back to finish my degree.”
“Such difficult choices.”
She rolled her eyes, “Tal brincalhão. And my internship with the athletic department is ending after this semester. They offered me a permanent job but I am taking an internship with Green Wave TV starting in January so I can learn what I want to do when I finish school.”
“So I won’t have to worry about anyone blowing their top because we’re together?”
“No, not really.”
“Come to New York with me then.”
“Come to New York with you?”
“Yeah, come with me. You’re already packed.”
“Devin, that’s crazy. I can’t afford another plane ticket and even if I could do you know how difficult it would be for me to get one for Wednesday?”
“I’ll pay for the ticket. I have some money saved up and I’m sure there aren’t hundreds of people flying from here to New York on a Wednesday at the beginning of December.”
“I can’t let you do that.”
“Why not? It’s not like I’m hurting for money and I’m not paying for my own ticket or my hotel room. Are you going to make me beg? I’ll do it.”
“Do you really want me to come?”
“Obviously or I wouldn’t have asked you,” Devin chuckled, “Really though, Alessa, I wouldn’t even be looking at this many trophies, awards, ceremonies and whatever else if it wasn’t for you. I would have told half of these people to go fuck themselves and just played football. Now, maybe, I might make some history and you are as much a part of that as I am.”
Alessa smiled softly, “Okay then, I’ll come. Now, let me finish packing.”
She tried to get up but Devin wrapped his arms around her waist and held her in place.
“What now?”
“I’ve gotten pretty comfortable with you there and I don’t think I’m ready to let you up.”
“You’re lucky you make a good place to sit.”
A smirk spread across Devin’s face as his mind jumped straight into the gutter, “I’m sure we can figure out a way to make me a better a place for you to sit.”
“Don’t push it, Devinho,” Alessa chided.
“A man has to try.”
Everywhere I Go
Devin looked out over Manhattan from the window of his hotel room. He’d been told that he’d been given a ‘bit of an upgrade’ from the accommodations the university had paid for last year but he’d be lying if he said he was expecting anything like he was given.
A suite at the Westin in Times Square might not have been the most expensive or most luxurious but it was easily the nicest hotel he’d ever stayed at. More importantly, only a block or two away from the Best Buy Theater, he was at the center of it all. It was a small glimpse into what his life could be when he turned pro -- unless he was drafted by the Packers. After almost 200 years in existence, one of the NFL’s oldest franchises was still based in a little Wisconsin meat-packing town and still technically publicly owned.
It was surreal to think that in only a matter of days, he would be sitting before some of college football’s greatest players. Even the possibility of being added to one of the game’s most selective and prestigious fraternities would have to be listed as one of the crowning achievements of his life.
Vegas installed him as a very long shot, 50-to-1 odds the last time he’d checked. The experts as well didn’t give him much of a chance when compared to Alex Morales. Some had even gone as far as to claim that Morales would win the trophy with the largest margin in its history, likely gaining the maximum number of first place votes.
As much as he wanted the trophy for himself, he couldn’t disagree that Morales was just as deserving of it, if not more so than he was. With some of the spare time he had after checking into the hotel, he’d pulled up a few highlight videos of the Trojan quarterback – a bit of an appetizer to the amount of film he’d watch before they met in the National Championship game – and after a handful of throws, he knew that this guy was going to be the best quarterback that he’d ever faced.
Fortunately for him, while most people couldn’t tell you who came in second or third in the Heisman race, they did remember the oddities. Finishing in the top five as a pure defensive player was an oddity. And if he managed to finish second, being beaten by the largest margin ever was also an oddity. Either way, he’d be remembered for something.
“Do you have any idea how hard it was to find ice?”
Drawing the curtains, Devin turned away from the window. Alessa had gone off in search of an ice machine thirty minutes ago and from the looks of the empty bucket she was holding in her hand, her search was not a successful one.
“I’m convinced there is a machine on every floor,” Devin chuckled.
“I’d take your word for that if I hadn’t gone ten floors up and all the way back down to the lobby,” she said, tossing the bucket into a corner, “I don’t remember which floor I was on but I passed by this old man and asked him if he’d seen one. Could you believe he thought I was housekeeping and should know that kind of thing?”
“Maybe he thought you were Spanish. It sounds bad but a lot of hotels still employ a lot of Spanish women for housekeeping.”
“Do I look Spanish?”
“I mean, what exactly does a Spanish person look like?”
“Certainly not like me!”
“Is it really that big of a deal?”
“É ele realmente tão grande de um acordo que pergunta? Yes, it’s that big of a deal. Americans think everyone is Spanish, Chinese, Indian or African. Hell, they use the word ‘American’ like there are no other countries on the two continents called America. Como arrogante!”
Devin chuckled at her rant, “You realize I’m American, right?”
“What?”
“I’m American. You know, one of those people you are talking about there.”
Alessa ran her hand through her hair as she thought about what she’d said. She shrugged and sat down on the bed, “What can I say? I don’t like being called Spanish especially after I’ve been on a plane for hours and have been running around looking for ice. If it makes you feel better, you are my favorite American.”
“Favorite American? That’s it? Damn, sounds low on the totem pole.”
“Come on, Devinho. Don’t be like that. If it weren’t for João and meu papai, you’d be my favorite person.”
“You’re lucky.”
“Oh yeah? Why is that?”
“I would have had to throw you out.”
“No, you wouldn’t. You couldn’t anyway.”
“I would and I could.”
“I’d like to see you try.”
“Remember you asked for it,” Devin shrugged as he walked towards her, jokingly cracking his knuckles
She shrieked and crawled across the bed to get away from him, laughing the whole way, “Devin! I was just joking!”
After their playful tumble in the sheets turned a bit more intimate, Alessa convinced Devin that they should properly take in the sights of New York City. He was sure that he could find better ways to spend their first night in the Big Apple but he was quickly learning that he didn’t win many arguments with Alessa – whether or not that was due to lack of trying was an entirely different question.
He had to admit he didn’t like New York City on the streets as much as he did up in the hotel. He was a small city guy. Sure, Bourbon Street tended to get crazy with the throngs of tourists trying to get a taste of whatever they believed to be New Orleans life but it was a Wednesday night. You’d never struggle to get down a sidewalk in Louisiana on a Wednesday night.
“Oh shit, Devin King?! I thought I was going to have to wait a day or two to run into you!”
Devin looked around, wondering who would be able to pick him out of a crowd in Manhattan, but when he saw the person walking towards him, he could understand how. After all the film he’d watched over the last few weeks, he’d be able to pick out Alex Morales in a city of millions as well.
The Trojan quarterback had the same relaxed gait off-the-field that he showed on it. It must be a side effect of growing up in southern California. Louisiana was known for its laid-back nature but he was sure the Golden State was the same way.
Morales reached out his hand for Devin and the two of them shook hands, “Out on the town, huh? I could imagine there aren’t too many big cities like this down there in Louisiana. You’re finding your way around alright?”
“I think I’m doing fine so far. Haven’t wondered down any dark alleys or gotten mugged yet,” Devin shrugged to hide a bit of the disdain that had immediately grown from the veiled shot at Louisiana. He’d admit that it wasn’t the biggest or most populated state but it did just fine.
“Right. I keep forgetting that they teach you guys well down at Tulane. Might not know how to play football all that well but by God you’ll wreck the shit out of some accounting,” Morales laughed and turned to the younger guy who was behind him. He put his hand on the kid’s shoulder and pulled him forward, “Shit, how rude of me? This is my brother, Jorge. You got any brothers, Devin? Well if you don’t, you’re lucky. This little shit won’t listen to me when I tell him to just go to SC in a couple years.”
“Could go to UCLA,” Devin suggested.
“Yeah, if he wants to lose. I’m about to kick start another Trojan dynasty in January. He can keep it going. We’ll be like those Jenkins guys y’all have in Louisiana just not as insane, not as overrated and playing for a football powerhouse.”
Devin gave his joke a humorless chuckle, “You sound pretty confident.”
“It comes with the territory, man. We win a lot in Los Angeles. Tulane will get there eventually… maybe… possibly… probably not,” Morales shrugged. Looking to Devin’s side, he noticed Alessa standing there and turned on the charm, “Oye, mami. ¿Quiere colgar con un ganador? Podría dejar a este perdedor en paz y venir conmigo y mi hermano. Tendremos buen tiempo todos.”
Devin looked down to hide his laughter. Alex Morales had made the mistake of thinking Alessa was Spanish.
“Vá-se foder, filho da puta! Não sou alguma prostituta espanhola!” Alessa snapped angrily.
The Morales brother looked at each other in confused, both of them trying to figure out what she’d just said. Jorge shrugged and Alex turned back to Devin, “You understand whatever that was that just came out of her mouth? Did you find her on the internet or something?”
“Sim, fez. No mesmo bordel que sua mãe.”
“You know what? I’m just going to go. I only know two languages and that’s not one of them. Come on, Jorge.”
Devin waited until they had gotten a good distance away before turning he and Alessa in the direction of the hotel, “Okay, I have a question. How many languages do you speak?”
“I speak Portuguese, English and Spanish fluently. I know enough to get by in French and Italian.”
“That’s pretty impressive.”
“Learning English and Spanish is required in Brazil,” she shrugged.
“So that’s why you don’t like Americans and being called Spanish?”
Alessa laughed, “I don’t like being called Spanish because Spanish men, as you just saw, piss me off. They think they are so suave. Too much machismo. It’s not the 1500s. No one is looking for a bullfighter. That’s why they couldn’t colonize Brazil. All the natives hated them and killed them. Don’t even get me started on Spanish women.”
“Sounds like you had a shitty Latin ex-boyfriend.”
She scoffed, clearly insulted by the very thought of dating a Spanish guy, “I’d never stoop that low. If that was my only option, I’d become a lesbian.”
“I’m sure a lot of people wouldn’t mind that at all,” Devin laughed. There were a few girls that he wouldn’t mind seeing Alessa with.
“You say that now. When I’m stealing all the girls from the guys at Tulane, you’ll be singing a different tune.”
“Damn right, I will. Not only would I be without a girlfriend but the one I had would be making sure I don’t get another one because she’s occupying all the worthwhile options,” Devin joked, earning a shove from Alessa, “But, going back to your little rant, you end up dating an American guy who is kinda like a bullfighter in some strange, roundabout way.”
“Yes, funny how that turned out but I think it’s because you’re kind of soft,” she laughed, “You know I really want you to beat him now, right?”
“Can’t possibly be as bad I want to.”
Yet another football player who thought he was larger than life. It was strange how he continued to run into those types as he navigated through his football career. He wanted to put Alex Morales in his place, the same way he’d done the others. Heisman or National Championship, it didn’t matter which one but both would be pretty good.
Devin looked out over Manhattan from the window of his hotel room. He’d been told that he’d been given a ‘bit of an upgrade’ from the accommodations the university had paid for last year but he’d be lying if he said he was expecting anything like he was given.
A suite at the Westin in Times Square might not have been the most expensive or most luxurious but it was easily the nicest hotel he’d ever stayed at. More importantly, only a block or two away from the Best Buy Theater, he was at the center of it all. It was a small glimpse into what his life could be when he turned pro -- unless he was drafted by the Packers. After almost 200 years in existence, one of the NFL’s oldest franchises was still based in a little Wisconsin meat-packing town and still technically publicly owned.
It was surreal to think that in only a matter of days, he would be sitting before some of college football’s greatest players. Even the possibility of being added to one of the game’s most selective and prestigious fraternities would have to be listed as one of the crowning achievements of his life.
Vegas installed him as a very long shot, 50-to-1 odds the last time he’d checked. The experts as well didn’t give him much of a chance when compared to Alex Morales. Some had even gone as far as to claim that Morales would win the trophy with the largest margin in its history, likely gaining the maximum number of first place votes.
As much as he wanted the trophy for himself, he couldn’t disagree that Morales was just as deserving of it, if not more so than he was. With some of the spare time he had after checking into the hotel, he’d pulled up a few highlight videos of the Trojan quarterback – a bit of an appetizer to the amount of film he’d watch before they met in the National Championship game – and after a handful of throws, he knew that this guy was going to be the best quarterback that he’d ever faced.
Fortunately for him, while most people couldn’t tell you who came in second or third in the Heisman race, they did remember the oddities. Finishing in the top five as a pure defensive player was an oddity. And if he managed to finish second, being beaten by the largest margin ever was also an oddity. Either way, he’d be remembered for something.
“Do you have any idea how hard it was to find ice?”
Drawing the curtains, Devin turned away from the window. Alessa had gone off in search of an ice machine thirty minutes ago and from the looks of the empty bucket she was holding in her hand, her search was not a successful one.
“I’m convinced there is a machine on every floor,” Devin chuckled.
“I’d take your word for that if I hadn’t gone ten floors up and all the way back down to the lobby,” she said, tossing the bucket into a corner, “I don’t remember which floor I was on but I passed by this old man and asked him if he’d seen one. Could you believe he thought I was housekeeping and should know that kind of thing?”
“Maybe he thought you were Spanish. It sounds bad but a lot of hotels still employ a lot of Spanish women for housekeeping.”
“Do I look Spanish?”
“I mean, what exactly does a Spanish person look like?”
“Certainly not like me!”
“Is it really that big of a deal?”
“É ele realmente tão grande de um acordo que pergunta? Yes, it’s that big of a deal. Americans think everyone is Spanish, Chinese, Indian or African. Hell, they use the word ‘American’ like there are no other countries on the two continents called America. Como arrogante!”
Devin chuckled at her rant, “You realize I’m American, right?”
“What?”
“I’m American. You know, one of those people you are talking about there.”
Alessa ran her hand through her hair as she thought about what she’d said. She shrugged and sat down on the bed, “What can I say? I don’t like being called Spanish especially after I’ve been on a plane for hours and have been running around looking for ice. If it makes you feel better, you are my favorite American.”
“Favorite American? That’s it? Damn, sounds low on the totem pole.”
“Come on, Devinho. Don’t be like that. If it weren’t for João and meu papai, you’d be my favorite person.”
“You’re lucky.”
“Oh yeah? Why is that?”
“I would have had to throw you out.”
“No, you wouldn’t. You couldn’t anyway.”
“I would and I could.”
“I’d like to see you try.”
“Remember you asked for it,” Devin shrugged as he walked towards her, jokingly cracking his knuckles
She shrieked and crawled across the bed to get away from him, laughing the whole way, “Devin! I was just joking!”
After their playful tumble in the sheets turned a bit more intimate, Alessa convinced Devin that they should properly take in the sights of New York City. He was sure that he could find better ways to spend their first night in the Big Apple but he was quickly learning that he didn’t win many arguments with Alessa – whether or not that was due to lack of trying was an entirely different question.
He had to admit he didn’t like New York City on the streets as much as he did up in the hotel. He was a small city guy. Sure, Bourbon Street tended to get crazy with the throngs of tourists trying to get a taste of whatever they believed to be New Orleans life but it was a Wednesday night. You’d never struggle to get down a sidewalk in Louisiana on a Wednesday night.
“Oh shit, Devin King?! I thought I was going to have to wait a day or two to run into you!”
Devin looked around, wondering who would be able to pick him out of a crowd in Manhattan, but when he saw the person walking towards him, he could understand how. After all the film he’d watched over the last few weeks, he’d be able to pick out Alex Morales in a city of millions as well.
The Trojan quarterback had the same relaxed gait off-the-field that he showed on it. It must be a side effect of growing up in southern California. Louisiana was known for its laid-back nature but he was sure the Golden State was the same way.
Morales reached out his hand for Devin and the two of them shook hands, “Out on the town, huh? I could imagine there aren’t too many big cities like this down there in Louisiana. You’re finding your way around alright?”
“I think I’m doing fine so far. Haven’t wondered down any dark alleys or gotten mugged yet,” Devin shrugged to hide a bit of the disdain that had immediately grown from the veiled shot at Louisiana. He’d admit that it wasn’t the biggest or most populated state but it did just fine.
“Right. I keep forgetting that they teach you guys well down at Tulane. Might not know how to play football all that well but by God you’ll wreck the shit out of some accounting,” Morales laughed and turned to the younger guy who was behind him. He put his hand on the kid’s shoulder and pulled him forward, “Shit, how rude of me? This is my brother, Jorge. You got any brothers, Devin? Well if you don’t, you’re lucky. This little shit won’t listen to me when I tell him to just go to SC in a couple years.”
“Could go to UCLA,” Devin suggested.
“Yeah, if he wants to lose. I’m about to kick start another Trojan dynasty in January. He can keep it going. We’ll be like those Jenkins guys y’all have in Louisiana just not as insane, not as overrated and playing for a football powerhouse.”
Devin gave his joke a humorless chuckle, “You sound pretty confident.”
“It comes with the territory, man. We win a lot in Los Angeles. Tulane will get there eventually… maybe… possibly… probably not,” Morales shrugged. Looking to Devin’s side, he noticed Alessa standing there and turned on the charm, “Oye, mami. ¿Quiere colgar con un ganador? Podría dejar a este perdedor en paz y venir conmigo y mi hermano. Tendremos buen tiempo todos.”
Devin looked down to hide his laughter. Alex Morales had made the mistake of thinking Alessa was Spanish.
“Vá-se foder, filho da puta! Não sou alguma prostituta espanhola!” Alessa snapped angrily.
The Morales brother looked at each other in confused, both of them trying to figure out what she’d just said. Jorge shrugged and Alex turned back to Devin, “You understand whatever that was that just came out of her mouth? Did you find her on the internet or something?”
“Sim, fez. No mesmo bordel que sua mãe.”
“You know what? I’m just going to go. I only know two languages and that’s not one of them. Come on, Jorge.”
Devin waited until they had gotten a good distance away before turning he and Alessa in the direction of the hotel, “Okay, I have a question. How many languages do you speak?”
“I speak Portuguese, English and Spanish fluently. I know enough to get by in French and Italian.”
“That’s pretty impressive.”
“Learning English and Spanish is required in Brazil,” she shrugged.
“So that’s why you don’t like Americans and being called Spanish?”
Alessa laughed, “I don’t like being called Spanish because Spanish men, as you just saw, piss me off. They think they are so suave. Too much machismo. It’s not the 1500s. No one is looking for a bullfighter. That’s why they couldn’t colonize Brazil. All the natives hated them and killed them. Don’t even get me started on Spanish women.”
“Sounds like you had a shitty Latin ex-boyfriend.”
She scoffed, clearly insulted by the very thought of dating a Spanish guy, “I’d never stoop that low. If that was my only option, I’d become a lesbian.”
“I’m sure a lot of people wouldn’t mind that at all,” Devin laughed. There were a few girls that he wouldn’t mind seeing Alessa with.
“You say that now. When I’m stealing all the girls from the guys at Tulane, you’ll be singing a different tune.”
“Damn right, I will. Not only would I be without a girlfriend but the one I had would be making sure I don’t get another one because she’s occupying all the worthwhile options,” Devin joked, earning a shove from Alessa, “But, going back to your little rant, you end up dating an American guy who is kinda like a bullfighter in some strange, roundabout way.”
“Yes, funny how that turned out but I think it’s because you’re kind of soft,” she laughed, “You know I really want you to beat him now, right?”
“Can’t possibly be as bad I want to.”
Yet another football player who thought he was larger than life. It was strange how he continued to run into those types as he navigated through his football career. He wanted to put Alex Morales in his place, the same way he’d done the others. Heisman or National Championship, it didn’t matter which one but both would be pretty good.
Park Ranger Badge
Erik and Caesar stood on the bench, staring at the pile of wood they’d built in an attempt to start a fire. Unfortunately, outside of a few glowing embers and a bit of smoke rising from the heap, they weren’t able to call themselves successful. Caesar poured more lighter fluid onto the fire but wasn’t pleased with the results and added another generous dousing. Shaking his head at the pathetic flames licking from the bottom of the pile, he pulled off the cap of the can and drew his hand back to throw it all in.
