War of the Roses: Redux Edition

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djp73
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War of the Roses: Redux Edition

Post by djp73 » 18 Feb 2020, 06:56

liking the offseason build up but ready for some games!
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Captain Canada
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War of the Roses: Redux Edition

Post by Captain Canada » 18 Feb 2020, 13:35

Devin is truly the people's champ. Even helping out on offense :blessed:
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War of the Roses: Redux Edition

Post by Caesar » 18 Feb 2020, 15:56

Stamping Authority

Summer in Louisiana had reached its peak. The thermometers were edging on triple digits and the humidity was pushing the “feels like” well over. Down on the field of Thomas B. Smith Stadium, the players practiced on a boiling pit of hell.

It wasn’t a great atmosphere for a live practice.

Tempers flared and a number of scuffles had broken out after the only the first few reps. The managers shuttled water to the players, resorting to using a hose running out of the locker room to fill jugs and coolers to keep up with the demand.

The heat was even starting to get to the coaching staff.

“How do you miss that block, Gerron?!” Coach McCoy shouted, ripping his visor off his head and stomping over to the offensive lineman. “We made this shit simple enough. You. Can’t. Let. A. Fucking. Linebacker. Run. Through. The. Fucking. A. Gap. This is peewee football shit. Danny would’ve been getting carted off the field. Get it together.”

“Alright, coach,” Gerron said, scratching at his neck.

“Run it again!”

The team ran the same plays on offense and defense. While the blocking was sound this time, Danny sailed the pass over Noah’s head.

Hasan smacked the back of Danny’s helmet when the quarterback hung his head. “Keep ya head up, rook. Even the GOAT missed passes in his career.”

“But an actual goat would have better accuracy than his ass,” Caesar said as he walked back to the line. He looked over at Coach McCoy. “You know I got a bit of an arm on me, Coach. Runs in the family. If you want a change in the backfield.”

“Shut the fuck up, Jenkins,” Hasan said.

“I’m just giving Coach another option.” Caesar shrugged.

Everyone turned to Coach McCoy expecting him to tell Caesar to head to the bleachers to run stadiums as he’d done so many times already since practices started in the spring.

Coach McCoy pushed his sunglasses up on his nose. “Why don’t you keep your mouth shut and get open so he has someone to throw it to?”

“I was just open. Not my fault the kid doesn’t know how to go through his progressions. It’s not like he was going to get hit if he held the ball for too long.”

“On the line. I don’t have all day. I’d like to get home to my wife sometime before the sun goes down,” the coach said, blowing his whistle.

The team went through a handful of reps without incident. It almost seemed like things were coming down despite the heat beating down on them. Coach McCoy made minor adjustments to what Danny was doing but for the most part stayed silent.

Danny stood in the shotgun with Hasan to his right.

“Kill,” McCoy called from behind him.

Danny mimicked his coach, calling the audible. Hasan shifted to the other side of him as the defense realigned. He called for the snap and handed it off to Hasan going off tackle. Noah held his block. Caesar didn’t even attempt to block Devin on the edge, instead stepping out of the way.

Devin stutter-stepped as if he didn’t expect to get in the backfield so easily. Hasan tried to make a move, but Devin wrapped him up and stopped his momentum. If it wasn’t practice, Hasan probably would’ve gotten a highlight hit put on him.

“What the fuck is your problem, man?” Devin asked Caesar. “That’s how people get hurt in fucking practice.”

Caesar shrugged. “Thought the little shit was going to cut up field.”

Hasan shoved Caesar, but Devin got between the two of them before a larger scuffle could break out. They hadn’t even noticed Coach McCoy stalking over to them.

McCoy grabbed Caesar’s facemask as he started shouting. “I’ve ‘bout had enough of this superstar diva shit out of you! You’re just a pampered, spoiled brat who got this far because who your daddy is. Get your shit and get off the field. You’re done.”

The team was shocked into silence. Cutting anyone on the spot would be a wild thing to have happen. Cutting Caesar Jenkins on the spot would be something that would make national news.

“You can’t fucking cut me. Who the fuck do you think is going to catch passes from your quarterback if not me?”

