Junior Year Box Set

Devin didn’t even hesitate when Kendal told him that she felt the ‘incident’ clause had been triggered. He immediately said he would authorize the check. Frank about wet himself with excitement, once he was sure I wouldn’t die. Frank explained this was a PR gold mine. Honestly, I just wanted to go home.

◊◊◊ Sunday October 25

When Duke and I went out to run, we found Precious outside. Duke was excited to see his friend again and seemed to sense she had been hurt. He had to check her all over. I was amused that the cat let him. Normally Duke would have gotten his nose swatted. I was glad to be able to run on my own today because there was a bunch of stuff that I needed to think about.

I set a relaxed pace because I felt like I might run further than usual today and didn’t need to stress Duke out. I had my weighted Bo staff so I would work my upper body while I ran. It helped me to build up my wrists and forearms. It also improved my grip, upper arms, and shoulders. The twisting strengthened my core. Cassidy even commented that it had helped with my quickness.

Duke settled in for our long run, and I dropped into my thinking zone. I basically blocked out everything around me, and it allowed me to concentrate. Something I realized was that my wish for excitement came with a price. Yesterday I might have really hurt myself. I had been lucky to only have been dizzy.

Bo had warned me that schools would worry I might end my football career if they knew some of what I’d been up to. I had more than just sports to think about. If I were to get more involved in movies and/or modeling, I would be accountable to more than just myself. Someday I planned to have a family and children. I owed it to them to be in the best shape I could be in.

Then I thought about the four girls that I’d been spending time with. In some ways, it felt like ‘been there, done that’ from my first year with Cindy, Beth, Suzanne, and Tracy. I had two thoughts: either I quit limiting whom I had sex with, or I simply lock one of them down. When the semester started, my objective was to forget about Tami and just have fun. Now I’d just gone to a dance and been jealous when I saw the girls with someone else.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked to get laid as much as the next guy. Something the recruiting trips had taught me was if I wanted to pick someone up, I could. So why would I let myself fall into any kind of relationship only eight weeks after my best friend told me that she needed to go out and get some life experience? Shouldn’t I do the same?

A plan started to form in my mind. In four weeks, I would be off to LA for two months. Why shouldn’t I use that time to explore what really was out there? The test would be whether or not I missed the girls I’d been seeing. Well, Halle would be around, but she’d be busy working. I would get a chance to experience everything Southern California had to offer.

I trotted up our driveway and looked at my smart watch. It said we had run 8.3 miles. Duke wanted in the back door to get a drink. I stretched, then went up and took a shower. The hot water felt good this morning. Almost dying yesterday had shifted my focus, and I found I enjoyed everyday things, like a hot shower or sleeping in my own bed.

◊◊◊

Going to church this morning, I felt a closer connection to my faith. I’d been a little adrift since Jeff had passed. From the time when I found out he was hurt, to right after he died, I had leaned on my faith to keep my head straight. Since then I hadn’t made it a priority. It was hit-or-miss whether I attended church each week. A solid moral foundation was one of my life goals. A big part of that was my faith.

After the sermon, Mom had stopped and talked to some of her friends. I wandered out to the entrance and read the bulletin board, where they’d posted a flyer saying they wanted volunteers for the youth group. While my commitments wouldn’t allow me to do it all the time, I wondered if I could do it a few times a month.

Mom came up behind me.

“Ready to go?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “Do you think they’d let me help out with the youth group a time or two a month?”

“What do you think?” Mom asked.

She was right. It was a stupid question. I would add that to my list of things to do when I got back from LA.

◊◊◊

I pulled up to Zoe’s farm to see the driveway full of cars. I parked and couldn’t find anyone. Then I thought I heard laughter, so I followed the noise and found everyone in a field at the back of the property. I walked back, and Zoe saw me. She jumped the fence and met me halfway.

“Want to pick pumpkins?” she asked.

“I didn’t know you had any.”

“We put in a few acres each year, and we sell them at the vegetable stand for Halloween.”

“Isn’t it a little late to be selling pumpkins? Halloween is this week,” I said.