“Don’t throw the whole can in there!”
Erik barely had time to jump away as Caesar tossed the can of lighter fluid into the pile of smoldering wood they’d built, causing it to burst into flames.
“I wouldn’t have had to if you wouldn’t have brought that wet fucking wood over here,” Caesar shot back as he took a few steps away from the fire.
“Excuse the fuck out of me, Mr. Park Ranger, but where the hell was I supposed to find wood that wasn’t wet on a beach?”
“I don’t know. Be creative. Rip some off someone’s deck or something.”
“And it would probably still be wet. Sorry that I wasn’t a boy scout when I was yo—“
A small explosion sent both of the boys diving for cover as a flaming fireball that was once the can of lighter fluid rocketed towards the ocean. They both rolled over in the sand and glanced at each other.
“You almost fucked killed us!” Erik said, his voice an octave higher than normal.
Caesar stared at him wide-eyed before starting to laugh, “Apparently the can took your balls with it to the bottom of the ocean.”
“Yeah, fuck you.”
“Don’t worry wittle Erik. Your secret’s safe with me. No one will know the wittle explosion made you wet your Huggies,” Caesar teased, reaching out to pinch his brother’s cheek. Erik swatted his hand away and flipped him off.
The noise brought the girls out of the house.
“Do we even want to know what happened?” Jessica noticed the angry look on Erik’s face.
“I bet Caesar tried to push him into the fire,” Alison said, “That seems like a Caesar thing to do.”
Caesar stopped laughing and glared at her, “Yeah, I’m going to try to throw your ass in the fire next. I don’t think it’ll be as hard as throwing him in.”
“Stop being mean,” Gina chided, giving Caesar a bit of a kick to push her point across.
“I’m surprised Erik still has his eyebrows. He isn’t good with open flames,” Jessica laughed.
“You aren’t supposed to tell people about that! That stove was fucked up.”
“I guess knowing how to cook doesn’t run in the family,” Kaley teased, earning a dirty look from Gina – it hadn’t taken her long to develop a deep hatred for the other girl.
“Hey, you guys need some help!”
The group looked down the beach to see four young men heading in their direction. Thinking they were cops of some sort, Caesar used his foot to shove the cooler filled with beer behind a large piece of drift wood.
“We heard some commotion and decided to come check it out,” one of them said, “I think we’re staying next door to you.”
Caesar stood up when he realized they were some other vacationers. He walked over to the cooler, grabbing himself a beer and tossing one to Erik.
“Oh, you guys are having a little party. Mind if we join?” a second asked.
“Suit yourself,” Caesar said, sitting down over the cooler. Gina sat down next to him and took the beer in his hand for herself.
As much as he tried to ignore the little meet-and-greet going on a few feet away, Caesar caught the guys’ names and immediately determined he didn’t like them. How could you like a Nash, Dean, Max and Donald from Vermont? It was impossible.
“Are you three single? I wouldn’t want anyone coming out of the house and kicking our asses for talking to their girlfriends,” Nash joked.
“Only Alison is,” Caesar snapped.
“Brother?” Dean asked, looking between Caesar, Sophie and Kaley.
“Yeah and our dad told me to kill anyone who looked at them,” Caesar answered before they could. Gina jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow and muttered for him to stop getting in their business.
“He’s not our brother. Just an asshole,” Sophie shot back.
“I didn’t think you all looked that much alike,” Nash shrugged.
“You want to risk it? She might be lying just to piss me off. I can turn into a bit of psychopath when I get angry. I wouldn’t risk it,” Caesar said before taking a swig of his beer.
“Stop it, Caesar,” Gina said through clenched teeth.
“Stop what?”
“Stop being a fucking ass.”
He only glanced at her out of the corner of his eye before polishing off what would surely be the first beer of many on the night.
“You coming to bed soon?”
Erik looked up at Jessica and nodded, “I’ll be up in a little bit. Don’t want Caesar saying I quit drinking before he did.”
“Well, don’t drink too much or you’ll be sleeping in the hall.”
Caesar stared at Erik, noticing the serious look on his face. The two of them were the last of the mini-party remaining on the beach as everyone else left for the comfort of a warm bed. Sighing, he emptied the rest of the beer in his hand before grabbing another one out of the cooler. Knowing he was about to get an earful of something he didn’t want to hear from Erik, he decided to gulp down half of that bottle as well.
“Whatever it is you’re going to say, Erik. Save it.”
“How you figure I’m going to say anything?”
“You passed up extremely likely sex to sit out here with me that’s how I know you have something to say.”
“Isn’t that what you did when you let Gina go up by herself?” Erik pointed out, “But I didn’t really pass it up. More like postponed. Not to mention, Jessica is my girlfriend not a fling. The chances for sex with her aren’t limited.”
“Describe it however you want but I’m really not in the mood for it,” Caesar took another swig from the bottle, “Besides, I’m the older brother here. It’s about time you stop trying to give me advice and I start telling you how to live your life.”
Erik chuckled, “No one is trying to tell you how to live your life, Caesar. I’m just trying to open your eyes to the things I’m seeing.”
“Well, what are you seeing? A guy trying to finish the beer that he paid for?”
“I paid for a case.”
“Oh shit, watch out! Money bags over here. We come back with 10 cases of beer but you paid for one case. Thank God, you were with me Erik. I don’t think I would have been able to afford all 10.”
“I thought I’d point it out because you didn’t seem like you were in a sharing mood a little while ago.”
“With the beer? Everyone had at least three. Even those fucking **** from up the beach. I think I was in a more than generous mood considering they didn’t chip in a fucking dime but sure did have their fill,” Caesar said, kicking a bag of empty of bottles next to his feet.
“I didn’t think they were that bad. Nothing I haven’t run into before at LSU.”
“Yeah? Can’t say that I’m surprised. Most of you little shits in Baton Rouge are fucking annoying, too. Fuck them.”
“You’re only saying that because that guy Nash was trying to fuck Kaley and don’t even trying to argue that.”
“Sure, I wasn’t mad because that other guy was trying to fuck Sophie? I mean I do have a vested interest in who is fucking her.”
“You didn’t threaten that guy. You threatened Nash.”
“When did I, as you say, threaten that kid?”
“I wasn’t taking down the time but I’m pretty what you said to him was and I quote ‘If you don’t keep your hands to yourself, I’m going to cut them off and wear them around my fucking neck so the next **** listens to me the first time.’ I might have embellished a bit but that’s close enough.”
Caesar shook his head. He remembered telling Nash he’d cut his hands off for getting too close to Kaley but to say Erik embellished “a bit” was an understatement. “So I did. What’s your point?”
“You’re not with her.”
“That means I can’t look out for her?”
“I guess you could but you could try to do it a lot more subtly than you did.”
“Whatever, man. I’ve never done subtle.”
“What I want to know is how is the way you act fair to Kaley and Gina? I mean, I’ll admit that I don’t really like Gina. She’s a fucking gold digger if I’ve ever seen one. If I could only make one suggestion to you, it’d be to leave her ass here in San Diego with a thousand bucks. She wouldn’t even care as long as she had the money.”
“That’s my girlfriend you’re talking about,” Caesar said seriously.
“Barely. Even then you have to stretch that term for it to fit. Look me in the eye and tell me you wouldn’t leave her for Kaley right now,” Erik paused and waited for Caesar’s response but his brother averted his gaze to the ocean and occupied himself by chugging the rest of his beer, “That’s what I thought. I’m not blind, Caesar. Think about it. You went to Tulane because of her. You changed your life because of her. Deion probably wants to throw you out because of her. It doesn’t help that you still spend most of your time around her. But you are going to have to make a decision. Let her go and actually act like you are only her friend, get rid of Gina and hope she takes your sorry ass back or get rid of both of them and find someone new who you don’t have a past with.”
Caesar watched as Erik stood up and dusted off his pants, “You barely know either of them and I wasn’t aware what I did registered with you Why do you even care?”
“Fuck if I know. I guess I do actually like you a bit. I’ve tried to fight it but we’re still blood,” he shrugged, “I take family pretty serious, ya know? Even ol’ Deion gets a spot since he made me. Now, I’m going up. Hopefully, Jessica is still awake. While it’s always there, us married men only get some every so often. Don’t want to miss an opportunity.”
Caesar laughed at him as he made his way back to the house but he wanted to throw the empty beer bottle at the back of his head. He’d come on this trip to relax before the biggest football game of his life so far, not make any decision. Thanks to Erik, that’s exactly what his mind was telling him to do.
But that would be something that he’d save for later when alcohol wasn’t clouding his judgment and he wasn’t on a mission to get rid of all the beer he’d bought.
Erik and Caesar stood on the bench, staring at the pile of wood they’d built in an attempt to start a fire. Unfortunately, outside of a few glowing embers and a bit of smoke rising from the heap, they weren’t able to call themselves successful. Caesar poured more lighter fluid onto the fire but wasn’t pleased with the results and added another generous dousing. Shaking his head at the pathetic flames licking from the bottom of the pile, he pulled off the cap of the can and drew his hand back to throw it all in.
“Don’t throw the whole can in there!”
Erik barely had time to jump away as Caesar tossed the can of lighter fluid into the pile of smoldering wood they’d built, causing it to burst into flames.
“I wouldn’t have had to if you wouldn’t have brought that wet fucking wood over here,” Caesar shot back as he took a few steps away from the fire.
“Excuse the fuck out of me, Mr. Park Ranger, but where the hell was I supposed to find wood that wasn’t wet on a beach?”
“I don’t know. Be creative. Rip some off someone’s deck or something.”
“And it would probably still be wet. Sorry that I wasn’t a boy scout when I was yo—“
A small explosion sent both of the boys diving for cover as a flaming fireball that was once the can of lighter fluid rocketed towards the ocean. They both rolled over in the sand and glanced at each other.
“You almost fucked killed us!” Erik said, his voice an octave higher than normal.
Caesar stared at him wide-eyed before starting to laugh, “Apparently the can took your balls with it to the bottom of the ocean.”
“Yeah, fuck you.”
“Don’t worry wittle Erik. Your secret’s safe with me. No one will know the wittle explosion made you wet your Huggies,” Caesar teased, reaching out to pinch his brother’s cheek. Erik swatted his hand away and flipped him off.
The noise brought the girls out of the house.
“Do we even want to know what happened?” Jessica noticed the angry look on Erik’s face.
“I bet Caesar tried to push him into the fire,” Alison said, “That seems like a Caesar thing to do.”
Caesar stopped laughing and glared at her, “Yeah, I’m going to try to throw your ass in the fire next. I don’t think it’ll be as hard as throwing him in.”
“Stop being mean,” Gina chided, giving Caesar a bit of a kick to push her point across.
“I’m surprised Erik still has his eyebrows. He isn’t good with open flames,” Jessica laughed.
“You aren’t supposed to tell people about that! That stove was fucked up.”
“I guess knowing how to cook doesn’t run in the family,” Kaley teased, earning a dirty look from Gina – it hadn’t taken her long to develop a deep hatred for the other girl.
“Hey, you guys need some help!”
The group looked down the beach to see four young men heading in their direction. Thinking they were cops of some sort, Caesar used his foot to shove the cooler filled with beer behind a large piece of drift wood.
“We heard some commotion and decided to come check it out,” one of them said, “I think we’re staying next door to you.”
Caesar stood up when he realized they were some other vacationers. He walked over to the cooler, grabbing himself a beer and tossing one to Erik.
“Oh, you guys are having a little party. Mind if we join?” a second asked.
“Suit yourself,” Caesar said, sitting down over the cooler. Gina sat down next to him and took the beer in his hand for herself.
As much as he tried to ignore the little meet-and-greet going on a few feet away, Caesar caught the guys’ names and immediately determined he didn’t like them. How could you like a Nash, Dean, Max and Donald from Vermont? It was impossible.
“Are you three single? I wouldn’t want anyone coming out of the house and kicking our asses for talking to their girlfriends,” Nash joked.
“Only Alison is,” Caesar snapped.
“Brother?” Dean asked, looking between Caesar, Sophie and Kaley.
“Yeah and our dad told me to kill anyone who looked at them,” Caesar answered before they could. Gina jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow and muttered for him to stop getting in their business.
“He’s not our brother. Just an asshole,” Sophie shot back.
“I didn’t think you all looked that much alike,” Nash shrugged.
“You want to risk it? She might be lying just to piss me off. I can turn into a bit of psychopath when I get angry. I wouldn’t risk it,” Caesar said before taking a swig of his beer.
“Stop it, Caesar,” Gina said through clenched teeth.
“Stop what?”
“Stop being a fucking ass.”
He only glanced at her out of the corner of his eye before polishing off what would surely be the first beer of many on the night.
“You coming to bed soon?”
Erik looked up at Jessica and nodded, “I’ll be up in a little bit. Don’t want Caesar saying I quit drinking before he did.”
“Well, don’t drink too much or you’ll be sleeping in the hall.”
Caesar stared at Erik, noticing the serious look on his face. The two of them were the last of the mini-party remaining on the beach as everyone else left for the comfort of a warm bed. Sighing, he emptied the rest of the beer in his hand before grabbing another one out of the cooler. Knowing he was about to get an earful of something he didn’t want to hear from Erik, he decided to gulp down half of that bottle as well.
“Whatever it is you’re going to say, Erik. Save it.”
“How you figure I’m going to say anything?”
“You passed up extremely likely sex to sit out here with me that’s how I know you have something to say.”
“Isn’t that what you did when you let Gina go up by herself?” Erik pointed out, “But I didn’t really pass it up. More like postponed. Not to mention, Jessica is my girlfriend not a fling. The chances for sex with her aren’t limited.”
“Describe it however you want but I’m really not in the mood for it,” Caesar took another swig from the bottle, “Besides, I’m the older brother here. It’s about time you stop trying to give me advice and I start telling you how to live your life.”
Erik chuckled, “No one is trying to tell you how to live your life, Caesar. I’m just trying to open your eyes to the things I’m seeing.”
“Well, what are you seeing? A guy trying to finish the beer that he paid for?”
“I paid for a case.”
“Oh shit, watch out! Money bags over here. We come back with 10 cases of beer but you paid for one case. Thank God, you were with me Erik. I don’t think I would have been able to afford all 10.”
“I thought I’d point it out because you didn’t seem like you were in a sharing mood a little while ago.”
“With the beer? Everyone had at least three. Even those fucking **** from up the beach. I think I was in a more than generous mood considering they didn’t chip in a fucking dime but sure did have their fill,” Caesar said, kicking a bag of empty of bottles next to his feet.
“I didn’t think they were that bad. Nothing I haven’t run into before at LSU.”
“Yeah? Can’t say that I’m surprised. Most of you little shits in Baton Rouge are fucking annoying, too. Fuck them.”
“You’re only saying that because that guy Nash was trying to fuck Kaley and don’t even trying to argue that.”
“Sure, I wasn’t mad because that other guy was trying to fuck Sophie? I mean I do have a vested interest in who is fucking her.”
“You didn’t threaten that guy. You threatened Nash.”
“When did I, as you say, threaten that kid?”
“I wasn’t taking down the time but I’m pretty what you said to him was and I quote ‘If you don’t keep your hands to yourself, I’m going to cut them off and wear them around my fucking neck so the next **** listens to me the first time.’ I might have embellished a bit but that’s close enough.”
Caesar shook his head. He remembered telling Nash he’d cut his hands off for getting too close to Kaley but to say Erik embellished “a bit” was an understatement. “So I did. What’s your point?”
“You’re not with her.”
“That means I can’t look out for her?”
“I guess you could but you could try to do it a lot more subtly than you did.”
“Whatever, man. I’ve never done subtle.”
“What I want to know is how is the way you act fair to Kaley and Gina? I mean, I’ll admit that I don’t really like Gina. She’s a fucking gold digger if I’ve ever seen one. If I could only make one suggestion to you, it’d be to leave her ass here in San Diego with a thousand bucks. She wouldn’t even care as long as she had the money.”
“That’s my girlfriend you’re talking about,” Caesar said seriously.
“Barely. Even then you have to stretch that term for it to fit. Look me in the eye and tell me you wouldn’t leave her for Kaley right now,” Erik paused and waited for Caesar’s response but his brother averted his gaze to the ocean and occupied himself by chugging the rest of his beer, “That’s what I thought. I’m not blind, Caesar. Think about it. You went to Tulane because of her. You changed your life because of her. Deion probably wants to throw you out because of her. It doesn’t help that you still spend most of your time around her. But you are going to have to make a decision. Let her go and actually act like you are only her friend, get rid of Gina and hope she takes your sorry ass back or get rid of both of them and find someone new who you don’t have a past with.”
Caesar watched as Erik stood up and dusted off his pants, “You barely know either of them and I wasn’t aware what I did registered with you Why do you even care?”
“Fuck if I know. I guess I do actually like you a bit. I’ve tried to fight it but we’re still blood,” he shrugged, “I take family pretty serious, ya know? Even ol’ Deion gets a spot since he made me. Now, I’m going up. Hopefully, Jessica is still awake. While it’s always there, us married men only get some every so often. Don’t want to miss an opportunity.”
Caesar laughed at him as he made his way back to the house but he wanted to throw the empty beer bottle at the back of his head. He’d come on this trip to relax before the biggest football game of his life so far, not make any decision. Thanks to Erik, that’s exactly what his mind was telling him to do.
But that would be something that he’d save for later when alcohol wasn’t clouding his judgment and he wasn’t on a mission to get rid of all the beer he’d bought.
To Be or Not
“You don’t seem nervous, amigo. Sitting over there all quiet, stoic and shit. From what I’ve read about you, they say you are always like this. It’s kinda off-putting. I expected someone from the Big Easy to be all hand grenades, beads and tits.”
Devin glanced at Alex Morales and shook his head. The two of them had been sequestered in a backroom of the Best Buy Theater while ESPN did their age-old tradition of ratcheting up the excitement behind the Heisman winner. It didn’t help matters that the two of them were a few weeks from squaring off on the gridiron.
Quarterback versus quarterback battles were manufactured. They didn’t truly face each other, one standing on the sideline while the other did their work. Devin against Alex? Cornerback against quarterback? There was no media magic needed in creating those battles. They were on the field at the same time with the sole purpose of beating the other.
“That speaking Spanish thing,” Devin asked, “Is that you trying to be the cool foreign guy or something? I’ve read up you, too. Haven’t you lived in Los Angeles your entire life?”
Alex laughed, “My parents are from San Salvador. Me and Jorge? We’re first generation Americans. They thought it was very important that we remember out roots. It’s habit and yeah, every so often it comes in handy with some drunk sorority girl looking for some dick for the night and trying to make that tough decision between me and LaDarius. Big black guy who plays basketball? Stereotypes, ya know?”
LaDarius Jones was USC’s star point guard. Next to Alex, he was the brightest college athlete on the West Coast and for some reason he was halfway through his junior season in Los Angeles. He could have easily made the jump to the NBA two years ago.
Devin straightened his tie, “Can’t say I know anything about those stereotypes… hombre.”
The Trojan quarterback let another boisterous laugh as an ESPN camera crew led by George Browning, one of the network’s more known personalities, walked into the room.
“And here we have our two Heisman favorites, USC’s Alex Morales and Tulane’s Devin King but this isn’t going to be the last time you see these two in the same place. On January 11th in Pasadena, Alex will lead the Trojans against Devin and the Green Wave in the BCS National Championship Game,” Browning sat down in a chair next to the sofa they were sitting on, “Alex, I know you’ve been watching a lot of the Green Wave defense over the past few weeks. What would you say Tulane is best at on the defensive side of the ball?”