“I’ll catch the damn passes myself if it means you clear out your locker and get the hell off my field. Now, take off my helmet. Take off my jersey. Take off my pads. And get the hell of my field. Go on. I want you out of the locker room before we’re done.” Coach McCoy shoved Caesar in the direction of the Field House.

Caesar wheeled around. “You done lost your fucking mind. I’m the best player on the fucking team by far. Your career would be over if you were the dumbass who cut me before the season started.”

McCoy stepped back and scratched his chin. He looked around at the rest of the team, watching and waiting for what he would say next.

“You know what, Caesar?” The coach took his sunglasses off. “If this is the hill I have to die on then I guess I’ll have to go coach junior high ball in Mississippi. But I’ll be God damned if you don’t get your ass off my field.”

Caesar’s lip curled up and his fists clenched. Then he snapped his helmet off and threw it on the field. As he walked to the locker room, he took off his jersey and shoulder pads and left them on the field as well.

McCoy turned around to face the team. “Anyone else want to say something?” He looked at Hasan and Devin. “Anyone?”

The both of them shook their heads as a few mumbled “no, coach”’s rippled through the team.

“Run it again!”

-*****-


Coach McCoy walked into the locker room. Wiping sweat from his brow despite the wee hour of the morning. He flipped the light switch on and noticed a figure sitting on the bench running the length of a row of lockers.

“Didn’t I kick you off the team yesterday?” he asked as he sorted through the keys in his hand. “What the hell are you doing in my locker room?”

“I have to play football,” Caesar said. “What do you want me to do to get back on the team? Apologize?”

McCoy unlocked the door to his office and went inside. He put his bag down before coming back out of the office. “I’m a fan of second chances. I got one so I give other people one. You’re going to keep your damn mouth shut from now on. I don’t want to hear anything about Danny or anything else you think about the team. One word, and you’re done for good.”

“I don’t me--”

“One word.”

“Alright. Won’t say anything.”

“Good,” the coach said before gesturing over to the corner. “Go wash the practice jerseys. I like them run through the washer machine twice. Washer, drier, washer, drier. Got it?”

“Are you serious?”

“I don’t hear that washing machine running.”

Caesar sighed and got up, heading for the basket of jerseys that had more of them on the floor than in the basket.

McCoy watched him start picking up the jerseys before he went back into his office.
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War of the Roses: Redux Edition

Post by djp73 » 18 Feb 2020, 16:16

only way to get through to a guy like Caesar
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War of the Roses: Redux Edition

Post by Caesar » 20 Feb 2020, 16:28

Not Losing Sleep

“Who was the president after Trump?”

Carla looked over her phone and moved her knees so that she could see Devin. “Trump the first or Trump the second?”

Devin raised an eyebrow and scrolled his phone’s screen up and down looking for the information. “There was more than one of them? I thought it was just the crazy one. This doesn’t say that there was more than one. I think everyone would remember if we had 16 years of Trumps in office.”

He and Carla sat in silence for a moment before she started laughing.

“I’m bullshitting you,” she said. “I don’t think that college admissions people are going to be asking you to name all the presidents. But if it’s something that you’re just dying to know then it was Bernie Sanders for four years.”

“I’m studying for the ACT, actually. Need to get a 22 so I don’t end up at some JUCO in the middle of bumfuck Mississippi. I should’ve taken it last year so I wouldn’t have to worry about that but here we are.”

Carla sat up, draping her legs over Devin’s lap. “I thought that football players got people with similar names to take the ACT for them. Your name is Devin. Surely, there is a smart girl out there somewhere named Devin.”

“That’s a basketball player thing, first of all. But I’m not going to cheat. I think I can manage a 22. It’s not that high. What’d you get?”

She shrugged. “I haven’t taken it yet. I got alright scores on the prep tests. Let me know when you sign up and I’ll go take it with you. Then we’ll know what junior colleges are going to accept us as a package deal.”

“There you go trying to use my football talent to get yourself a trailer out next to Betty Sue and Jimmy.”

