Senior Year Box Set

We walked into Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, and it was a sea of red. It was predicted to be a full house with over 82,000 fans. We took our seats and soon heard the crowd yell, ‘Boomer Sooner!’ numerous times. They followed that up with, ‘Oklahoma, Oklahoma, OK U!’ That began the Oklahoma fight song that the team took the field to. If I were Ohio State hearing that chant, I might have been intimidated.

Then the Sooner Schooner came tearing onto the field. It was a little covered wagon that was led onto the field and had been a tradition since the early ’60s.

Then it was game time. At first, it looked like it was going to be an old-fashioned slugfest between two football titans. Ohio State took the lead on an early 36-yard run. Oklahoma was driving, and I thought they would score. But Ohio State returned an interception 68 yards to put the Buckeyes up 14–0, with a little over four minutes left in the first quarter.

Oklahoma took the ensuing kickoff back 97 yards to tighten the game at 14–7. Then Ohio State’s quarterback took over and threw three touchdown passes to take a 35–17 lead into halftime. In the second half, Ohio State looked like the better team that day and ended up winning 45–24. The win put them close to the top of the National Championship hunt and all but eliminated Oklahoma.

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After the game, the parents got bused back to the hotel, and we hooked up with Jordan. I think we were all glad he wasn’t in the mood to go party after the loss. We walked back to his dorm room and played Madden Football. Jordan had way too much time on his hands because he kicked our butts with Cleveland. Tim played with New England and gave him a run for his money, but ended up losing.

Overall, we had an excellent first day. Jordan was a great ambassador, and I was glad he was in charge of showing me around.

Tim and Wolf pestered me until I took them back to the hotel and had Chuck show them the video. When they saw Mr. Rios, lying on the floor trying to breathe, they finally agreed it wasn’t something I needed to show around.

When I finally got back to my room, I called Brook.

“Hey, Big Daddy. How was your day?”

I filled her in on all that happened. She was pissed my security hadn’t been with me. That was something I planned to talk to Fritz about. Not that I wanted an audience when I took a pee, but it was the perfect place to jump someone.

“Glad to hear your day was drama-free,” Brook teased.

“You know me too well. What was your day like?”

“My new BFF Destiny informed me that she was going to sleep with you.”

“I thought she planned to play nice.”

That made Brook laugh. I guess it was too much to ask that she just accept that Brook was head cheerleader. I didn’t see the logic in Destiny’s threat. After all, I’d slept with other cheerleaders, and it never helped them take over the squad.

“I ran into her at the mall, and she shared that little tidbit. It goes without saying that Cassidy will actually hurt you if you fall for her games,” Brook threatened.

I didn’t take the bait.

“I also had an interesting conversation with Tracy. It seems her mental health is dependent on you spending quality time with her. What’s all that about?” she asked.

“Every once in a while, Tracy gets …” I trailed off.

“Bitchy,” Brook supplied.

“That’s it,” I said. “It seems that if she can get a good orgasm, it improves her mood. You do know that she’s actually been diagnosed as crazy?”

Brook had heard about my jokes at the mental health facility where Tracy had been a guest. One of the jokes was that the difference between Tracy and her cellmates and other girls was the residents had all been diagnosed. All other girls were running around without the actual paperwork. In essence, I’d said all girls were crazy. Tracy reminded me of my poor jokes every now and then. At the time, she’d thought it was funny. That had been my goal, to see her smile.

“I see. So, are you asking for permission to help her out?”

“You would need to be there to supervise, of course.”

“Of course I would.”

For some reason, I didn’t buy her sincerity.

“Maybe we should just have everyone who has gone cold turkey since we started dating show up,” I suggested.

“Like who?”

“Pam, Zoe, Hannah, Peggy, and then the random fangirl,” I offered hopefully.

“You can take Zoe off your list. Johan asked her out today, and they went on a date. Maybe you should suggest the same thing for the rest of them,” Brook countered.

“That is disappoi … great!” I said for the save.

“I read where Hannah’s engaged. The wedding is scheduled for next year after the World Series,” she said to rub salt into the wound.

“I keep thinking she’ll wake up and realize what she could have with me,” I pouted.

“I bet I could get Cody Christian to at least call me,” Brook shot back.