“They’re real disciplined especially this guy sitting next to me,” Alex said, pointing to Devin, “No one likes when you draw comparisons between college teams and NFL teams but the Green Wave defense is probably the closest thing we have to a pro defense in the college ranks. I’m really looking forward to playing against them.”
Devin wanted to roll his eyes. If he couldn’t do anything else, he knew how to work the media.
“It looks like it’s going to be a good match. Devin, Tulane is – probably unjustifiably – a huge underdog going into this game. Do you think that you will go into the National Championship Game looking to prove a point?”
“We go into every game with the goal to win and to do that by playing our game. What bookmakers in Las Vegas are saying about us doesn’t change how we do things. We’ve been underdogs for most of the three years I’ve been at Tulane and we’ve only loss two games. Coach Hall doesn’t play the underdog card. He tells us that it’s not us against the world until the entire world is gunning for us because we’re the best team in the nation.”
“Win or lose, it’s going to be a bit difficult to say that the Green Wave isn’t one of the best teams in college football this year. Alex, this is going to be your final game as a college quarterback before you head off to a very likely professional career. Do you think this will be the start of an ongoing rivalry between you and Devin or do you think we’ll have to wait another year to see you two on the field again?”
Alex shrugged, “I came back for my senior year because I didn’t think I was ready to be a quarterback in the NFL and I wanted to do something that hadn’t been done at USC for a long time but Devin is more than ready to make the move to the big leagues. As cliché as it sounds, I’ve always been one to think to be the best you have to beat the best and he’s the best cornerback in the nation. All the awards he won the other day are proof of that. I wouldn’t mind having to beat him in the NFL next year.”
“The Maxwell, Thorpe, Bednarik and Nagurski, a Heisman finalist, possible National Champion, it’s enough to make for a good resume. Devin, are you willing to give us a hint on whether or not you’ll be returning for your senior season?”
“Right now, I’m not even thinking about it. I’m focused on bringing the crystal ball home to New Orleans and giving Tulane and our fans what we’ve deserved for all the hard work done over the last decade or so to turn this program into what it is today.”
Browning chuckled and turned to the camera, “Well, I tried folks,” he turned back to the two finalists, “Best of luck to both of you tonight and on the 11th in Pasadena.”
Devin chuckled to himself as he realized how the finalist had been arranged. Senor Morales was the closest one to the steps to get on the stage. He didn’t know if the person announcing the winner knew who was going to receive the trophy before opening the envelope but there had to be some good reason for putting him there.
He actually found himself sitting between Graham Rimando and Johnny Davidson. The sophomore receiver and freshman quarterback were actually much more agreeable to be around than Alex Morales. Of course, they were probably so happy to be invited as a finalist for the game’s most prestigious award that they would have been friendly to the Devil himself.
“I hope you’ve all enjoyed yourselves this evening but we’ve finally come to the part that we’ve all been waiting for. Before we get to that, I’d like to thank all the past Heisman winners who attended tonight to welcome another member to their elite fraternity. I’d also like to thank the Heisman partners for ensuring that the Heisman can continue its charitable mission, and last but certainly not least I’d like to thank the finalist for excitement that they’ve given us throughout the season and in this year’s Heisman race. You are truly examples of what the Heisman stands for – outstanding performance on the football field. Congratulations to each of you. And now the moment, we’ve been waiting for/ It is my pleasure to announce that the winner of the 2054 Heisman Trophy is… Devin King!’
Devin didn’t believe he’d heard his name called but that didn’t stop him from hopping out of his chair like someone had lit a fire under his ass. He wanted to get up to the stage and grab the award before they realized that they actually wanted to give it to one of the other finalists.
Thunderous applause filled the building as he shook the other finalists’ hands – getting a cheeky reassurance from Alex Morales that he would be taking the crystal ball to make up for the Heisman Devin had took from him. He received hugs from Coach Hall and Coach Xavier who’d made the trip up from New Orleans.
Alessa got the biggest hug and a quick kiss.
“You did it,” she said into his ear.
“We did it,” he corrected.
He practically jogged up the steps to the stage, shaking hands with some of the game’s greats. He was truly an equal to them now. A Heisman winner.
The woman who’d made the announcement shook his hand last, “Congratulations on making history, Devin.”
He stepped up to the podium. Oddly, he was completely at ease. Never thinking that he had any real chance at winning stopped him from building up the nerves to grow faint at the sight of the masses waiting for his acceptance speech.
“I’d be lying if I said I dreamed of this my entire life. Apparently, not too many cornerbacks have won this thing.”
The crowd laughed at the small joke as he unfolded his speech on the podium.
“I’d like to start by thanking my family. As famous or infamous as my name is, they’re the reason that I’m standing here today. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to make it tonight but I know they would have killed to be. We don’t see eye-to-eye on everything… or probably anything as most kids are difficult but we all love each other and that’s good enough for me.
“I’d like to thank Coach Hall and Coach Xavier. Unlike a lot of the guys who stand here, I’ve only been playing football since I was in 8th grade. It probably sounds weird, a defensive guy standing up here thanking his team’s offensive coordinator but back in high school, Coach Xavier was the first coach to actually make me believe that I could do something with playing football. He was the one convinced me that college football at the highest level was a real possibility. I might have been happier than the quarterbacks that he was hired at Tulane last year.
“Coach Hall. I don’t think I can say enough about Coach Hall. I need a translator to understand his New Orleans accent most of the time. You’d never know I grew up 40 minutes away from the same place.”
Even Coach Hall chuckled at his own expense.
“We’ve won a lot of games under him. He changed that team into what it is and he made me into the player I am today. Coach Xavier built the foundation but it was Coach Hall who built the house. He trusted me enough to put the weight of the defense on my shoulders when I didn’t think I could carry my own responsibilities and I thank him everyday for trusting in me. This trophy is as much his as it is mine.
“Obviously, my teammates are just as important to my success as I am. I’m a bit of a history nerd and I don’t know if y’all remember the 1972 Miami Dolphins defense. That’s how I think of us. We’re the No-Name defense. I’m glad I’ve had the chance to play with every single one of them, past and present. And in those shootouts we get into, thanks for the offense too. They get all the publicity because they should. They are some extremely talented players that I’ve been honored to play alongside.
“I’ve saved the best for last. I have to thank my beautiful girlfriend, Alessa. I’m not just saying the cliché when I say that I really wouldn’t have had this opportunity if it weren’t for her. If she didn’t knock some sense into my head every so often, we’d still be wondering when the first pure defensive player would win this award. Now, I’m going to ask you all to bear with me as I try to win some brownie points.”
He looked around the crowd before flipping the paper over where he had a sentence written with his own pronunciation guide written above it. They probably thought he was going to do something rash like propose.
“Alessa, estimo cada momento tenho com você e estou extremamente feliz de tê-lo na minha vida,” he read it slowly but it sounded mostly right. The beaming smile on her face told him he’d done well enough but he was sure she’d correct him later.
“This is an honor, to be inducted into this group of elite players. Never in a million years would I have expected to even be in the same building as Heisman winners let alone standing on the same stage with them, having just been chosen as a Heisman winner myself. I grew up watching these guys play. Maybe I didn’t idolize them as we don’t play the same position but I respect and thank them all for what they brought to the game. And I hope the Alabama guys up here don’t hate me when I say, Rooooooooooooll Wave Roll. I think we have domain over that for now.”
The crowd laughed once more as Devin walked across the stage to what was now his Heisman trophy. They all stood and applauded as he lifted it to his chest. It was a historic day for the trophy and everyone in the crowd would be happy they were there.
Charles Woodson was the first to buck the trend when he became the first defensive player to win the Heisman all those years ago, but he was as much a do-it-all player as any of those before or after him. The nation would remember that Devin King was the first defensive player to never take a snap on offense and never field a kick to hoist that trophy.
And it felt damn good.
“You don’t seem nervous, amigo. Sitting over there all quiet, stoic and shit. From what I’ve read about you, they say you are always like this. It’s kinda off-putting. I expected someone from the Big Easy to be all hand grenades, beads and tits.”
Devin glanced at Alex Morales and shook his head. The two of them had been sequestered in a backroom of the Best Buy Theater while ESPN did their age-old tradition of ratcheting up the excitement behind the Heisman winner. It didn’t help matters that the two of them were a few weeks from squaring off on the gridiron.
Quarterback versus quarterback battles were manufactured. They didn’t truly face each other, one standing on the sideline while the other did their work. Devin against Alex? Cornerback against quarterback? There was no media magic needed in creating those battles. They were on the field at the same time with the sole purpose of beating the other.
“That speaking Spanish thing,” Devin asked, “Is that you trying to be the cool foreign guy or something? I’ve read up you, too. Haven’t you lived in Los Angeles your entire life?”
Alex laughed, “My parents are from San Salvador. Me and Jorge? We’re first generation Americans. They thought it was very important that we remember out roots. It’s habit and yeah, every so often it comes in handy with some drunk sorority girl looking for some dick for the night and trying to make that tough decision between me and LaDarius. Big black guy who plays basketball? Stereotypes, ya know?”
LaDarius Jones was USC’s star point guard. Next to Alex, he was the brightest college athlete on the West Coast and for some reason he was halfway through his junior season in Los Angeles. He could have easily made the jump to the NBA two years ago.
Devin straightened his tie, “Can’t say I know anything about those stereotypes… hombre.”
The Trojan quarterback let another boisterous laugh as an ESPN camera crew led by George Browning, one of the network’s more known personalities, walked into the room.
“And here we have our two Heisman favorites, USC’s Alex Morales and Tulane’s Devin King but this isn’t going to be the last time you see these two in the same place. On January 11th in Pasadena, Alex will lead the Trojans against Devin and the Green Wave in the BCS National Championship Game,” Browning sat down in a chair next to the sofa they were sitting on, “Alex, I know you’ve been watching a lot of the Green Wave defense over the past few weeks. What would you say Tulane is best at on the defensive side of the ball?”
“They’re real disciplined especially this guy sitting next to me,” Alex said, pointing to Devin, “No one likes when you draw comparisons between college teams and NFL teams but the Green Wave defense is probably the closest thing we have to a pro defense in the college ranks. I’m really looking forward to playing against them.”
Devin wanted to roll his eyes. If he couldn’t do anything else, he knew how to work the media.
“It looks like it’s going to be a good match. Devin, Tulane is – probably unjustifiably – a huge underdog going into this game. Do you think that you will go into the National Championship Game looking to prove a point?”
“We go into every game with the goal to win and to do that by playing our game. What bookmakers in Las Vegas are saying about us doesn’t change how we do things. We’ve been underdogs for most of the three years I’ve been at Tulane and we’ve only loss two games. Coach Hall doesn’t play the underdog card. He tells us that it’s not us against the world until the entire world is gunning for us because we’re the best team in the nation.”
“Win or lose, it’s going to be a bit difficult to say that the Green Wave isn’t one of the best teams in college football this year. Alex, this is going to be your final game as a college quarterback before you head off to a very likely professional career. Do you think this will be the start of an ongoing rivalry between you and Devin or do you think we’ll have to wait another year to see you two on the field again?”
Alex shrugged, “I came back for my senior year because I didn’t think I was ready to be a quarterback in the NFL and I wanted to do something that hadn’t been done at USC for a long time but Devin is more than ready to make the move to the big leagues. As cliché as it sounds, I’ve always been one to think to be the best you have to beat the best and he’s the best cornerback in the nation. All the awards he won the other day are proof of that. I wouldn’t mind having to beat him in the NFL next year.”
“The Maxwell, Thorpe, Bednarik and Nagurski, a Heisman finalist, possible National Champion, it’s enough to make for a good resume. Devin, are you willing to give us a hint on whether or not you’ll be returning for your senior season?”
“Right now, I’m not even thinking about it. I’m focused on bringing the crystal ball home to New Orleans and giving Tulane and our fans what we’ve deserved for all the hard work done over the last decade or so to turn this program into what it is today.”
Browning chuckled and turned to the camera, “Well, I tried folks,” he turned back to the two finalists, “Best of luck to both of you tonight and on the 11th in Pasadena.”
Devin chuckled to himself as he realized how the finalist had been arranged. Senor Morales was the closest one to the steps to get on the stage. He didn’t know if the person announcing the winner knew who was going to receive the trophy before opening the envelope but there had to be some good reason for putting him there.
He actually found himself sitting between Graham Rimando and Johnny Davidson. The sophomore receiver and freshman quarterback were actually much more agreeable to be around than Alex Morales. Of course, they were probably so happy to be invited as a finalist for the game’s most prestigious award that they would have been friendly to the Devil himself.
“I hope you’ve all enjoyed yourselves this evening but we’ve finally come to the part that we’ve all been waiting for. Before we get to that, I’d like to thank all the past Heisman winners who attended tonight to welcome another member to their elite fraternity. I’d also like to thank the Heisman partners for ensuring that the Heisman can continue its charitable mission, and last but certainly not least I’d like to thank the finalist for excitement that they’ve given us throughout the season and in this year’s Heisman race. You are truly examples of what the Heisman stands for – outstanding performance on the football field. Congratulations to each of you. And now the moment, we’ve been waiting for/ It is my pleasure to announce that the winner of the 2054 Heisman Trophy is… Devin King!’
Devin didn’t believe he’d heard his name called but that didn’t stop him from hopping out of his chair like someone had lit a fire under his ass. He wanted to get up to the stage and grab the award before they realized that they actually wanted to give it to one of the other finalists.
Thunderous applause filled the building as he shook the other finalists’ hands – getting a cheeky reassurance from Alex Morales that he would be taking the crystal ball to make up for the Heisman Devin had took from him. He received hugs from Coach Hall and Coach Xavier who’d made the trip up from New Orleans.
Alessa got the biggest hug and a quick kiss.
“You did it,” she said into his ear.
“We did it,” he corrected.
He practically jogged up the steps to the stage, shaking hands with some of the game’s greats. He was truly an equal to them now. A Heisman winner.
The woman who’d made the announcement shook his hand last, “Congratulations on making history, Devin.”
He stepped up to the podium. Oddly, he was completely at ease. Never thinking that he had any real chance at winning stopped him from building up the nerves to grow faint at the sight of the masses waiting for his acceptance speech.
“I’d be lying if I said I dreamed of this my entire life. Apparently, not too many cornerbacks have won this thing.”
The crowd laughed at the small joke as he unfolded his speech on the podium.
“I’d like to start by thanking my family. As famous or infamous as my name is, they’re the reason that I’m standing here today. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to make it tonight but I know they would have killed to be. We don’t see eye-to-eye on everything… or probably anything as most kids are difficult but we all love each other and that’s good enough for me.
“I’d like to thank Coach Hall and Coach Xavier. Unlike a lot of the guys who stand here, I’ve only been playing football since I was in 8th grade. It probably sounds weird, a defensive guy standing up here thanking his team’s offensive coordinator but back in high school, Coach Xavier was the first coach to actually make me believe that I could do something with playing football. He was the one convinced me that college football at the highest level was a real possibility. I might have been happier than the quarterbacks that he was hired at Tulane last year.
“Coach Hall. I don’t think I can say enough about Coach Hall. I need a translator to understand his New Orleans accent most of the time. You’d never know I grew up 40 minutes away from the same place.”
Even Coach Hall chuckled at his own expense.
“We’ve won a lot of games under him. He changed that team into what it is and he made me into the player I am today. Coach Xavier built the foundation but it was Coach Hall who built the house. He trusted me enough to put the weight of the defense on my shoulders when I didn’t think I could carry my own responsibilities and I thank him everyday for trusting in me. This trophy is as much his as it is mine.
“Obviously, my teammates are just as important to my success as I am. I’m a bit of a history nerd and I don’t know if y’all remember the 1972 Miami Dolphins defense. That’s how I think of us. We’re the No-Name defense. I’m glad I’ve had the chance to play with every single one of them, past and present. And in those shootouts we get into, thanks for the offense too. They get all the publicity because they should. They are some extremely talented players that I’ve been honored to play alongside.
“I’ve saved the best for last. I have to thank my beautiful girlfriend, Alessa. I’m not just saying the cliché when I say that I really wouldn’t have had this opportunity if it weren’t for her. If she didn’t knock some sense into my head every so often, we’d still be wondering when the first pure defensive player would win this award. Now, I’m going to ask you all to bear with me as I try to win some brownie points.”
He looked around the crowd before flipping the paper over where he had a sentence written with his own pronunciation guide written above it. They probably thought he was going to do something rash like propose.
“Alessa, estimo cada momento tenho com você e estou extremamente feliz de tê-lo na minha vida,” he read it slowly but it sounded mostly right. The beaming smile on her face told him he’d done well enough but he was sure she’d correct him later.
“This is an honor, to be inducted into this group of elite players. Never in a million years would I have expected to even be in the same building as Heisman winners let alone standing on the same stage with them, having just been chosen as a Heisman winner myself. I grew up watching these guys play. Maybe I didn’t idolize them as we don’t play the same position but I respect and thank them all for what they brought to the game. And I hope the Alabama guys up here don’t hate me when I say, Rooooooooooooll Wave Roll. I think we have domain over that for now.”
The crowd laughed once more as Devin walked across the stage to what was now his Heisman trophy. They all stood and applauded as he lifted it to his chest. It was a historic day for the trophy and everyone in the crowd would be happy they were there.
Charles Woodson was the first to buck the trend when he became the first defensive player to win the Heisman all those years ago, but he was as much a do-it-all player as any of those before or after him. The nation would remember that Devin King was the first defensive player to never take a snap on offense and never field a kick to hoist that trophy.
And it felt damn good.
Tables Turned
Kaley groped around for the light switch in the dark. She’d found falling asleep difficult with Alison across the hall busy trying to make the most out of their last full day in San Diego. She felt like their trip to the club had been exclamation point enough, a perfect way to transition from a crazy Saturday to a lazy Sunday before they went back to New Orleans Monday morning.
“Fuck,” she whispered when she bumped into the coffee table in the living room. She knew whispering was probably unnecessary but she didn’t want to seem like the idiot who could remember where the switch was after a week in the house.
Using the table as a guide, she started to make her way around it when she tripped over something. She let out a mix between a gasp and a scream when she felt hands on her shoulders.
“Calm down, Kaley. It’s just me.”
She let her heart rate slow down, “C- Caesar? You scared the shit out of me. What are you doing sitting on the floor in the dark?”
He sighed and pushed her to the side so he could slip out from under her. He walked over to a lamp and switched it on, “Can’t sleep. The meds don’t mix well with alcohol and I don’t want to—Gina doesn’t know everything.”
“You’ve been drinking all week.”
“And barely sleeping. I’ve been getting enough to function.”
“Caesar…”
“Yeah, I know. I know. I need to sleep. I can’t though. That’s why I’m sitting on the floor. It’s not all that comfortable.”
“On the floor, in the dark.”
“Yes, in the dark. Don’t forget you fell on me because you were walking around in the middle of the night. I’m not the only strange one in the room.”
Kaley shrugged, “Alison and Dean are going at it like animals… or there are actually animals in there going at it. Either way it’s loud and I don’t want to listen to anyone have sex. I go through enough of that at home.”
“Sent Nash on his way?”
“He was a handsy little shit.”
“You know how to pick ‘em,” he walked over to the window and stared out at the beach, shadows dancing across the sand as the moonlight was blocked by clouds rolling in, “I’m about to go take a walk. Do you want to come with me?”
“It’s four in the morning.”
“It’s a private beach. It’s not like anyone is going to pop out of the sand and kill us. You might as well. It’s not like you are going to go back to sleep.”
“Let me go throw a hoodie on.”