“Oh yeah. I haven’t done my slumming it stage yet and there is no better slumming than getting a trailer park in the Alabama backwoods. Get myself a couple kids, knock out a couple teeth, let you smack me around a bit. Sounds like a good ol’ time.”

“Didn’t know you were into BDSM. Today I learned.”

Carla kicked him in the side. “You’re dreaming if you think I’m going to give you an excuse to beat me.”

The doorbell rang through the living room.

“Chris!” Carla yelled. “Go get the fucking door!”

Devin glanced at the door and then at Carla. “You’re like ten feet away, though.”

Chris jogged through the hall, holding his middle finger up to Carla as he passed by. He opened the door and stepped back. Kaley stepped inside, giving him a wide berth.

“Hey, cuz.” He reached out to give her a hug.

She patted him on the back and shoved him away before he was able to. “Hey, Chris.”

“Go pull the wings off a moth or something, Chris. No one wants you around,” Carla called, sinking down some on the sofa.

“Go pull the wings off a month, Chris,” her little brother mocked before he turned and went back down the hall.

Carla looked at Devin. “He’d love to be in Alabama.”

“So, no one would look at him funny for going in his room and jacking off to his cousin?”

“That’s something that I didn’t need to hear. I’m going to have to start wearing a moo-moo and no makeup when I come here,” Kaley said as she walked into the living room and sat on an Ottoman. “What are y’all up to?”

“Just living our best life,” Carla said. “Shouldn’t you be in New Orleans or something?”

“No, that was only for a few weeks.”

“And you’re just coming here? How rude.”

Kaley looked at Devin who sighed and looked down at his phone. Carla noticed.

“You knew she was in town?” Carla asked.

Devin nodded slowly. “Yeah, I saw her after practice a couple times with Caesar. I figured you knew already so I didn’t say anything.” He looked at Kaley. “I’m surprised that Caesar lets you drive his car. Isn’t it pretty expensive?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

Carla scoffed. “Damn, you’re already part of the family. Working fast, huh? What’s next? Getting knocked up?”

“C’mon, Carla. Don’t be like that,” Devin said trying to diffuse the situation.

“I’m just trying to be happy for once. I don’t see what’s so wrong with that. You should be happy that I’m not with David anymore. You hated him.” Kaley flipped her phone over in her hand, glanced at the notifications then laid it down next to her.

“If I had to choose between David and Caesar, I’d tell you to start fucking women,” Carla said. She tossed her phone onto the coffee table. “So, if you’ve been playing house with Caesar for weeks then what are you doing here? Sent you on a grocery run? Oh wait, they definitely have someone to do that for them.”

Kaley sighed. “Well, I need to ask you for a favor.”

“Oh no. The last time I did a favor for you, I got caught up in all your shit.”

“You could’ve said no,” Devin pointed out.

“Supposed to be on my side.”

Devin held up his hand. “My bad. Just stating the obvious.”

“You don’t even have to do anything, Carla. I just need someone to be able to say that I am somewhere that I’m not going to be. In case, my mom calls. But you know she won’t. She’ll be at the casino or something like that.”

Carla rubbed her hand across her face and then through her hair. “What in the world are you getting yourself into, Kaley?”

“I’m going to Ohio with Caesar and his family. I need you to say that I stayed here if anyone asks.”

“To the Hall of Fame ceremony?” Devin asked.

“Yeah, why?” Kaley raised an eyebrow.

He shook his head. “So, it’s going to be you, him, his parents?”

“And his grandparents. People his dad knew and stuff.”

“Already part of the fucking family,” Carla said. “Fine, but only if your mom asks. If anyone else asks, I’m telling them where you are. Not like it’d be hard to figure out anyway.”

-*****-

Devin handed Hasan his cell phone as the two of them got out of Devin’s car. Hasan flicked his finger across the screen a few times and shook his head before handing Devin back his phone.

“It’s fuckin’ crazy that coach is already givin’ us a whole agenda for when we go to Shreveport in like a month. What he expect us to do? Go out in that hick ass town and go find some farmer’s daughter to run train on?” Hasan asked.

The two of them climbed the steps onto Jamie’s porch. It had somehow gotten more dilapidated since the last time they were there months ago.

“You know that Shreveport isn’t in the boonies right?”

“Is it in Louisiana?”

“Yes.”

“Then it’s the fuckin’ boonies. The shit is basically a home game for them. We might as well keep going to Dallas and just play them there. You ask your dad why we even playin’ them?”

Devin shook his head. “Not him, but I heard that it’s some shit that Deion Jenkins is part of so that’s probably how we end up playing. Trying to get his son some TV time.”

“I want to know what it feels like to have everythin’ on a platter.”

“Must be nice.” Devin stepped forward and knocked on the door. A pair of dogs started barking. He looked at Hasan and raised an eyebrow. Hasan shrugged.

Bart swung the door open, kicking two pitbulls away when they tried to go outside. He walked out onto the porch and closed the door.

“Y’all niggas took y’all time getting here, huh?” Bart reached into his pocket and pulled out a blunt. He sparked it and took a long drag.

“You the one just poppin’ up back in Houma. Why the fuck you left Trinity, motherfucker?” Hasan asked.

“School not for me.” He held the blunt out to them but they both declined. He shrugged and took another drag. “Besides, Jamie fucking pregnant again. You know how much a bitch blow your phone up when she pregnant and taking care of another kid. Don’t get no bitches pregnant y’all.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Devin said. “So, you’re just done with school altogether?”

“Yeah, fuck that shit. I’ll slang some dope or something. You know them white people still go crazy behind that meth and heroin.”

“You a stupid nigga, but I guess if you like it then I love it,” Hasan said. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a couple cannisters of Enfamil. “Shouldn’t your kid be eatin’ real food by now?”

Bart balanced the cannisters in one hand so he could continue to smoke with the other. “He do. We got stamps and WIC for that. I’m just trying to stockpile some shit for the next one coming. I tried to get her ass to abort it, but you know they don’t listen.”

“Damn,” Hasan and Devin almost said in unison.

Jamie’s voice could be heard calling Bart from inside the house. He sucked his teeth and flicked the cherry off the end of the blunt before putting it in his pocket.

“Thanks for the shit. Y’all come through more often.” He dapped the two of them up before opening the door, kicking the two pits away again and shutting the door behind him – shouting at Jamie the entire time.

“That nigga really fucked his life up behind some mediocre pussy,” Hasan said, shaking his head.

Devin raised an eyebrow. “How do you know it’s ‘mediocre?’”

“Caesar fucked her. I figure he go with quantity not quality considering how many he knockin’ down.”

“You know Carla was with Caesar before right?”

“Oh right, my fault.”

Devin got into the car and turned the key. Hasan pulled on the door, but it was locked. He knocked on the window, but Devin put the car in reverse.

“You leavin’ me?!”

He stopped at the end of the driveway and let Hasan walk to the car and get in.

“My fault,” Devin said when he got in.

“You a bitch on the slick.” Hasan buckled his seat belt. “Let’s go grab some grub. I’m still tryin’ to figure out this agenda shit. I think better on a full stomach.”

Devin shook his head. “It’s not even that serious.”

Devin pulled out into traffic and headed away from the beat-up yard with the rundown house standing in the center of it.
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War of the Roses: Redux Edition

Post by Captain Canada » 21 Feb 2020, 13:32

Solid little update. Why do I feel like you're planning on making Ohio a shit show? :curtain:
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War of the Roses: Redux Edition

Post by Caesar » 23 Feb 2020, 00:18

Wheels Up

“You weren’t lying about the private jet.”

Caesar turned around and saw that Kaley had stopped a few feet behind him. He looked back at the plane sitting on the runway of the Houma-Terrebonne airport and shrugged. “Who would lie about a fucking jet? It’s pretty easy to find out one way or the other.”

She sighed and caught up to him. “Are you sure I don’t need any luggage? I don’t think you expect me to wear the same thing for however many days.”

“Do you see me carrying luggage?”

“Well, I don’t know how flying on your own damn plane works. Regular people have to check their bags and what not. You might have sent them ahead.”

Caesar glanced over his shoulder before he started to ascend the steps into the plane. “You’ve been with me all week. Unless I shoved them through the bathroom window or whisked them away when you were asleep, you’d know that.”