Caesar only spared the briefest of nods as he stepped away from the window to grab the jacket he’d deposited on the sofa when they got back a couple hours ago. His thoughts were running rampant. He’d always prided himself on having a good memory and there was one memory in particular that was coming to mind.
Four years ago in a beach house in Galveston, he was stumbling around in the dark and almost fell on a girl who decided to put him in his place. Who would have thought that in a beach house in San Diego the tables would have turned?
He’d taken Erik’s advice and made a decision on his relationship situation but he knew he had a tendency to fuck up in that area. If the choice he’d made in his head ended up with him in the same situation, he’d just blame Erik for sticking his nose in things that don’t concern him and continue about things as he had been doing.
Kaley walked back into the living room and headed for the door, “Had to make sure I brought my pepper spray with me in case a beach bum decides he wants to turn into a serial killer.”
“I don’t think pepper spray is enough to stop that type of thing, Kaley,” Caesar laughed. He grabbed his jacket off a chair and followed her outside.
“Well, hopefully we won’t have to find out.”
“I’ll run. He’d have to get the one he can catch. Every man, woman and child for themselves.”
“Sounds like I’m going to have to pepper spray you then.”
The two continued their walk in companionable silence, listening to the waves as they crash in on the shore. They found themselves heading towards the more isolated side of the beach, away from the row of vacation homes that lined the water.
“What do you tell Gina when she asks you why you don’t sleep?” Kaley asked as she bent down to pick up a piece of sea glass.
“I don’t think she noticed.”
“What are you going to tell her if she notices today and that you went on a random walk at some ungodly hour?”
“I’ll tell her that I had to save you from drowning.”
Kaley rolled her eyes, “I can swim and I doubt I’ll be wet when we go back. You can’t drown on land, Caesar.”
“I’m sure there’s a way to make the story work. I mean, how hard would it be to get you wet?”
Thinking Caesar had laced that question with sexual innuendo, she started to think up something to shoot back at him until he lifted her up and started walking towards the water.
“If you throw me in the water I’m going to fucking kill you, Caesar!” she shouted, flailing to make him put her down.
“Be a team player, damn it. She won’t believe I saved you from a terrible death if you don’t look like a wet dog.”
She flung an elbow back at his head causing him to stumble backwards as he tried to move out of the way and lose his footing in the sand sending them both tumbling to the ground. Fortunately for Kaley, Caesar ended up under her to break her fall.
“That’s the second time you’ve fell on me today. I’m starting to think you are hazardous to my health,” Caesar scooted backwards until most of his upper body was out from under her.
“That was your fault. Shouldn’t have tried to throw me in the water,” she started to stand up but Caesar wrapped his arms around her waist and held her in place, “What are you doing?”
He put his head on her shoulder, “Just shut up for a minute. I missed this.”
“Missed what?”
“This. You. Us.”
“Don’t say something you don’t mean.”
“Hear me out on this, Kaley. It might sound crazy but when I really think about it, as far as I’m concerned, we never really broke up. We just took a very long break from each other. I still love you and most of the time we are good together.”
“Do I need to remind you that you have a girlfriend back there? How about the little fact that you are still fucking Sophie and God knows how many other girls?”
“You know I have no problem getting rid of anyone for you. I’ve done it before and I’d do it again.”
“Maybe that ship has sailed.”
“What do you mean?”
“Maybe the time for us has passed. Maybe we’re meant to just be friends now.”
“I refuse to accept that and I refuse to accept just being your friend because I can’t stand seeing you with anyone else. Everytime I see you talking to a guy I want to rip his head off and that’s probably not healthy but hey, I’m fucked up in the head. It’s my M.O. to be bat shit crazy these days.”
“That’s not funny, Caesar. You’re working through that,” Kaley ran her finger along his hand absentmindedly, “And you make it seem like I have a new guy every week. There was only—“
“Jason, that socially awkward kid who stays across the hall from me, King, the gutter punk and now Nash. I don’t think I missed anyone.”
She stilled, “How do you know about me and Devin?”
“I heard you two when I came back from bringing Jason to campus that night. Caught King’s walk of shame because I couldn’t sleep after listening to that,” he admitted, “I wanted to wring his fucking neck, Kaley. That one was the worst. I knew it’d happen though. Everyone fucking loves him these days.”
“How do you think I feel when you come over every day to fuck Sophie? You cheated on me with her and then when we broke up you replaced me with her. You can’t say you don’t want see me with anyone else while I have to watch you with everyone else.”
“All you have to do is say you’ll take me back and I’ll go in there right now break up with Gina, tell Sophie we aren’t doing that shit we do anymore and whatever else you want me to do.”
“Caesar,” she sighed, “I don’t think it’ll work.”
She was surprised that instead of continuing their argument, he unclasped his hands and pushed away from her until they were no longer touching. It was like he’d admitted defeat, something she’d never known him to do.
Turning around, she saw that he’d gotten up and started walking towards an old pier at further down the beach. She was concerned about his sudden change of mood but knew making a big deal about it would only make him angry—or angrier than he already was.
However, she couldn’t leave him out on the beach alone. Pushing herself to her feet, she trailed a few feet behind him. A low rumble of thunder had her looking up towards the sky and she was met with a handful of rain drops hitting her in the face.
“Well, fuck,” she said to herself as she glanced back and realized they were too far away to try to run back to the house and beat the rain or rather she was too far away. Caesar probably could make it but he was almost under the pier.
She picked up her pace just as the rain started to come down. Cursing her attire of sweatpants and a hoodie, she flipped on the hood and ran towards the pier.
Caesar looked at her when she slid to a stop under the cover of the old planks above them. He slipped his jacket off and held it out to her. She hesitated in taking it at first but eventually common sense got the better of her and she pulled it on over the hoodie, the bottom of it reaching her knees.
“Thanks.”
He nodded and walked over to a worn down piling where he sat down. She felt weird watching him. He actually looked broken as he sat there with his head in his hands. Deciding to claim temporary insanity, she walked over to him and moved his hands, forcing him to look at her. She put her hand on his face and smiled sadly.
“You’re breaking my heart, Caesar,” she said softly, “Our lives are going in different directions anyway. I’m about to start law school and you’re about to go pro. I don’t think I would make good WAG material.”
He covered her hand with his own, turning his head slightly into her touch, “I love you so much, Kaley. I have for four years. I need you more than I need to breathe. Don’t leave me when I need you the most. Please, don’t.”
“I’m not going anywhere. I promise,” her voice was barely above a whisper. She knew it was a promise she couldn’t keep. It was extremely likely that he declared for the draft and could end up playing anywhere in the country.
Caesar pulled her closer to him, wrapping his arms around her legs and resting his forehead against her stomach. She was dying to know what had brought all of this on. He and Gina seemed relatively happy together and she was involved in most of his firsts.
She did still love him even though it was buried deep down somewhere after years of trying to convince herself to get over him and he’d told her he still loved her. Maybe she needed to stop making excuses as to why not and just throw caution to the wind…
She pushed him back and sat on his lap. Shaking her head at the confused look on his face, she kissed him and pulled away, “You have me until it stops raining it or tails off enough that I’m willing to walk through it. We never talk about this ever again after. Just friends, okay?”
“Ka—“
She silenced him with another kiss, “Don’t waste the time talking.”
Gina walked into the living room, rubbing sleep out of her eyes. She glanced around and only saw Erik sitting on the couch, busy playing a game on his phone.
“Hey, Erik. Have you seen Caesar?”
Erik glanced over his shoulder at Gina and shook his head, “He wasn’t in here when I woke up.”
“When did you wake up?”
“An hour ago.”
“An hour ago?” She knew Caesar had been gone more than an hour.
“That’s what I said.”
“You don’t have to be an ass about it. Did you try to call him?”
He leaned forward and picked up Caesar’s phone from the coffee table, holding it up for her to see, “He left it. Caesar’s a big boy. He’ll be fine wherever he wondered off to.”
“Thanks for nothing.”
“No problem.”
“Fucking jerk,” Gina mumbled as she snatched Caesar’s phone out of his hand. After a few failed attempts to put in the right code to unlock it, she tossed it onto the sofa next to Erik.
The door clicked open and the heavy footsteps that followed told her it was Caesar. She walked over to the foyer, ready to give him a piece of her mind about his constant slipping away in the middle of the night over the past week.
Instead of blowing off some steam, her anger ratcheted up as she took in his appearance. His clothes were drenched and disheveled as if he had been rolling around in puddles. She would have thought he found himself in a bar fight somewhere if it weren’t for the person behind him.
She let out a dry laugh and pointed at him as she tried to think of something to say to him, “You know what? Fuck you, Caesar. Fuck you and fuck that bitch.”
“Gina—“
“Save it,” she snapped before storming off towards their room.
Caesar looked back at Kaley. She could see the conflict in his eyes so she made the decision for him and gave him a little nudge forward, “Go.”
He sighed and followed after her. He’d barely had time to turn down the hall before he was forced to duck out of the way of one of his shoes that Gina had thrown at him. He somehow managed to get into the room and close the door behind him but the sounds of shouting and things being thrown at him could still clearly be heard throughout the house.
Kaley looked away from where he’d gone and saw Erik sitting on the sofa, staring back at her. After a few moments, he shrugged and went back to the game he was playing on his phone. She smiled weakly and went to her room.
Kaley groped around for the light switch in the dark. She’d found falling asleep difficult with Alison across the hall busy trying to make the most out of their last full day in San Diego. She felt like their trip to the club had been exclamation point enough, a perfect way to transition from a crazy Saturday to a lazy Sunday before they went back to New Orleans Monday morning.
“Fuck,” she whispered when she bumped into the coffee table in the living room. She knew whispering was probably unnecessary but she didn’t want to seem like the idiot who could remember where the switch was after a week in the house.
Using the table as a guide, she started to make her way around it when she tripped over something. She let out a mix between a gasp and a scream when she felt hands on her shoulders.
“Calm down, Kaley. It’s just me.”
She let her heart rate slow down, “C- Caesar? You scared the shit out of me. What are you doing sitting on the floor in the dark?”
He sighed and pushed her to the side so he could slip out from under her. He walked over to a lamp and switched it on, “Can’t sleep. The meds don’t mix well with alcohol and I don’t want to—Gina doesn’t know everything.”
“You’ve been drinking all week.”
“And barely sleeping. I’ve been getting enough to function.”
“Caesar…”
“Yeah, I know. I know. I need to sleep. I can’t though. That’s why I’m sitting on the floor. It’s not all that comfortable.”
“On the floor, in the dark.”
“Yes, in the dark. Don’t forget you fell on me because you were walking around in the middle of the night. I’m not the only strange one in the room.”
Kaley shrugged, “Alison and Dean are going at it like animals… or there are actually animals in there going at it. Either way it’s loud and I don’t want to listen to anyone have sex. I go through enough of that at home.”
“Sent Nash on his way?”
“He was a handsy little shit.”
“You know how to pick ‘em,” he walked over to the window and stared out at the beach, shadows dancing across the sand as the moonlight was blocked by clouds rolling in, “I’m about to go take a walk. Do you want to come with me?”
“It’s four in the morning.”
“It’s a private beach. It’s not like anyone is going to pop out of the sand and kill us. You might as well. It’s not like you are going to go back to sleep.”
“Let me go throw a hoodie on.”
Caesar only spared the briefest of nods as he stepped away from the window to grab the jacket he’d deposited on the sofa when they got back a couple hours ago. His thoughts were running rampant. He’d always prided himself on having a good memory and there was one memory in particular that was coming to mind.
Four years ago in a beach house in Galveston, he was stumbling around in the dark and almost fell on a girl who decided to put him in his place. Who would have thought that in a beach house in San Diego the tables would have turned?
He’d taken Erik’s advice and made a decision on his relationship situation but he knew he had a tendency to fuck up in that area. If the choice he’d made in his head ended up with him in the same situation, he’d just blame Erik for sticking his nose in things that don’t concern him and continue about things as he had been doing.
Kaley walked back into the living room and headed for the door, “Had to make sure I brought my pepper spray with me in case a beach bum decides he wants to turn into a serial killer.”
“I don’t think pepper spray is enough to stop that type of thing, Kaley,” Caesar laughed. He grabbed his jacket off a chair and followed her outside.
“Well, hopefully we won’t have to find out.”
“I’ll run. He’d have to get the one he can catch. Every man, woman and child for themselves.”
“Sounds like I’m going to have to pepper spray you then.”
The two continued their walk in companionable silence, listening to the waves as they crash in on the shore. They found themselves heading towards the more isolated side of the beach, away from the row of vacation homes that lined the water.
“What do you tell Gina when she asks you why you don’t sleep?” Kaley asked as she bent down to pick up a piece of sea glass.
“I don’t think she noticed.”
“What are you going to tell her if she notices today and that you went on a random walk at some ungodly hour?”
“I’ll tell her that I had to save you from drowning.”
Kaley rolled her eyes, “I can swim and I doubt I’ll be wet when we go back. You can’t drown on land, Caesar.”
“I’m sure there’s a way to make the story work. I mean, how hard would it be to get you wet?”
Thinking Caesar had laced that question with sexual innuendo, she started to think up something to shoot back at him until he lifted her up and started walking towards the water.
“If you throw me in the water I’m going to fucking kill you, Caesar!” she shouted, flailing to make him put her down.
“Be a team player, damn it. She won’t believe I saved you from a terrible death if you don’t look like a wet dog.”
She flung an elbow back at his head causing him to stumble backwards as he tried to move out of the way and lose his footing in the sand sending them both tumbling to the ground. Fortunately for Kaley, Caesar ended up under her to break her fall.
“That’s the second time you’ve fell on me today. I’m starting to think you are hazardous to my health,” Caesar scooted backwards until most of his upper body was out from under her.
“That was your fault. Shouldn’t have tried to throw me in the water,” she started to stand up but Caesar wrapped his arms around her waist and held her in place, “What are you doing?”
He put his head on her shoulder, “Just shut up for a minute. I missed this.”
“Missed what?”
“This. You. Us.”
“Don’t say something you don’t mean.”
“Hear me out on this, Kaley. It might sound crazy but when I really think about it, as far as I’m concerned, we never really broke up. We just took a very long break from each other. I still love you and most of the time we are good together.”
“Do I need to remind you that you have a girlfriend back there? How about the little fact that you are still fucking Sophie and God knows how many other girls?”
“You know I have no problem getting rid of anyone for you. I’ve done it before and I’d do it again.”
“Maybe that ship has sailed.”
“What do you mean?”
“Maybe the time for us has passed. Maybe we’re meant to just be friends now.”
“I refuse to accept that and I refuse to accept just being your friend because I can’t stand seeing you with anyone else. Everytime I see you talking to a guy I want to rip his head off and that’s probably not healthy but hey, I’m fucked up in the head. It’s my M.O. to be bat shit crazy these days.”
“That’s not funny, Caesar. You’re working through that,” Kaley ran her finger along his hand absentmindedly, “And you make it seem like I have a new guy every week. There was only—“
“Jason, that socially awkward kid who stays across the hall from me, King, the gutter punk and now Nash. I don’t think I missed anyone.”
She stilled, “How do you know about me and Devin?”
“I heard you two when I came back from bringing Jason to campus that night. Caught King’s walk of shame because I couldn’t sleep after listening to that,” he admitted, “I wanted to wring his fucking neck, Kaley. That one was the worst. I knew it’d happen though. Everyone fucking loves him these days.”
“How do you think I feel when you come over every day to fuck Sophie? You cheated on me with her and then when we broke up you replaced me with her. You can’t say you don’t want see me with anyone else while I have to watch you with everyone else.”
“All you have to do is say you’ll take me back and I’ll go in there right now break up with Gina, tell Sophie we aren’t doing that shit we do anymore and whatever else you want me to do.”
“Caesar,” she sighed, “I don’t think it’ll work.”
She was surprised that instead of continuing their argument, he unclasped his hands and pushed away from her until they were no longer touching. It was like he’d admitted defeat, something she’d never known him to do.
Turning around, she saw that he’d gotten up and started walking towards an old pier at further down the beach. She was concerned about his sudden change of mood but knew making a big deal about it would only make him angry—or angrier than he already was.
However, she couldn’t leave him out on the beach alone. Pushing herself to her feet, she trailed a few feet behind him. A low rumble of thunder had her looking up towards the sky and she was met with a handful of rain drops hitting her in the face.
“Well, fuck,” she said to herself as she glanced back and realized they were too far away to try to run back to the house and beat the rain or rather she was too far away. Caesar probably could make it but he was almost under the pier.
She picked up her pace just as the rain started to come down. Cursing her attire of sweatpants and a hoodie, she flipped on the hood and ran towards the pier.
Caesar looked at her when she slid to a stop under the cover of the old planks above them. He slipped his jacket off and held it out to her. She hesitated in taking it at first but eventually common sense got the better of her and she pulled it on over the hoodie, the bottom of it reaching her knees.
“Thanks.”
He nodded and walked over to a worn down piling where he sat down. She felt weird watching him. He actually looked broken as he sat there with his head in his hands. Deciding to claim temporary insanity, she walked over to him and moved his hands, forcing him to look at her. She put her hand on his face and smiled sadly.
“You’re breaking my heart, Caesar,” she said softly, “Our lives are going in different directions anyway. I’m about to start law school and you’re about to go pro. I don’t think I would make good WAG material.”
He covered her hand with his own, turning his head slightly into her touch, “I love you so much, Kaley. I have for four years. I need you more than I need to breathe. Don’t leave me when I need you the most. Please, don’t.”
“I’m not going anywhere. I promise,” her voice was barely above a whisper. She knew it was a promise she couldn’t keep. It was extremely likely that he declared for the draft and could end up playing anywhere in the country.
Caesar pulled her closer to him, wrapping his arms around her legs and resting his forehead against her stomach. She was dying to know what had brought all of this on. He and Gina seemed relatively happy together and she was involved in most of his firsts.
She did still love him even though it was buried deep down somewhere after years of trying to convince herself to get over him and he’d told her he still loved her. Maybe she needed to stop making excuses as to why not and just throw caution to the wind…
She pushed him back and sat on his lap. Shaking her head at the confused look on his face, she kissed him and pulled away, “You have me until it stops raining it or tails off enough that I’m willing to walk through it. We never talk about this ever again after. Just friends, okay?”
“Ka—“
She silenced him with another kiss, “Don’t waste the time talking.”
Gina walked into the living room, rubbing sleep out of her eyes. She glanced around and only saw Erik sitting on the couch, busy playing a game on his phone.
“Hey, Erik. Have you seen Caesar?”
Erik glanced over his shoulder at Gina and shook his head, “He wasn’t in here when I woke up.”
“When did you wake up?”
“An hour ago.”
“An hour ago?” She knew Caesar had been gone more than an hour.
“That’s what I said.”
“You don’t have to be an ass about it. Did you try to call him?”
He leaned forward and picked up Caesar’s phone from the coffee table, holding it up for her to see, “He left it. Caesar’s a big boy. He’ll be fine wherever he wondered off to.”
“Thanks for nothing.”
“No problem.”
“Fucking jerk,” Gina mumbled as she snatched Caesar’s phone out of his hand. After a few failed attempts to put in the right code to unlock it, she tossed it onto the sofa next to Erik.
The door clicked open and the heavy footsteps that followed told her it was Caesar. She walked over to the foyer, ready to give him a piece of her mind about his constant slipping away in the middle of the night over the past week.
Instead of blowing off some steam, her anger ratcheted up as she took in his appearance. His clothes were drenched and disheveled as if he had been rolling around in puddles. She would have thought he found himself in a bar fight somewhere if it weren’t for the person behind him.