“Excuse me for being too poor to know how flying on a private fucking plane works.”

He ignored the quip.

“Good morning, Caesar,” the flight attendant, a woman in her 30s, said as he passed by. He waved a greeting back. The woman turned, looked at Kaley and smiled. “Good morning.”

Kaley returned the greeting. When she turned into the cabin, she suddenly felt more uncomfortable and out of place that she thought she would. It didn’t help that Caesar hadn’t stopped walking and was now a good distance away from her.

A group of four men sat toward the front of the plane, one of them barking orders into a phone and stabbing a laptop screen with an angry finger. She’d looked up Caesar’s dad, but his presence was enough to let you know who he was even if you’d never seen him before.

He glanced up from the laptop. A look of disgust appeared on his face. Mrs. Jenkins appeared and looped her arm through Kaley’s. Kaley hadn’t even noticed her walking through the cabin.

“I see my no-good son still hasn’t learned his manners,” she said. The older woman looked at Kaley. “Never flown before?”

“Uh, not in such style.” Kaley tried not to look to her left, but she could feel Deion Jenkins still glaring at her.

“You get used to it.” Mrs. Jenkins started walking, pulling Kaley along. She leaned in and whispered, “Don’t mind my husband. They’re trying to buy some business, I think. Never stops working. It’s crazy. You’d think after making what he did playing he’d be done trying to make money, but here we are, huh?”

Kaley chuckled nervously and said nothing.

Candice gestured to an empty seat across from an older couple who Kaley assumed was Caesar’s grandparents for her to sit.

“Caesar! Come here!” Deion yelled from the front of the plane.

Caesar stood up without protest, shifting between Kaley and his mother as he walked back to his father.

The man set the phone down and waved off one of his colleagues when they pointed to a rapidly changing figure on the laptop screen.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Deion asked his son.

“What?”

“What the fuck are you doing?” he repeated.

“Getting on the plane? I don’t know what I should say.” Caesar looked around, confused. His family ignored the conversation as did his father’s colleagues, but Kaley watched around the seat in front of her.

“You have to be the dumbest motherfucker. Dumber than a broke dick dog that drank antifreeze as a puppy,” Deion said. He turned to the man to his right. “Your son ever get wrapped up in pussy as much as mine does?”

The man looked up and shook his head. “My kid’s gay. I don’t think he chases tail the same way.”

“Well, there you have it.” The older Jenkins man sat back in his seat and pointed to a duffel bag on the other side of the aisle. “Open that.”

Caesar bent down and did as he was told. Inside was an Oklahoma State jersey, a new one, with the #17 on it.

“They’re going to unretire my number for you. You’re going to commit after the induction ceremony. Everyone will be there and I’m sure a few college football reporters will be on the look out for the commitment of the top recruit next year.”

Caesar looked down at the number on the jersey. He felt sick when he turned it over and read “Jenkins” on the back. “You think it’s the right time?”

His father rubbed his forehead. “I’m fucking telling you do it, aren’t I? It’s all set up. All you have to do is put that jersey on, go where I tell you to go after the ceremony and say ‘I’m going to play my college football at Oklahoma State’ or however you want to word it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Caesar, don’t make me fucking repeat myself.”

Caesar nodded and folded up the jersey, putting it back into the duffel bag. “Okay, dad.”

Deion dismissed his son with a wave of his hand and went back to his business, cursing and smacking the small pull-out table when he looked at the laptop screen.

Caesar went back to his seat, ignoring the questioning look from Kaley.

-*****-
Kaley looked at the dozens of bags that sat on the floor of the hotel room that she was sharing with Caesar. They were joined by a handful of dresses that hung on the door. In the bathroom, there was more – all proof of Caesar’s belief that packing bags for a trip was entirely unnecessary.

“I really feel weird about you buying me all of this,” Kaley said, as she stood in the middle of it all. She looked at Caesar who lay on the bed. “I’m going to pay you back.”

He opened his eyes and laughed. “That was what? $4,000 worth of shit? Sure, you can pay me back when you pass the bar. But I’m warning you, I charge 1,000 percent interest so you might want to start working on that exam now.”

“I suggested we go to that thrift store down the street!”

“I’ll be damned if my girlfriend is walking around wearing clothes from a fucking thrift store.”

Kaley rolled her eyes. “There’s nothing wrong with clothes from a thrift store.”

“Sure, if you ignore that other people have worn those clothes and that other people have worn those clothes. Imagine pulling a shirt over your head that has been in a scabies infested house or two. Lice, skin tags, just falling out of the sleeves.”

“You’re showing your privilege right now.”

“I’m not going to apologize for being a rich kid. Even if I was broke, I’d find thrift stores sketchy.” He sat up, barely avoiding a couple shoe boxes when he put his feet down. He shoved them under the bed with his foot. “Do you want to bring it back? We can go to Wal-Mart or something instead. I’m sure there are Mom and Pop spots around here somewhere.”

She ran her hand through her hair and exhaled heavily. “No, no. I’ll figure out how to be okay with this, I guess.”

He smiled and reached for her hand, pulling her toward him. She barely managed to not trip over everything on the floor as she stood between his legs.

“Good, because when everyone’s snapping pictures of me and the family after I commit, I don’t want people thinking ‘who is that frumpy ass girl with them?’”

“You’re really going to commit to Oklahoma State, huh?”

He raised his eyebrow. “Yeah, I’m really going to commit to Oklahoma State. You heard my dad. He said to do it after the induction ceremony.”

“I know that’s what he said but you’re the one that’s going to go there for four years.”

“Three years.”

She shoved his shoulder. “Three years, whatever. That’s not the point. You have to go there. Not your dad. Do you want to go to Oklahoma State?”

“Yeah, that’s the plan. I go—”

“I didn’t ask you what the plan was. I asked you if you wanted to go to Oklahoma State. I looked it up when we were on the plane. There are like 150 schools in that… whatever it’s called. Your dad didn’t go to the same school as your grandpa, did he? Why do you have to do it?”

“Because that’s the plan.”

“Caesar.” She knelt and rested her arms on his legs. “You’re your own person. If you don’t want to go there, don’t go there. Aren’t you always telling me not to listen to other people about what I should be doing with my life?”

“I want to go to Oklahoma State. That’s the plan.”

“Are you trying to convince me or yourself?”

He shook his head. “I’m not trying to convince anyone. That’s where I want to go. That’s always where I’ve wanted to go.”

Kaley reached behind him and grabbed his phone, holding it out to him. “Alright, then call and commit right now. That’s how it works, right?”

“Yep.” He took the phone from her and tossed it behind him. “That’s how it works. I’m going to commit after the induction ceremony. That’s the plan.”

“Why can’t you do it now? Just do it again in a few days. No one has to know but the two of us and whoever you need to talk to.”

“What difference does it make to you?”

“Because I want you to go to college where you want to go to college like you told me. That’s how a relationship works.” She gestured between them. “Supporting each other.”

“You know how else relationship works?” he asked, leaning back some.

“Do I want to know what you’re about to say?”

“I mean, you’re already on your knees. I’m just making the most of the situation.” He laughed.

Kaley sighed and stood up. “Can you be serious for a second? This is an important life decision you’re going to be making.”

“No, it’s not.” He laughed again. “These schools don’t expect high school kids to keep a commitment for a year or more. ‘I’ve decided to reopen my recruitment. Respect my decision. No interviews please.’ That shit is uttered a million times a week.”

“Would you do that? To Oklahoma State?”

He shrugged.

“Sounds like you don’t know how much you want this if you can’t even answer that.”

“It’s the plan.”

She nodded and turned her back on him, heading to the bathroom. “Yeah, the plan.”

“I don’t see the fucking problem!” he shouted behind her.

But the only answer was the slam of the bathroom door.
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War of the Roses: Redux Edition

Post by Captain Canada » 23 Feb 2020, 09:57

Deion got Caesar WHIPPED. Damn shame.
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War of the Roses: Redux Edition

Post by Caesar » 25 Feb 2020, 20:00

Workplace Hazards

Devin laid out to knock the ball away from Noah’s outstretched hands, but Danny had managed to drop the pass in the perfect spot for Devin not to be able to make a play on it. Noah jogged in for the “score” before heading back to the line of scrimmage.