She let out a dry laugh and pointed at him as she tried to think of something to say to him, “You know what? Fuck you, Caesar. Fuck you and fuck that bitch.”
“Gina—“
“Save it,” she snapped before storming off towards their room.
Caesar looked back at Kaley. She could see the conflict in his eyes so she made the decision for him and gave him a little nudge forward, “Go.”
He sighed and followed after her. He’d barely had time to turn down the hall before he was forced to duck out of the way of one of his shoes that Gina had thrown at him. He somehow managed to get into the room and close the door behind him but the sounds of shouting and things being thrown at him could still clearly be heard throughout the house.
Kaley looked away from where he’d gone and saw Erik sitting on the sofa, staring back at her. After a few moments, he shrugged and went back to the game he was playing on his phone. She smiled weakly and went to her room.
This shit is kinda like written Soap Operaish at times but I fucking love it. Update it more! Reminds me of FNL the series.
Last Ditch Effort
Devin was exhausted after the whirlwind media tour that he was forced to go on after winning the Heisman. It was no secret that he wasn’t comfortable in front of cameras, but these interviews didn’t just take him out of his comfort zone – they dropped a nuclear bomb on it and turned it into a wasteland devoid of life.
Dramatics aside, he’d done it and was ready to get back to some normalcy. Unfortunately, that meant dealing with the dozens of calls and texts he’d received from his family demanding to know why he didn’t ask them to join him in New York. With the National Championship game only weeks away, the last thing he needed was to have the rest of the King clan badgering him. Devin knew it was something he would have to deal with quickly and made a trip to Houma his first priority when returning to Louisiana.
Fishing his keys out of his pocket, he steeled himself for the verbal onslaught he was about to endure when he stepped through the door.
“Well, if it isn’t our family’s own superstar, come home to pay us common folk a visit. You got cameras out there with you or will the crews be here later?”
Devin chuckled at his grandpa’s attempt at a joke but it was only for the sake of humoring himself. He was still trying to figure out when did it become commonplace for Devin, Jr. and his son to spend their day together without arguing. If it all it took was committing a few crimes then that should have been something they looked into years ago.
“Someone has to bring some good press to the name, right?”
“I bet you didn’t say shit like that when you had all those cameras in your face, did ya boy?”
He shrugged. There wasn’t any point in denying the truth. In every interview he’d done over the past handful of days, he’d made it a point to avoid the topic of his family at all costs. It was easy when he was being interviewed by some old man on a late night talk show. They were more concerned with Alessa and how he broke the mold of quarterbacks getting all the best looking women.
Devin waved his hand towards the living room, “Are you going to let me in or are you going to keep me at the door with idle chit-chat? While I’d love to continue this for another few hours, I have to get back to New Orleans so it’d be nice to speed this along. Playing for a National Championship soon and what not, you know?”
The elder King man turned away from him and walked to the living room, but Devin didn’t miss when he grumbled, “The little shit lucks up and wins a fucking Heisman and now he thinks he’s the fucking king of the world.”
He followed his grandfather into one of the rooms he spent little time in during his childhood. It had never crossed his mind over the years, even in his first years of college. How little time he actually spent with his parents and grandparents in their living room. And when he thought about what it had taken for him to realize how distant his family truly was from one another, all he felt was pity for all of them, himself included.
Devin sat in the old recliner in front of the window, his parents on the couch to his right and his grandparents on the other side of the room. He had to fake a cough to hide the laugh that was threatening to escape when he realized it looked like an intervention.
“Do you have time for you family now that you are done gallivanting around the country like some conquering hero?” his father was the first to speak. “You know they are rumors that the parish is going to put ‘home of Heisman winner Devin King’ on all the welcome signs?”
“I was hardly ‘gallivanting.’ I was told where I had to go and who I had to talk to and I went. And obviously I don’t know about anything the parish wants to do. I don’t have a job with them, you do.”
“Why didn’t you ask us to come with you to New York?” his mother asked. “I watched the show or whatever and all the other players had their families with them.”
Devin shook his head. “Yeah, they did but I decided that I didn’t need all that.”
“’Cause he’s ashamed of us. Got up there to New York and didn’t want anyone to know that we weren’t the great story that all those other guys’ parents are,” his grandfather said.
“If you are trying to say that I was ashamed of you because you are being investigated by the fucking IRS, then yes, I was fucking ashamed. Who wants to parade around a statistic? Another former professional athlete that can’t afford to pay his taxes.”
“And where the hell do you think you’re going to end up? You might not want to admit it but you’re just like me. Hot piece of ass on your arm, top of the world and everything. Sooner or later, all of that has to come to an end.”
“I didn’t come here for a critique on my life. I came here to hear why the hell you all were calling me so damn much.”
“We need you to help your grandfather, Devin,” his father said.
Devin sighed and stood up. “Not this shit again. I told you I wasn’t going to before and I’m sure as hell not going to change my mind after what he just said about me. I don’t know why we keep going back to the same shit. It’s not my god damn job to dig people out of the fucking holes that they dig themselves into.”
“Stop cursing at me. You are still my son.”
“Exactly, I am your son. This shit doesn’t roll downhill. I’m not going to declare for the draft just to use my first check to pay back-taxes for who knows how many years,” Devin turned to his grandfather. “You made your fucking bed. I hope you have a comfortable pillow for it.”
Having had enough of the same old song, Devin headed for the door. He was ready to focus on Pasadena and the Trojans. Focus things that made sense to him and fit into his idea of what were things that he needed to do, not what others wanted him to.
“Devin. Wait a second.”
Devin turned around to face his father. “I already said what I wanted to say. You are wasting your breathe trying to convince me.”
“Look, I know we all haven’t been the most loving family but think about what you are saying to us if you walk out of that door right now. You know how I feel about all this football stuff and that I’d rather you get your degree but it’s clear that you are going to get your degree whether you decide to enter the draft or not. Think about the shame this is going to bring to the family if it ends up all over the news. You and your grandfather might be used to the media but the rest of us aren’t. You can spare me, your mother and your grandmother a lot of heartache if you just make the right decision here, son. Don’t turn your back on your family when they need you. Unfortunately, we’re all we have.”
“The National Championship is on the eleventh. I don’t know when kickoff will be exactly but y’all should watch it. It’ll probably be a good one.”
“Don’t make a rash decision, Devin. Think--”
He started for the door again. “I’ll probably be hard to reach for the next few weeks, you know, with practice and all that good shit that comes with playing for a championship so you probably shouldn’t waste your time trying. I might stop by when we get back from California.”
Before the older man could try a last ditch effort to stop him, Devin was out of the door and walking back to his car. He got into the old clunker and looked over at the passenger seat where a box full of all the trophies – sans the Heisman – he’d won a week ago sat. He was planning on leaving it in his room since there wasn’t much space in his dorm room for all that hardware. At some point during the drive from New Orleans to Houma, he decided to just keep them with him in that box until he could figure out how to make space.
Grabbing his phone out of the cup holder, he glanced at the time, did a bit of mental math and called Alessa.
She picked up after the second ring but he was greeted with a flurry of Portuguese in more than a few voices. She laughed, he heard shuffling and then she spoke. “Olá, Devinho. E ai?”
“Next time I tell you to convince me to piss off Hall and fly to Brazil with you, convince me to go to Brazil.”
“You went talk to your parents?”
“I’m sitting in the driveway now. About to head back to New Orleans.”
“It was that bad?”
Devin leaned forward and started the car, swinging it out into the street to get the hell out of Houma as quickly as possible. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore. Tell me what you were laughing about when you picked up.”
“João was telling me about this… ‘fan’ who has been following him around. Some pequena menina, he says.”
“Sounds kinda sketchy.”
“No more sketchy than the ones who follow you around. But after a match a few weeks ago, he finally decided that he’d talk to her after she’d spent so much money going to all the team’s games. She was so surprised she fainted,” she paused to laugh. “But since João is a palhação, he smacked her until she came to.”
Devin chuckled. He’d done a bit of a search on her cousin and he was indeed a big guy. He was built more like a linebacker than most of the soccer players he’d met. Devin could just imagine him leaning over some jersey chaser smacking her to wake her up.
He heard a male voice in the background. “Não sou uma enfermeira maldita!”
“Não somente a palhação!” Alessa shouted back. “He wants to come to the United States and watch a football game, now, but he said it has to be a Tulane game so he can see if you are a good athlete.”
“Are you allowed to call it that there?”
“I won’t tell if you won’t.”
“Well, I’ll let you get back to it. Just needed to take my mind off shit for a bit. See you in a week.”
“I’ll be back before you know it,” she assured him. “And Devinho, whatever you decide to do with this situation with your family, you will make the right decision.”
“You might be the only one who thinks so in the end.”
“That’s what I’m here for.”
Devin was exhausted after the whirlwind media tour that he was forced to go on after winning the Heisman. It was no secret that he wasn’t comfortable in front of cameras, but these interviews didn’t just take him out of his comfort zone – they dropped a nuclear bomb on it and turned it into a wasteland devoid of life.
Dramatics aside, he’d done it and was ready to get back to some normalcy. Unfortunately, that meant dealing with the dozens of calls and texts he’d received from his family demanding to know why he didn’t ask them to join him in New York. With the National Championship game only weeks away, the last thing he needed was to have the rest of the King clan badgering him. Devin knew it was something he would have to deal with quickly and made a trip to Houma his first priority when returning to Louisiana.
Fishing his keys out of his pocket, he steeled himself for the verbal onslaught he was about to endure when he stepped through the door.
“Well, if it isn’t our family’s own superstar, come home to pay us common folk a visit. You got cameras out there with you or will the crews be here later?”
Devin chuckled at his grandpa’s attempt at a joke but it was only for the sake of humoring himself. He was still trying to figure out when did it become commonplace for Devin, Jr. and his son to spend their day together without arguing. If it all it took was committing a few crimes then that should have been something they looked into years ago.
“Someone has to bring some good press to the name, right?”
“I bet you didn’t say shit like that when you had all those cameras in your face, did ya boy?”
He shrugged. There wasn’t any point in denying the truth. In every interview he’d done over the past handful of days, he’d made it a point to avoid the topic of his family at all costs. It was easy when he was being interviewed by some old man on a late night talk show. They were more concerned with Alessa and how he broke the mold of quarterbacks getting all the best looking women.
Devin waved his hand towards the living room, “Are you going to let me in or are you going to keep me at the door with idle chit-chat? While I’d love to continue this for another few hours, I have to get back to New Orleans so it’d be nice to speed this along. Playing for a National Championship soon and what not, you know?”
The elder King man turned away from him and walked to the living room, but Devin didn’t miss when he grumbled, “The little shit lucks up and wins a fucking Heisman and now he thinks he’s the fucking king of the world.”
He followed his grandfather into one of the rooms he spent little time in during his childhood. It had never crossed his mind over the years, even in his first years of college. How little time he actually spent with his parents and grandparents in their living room. And when he thought about what it had taken for him to realize how distant his family truly was from one another, all he felt was pity for all of them, himself included.
Devin sat in the old recliner in front of the window, his parents on the couch to his right and his grandparents on the other side of the room. He had to fake a cough to hide the laugh that was threatening to escape when he realized it looked like an intervention.
“Do you have time for you family now that you are done gallivanting around the country like some conquering hero?” his father was the first to speak. “You know they are rumors that the parish is going to put ‘home of Heisman winner Devin King’ on all the welcome signs?”
“I was hardly ‘gallivanting.’ I was told where I had to go and who I had to talk to and I went. And obviously I don’t know about anything the parish wants to do. I don’t have a job with them, you do.”
“Why didn’t you ask us to come with you to New York?” his mother asked. “I watched the show or whatever and all the other players had their families with them.”
Devin shook his head. “Yeah, they did but I decided that I didn’t need all that.”
“’Cause he’s ashamed of us. Got up there to New York and didn’t want anyone to know that we weren’t the great story that all those other guys’ parents are,” his grandfather said.
“If you are trying to say that I was ashamed of you because you are being investigated by the fucking IRS, then yes, I was fucking ashamed. Who wants to parade around a statistic? Another former professional athlete that can’t afford to pay his taxes.”
“And where the hell do you think you’re going to end up? You might not want to admit it but you’re just like me. Hot piece of ass on your arm, top of the world and everything. Sooner or later, all of that has to come to an end.”
“I didn’t come here for a critique on my life. I came here to hear why the hell you all were calling me so damn much.”
“We need you to help your grandfather, Devin,” his father said.
Devin sighed and stood up. “Not this shit again. I told you I wasn’t going to before and I’m sure as hell not going to change my mind after what he just said about me. I don’t know why we keep going back to the same shit. It’s not my god damn job to dig people out of the fucking holes that they dig themselves into.”
“Stop cursing at me. You are still my son.”
“Exactly, I am your son. This shit doesn’t roll downhill. I’m not going to declare for the draft just to use my first check to pay back-taxes for who knows how many years,” Devin turned to his grandfather. “You made your fucking bed. I hope you have a comfortable pillow for it.”
Having had enough of the same old song, Devin headed for the door. He was ready to focus on Pasadena and the Trojans. Focus things that made sense to him and fit into his idea of what were things that he needed to do, not what others wanted him to.
“Devin. Wait a second.”
Devin turned around to face his father. “I already said what I wanted to say. You are wasting your breathe trying to convince me.”
“Look, I know we all haven’t been the most loving family but think about what you are saying to us if you walk out of that door right now. You know how I feel about all this football stuff and that I’d rather you get your degree but it’s clear that you are going to get your degree whether you decide to enter the draft or not. Think about the shame this is going to bring to the family if it ends up all over the news. You and your grandfather might be used to the media but the rest of us aren’t. You can spare me, your mother and your grandmother a lot of heartache if you just make the right decision here, son. Don’t turn your back on your family when they need you. Unfortunately, we’re all we have.”
“The National Championship is on the eleventh. I don’t know when kickoff will be exactly but y’all should watch it. It’ll probably be a good one.”
“Don’t make a rash decision, Devin. Think--”
He started for the door again. “I’ll probably be hard to reach for the next few weeks, you know, with practice and all that good shit that comes with playing for a championship so you probably shouldn’t waste your time trying. I might stop by when we get back from California.”
Before the older man could try a last ditch effort to stop him, Devin was out of the door and walking back to his car. He got into the old clunker and looked over at the passenger seat where a box full of all the trophies – sans the Heisman – he’d won a week ago sat. He was planning on leaving it in his room since there wasn’t much space in his dorm room for all that hardware. At some point during the drive from New Orleans to Houma, he decided to just keep them with him in that box until he could figure out how to make space.
Grabbing his phone out of the cup holder, he glanced at the time, did a bit of mental math and called Alessa.
She picked up after the second ring but he was greeted with a flurry of Portuguese in more than a few voices. She laughed, he heard shuffling and then she spoke. “Olá, Devinho. E ai?”
“Next time I tell you to convince me to piss off Hall and fly to Brazil with you, convince me to go to Brazil.”
“You went talk to your parents?”
“I’m sitting in the driveway now. About to head back to New Orleans.”
“It was that bad?”
Devin leaned forward and started the car, swinging it out into the street to get the hell out of Houma as quickly as possible. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore. Tell me what you were laughing about when you picked up.”
“João was telling me about this… ‘fan’ who has been following him around. Some pequena menina, he says.”
“Sounds kinda sketchy.”
“No more sketchy than the ones who follow you around. But after a match a few weeks ago, he finally decided that he’d talk to her after she’d spent so much money going to all the team’s games. She was so surprised she fainted,” she paused to laugh. “But since João is a palhação, he smacked her until she came to.”
Devin chuckled. He’d done a bit of a search on her cousin and he was indeed a big guy. He was built more like a linebacker than most of the soccer players he’d met. Devin could just imagine him leaning over some jersey chaser smacking her to wake her up.
He heard a male voice in the background. “Não sou uma enfermeira maldita!”
“Não somente a palhação!” Alessa shouted back. “He wants to come to the United States and watch a football game, now, but he said it has to be a Tulane game so he can see if you are a good athlete.”
“Are you allowed to call it that there?”
“I won’t tell if you won’t.”
“Well, I’ll let you get back to it. Just needed to take my mind off shit for a bit. See you in a week.”
“I’ll be back before you know it,” she assured him. “And Devinho, whatever you decide to do with this situation with your family, you will make the right decision.”
“You might be the only one who thinks so in the end.”
“That’s what I’m here for.”
GMSFootballa54
Who's Got It Better Than Us?
Well, dammit. What am I supposed to read to push back my homework now?
Good stuff as usual, man.
Good stuff as usual, man.
Already have half of the next update written. Will finish the rest after I get back from an appointment this morning. You all have my word. Scout's honor. All that good shit.
Playing for All the Marbles
Devin could feel the weight of the stares of the nearly hundred thousand fans packed into the famous old stadium. Each deafening roar from the crowd was enough knock the air from his lungs. There was no doubt about it that the Rose Bowl was the furthest venue from a neutral ground with the Trojans standing on the opposite sideline.
It was a hostile environment. Different from those that he’d become used to in the SEC where the fans spewed venom and hate down at the Green Wave players but no less intimidating than those southern stadiums known for their home field advantages. Just like those in Tiger Stadium, Bryant-Denny, Jordan Hare or the Swamp, the Trojan faithful were more than capable of reminding opposing players where they were.
With the stakes at hand, silencing the horde would be nearly impossible. Only a fool would believe otherwise. No amount of highlight plays would force them to lose faith in their team after all the winning that the Trojans had done over the last few years.
Fortunately, those sweltering fall nights in stadiums across the southeast prepared the Green Wave for unrelenting crowd noise. They only needed to focus on what was happening on the field, not what was going on with the fans.
…
“Alex Morales jogs out onto the field for the Trojans first drive of the game and you can just feel how much these fans love this kid. A four-year starter playing in his last game, the National Championship, in front of his home crowd. It doesn’t get better than that and you better believe that Morales is looking to go out with another win.”
“There’s a lot riding on this game for both teams but for someone who has become as entrenched in a program’s history as Alex Morales has at USC, you know that this is just that much more important. 50 wins in 52 games as a starter with two National Championships? You couldn’t ask for a better college career when it’s all said and done. He’ll know that he’s sixty minutes from getting that.”
…
“Morales zips one through the defense and hits his tight end right in the numbers. First down, Trojans.”
“There’s that arm and precision passing that the NFL scouts are drooling over. The Green Wave defenders had no chance to make a play on that.”
…
“Lesley Swope takes the handoff, follows his fullback through the hole and he’s into the open. Down at the Green Wave 42 for the first down.”
…
“Shad Boden on the receiving end of that pass and the Trojans pick up another first down. There haven’t been too many hiccups on this drive, have there?”
“And that’s exactly what we’ve come to expect by this offense coached by Ethan Kilgore. They take the cliché of a ‘well-oiled machine’ to a different level. When they are clicking like this, they are harder than a force of nature to stop.”
“Maybe El Niño has started early this year.”
…
Devin watched from across the field as Alex Morales completed another dead-eye pass to one of his receivers. Most teams they’d faced towards the tail-end of the season tended to keep the ball away from him but they also tended to force it. Morales was sitting back in the pocket with every bit of the California swagger that he’d played with for the last four years and placing passes as if he were in the middle of a skeleton drill – even when the Green Wave managed to generate a rush.
…
“Morales takes the snap. Instant pressure in the backfield. The senior ducks out of the pocket and finds Traeveon Marshall in the back of the endzone all alone. Touchdown Trojans!”
“Break out the Victory salutes, boys. Morales was perfect on the drive, six-for-six and the score. Great way for them to start this game.”
“The stadium is absolutely rocking right now. You have to feel bad for the true freshman quarterback on the other sideline that’s about to jump out of the frying pan and right into the fire.”
…
Standing on the sideline next to Brady, Caesar could feel the weight of impending doom rolling off the freshman’s body through the first drive of the game. Most upperclassmen would take the opportunity to calm down their team, to impart some words of knowledge that would help them still the jitters heading into such a big game but that had never been Caesar’s place.
And it didn’t help that he couldn’t understand Brady’s nervousness. With what would soon be fourteen starts under his belt for one of the top teams in the country, the time to shit his pants was back in August not moments away from stepping on the field for his first snap in the National Championship game.
“Brady,” Caesar grabbed the freshman’s shoulder and turned him away from the field.
“What?”
Caesar pulled on his helmet. “Don’t fuck this up. You don’t want to be the kid who keeps us from winning a championship.” And with that he jogged on the field, determined to make the scouts remember why people crowned him as the best player of a generation.
…
“Brady Rodgers hits Caesar Jenkins in stride and the junior receiver is unlucky to be tripped up by Chris Saez. That could have been a big one, but he’ll have to settle for a gain of 15 on the play.”
“That’s exactly what the Green Wave needed after that drive by the Trojans. Come out here and prove that they aren’t going to roll over and let USC cruise to another championship. It pays to mention that Rodgers is also a freshman. You don’t want the crowd getting to a quarterback that young. That being said, I’m surprised they went to the air on first down. Most teams would probably kept the ball on the ground for a few plays.”
“Well, Tulane has never been afraid to air it out with the receivers they have out there.”
…
“Desmond Smith slips through the line of scrimmage for a pickup of five. Roy Schuyler on the tackle.”
…
“Good protection for Rodgers here on first down as the freshman looks for a receiver. He steps up and puts a pass right on Jason Williams’ numbers for another Green Wave first down.”
…
“Fake to Smith. Rodgers rolls to his right, plants his feet, lofts this to the back of the endzone… and Jenkins is there to make the grab! Touchdown Tulane! We’ll be all knotted up at seven pending the extra point. What a start to this championship game!”
“That’s what we call a money play, ladies and gentlemen. For three years now, anytime a Green Wave quarterback has nowhere to go with the ball, they just toss it into the endzone at Caesar Jenkins and know he’s going to go up and make a play on it. Caesar Jenkins is 6-foot-6 and has a ridiculous vertical. Marquis Cuddy would have had to jump off a steep stool just to challenge for that ball. Grown man football at its finest. ”
“The extra point is up and good. Let’s see if the Trojans can respond with another touchdown.”
…
Devin brought his arm over on the receiver’s to try and get him to release the death grip that he had on his jersey. A quarter into the game and the referees had yet to notice that he was being held on every run play the Trojans had run. Fortunately, the first two drives had been blips on the radar and the score still stood at seven a piece.
Hearing the whistle blowing the play dead, Devin shoved the receiver away. He didn’t waste time with trash talk and neither did the guys who were lining up across from him. They were on the field simply to do a job. Occupy Devin and keep him from breaking up plays. If that meant holding him or, his personal favorite so far, running a route with the sole purpose of running Devin away from the play, then they were prepared to do it.
It didn’t make it any less annoying.
…
“Keven Liriano makes the grab and the Trojans are moving the chains again after that gain of eleven.”
“It felt like the intensity of this game took of a dip after the first two drives but that could be what it needs to get that back.”
…
“Morales takes a huge shot in the backfield but still manages to complete the pass to Edwin Meeker in the flat. Meeker picks up a couple before being brought down by Champ Murray.”
…
“Morales tosses it to Swope and he isn’t able to make much happen as he is tackled by Devin King. We haven’t said his name too much tonight.”
“USC has been doing a good job of keeping him out the game by keeping the ball away from him. Teams have been doing this all season but so far the Trojans have done the best job of doing it without sending their offense into a tailspin.”
…
“Morales drops back again. Fakes once, throws and hits Eric Delcambre wide open in the middle of the field. There’s no one close to him and Delcambre will walk into the endzone for the touchdown! USC has retaken the lead!”
“I’m sure most of you at home are wondering how he got that open. Well, it starts with the play call. The Green Wave were playing man across the board with no safety help over the top. Fast forward a bit and you see Bobby Chambers gets his feet tangled with Shad Boden’s and he falls, leaving Delcambre wide open for the easy catch.”
“Do you think the rub there was drawn up?”
“Certainly not. That would be cheating, of course.”
…
“Tulane takes the field late in the half looking to tie the game up again. Rodgers is in the shotgun. Jefferson comes in motion. The snap is clean and it’s a handoff to Smith up the middle. The sophomore picks up a few before being dragged down by his shoelaces.”
…
“Quick pass to Jenkins for a gain of seven and the first down.”
…
“With just a little over two minutes left on the clock in the second quarter, the Trojans are reeling from a couple big plays that have the Tulane offense threatening to put points on the board going into the half. Rodgers gets the snap and is immediately under pressure! He’s manages to wiggle out of the pocket and shovel-pass the ball to Williams. Williams turns up field and is brought down just shy of the USC fifteen yard line.”
“That was a real heads up play by the freshman quarterback. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to buy himself enough time to get a pass off further down the field so he took the opportunity that presented itself.”
“The Green Wave are hurrying back to the line for second and short. Rodgers looks the sideline and relays the message to the offense. Jenkins comes in motion. The ball is snapped and Rodgers hands it off to the rec—No! It’s a fake! Rodgers fires it into the endzone to Jason Williams who was left all alone for the touchdown! It’s all tied up again, folks!”
“You aren’t going to see a play-action fake sold better than that. Rodgers kept that ball in there as long as he could and the entire defense crashed down to make the stop in the backfield. It helps to have a player as lethal as Jenkins to run the fake with, he has been known to drop back on some trick plays and throw it, but that was all Brady Rodgers and that play fake there.”
…
“Going into halftime in the 2054 BCS National Championship Game between the #1 USC Trojans and the #2 Tulane Green Wave is fourteen-a-piece. The Green Wave will receive the ball to begin the second half after deferring at the beginning of the game. Do you think the advantage will be with them?”
“You have to say so. They got the ball into the endzone at the end of the second quarter to tie the game up and they will have the momentum coming out of the locker room. I think it will be important for them to keep Brady Rodgers confident in his throws. So far, the freshman has found a way to battle this hostile environment and keep his composure. Let him come out and throw a few to those All-American receivers he has so he can keep that going.”
“Devin King has only registered one tackle and one knockdown so far. Would you say that he is having a bad game?”
“Definitely not. We get so caught up in his stats that we forget that a cornerback is doing his job if he is disrupting the offense. USC is refusing to go to his side of the field for anything. That’s disrupting an offense. Remember that the best cornerbacks in football are the ones that quarterbacks are afraid to test. Devin King is a cornerback that quarterbacks are afraid to test.”
“With thirty minutes to play, who is your pick to win the game?”
“I have to go with USC. They are basically playing a home game. Normally, I would give it to whoever has the ball last but I think that the Trojans will be able to squeak it out in the end with the big homefield advantage that they are enjoying tonight.”
Rock Hall stood in front of his team, preparing his final halftime pep-talk of the season. It would be the most important one by far. The one that would either go into the highlight reel as what inspired the team to a win or the one that would go into next year’s “hype” video.
Either way, rousing speeches had never been his style. The team hadn’t gotten to where they were because he was a ra-ra coach, rallying the troops with a triumphant war cry. They’d gotten here by being a damn good football team. His job was easy. He just had to make sure that the machine ran as smoothly as possible.
“Alright, listen up,” the coach said to quiet his team. “We’re thirty minutes away from where we wanted to be when we started the season. Ain’t no need to sugar coat it. We’re in control of this game right now. All we gotta do is go out there and score a touchdown and they’ll be chasin’ us for the rest of the game. We’ve played pretty damn good so far. Just go out there and play the way that we’ve been playin’ all season and we’ll be there in the end.”
“Bobby Chambers returns the ball to the twenty-five yard line to open the second half. Brady Rodgers and the Green Wave offense come out onto the field. The freshman has been having a good game to this point.”
“Yes, he has. Thirteen of twenty for one hundred fifty yards and a couple touchdowns. I have him penciled in as the offensive MVP should the Green Wave win the game.”
…
Caesar grabbed Brady before they stepped into the huddle, “You survived two quarters, kid. Don’t fuck up.”
“That’s not fucking comforting,” Brady shrugged him away and stepped into his spot in the huddle to get the offense going in the second half.
…
“Rodgers in the shotgun with three receivers split out wide. Desmond Smith with him in the backfield. Rodgers gets the snap and the Trojans are bringing the heat! Rodgers will have no choice but to take the sack. USC starts off the quarter with a huge play on first down!”
“We didn’t see a lot of seven- and eight- man blitzes in the first half from USC and that’s probably why Brady Rodgers was taken off-guard by it. He’s lucky to have held onto the ball.”
…
“Rodgers gets blasted just as he gets the ball away. Incomplete, intended for Raphael Jefferson.”
…
“Another big hit on Brady Rodgers and the freshman quarterback is taking a beating on this first drive, but the Green Wave are still driving towards the endzone.”
…
“Rodgers drops back once more. Looks like a few extra players have stayed in the backfield to block for him. He throws it deep downfield for Caesar Jenkins but that doesn’t look like the best pass. And it isn’t! Intercepted by Fabian Richman and the Trojans have finally gotten to the young Tulane signal caller.”
“You knew that was coming when he started taking all those shots in the backfield. There’s only so much of a beating a guy can take before he starts throwing ducks into the secondary, waiting to get picked off. Fortunately, this game is still tied.”
…
It took all of eight seconds for the Trojans to take the lead back. Morales faked a handoff to Lesley Swope. A few too many people bit on it. Morales threw the ball to his open receiver and he jogged into the endzone for the touchdown, effectively sending the crowd into rapturous cheers that seemed to last for an eternity and knocked the wind out of the Green Wave’s sails.
The rest of the quarter would be the team’s trading punts with the Wave sneaking a field goal into the mix to cut the lead to four.
But the final drive of the quarter would prove to be as pivotal as the first.
…
“Tulane comes out looking to make something happen before the fourth quarter and possibly steal the momentum back from the Trojans. Rodgers is in the shotgun, Williams and Jefferson to his left and Jenkins and Jones to his right. Jenkins shifts into the slot. Rodgers gets the snap and it’s a quick pass to Jones for a gain of six on the play.”
“Caesar Jenkins has been getting a lot of attention from the Trojan defense tonight. That might be something we have to start looking at in the latter stages of this game.”
…
“First and ten from their own thirty-seven. Tulane keeps the ball on the ground as Desmond Smith picks up four on the run.”
…
“Rodgers avoids the hit and finds Williams for the first down. The freshman quarterback showing a bit of his agility there.”
“I don’t think the word agile has ever been used to describe Brady Rodgers but obviously there is a first time for everything.”
…
“Pass out to Jenkins and it’s good for a first down.”
…
“Rodgers drops back again. USC brings the pressure again. Rodgers climbs up in the pocket to avoid the rush. Ducks out of the way of a sack attempt. Pretty sure there was a facemask there. Every USC defender is getting a swipe at him!”
“This is how he ended up throwing a pick at the beginning of the quarter.”
“Jarnigan tries to throw him to the ground but Rodgers is somehow still on his feet and stumbling out of the pocket. He throws it before he’s pushed over and Jenkins manages to make the catch at the thirty-nine yard line. Jenkins makes the first man miss, stiff-arms another and he’s got a bit of space! He’s at the twenty, the ten. Touchdown, Tulane!”
“That play was all kinds of strange but sometimes those are the ones you need. Brady Rodgers had no business completing that pass and Caesar Jenkins had no business being on the receiving end of it. USC’s secondary fell asleep when they thought Rodgers was going to get sacked and they paid the price for it.”
…
“The Trojans are going to be forced to punt here and Alex Morales looks none too happy with his receiver after that play.”
“Definitely not. Shad Boden was open for a second but he slowed down enough to let Devin King make a play on the ball and bat it away. That’s the first time Morales has looked that way and it could have easily been picked off had it been a second later thanks to Boden’s decision.”
“Up by 3 here in the fourth, Tulane’s return team takes the field looking to extend this lead.”
…
“Rodgers is under center for the first time tonight as the Green Wave set up on their own forty-two following the punt. Williams is split out to the left and Jenkins out to the right. Jenkins comes in motion across the formation. The ball is snapped and it looks like a sweep to Jenkins… It is, but the defense didn’t follow him this time! He has room to run. Picks up a block downfield from Ramirez and Williams. A defender dives at his legs but he hurdles him! Shaking off a last ditch tackle, he’s into the endzone for six!”
“That’s the play of the game right there, ladies and gentlemen. Different formation but the same play we saw in the second quarter that led to a Green Wave touchdown. Tulane breaks it out again here in the fourth but this time it isn’t a fake. Caesar Jenkins does the rest of the work with all that athleticism. I mean, just watch that hurdle a few more times. He had to get a good bit of hangtime to make that happen.”
…
“Midway through the final quarter of play now. Tulane comes back out after the Trojans cut the lead to a touchdown on that last drive with a field goal. The Green Wave will know points here will likely seal the championship for them.”
“I think their priority should be running as much time off the clock as possible. You don’t want to give the ball back to the Trojans with a chance to tie the game and send it into overtime.”
“It looks like that’s the plan as they started the drive with a handoff to Desmond Smith up the middle for a gain of three yards.”
…
“Another run by the Green Wave and they are determined to keep that clock moving.”
…
“Short pass this time to pick up the first down.”
…
“Easy does it. Handoff to Smith for a gain of four.”
…
“Third and seven with four minutes remaining in the game, the Green Wave are going to have to pass to pick up the first down and keep milking this clock. Rodgers drops back and tries to force this pass through the middle of the defense. Picked off! DeMarcus St. Martin has it! He’s brought down before he can move the ball forward but what a terrible decision by Brady Rodgers!”
“For split second, he had a man open over the middle but the window was always too small to get the ball through. He would have been better off taking the sack and letting the clock run. Those are the plays when you wish that you had a seasoned signal caller in the backfield. Now, Alex Morales will have just under three minutes to get the ball into the endzone.”
…
“Devin King makes the tackle in the backfield and the Trojans are going to have to settle for a field goal and hope to recover the onside kick.”
…
Devin batted away any attempts at congratulating him for his last tackle for a loss. He knew there was a possibility that the defense would be heading right back out as they watched the field goal attempt sail perfectly through the uprights. With a minute and some change left to go in the game, there was a real possibility that they could be watching the game slip through their fingers.
“Devin! We need you on the hands team.”
…
“USC is lining up for the onside kick and look at the players Tulane has out there to recover it. Caesar Jenkins, Jason Williams and Devin King are all out there.”
“Well, they don’t call it the hands team for nothing. Those three guys have the best hands on the team and when you need to recover an onside kick, you want them out on the field. USC will have to make sure this one doesn’t take too much of a bounce. There’s a lot of height out there for Tulane and you don’t want to turn this into a basketball play with all those receivers boxing out and bringing it down.”
“Ray Delk lines up for the biggest play of the season. If the Green Wave recover, all they would need is a couple first downs and this game is over. Delk starts his run up and hits this ball well. It takes a couple bounces. Wendell Jones crouches to field it. It bounces off his chest! There’s a pile-up now. Who has the ball?!”
“I think the Green Wave were able to get down and get that ball. You have to feel for Wendell Jones, though. A senior playing in his last game and he lets an onside kick bounce off his chest. He better hope that the referees signal that it’s Tulane ball when they sort out this pile.”
“Everyone is signaling that they have it. The referee is down to the bottle and they are saying that the Trojans have it! Tobias Plummer has the ball! This one is going to come down to one last drive.”
…
“Morales steps up to the line for what should be the final drive of the game. One minute and twenty-seven seconds remaining on the clock. Four receivers split out wide. Morales drops back and fires it to Boden for the first down. He’s brought down in bounds.”
…
“Clock running. Morales finds Delcambre for another first down and the Trojans are rushing back to the line. The clock has stopped while the chains are moved but there is only 45 seconds left on the clock.”
…
“Morales scampers out of the pocket and ducks out of bounds to stop the clock. Twenty-nine seconds left. The Trojans are on the Green Wave forty-eight yardline with no timeouts remaining.”
“This would be a good time to take a timeout and collect yourself but the Trojans used all three of theirs already. They are going to have to call this on the fly. It’ll be interesting to see because Alex Morales hasn’t faced too many situations like this.”
“Morales gets the snap. Drops back and throws it deep to Delcambre. Champ Murray is back to make a play on the ball.”
…
A hush fell over Rose Bowl Stadium as the ball spun through the night air. If Champ made the wrong play on the ball, Delcambre would waltz into the endzone for the win. The odds were still in his favor. All he had to do was knock the ball down.
That didn’t stop the sophomore safety from going up with every intention of picking the pass off.
…
“They both rise and MURRAY HAS IT! MURRAY HAS IT! It’s picked off! Tulane is going to win the National Championship!”
“It has to be said. That’s a terrible way for the career of Alex Morales to end.”
…
“Brady Rodgers kneels the ball and that’s it. The Tulane Green Wave are college football’s national champions for the first time in program history.”
“On behalf of the BCS, it’s my honor to present the Coaches’ Trophy to Coach Rock Hall and the Tulane Green Wave.”
The block of Green Wave fans that had made the trip from New Orleans filled the Rose Bowl with cheers and applause as Coach Hall lifted the crystal ball. The New Orleans native was on top of the world, bringing a football championship back to his hometown for the first time in the better part of a century.
“Coach, how does it feel to bring Tulane its first National Championship?”
The coach shook his head, “I didn’t do anythin’. It was this team behind me that brought Tulane its first Championship. This is an incredibly talented team and everyone seemed to forget that we were undefeated when we stepped on the field tonight. Hat’s off to SC, they played a hell of a game but we were better and it showed on the scoreboard.”
…
“And now the presentation of the most valuable players. First up, tonight’s offensive player of the game, Caesar Jenkins.”
Caesar reveled in his opportunity to hold the crystal ball, tucking it under his arm and giving a mock Heisman pose just for the photo op. Being named the offensive MVP gave him a small bit of vindication after a rocky college career. In his mind, his three touchdown night in Pasadena made up for every short-coming over the last three years.
He would never be a fan-favorite and he was okay with that. He was still better than the kid all the fans loved.
“Caesar, it seems you are more versatile than most receivers your size. Did you get some pointers from the runningbacks to pull off that touchdown run?”
“Running is running. I know when I get the ball where I need to go. I’m never going to line up in the backfield or be one of those receivers that only come on the field for goofy gadget plays but I knew that I could make the play if I got the space. The rest of that was just a footrace and I don’t lose too many of those.”
“I think everyone has assumed it would be a foregone conclusion since the day you signed your letter of intent to go to Tulane, but I have to ask anyway. Is this the last time we will see you in a Tulane Green Wave jersey?”
Caesar chuckled. There was nothing wrong in milking the moment was there? “When you have moments like these, going undefeated, winning championships. It’s hard to just say ‘yeah, I’m doing this’ or ‘no, I’m not.’ Right now, I just want to celebrate this. After a day or so, I’ll sit down with my family and decide what’s best for me.”
“Well, we know a lot of NFL general managers are waiting for you to put your name in the hat for April’s draft.”
…
After Champ was given the defensive player of the game award, the last thing Devin wanted to do was be dragged to the front of the stage to be questioned. This win was as much about the other five guys in the secondary as it was about him. If they hadn’t made some of the plays that they did, they would be the ones back in the locker room thinking about what-ifs.
Of course, that wasn’t going to happen.