Coach McCoy clapped and patted Danny on the top of his helmet. “That’s how you drop it the bread basket, kid. Beautiful throw.”

Devin gave the quarterback a thumb’s up of encouragement as he crouched over to catch his breath.

The last few days without Caesar at practice had seen Danny take a huge step forward in a lot of the players’ estimations. It seemed that the lack of the presence of the mercurial receiver gave the sophomore breathing room to think about and take in the lessons that Coach McCoy had been drilling into his head all summer.

Not that being able to avoid someone constantly jumping down your throat is ever going to hinder development. It was, though, probably problematic that those strides came without the team’s number one receiver.

“We’re going to have to be sharp with our timing in a couple weeks,” McCoy said, snapping his fingers as he spoke. “Euless Trinity hasn’t lost a game in three years. They’re fast, they hit hard, and they play football like we stepped into a time machine back to the 1980s. I know you all know that though. The internet is a wonderful thing. But knowing and doing are two different things, you got me?”

“Yes, sir,” the team said in unison.

The coach pointed to the backup safeties. “Tyrell and Jackson, get on the field.” He stopped Anthony and Mike from swapping out. “All four of you are going to stay on the field. Eleven on offense and thirteen on defense.”

Danny looked nervously at the coach.

“Danny, you have to see the openings. You’ve watched the film. You know that their secondary flies to the ball likes missiles,” McCoy said to the quarterback. “If you can find your man with thirteen guys on the other side of the field, you can do it with eleven.”

Danny nodded and listened as McCoy told him a set of plays to go through.

Devin lined up opposite of Noah. Defending anyone would be much easier with two extra safeties roaming around the middle of the field. He didn’t know what McCoy was getting at, but it wasn’t his job to question what the coach was doing.

The sophomore snapped the ball and started going through his progressions. He stepped forward and stepped back a few times, patting the ball as he did.

“Throw it!” McCoy shouted.

Danny turned and dumped it off to Hasan leaking out of the backfield. With the extra guys on defense, it was only a “one-yard gain.”

“Good,” the coach said. “Take what they give you. You’re not going to be able to blow the lid off this defense. If we have to go three yards every play, go three yards. Go to the next play.”

They ran the next play and Danny, once again, struggled to find an open man with the corners playing man across the board and four safeties essentially in quarters.

“You’d have been sacked by now!”

Danny forced the ball to Noah, but Devin batted it away easily.

“Receivers!” McCoy shouted. “You have to work to get open for your quarterback. He doesn’t have an eternity to throw it. You don’t have an eternity to get open. Run your route, then do what you need to do to make some space.”

The receivers ran harder on the next play and David was able to get away from Kenyatta to catch the ball. Tyrell was free to lay the hit on David if it wasn’t practice, but it might have been a touchdown if there weren’t two extra players on the field.

“Good! Good! Go to the next one.” McCoy clapped his hands and patted Danny on the back of the helmet.

Devin ran with Noah and batted an errant pass down. Coach McCoy didn’t make a comment on that one. It was obvious he was trying to get confidence into his quarterback with the first game of the season quickly approaching.

But everyone had seen the videos of Euless’ defense.

McCoy probably should’ve put another couple of guys on the field to properly illustrate how that defense flew to the ball. Danny was in for a true trial by fire.

-*****-
“Stop being a pussy and jump over there,” Will said, standing at the bottom of a walk-behind forklift with his hands on the controls.

Devin watched from the massive shelves that lined the warehouse. He’d opted for climbing on the carts to get there. Hasan, on the other hand, thought that trusting Will with the forklift was the best course of action.

As Will inched the forklift back and forth and shook it every so often, it was clear that Hasan was having second thoughts about the best way to get onto the shelves. He hung onto the backside of the lift for dear life, clearly afraid to jump the small gap between the forks and the shelf.

“Look you white motherfucka! Put the fuckin’ lift next to the shelf!” Hasan shouted.

Will raised an eyebrow and hoisted the lift higher, only a couple feet from the ceiling. The lift swayed slightly, and Hasan shrieked. Devin couldn’t help but to laugh at the sound coming from above them.

“Will, let him down before he shits himself,” Devin said.

“Or let me down so I could beat the shit out of you, you fuckin’ cracka motherfucka,” Hasan said, letting one of his hands off to point down at Will.

“Well, that’s fucking rude,” Will said, laughing. He stepped away from the forklift and started to walk away. “I’m going to take my lunch. Y’all let me know when y’all are finished and I’ll come back.”

“Hey! Hey! I’m just messin’ man. C’mon,” Hasan said.

Ralph came around the corner, energy drink in hand and looked up toward the ceiling. He shook his head, all but shoved Will out of the way and swung the lift toward the shelf. Hasan shrieked again and dove for the shelf as if it was salvation itself.

“Will, get up there and help him get that shit down. Devin, I need you to come with me,” Ralph said as he parked the forklift against the wall.

“I was about to go on lunch,” Will said.

“No, you’re about to get your ass up on that shelf and get that charcoal down from up there. Come on, Devin.”

Devin sighed and stepped onto the cart that he had used to get up on the shelf, careful not to make it roll when he put his foot on it. He jumped down to the floor and jogged to catch up to Ralph who hadn’t waited for him to get down from the shelf.

Ralph looked over his shoulder, probably to make sure Devin was following him out onto the sales floor. “I got someone to run that cart you left out on the aisle. That candy one.”

“You told me to leave that there.”

“I know what I did. We got a new cashier. Need you to show her how to put that shit up. Try not to run her off with that weird shit y’all be talking about in the back.”

Devin raised an eyebrow. “Ralph, you try to fuck the cashiers all the time.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah, and I’m the Queen of Monaco.”

“Can you even find Monaco on a map?”

They rounded the corner onto the candy aisle and Devin almost turned around and decided to quit right there. Scarlett stood next to the cart of boxes, looking at them as if they were the most confusing contraptions that she’d ever come across.

“Hey,” Ralph said, putting his hand on her shoulder to get her attention. “This is Devin. He’s going to show you what to do with this.”

“Yeah, we know each other,” she said.

He looked between the two of them and shrugged. “Alright, good. Come find me after and I’ll find something else for you to do unless it gets busy.”

And he left them on the aisle.

Scarlett smiled at Devin, a bit nervously. “So, what do I do?”

Devin pulled a boxcutter out of his pocket, pushed the blade up and started cutting the tape from the boxes. He shifted them around until he’d opened all of the boxes.

“You take the shit out of the boxes and you put it on the shelf. It’s simple.” He took a box of Red Hots out of one of the bigger boxes and pointed to the shelf. “Goes right there. If it’s not there, read the sticker. If you can’t figure it out, ask Ralph.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be helping me?”

“What’s he going to do? Fire me? You got that.”

“I see we’re still not talking to each other. I thought you said that you would get over it and we could try to be friends.”

“I lied.”

She tapped her hand on the boxes. “Are you still with that girl?”

“Carla? Yes, I’m still with Carla. Not that it’s any of your business.” He started to walk away but stopped. “You still fucking Caesar?”

“Wha—What? No, of course not.”

Devin laughed. “That was very convincing. I hope not. His girlfriend would probably be pretty pissed off about that. They seem really close, but I don’t hang out with him so who knows? Anyway, enjoy your stocking.”

Devin stepped off the aisle just as Will and Hasan were headed toward the front of the store.

“Y’all done?” he asked.

“Fuck no, but we’re going to lunch. I’m fucking hungry,” Will said.

Hasan nodded in agreement. “What’s Ralph gonna do? Fire us? That motherfucka steal shit all day. I’ll take his ass down with me.”

Devin shrugged and followed them to clock out and head to lunch.
User avatar

Captain Canada
Posts: 2158
Joined: 01 Dec 2018, 00:15

War of the Roses: Redux Edition

Post by Captain Canada » 25 Feb 2020, 22:17

Scarlett really that desperate. Two different niggas really curving her. Women everywhere upset with her beta character development.
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