“Devin, you’ve done it all now. Shattered the record for most interceptions in a season, became the first defense-only player to win the Heisman and now, led the Green Wave to their first National Championship. It’s safe to say that between you and Caesar, Tulane has the two most coveted juniors this season. Caesar was cryptic about his future. Where are you on your decision for this year’s draft?”
There was no point in hesitating. “I’m coming back for my senior year. We have another championship to win.”
The roar that came from the fans rivaled that of the one when Alex Morales’s last pass was intercepted.
Devin could feel the weight of the stares of the nearly hundred thousand fans packed into the famous old stadium. Each deafening roar from the crowd was enough knock the air from his lungs. There was no doubt about it that the Rose Bowl was the furthest venue from a neutral ground with the Trojans standing on the opposite sideline.
It was a hostile environment. Different from those that he’d become used to in the SEC where the fans spewed venom and hate down at the Green Wave players but no less intimidating than those southern stadiums known for their home field advantages. Just like those in Tiger Stadium, Bryant-Denny, Jordan Hare or the Swamp, the Trojan faithful were more than capable of reminding opposing players where they were.
With the stakes at hand, silencing the horde would be nearly impossible. Only a fool would believe otherwise. No amount of highlight plays would force them to lose faith in their team after all the winning that the Trojans had done over the last few years.
Fortunately, those sweltering fall nights in stadiums across the southeast prepared the Green Wave for unrelenting crowd noise. They only needed to focus on what was happening on the field, not what was going on with the fans.
…
“Alex Morales jogs out onto the field for the Trojans first drive of the game and you can just feel how much these fans love this kid. A four-year starter playing in his last game, the National Championship, in front of his home crowd. It doesn’t get better than that and you better believe that Morales is looking to go out with another win.”
“There’s a lot riding on this game for both teams but for someone who has become as entrenched in a program’s history as Alex Morales has at USC, you know that this is just that much more important. 50 wins in 52 games as a starter with two National Championships? You couldn’t ask for a better college career when it’s all said and done. He’ll know that he’s sixty minutes from getting that.”
…
“Morales zips one through the defense and hits his tight end right in the numbers. First down, Trojans.”
“There’s that arm and precision passing that the NFL scouts are drooling over. The Green Wave defenders had no chance to make a play on that.”
…
“Lesley Swope takes the handoff, follows his fullback through the hole and he’s into the open. Down at the Green Wave 42 for the first down.”
…
“Shad Boden on the receiving end of that pass and the Trojans pick up another first down. There haven’t been too many hiccups on this drive, have there?”
“And that’s exactly what we’ve come to expect by this offense coached by Ethan Kilgore. They take the cliché of a ‘well-oiled machine’ to a different level. When they are clicking like this, they are harder than a force of nature to stop.”
“Maybe El Niño has started early this year.”
…
Devin watched from across the field as Alex Morales completed another dead-eye pass to one of his receivers. Most teams they’d faced towards the tail-end of the season tended to keep the ball away from him but they also tended to force it. Morales was sitting back in the pocket with every bit of the California swagger that he’d played with for the last four years and placing passes as if he were in the middle of a skeleton drill – even when the Green Wave managed to generate a rush.
…
“Morales takes the snap. Instant pressure in the backfield. The senior ducks out of the pocket and finds Traeveon Marshall in the back of the endzone all alone. Touchdown Trojans!”
“Break out the Victory salutes, boys. Morales was perfect on the drive, six-for-six and the score. Great way for them to start this game.”
“The stadium is absolutely rocking right now. You have to feel bad for the true freshman quarterback on the other sideline that’s about to jump out of the frying pan and right into the fire.”
…
Standing on the sideline next to Brady, Caesar could feel the weight of impending doom rolling off the freshman’s body through the first drive of the game. Most upperclassmen would take the opportunity to calm down their team, to impart some words of knowledge that would help them still the jitters heading into such a big game but that had never been Caesar’s place.
And it didn’t help that he couldn’t understand Brady’s nervousness. With what would soon be fourteen starts under his belt for one of the top teams in the country, the time to shit his pants was back in August not moments away from stepping on the field for his first snap in the National Championship game.
“Brady,” Caesar grabbed the freshman’s shoulder and turned him away from the field.
“What?”
Caesar pulled on his helmet. “Don’t fuck this up. You don’t want to be the kid who keeps us from winning a championship.” And with that he jogged on the field, determined to make the scouts remember why people crowned him as the best player of a generation.
…
“Brady Rodgers hits Caesar Jenkins in stride and the junior receiver is unlucky to be tripped up by Chris Saez. That could have been a big one, but he’ll have to settle for a gain of 15 on the play.”
“That’s exactly what the Green Wave needed after that drive by the Trojans. Come out here and prove that they aren’t going to roll over and let USC cruise to another championship. It pays to mention that Rodgers is also a freshman. You don’t want the crowd getting to a quarterback that young. That being said, I’m surprised they went to the air on first down. Most teams would probably kept the ball on the ground for a few plays.”
“Well, Tulane has never been afraid to air it out with the receivers they have out there.”
…
“Desmond Smith slips through the line of scrimmage for a pickup of five. Roy Schuyler on the tackle.”
…
“Good protection for Rodgers here on first down as the freshman looks for a receiver. He steps up and puts a pass right on Jason Williams’ numbers for another Green Wave first down.”
…
“Fake to Smith. Rodgers rolls to his right, plants his feet, lofts this to the back of the endzone… and Jenkins is there to make the grab! Touchdown Tulane! We’ll be all knotted up at seven pending the extra point. What a start to this championship game!”
“That’s what we call a money play, ladies and gentlemen. For three years now, anytime a Green Wave quarterback has nowhere to go with the ball, they just toss it into the endzone at Caesar Jenkins and know he’s going to go up and make a play on it. Caesar Jenkins is 6-foot-6 and has a ridiculous vertical. Marquis Cuddy would have had to jump off a steep stool just to challenge for that ball. Grown man football at its finest. ”
“The extra point is up and good. Let’s see if the Trojans can respond with another touchdown.”
…
Devin brought his arm over on the receiver’s to try and get him to release the death grip that he had on his jersey. A quarter into the game and the referees had yet to notice that he was being held on every run play the Trojans had run. Fortunately, the first two drives had been blips on the radar and the score still stood at seven a piece.
Hearing the whistle blowing the play dead, Devin shoved the receiver away. He didn’t waste time with trash talk and neither did the guys who were lining up across from him. They were on the field simply to do a job. Occupy Devin and keep him from breaking up plays. If that meant holding him or, his personal favorite so far, running a route with the sole purpose of running Devin away from the play, then they were prepared to do it.
It didn’t make it any less annoying.
…
“Keven Liriano makes the grab and the Trojans are moving the chains again after that gain of eleven.”
“It felt like the intensity of this game took of a dip after the first two drives but that could be what it needs to get that back.”
…
“Morales takes a huge shot in the backfield but still manages to complete the pass to Edwin Meeker in the flat. Meeker picks up a couple before being brought down by Champ Murray.”
…
“Morales tosses it to Swope and he isn’t able to make much happen as he is tackled by Devin King. We haven’t said his name too much tonight.”
“USC has been doing a good job of keeping him out the game by keeping the ball away from him. Teams have been doing this all season but so far the Trojans have done the best job of doing it without sending their offense into a tailspin.”
…
“Morales drops back again. Fakes once, throws and hits Eric Delcambre wide open in the middle of the field. There’s no one close to him and Delcambre will walk into the endzone for the touchdown! USC has retaken the lead!”
“I’m sure most of you at home are wondering how he got that open. Well, it starts with the play call. The Green Wave were playing man across the board with no safety help over the top. Fast forward a bit and you see Bobby Chambers gets his feet tangled with Shad Boden’s and he falls, leaving Delcambre wide open for the easy catch.”
“Do you think the rub there was drawn up?”
“Certainly not. That would be cheating, of course.”
…
“Tulane takes the field late in the half looking to tie the game up again. Rodgers is in the shotgun. Jefferson comes in motion. The snap is clean and it’s a handoff to Smith up the middle. The sophomore picks up a few before being dragged down by his shoelaces.”
…
“Quick pass to Jenkins for a gain of seven and the first down.”
…
“With just a little over two minutes left on the clock in the second quarter, the Trojans are reeling from a couple big plays that have the Tulane offense threatening to put points on the board going into the half. Rodgers gets the snap and is immediately under pressure! He’s manages to wiggle out of the pocket and shovel-pass the ball to Williams. Williams turns up field and is brought down just shy of the USC fifteen yard line.”
“That was a real heads up play by the freshman quarterback. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to buy himself enough time to get a pass off further down the field so he took the opportunity that presented itself.”
“The Green Wave are hurrying back to the line for second and short. Rodgers looks the sideline and relays the message to the offense. Jenkins comes in motion. The ball is snapped and Rodgers hands it off to the rec—No! It’s a fake! Rodgers fires it into the endzone to Jason Williams who was left all alone for the touchdown! It’s all tied up again, folks!”
“You aren’t going to see a play-action fake sold better than that. Rodgers kept that ball in there as long as he could and the entire defense crashed down to make the stop in the backfield. It helps to have a player as lethal as Jenkins to run the fake with, he has been known to drop back on some trick plays and throw it, but that was all Brady Rodgers and that play fake there.”
…
“Going into halftime in the 2054 BCS National Championship Game between the #1 USC Trojans and the #2 Tulane Green Wave is fourteen-a-piece. The Green Wave will receive the ball to begin the second half after deferring at the beginning of the game. Do you think the advantage will be with them?”
“You have to say so. They got the ball into the endzone at the end of the second quarter to tie the game up and they will have the momentum coming out of the locker room. I think it will be important for them to keep Brady Rodgers confident in his throws. So far, the freshman has found a way to battle this hostile environment and keep his composure. Let him come out and throw a few to those All-American receivers he has so he can keep that going.”
“Devin King has only registered one tackle and one knockdown so far. Would you say that he is having a bad game?”
“Definitely not. We get so caught up in his stats that we forget that a cornerback is doing his job if he is disrupting the offense. USC is refusing to go to his side of the field for anything. That’s disrupting an offense. Remember that the best cornerbacks in football are the ones that quarterbacks are afraid to test. Devin King is a cornerback that quarterbacks are afraid to test.”
“With thirty minutes to play, who is your pick to win the game?”
“I have to go with USC. They are basically playing a home game. Normally, I would give it to whoever has the ball last but I think that the Trojans will be able to squeak it out in the end with the big homefield advantage that they are enjoying tonight.”
Rock Hall stood in front of his team, preparing his final halftime pep-talk of the season. It would be the most important one by far. The one that would either go into the highlight reel as what inspired the team to a win or the one that would go into next year’s “hype” video.
Either way, rousing speeches had never been his style. The team hadn’t gotten to where they were because he was a ra-ra coach, rallying the troops with a triumphant war cry. They’d gotten here by being a damn good football team. His job was easy. He just had to make sure that the machine ran as smoothly as possible.
“Alright, listen up,” the coach said to quiet his team. “We’re thirty minutes away from where we wanted to be when we started the season. Ain’t no need to sugar coat it. We’re in control of this game right now. All we gotta do is go out there and score a touchdown and they’ll be chasin’ us for the rest of the game. We’ve played pretty damn good so far. Just go out there and play the way that we’ve been playin’ all season and we’ll be there in the end.”
“Bobby Chambers returns the ball to the twenty-five yard line to open the second half. Brady Rodgers and the Green Wave offense come out onto the field. The freshman has been having a good game to this point.”
“Yes, he has. Thirteen of twenty for one hundred fifty yards and a couple touchdowns. I have him penciled in as the offensive MVP should the Green Wave win the game.”
…
Caesar grabbed Brady before they stepped into the huddle, “You survived two quarters, kid. Don’t fuck up.”
“That’s not fucking comforting,” Brady shrugged him away and stepped into his spot in the huddle to get the offense going in the second half.
…
“Rodgers in the shotgun with three receivers split out wide. Desmond Smith with him in the backfield. Rodgers gets the snap and the Trojans are bringing the heat! Rodgers will have no choice but to take the sack. USC starts off the quarter with a huge play on first down!”
“We didn’t see a lot of seven- and eight- man blitzes in the first half from USC and that’s probably why Brady Rodgers was taken off-guard by it. He’s lucky to have held onto the ball.”
…
“Rodgers gets blasted just as he gets the ball away. Incomplete, intended for Raphael Jefferson.”
…
“Another big hit on Brady Rodgers and the freshman quarterback is taking a beating on this first drive, but the Green Wave are still driving towards the endzone.”
…
“Rodgers drops back once more. Looks like a few extra players have stayed in the backfield to block for him. He throws it deep downfield for Caesar Jenkins but that doesn’t look like the best pass. And it isn’t! Intercepted by Fabian Richman and the Trojans have finally gotten to the young Tulane signal caller.”
“You knew that was coming when he started taking all those shots in the backfield. There’s only so much of a beating a guy can take before he starts throwing ducks into the secondary, waiting to get picked off. Fortunately, this game is still tied.”
…
It took all of eight seconds for the Trojans to take the lead back. Morales faked a handoff to Lesley Swope. A few too many people bit on it. Morales threw the ball to his open receiver and he jogged into the endzone for the touchdown, effectively sending the crowd into rapturous cheers that seemed to last for an eternity and knocked the wind out of the Green Wave’s sails.
The rest of the quarter would be the team’s trading punts with the Wave sneaking a field goal into the mix to cut the lead to four.
But the final drive of the quarter would prove to be as pivotal as the first.
…
“Tulane comes out looking to make something happen before the fourth quarter and possibly steal the momentum back from the Trojans. Rodgers is in the shotgun, Williams and Jefferson to his left and Jenkins and Jones to his right. Jenkins shifts into the slot. Rodgers gets the snap and it’s a quick pass to Jones for a gain of six on the play.”
“Caesar Jenkins has been getting a lot of attention from the Trojan defense tonight. That might be something we have to start looking at in the latter stages of this game.”
…
“First and ten from their own thirty-seven. Tulane keeps the ball on the ground as Desmond Smith picks up four on the run.”
…
“Rodgers avoids the hit and finds Williams for the first down. The freshman quarterback showing a bit of his agility there.”
“I don’t think the word agile has ever been used to describe Brady Rodgers but obviously there is a first time for everything.”
…
“Pass out to Jenkins and it’s good for a first down.”
…
“Rodgers drops back again. USC brings the pressure again. Rodgers climbs up in the pocket to avoid the rush. Ducks out of the way of a sack attempt. Pretty sure there was a facemask there. Every USC defender is getting a swipe at him!”
“This is how he ended up throwing a pick at the beginning of the quarter.”
“Jarnigan tries to throw him to the ground but Rodgers is somehow still on his feet and stumbling out of the pocket. He throws it before he’s pushed over and Jenkins manages to make the catch at the thirty-nine yard line. Jenkins makes the first man miss, stiff-arms another and he’s got a bit of space! He’s at the twenty, the ten. Touchdown, Tulane!”
“That play was all kinds of strange but sometimes those are the ones you need. Brady Rodgers had no business completing that pass and Caesar Jenkins had no business being on the receiving end of it. USC’s secondary fell asleep when they thought Rodgers was going to get sacked and they paid the price for it.”
…
“The Trojans are going to be forced to punt here and Alex Morales looks none too happy with his receiver after that play.”
“Definitely not. Shad Boden was open for a second but he slowed down enough to let Devin King make a play on the ball and bat it away. That’s the first time Morales has looked that way and it could have easily been picked off had it been a second later thanks to Boden’s decision.”
“Up by 3 here in the fourth, Tulane’s return team takes the field looking to extend this lead.”
…
“Rodgers is under center for the first time tonight as the Green Wave set up on their own forty-two following the punt. Williams is split out to the left and Jenkins out to the right. Jenkins comes in motion across the formation. The ball is snapped and it looks like a sweep to Jenkins… It is, but the defense didn’t follow him this time! He has room to run. Picks up a block downfield from Ramirez and Williams. A defender dives at his legs but he hurdles him! Shaking off a last ditch tackle, he’s into the endzone for six!”
“That’s the play of the game right there, ladies and gentlemen. Different formation but the same play we saw in the second quarter that led to a Green Wave touchdown. Tulane breaks it out again here in the fourth but this time it isn’t a fake. Caesar Jenkins does the rest of the work with all that athleticism. I mean, just watch that hurdle a few more times. He had to get a good bit of hangtime to make that happen.”
…
“Midway through the final quarter of play now. Tulane comes back out after the Trojans cut the lead to a touchdown on that last drive with a field goal. The Green Wave will know points here will likely seal the championship for them.”
“I think their priority should be running as much time off the clock as possible. You don’t want to give the ball back to the Trojans with a chance to tie the game and send it into overtime.”
“It looks like that’s the plan as they started the drive with a handoff to Desmond Smith up the middle for a gain of three yards.”
…
“Another run by the Green Wave and they are determined to keep that clock moving.”
…
“Short pass this time to pick up the first down.”
…
“Easy does it. Handoff to Smith for a gain of four.”
…
“Third and seven with four minutes remaining in the game, the Green Wave are going to have to pass to pick up the first down and keep milking this clock. Rodgers drops back and tries to force this pass through the middle of the defense. Picked off! DeMarcus St. Martin has it! He’s brought down before he can move the ball forward but what a terrible decision by Brady Rodgers!”
“For split second, he had a man open over the middle but the window was always too small to get the ball through. He would have been better off taking the sack and letting the clock run. Those are the plays when you wish that you had a seasoned signal caller in the backfield. Now, Alex Morales will have just under three minutes to get the ball into the endzone.”
…
“Devin King makes the tackle in the backfield and the Trojans are going to have to settle for a field goal and hope to recover the onside kick.”
…
Devin batted away any attempts at congratulating him for his last tackle for a loss. He knew there was a possibility that the defense would be heading right back out as they watched the field goal attempt sail perfectly through the uprights. With a minute and some change left to go in the game, there was a real possibility that they could be watching the game slip through their fingers.
“Devin! We need you on the hands team.”
…
“USC is lining up for the onside kick and look at the players Tulane has out there to recover it. Caesar Jenkins, Jason Williams and Devin King are all out there.”
“Well, they don’t call it the hands team for nothing. Those three guys have the best hands on the team and when you need to recover an onside kick, you want them out on the field. USC will have to make sure this one doesn’t take too much of a bounce. There’s a lot of height out there for Tulane and you don’t want to turn this into a basketball play with all those receivers boxing out and bringing it down.”
“Ray Delk lines up for the biggest play of the season. If the Green Wave recover, all they would need is a couple first downs and this game is over. Delk starts his run up and hits this ball well. It takes a couple bounces. Wendell Jones crouches to field it. It bounces off his chest! There’s a pile-up now. Who has the ball?!”
“I think the Green Wave were able to get down and get that ball. You have to feel for Wendell Jones, though. A senior playing in his last game and he lets an onside kick bounce off his chest. He better hope that the referees signal that it’s Tulane ball when they sort out this pile.”
“Everyone is signaling that they have it. The referee is down to the bottle and they are saying that the Trojans have it! Tobias Plummer has the ball! This one is going to come down to one last drive.”
…
“Morales steps up to the line for what should be the final drive of the game. One minute and twenty-seven seconds remaining on the clock. Four receivers split out wide. Morales drops back and fires it to Boden for the first down. He’s brought down in bounds.”
…
“Clock running. Morales finds Delcambre for another first down and the Trojans are rushing back to the line. The clock has stopped while the chains are moved but there is only 45 seconds left on the clock.”
…
“Morales scampers out of the pocket and ducks out of bounds to stop the clock. Twenty-nine seconds left. The Trojans are on the Green Wave forty-eight yardline with no timeouts remaining.”
“This would be a good time to take a timeout and collect yourself but the Trojans used all three of theirs already. They are going to have to call this on the fly. It’ll be interesting to see because Alex Morales hasn’t faced too many situations like this.”
“Morales gets the snap. Drops back and throws it deep to Delcambre. Champ Murray is back to make a play on the ball.”
…
A hush fell over Rose Bowl Stadium as the ball spun through the night air. If Champ made the wrong play on the ball, Delcambre would waltz into the endzone for the win. The odds were still in his favor. All he had to do was knock the ball down.
That didn’t stop the sophomore safety from going up with every intention of picking the pass off.
…
“They both rise and MURRAY HAS IT! MURRAY HAS IT! It’s picked off! Tulane is going to win the National Championship!”
“It has to be said. That’s a terrible way for the career of Alex Morales to end.”
…
“Brady Rodgers kneels the ball and that’s it. The Tulane Green Wave are college football’s national champions for the first time in program history.”
“On behalf of the BCS, it’s my honor to present the Coaches’ Trophy to Coach Rock Hall and the Tulane Green Wave.”
The block of Green Wave fans that had made the trip from New Orleans filled the Rose Bowl with cheers and applause as Coach Hall lifted the crystal ball. The New Orleans native was on top of the world, bringing a football championship back to his hometown for the first time in the better part of a century.
“Coach, how does it feel to bring Tulane its first National Championship?”
The coach shook his head, “I didn’t do anythin’. It was this team behind me that brought Tulane its first Championship. This is an incredibly talented team and everyone seemed to forget that we were undefeated when we stepped on the field tonight. Hat’s off to SC, they played a hell of a game but we were better and it showed on the scoreboard.”
…
“And now the presentation of the most valuable players. First up, tonight’s offensive player of the game, Caesar Jenkins.”
Caesar reveled in his opportunity to hold the crystal ball, tucking it under his arm and giving a mock Heisman pose just for the photo op. Being named the offensive MVP gave him a small bit of vindication after a rocky college career. In his mind, his three touchdown night in Pasadena made up for every short-coming over the last three years.
He would never be a fan-favorite and he was okay with that. He was still better than the kid all the fans loved.
“Caesar, it seems you are more versatile than most receivers your size. Did you get some pointers from the runningbacks to pull off that touchdown run?”
“Running is running. I know when I get the ball where I need to go. I’m never going to line up in the backfield or be one of those receivers that only come on the field for goofy gadget plays but I knew that I could make the play if I got the space. The rest of that was just a footrace and I don’t lose too many of those.”
“I think everyone has assumed it would be a foregone conclusion since the day you signed your letter of intent to go to Tulane, but I have to ask anyway. Is this the last time we will see you in a Tulane Green Wave jersey?”
Caesar chuckled. There was nothing wrong in milking the moment was there? “When you have moments like these, going undefeated, winning championships. It’s hard to just say ‘yeah, I’m doing this’ or ‘no, I’m not.’ Right now, I just want to celebrate this. After a day or so, I’ll sit down with my family and decide what’s best for me.”
“Well, we know a lot of NFL general managers are waiting for you to put your name in the hat for April’s draft.”
…
After Champ was given the defensive player of the game award, the last thing Devin wanted to do was be dragged to the front of the stage to be questioned. This win was as much about the other five guys in the secondary as it was about him. If they hadn’t made some of the plays that they did, they would be the ones back in the locker room thinking about what-ifs.
Of course, that wasn’t going to happen.
“Devin, you’ve done it all now. Shattered the record for most interceptions in a season, became the first defense-only player to win the Heisman and now, led the Green Wave to their first National Championship. It’s safe to say that between you and Caesar, Tulane has the two most coveted juniors this season. Caesar was cryptic about his future. Where are you on your decision for this year’s draft?”
There was no point in hesitating. “I’m coming back for my senior year. We have another championship to win.”
The roar that came from the fans rivaled that of the one when Alex Morales’s last pass was intercepted.
GMSFootballa54
Who's Got It Better Than Us?
Aw shit. Round 4!
Looks like Erik is going to be right about Caesar.
Looks like Erik is going to be right about Caesar.
Next update will be tomorrow, Monday or Tuesday. If I can finish editing a short story and flash fiction and writing a public affairs story and another flash fiction today and if City wins tomorrow, then it will be tomorrow.
Making Moves
Heisman winner and National champion. Two titles only a select elite group of players could lay claim to. The word elite is the very reason Devin couldn’t help but let out a boisterous laugh as he stood in front of the bank of mailboxes, half-awake in a shirt that had seen better days and a pair of pink fuzzy slippers, with the key jammed in the lock. After ten tries, he hadn’t managed to do much more than jiggle the key and give it a bit of a bend.
Alessa had explained to him the trick to unlocking it without a fight. He’d forgotten as soon as he walked out of her apartment. He felt like a fool. The media-proclaimed face of the Green Wave football team, and possibly college football, defeated by a rusty lock that should have been changed years ago, it had all the makings of the world’s greatest comeback story.
Ripping the key from the lock, he headed back to Alessa’s apartment, all the while ignoring the strange looks he was getting from her neighbors.
Since the team had returned from California, he’d been spending the majority of his time at Alessa’s place to avoid the leeches trying to get a hold of him. Agents, shady characters of all kinds, jersey chasers, it didn’t matter. He’d become a valued commodity when he announced that he was returning for his senior year. Another year of dealing with people trying to posture for a lucrative future of their own, a web he refused to get himself tangled in.
“I don’t see you holding any mail.” Alessa glanced over her shoulder when she heard the door close.
“I don’t see you holding any food.”
Alessa turned from the counter, knife in hand. “Keep that up and you won’t be holding anything.”
“No need for violence,” Devin said, hands raised in surrender. He kicked off her slippers and pushed them in the corner. “I couldn’t get the fucking box open. And before you say anything, I did exactly what you told me to do.”
“Three shakes to the right and a jiggle to the left, push up and turn?”
“Yep.”
“Mentiroso.”
“I still don’t know Portuguese.”
“I’ve been telling you that you need to learn for months now.”
“There aren’t enough Portuguese-speaking people in the world for me to need to learn how to speak it.”
She shrugged. “I guess. Have you talked to your family recently?”
“A couple texts. I don’t think they care for me much anymore.” The truth was that they had tried to call him a few times, but after the first round of being yelled at for being selfish he decided that he didn’t need to answer any more calls from them. It was too late to go back on his decision to return to Tulane for his senior year.
“I’m sure that’s not true.”
“My grandpa pled guilty to avoid a long jail sentence. Had to file for bankruptcy and shit. He’ll probably end up broke as fuck.”
“Even if you would have declared for the draft, he would have still had to deal with all of this before you signed a contract anywhere. They have no reason to not want to talk to you.”
“Yeah, well they do. I don’t want to talk about this anymore though. It is what it is. I’m old enough to make it without my family over my shoulder,” Devin said. He walked over to stand behind her at the counter. “What are you making?”
“Virado à paulista.”
“And that is?”
“Something that’s not for you.”
“Don’t tell me you are throwing me out after I went check your mail.”
“Throw you out? No. You’re here so much now that I’ve become used to it. You practically live here. I’m still not sharing this with you.”
“Practically live here but don’t have a key.”
“The spare is in the drawer over there.”
“It’s that easy?”
“Like I just said, you are here most of the time anyway. It’d make no difference to me if you name was on the lease or not.”
“If I showed up here with boxes tomorrow, you wouldn’t mind?”
“Não.”
Devin rested his head on her shoulder. “So, how about some of this vee-rahdo a paulsta?”
Alessa laughed. “Não.”
Caesar sat down across from Erik. Deion had ordered both of his sons meet him at one of New Orleans’s swanky riverboat restaurants.
“Did you find that at a fucking thrift store?” Caesar asked.
He also demanded they dress well and not embarrass him.
“Fuck you, man. This is my nicest suit,” Erik said. He wasn’t stupid. What he was wearing was nowhere near the quality of the tailor-made clothing Caesar had on, but the suit had gotten him through more than a few “formal” occasions and he had no reason to get rid of it.
“And again I ask did you find that at a fucking thrift store? What is that made of? A raccoon’s ass? It doesn’t even fit you right. For the love of all that is good in the world, use your fucking money for once and get something that doesn’t look like a hand-me-down.”
“You know, I was going to congratulate you on winning the National Championship and all that shit but now you can kindly go choke on a dick.”
Caesar shrugged. He was only trying to introduce his brother to properly living the high life. They’d be in the NFL soon and the last thing anyone wanted to see was some guy wearing a shitty suit walking across the stage to shake the commissioner’s hand. He still had nightmares about some of the atrocities worn by draftees, especially in the first part of the century.
“So, are we about to have the same conversation we’ve had 100 times over the past year?” Erik asked Caesar. He spotted Deion walking through the restaurant, people in the know taking an opportunity to gawk at the famous former quarterback.
“Probably. It’s decision time now,” Caesar said.
Deion placed a briefcase on the table, popped it open and sat down. He took two contracts out of it and slid one over to each of his sons, “Those are the contracts that you two need to sign to make me your agent after you declare for the draft. I’ve waived the permitted 3 percent I can take out of your contracts and will only be taking 5 percent out of your endorsements. Family discount. The deadline to declare is in a couple days and the lawyers would like to have all the legal shit squared away as quickly as possible. I’m flying them out here on Friday to do just that.”
“I don’t need this,” Erik said. He flipped through the contract, cringing at the legal jargon, before tossing the contract back in the briefcase.
“What do you mean you don’t need that? What are you going to do? Go find another agent? You won’t find anyone willing to take a cut this small. They’d bleed you dry.”
“I’m not declaring. I have a chance to win the conference and a National Championship without Caesar in New Orleans fucking shit up for everyone else,” Erik said.
“You’ll have to worry about King, Jason, that little Rodgers ****. Tulane is going to repeat,” Caesar said.
Deion turned to his other son, “I trust you aren’t going to be a dumbfuck and go back to school for another year.”
“I have nothing left to prove. Couple conference championships, national champion, few records. A Heisman would have been nice but we all know it’s not easy for a receiver to get that.”
“Thank the Lord that you finally show a bit of sense. Your draft stock is still high. Most people in the know have you going in the top 5. You’ll probably be the top ranked prospect. The Chargers have the top pick but they want a quarterback. A good combine would change their mind. Wherever you go, you’ll be getting a pretty nice rookie contract. The owners just can’t push through that rookie payscale.”
“I’m not too worried about money. I just don’t want to be tied to a shitty team for the better part of my career.”
“Better run a five-six at the combine then.” Erik laughed.
“I couldn’t crawl to a five-six.”
Deion pointed at Erik, “Don’t try to sway him to stay in school.” He looked back at Caesar. “It’s nothing to negotiate a three or four year deal. GMs won’t mind it too much. You do have some red flags.”
“Yeah, yeah. I know all about them,” Caesar said.
“No one cares about most of the shit. Receivers have been divas since the beginning of the sport. Max Magee showed up to the first Super Bowl hungover and caught two touchdowns.”
“Who?” Caesar and Erik asked at the same time.
“Max Magee? Packers receiver? He played for fucking Tulane.”
“Not ringing any bells,” Caesar said. “How about you?”
“Nothing.” Erik shrugged.
“Jesus Christ. Brush up on your football history. No one wants a player who thinks Tim Tebow was the greatest quarterback of all-time.”
“Anyway, let’s get back to the red flags that people care about,” Caesar said.
“It’s nothing major. You just need to make sure the scouts and GMs know that your little ‘mental issues’ wasn’t much more than a ploy to get everyone off your back for being a fuck up a couple years ago. I have to admit that it was well-timed, just not very well thought out. Every team will probably send a team of shrinks at you to make sure you don’t jump off the top of the fucking stadium or some shit.”
Caesar nodded. There was no point arguing with Deion Jenkins about what NFL general managers were looking for. He’d been an agent for long enough to know the ins and outs of the entire draft process. For next few weeks, Caesar had no problem handing over the reins to dear ol’ dad and letting him walk him through it all.
Heisman winner and National champion. Two titles only a select elite group of players could lay claim to. The word elite is the very reason Devin couldn’t help but let out a boisterous laugh as he stood in front of the bank of mailboxes, half-awake in a shirt that had seen better days and a pair of pink fuzzy slippers, with the key jammed in the lock. After ten tries, he hadn’t managed to do much more than jiggle the key and give it a bit of a bend.
Alessa had explained to him the trick to unlocking it without a fight. He’d forgotten as soon as he walked out of her apartment. He felt like a fool. The media-proclaimed face of the Green Wave football team, and possibly college football, defeated by a rusty lock that should have been changed years ago, it had all the makings of the world’s greatest comeback story.
Ripping the key from the lock, he headed back to Alessa’s apartment, all the while ignoring the strange looks he was getting from her neighbors.
Since the team had returned from California, he’d been spending the majority of his time at Alessa’s place to avoid the leeches trying to get a hold of him. Agents, shady characters of all kinds, jersey chasers, it didn’t matter. He’d become a valued commodity when he announced that he was returning for his senior year. Another year of dealing with people trying to posture for a lucrative future of their own, a web he refused to get himself tangled in.
“I don’t see you holding any mail.” Alessa glanced over her shoulder when she heard the door close.
“I don’t see you holding any food.”
Alessa turned from the counter, knife in hand. “Keep that up and you won’t be holding anything.”
“No need for violence,” Devin said, hands raised in surrender. He kicked off her slippers and pushed them in the corner. “I couldn’t get the fucking box open. And before you say anything, I did exactly what you told me to do.”
“Three shakes to the right and a jiggle to the left, push up and turn?”
“Yep.”
“Mentiroso.”
“I still don’t know Portuguese.”
“I’ve been telling you that you need to learn for months now.”
“There aren’t enough Portuguese-speaking people in the world for me to need to learn how to speak it.”
She shrugged. “I guess. Have you talked to your family recently?”
“A couple texts. I don’t think they care for me much anymore.” The truth was that they had tried to call him a few times, but after the first round of being yelled at for being selfish he decided that he didn’t need to answer any more calls from them. It was too late to go back on his decision to return to Tulane for his senior year.
“I’m sure that’s not true.”
“My grandpa pled guilty to avoid a long jail sentence. Had to file for bankruptcy and shit. He’ll probably end up broke as fuck.”
“Even if you would have declared for the draft, he would have still had to deal with all of this before you signed a contract anywhere. They have no reason to not want to talk to you.”
“Yeah, well they do. I don’t want to talk about this anymore though. It is what it is. I’m old enough to make it without my family over my shoulder,” Devin said. He walked over to stand behind her at the counter. “What are you making?”
“Virado à paulista.”
“And that is?”
“Something that’s not for you.”
“Don’t tell me you are throwing me out after I went check your mail.”
“Throw you out? No. You’re here so much now that I’ve become used to it. You practically live here. I’m still not sharing this with you.”
“Practically live here but don’t have a key.”
“The spare is in the drawer over there.”
“It’s that easy?”
“Like I just said, you are here most of the time anyway. It’d make no difference to me if you name was on the lease or not.”
“If I showed up here with boxes tomorrow, you wouldn’t mind?”
“Não.”
Devin rested his head on her shoulder. “So, how about some of this vee-rahdo a paulsta?”
Alessa laughed. “Não.”
Caesar sat down across from Erik. Deion had ordered both of his sons meet him at one of New Orleans’s swanky riverboat restaurants.
“Did you find that at a fucking thrift store?” Caesar asked.
He also demanded they dress well and not embarrass him.
“Fuck you, man. This is my nicest suit,” Erik said. He wasn’t stupid. What he was wearing was nowhere near the quality of the tailor-made clothing Caesar had on, but the suit had gotten him through more than a few “formal” occasions and he had no reason to get rid of it.
“And again I ask did you find that at a fucking thrift store? What is that made of? A raccoon’s ass? It doesn’t even fit you right. For the love of all that is good in the world, use your fucking money for once and get something that doesn’t look like a hand-me-down.”
“You know, I was going to congratulate you on winning the National Championship and all that shit but now you can kindly go choke on a dick.”
Caesar shrugged. He was only trying to introduce his brother to properly living the high life. They’d be in the NFL soon and the last thing anyone wanted to see was some guy wearing a shitty suit walking across the stage to shake the commissioner’s hand. He still had nightmares about some of the atrocities worn by draftees, especially in the first part of the century.
“So, are we about to have the same conversation we’ve had 100 times over the past year?” Erik asked Caesar. He spotted Deion walking through the restaurant, people in the know taking an opportunity to gawk at the famous former quarterback.
“Probably. It’s decision time now,” Caesar said.
Deion placed a briefcase on the table, popped it open and sat down. He took two contracts out of it and slid one over to each of his sons, “Those are the contracts that you two need to sign to make me your agent after you declare for the draft. I’ve waived the permitted 3 percent I can take out of your contracts and will only be taking 5 percent out of your endorsements. Family discount. The deadline to declare is in a couple days and the lawyers would like to have all the legal shit squared away as quickly as possible. I’m flying them out here on Friday to do just that.”
“I don’t need this,” Erik said. He flipped through the contract, cringing at the legal jargon, before tossing the contract back in the briefcase.
“What do you mean you don’t need that? What are you going to do? Go find another agent? You won’t find anyone willing to take a cut this small. They’d bleed you dry.”
“I’m not declaring. I have a chance to win the conference and a National Championship without Caesar in New Orleans fucking shit up for everyone else,” Erik said.
“You’ll have to worry about King, Jason, that little Rodgers ****. Tulane is going to repeat,” Caesar said.
Deion turned to his other son, “I trust you aren’t going to be a dumbfuck and go back to school for another year.”
“I have nothing left to prove. Couple conference championships, national champion, few records. A Heisman would have been nice but we all know it’s not easy for a receiver to get that.”
“Thank the Lord that you finally show a bit of sense. Your draft stock is still high. Most people in the know have you going in the top 5. You’ll probably be the top ranked prospect. The Chargers have the top pick but they want a quarterback. A good combine would change their mind. Wherever you go, you’ll be getting a pretty nice rookie contract. The owners just can’t push through that rookie payscale.”
“I’m not too worried about money. I just don’t want to be tied to a shitty team for the better part of my career.”
“Better run a five-six at the combine then.” Erik laughed.
“I couldn’t crawl to a five-six.”
Deion pointed at Erik, “Don’t try to sway him to stay in school.” He looked back at Caesar. “It’s nothing to negotiate a three or four year deal. GMs won’t mind it too much. You do have some red flags.”
“Yeah, yeah. I know all about them,” Caesar said.
“No one cares about most of the shit. Receivers have been divas since the beginning of the sport. Max Magee showed up to the first Super Bowl hungover and caught two touchdowns.”
“Who?” Caesar and Erik asked at the same time.
“Max Magee? Packers receiver? He played for fucking Tulane.”
“Not ringing any bells,” Caesar said. “How about you?”
“Nothing.” Erik shrugged.
“Jesus Christ. Brush up on your football history. No one wants a player who thinks Tim Tebow was the greatest quarterback of all-time.”
“Anyway, let’s get back to the red flags that people care about,” Caesar said.
“It’s nothing major. You just need to make sure the scouts and GMs know that your little ‘mental issues’ wasn’t much more than a ploy to get everyone off your back for being a fuck up a couple years ago. I have to admit that it was well-timed, just not very well thought out. Every team will probably send a team of shrinks at you to make sure you don’t jump off the top of the fucking stadium or some shit.”
Caesar nodded. There was no point arguing with Deion Jenkins about what NFL general managers were looking for. He’d been an agent for long enough to know the ins and outs of the entire draft process. For next few weeks, Caesar had no problem handing over the reins to dear ol’ dad and letting him walk him through it all.
GMSFootballa54
Who's Got It Better Than Us?
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