War of the Roses: Redux Edition
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Captain Canada
- Posts: 2181
- Joined: 01 Dec 2018, 00:15
War of the Roses: Redux Edition
Oh damn, thats an insane switch. Trying to bury my dog Devin.
War of the Roses: Redux Edition
Plan B
Devin stared into the glass of water in his hand as he pretended to listen to Hasan. A couple weeks of being back in the fray of recruiting was harder than he’d expected as he was in no position to jump at the offers from college football’s big boys. It didn’t help matters that National Signing Day was in a week and the pool of available scholarships would rapidly diminish.
“Bruh, why you over there lookin’ like your dog died or somethin’? You ain’t see the sign on the door? This a no sniffle zone,” Hasan said as he put his laptop on the floor before getting up from the couch and heading to the kitchen.
“What sign?”
“There ain’t no actual fucking sign, nigga. What I’m sayin’ is I know you ain’t carry your ass all the way up here to Baton Rouge to mope around. I already told you what do with ya issue. Just enroll here and let them show ya they tough.”
Devin sighed and placed the glass down, leaning back against the sofa cushions. “I don’t think it’s that easy. You don’t think they put it out there that I agreed to all that and that I’m willing to back out of a signed letter of intent? I should’ve just went ahead and stuck with them instead of making that split second decision. It’s all a clusterfuck now.”
Hasan dropped a griddle onto the stove and clicked on the burner. He then plopped a dollop of butter on the pan. “What you should’ve did was talk out your decision with other people like normal motherfuckas do. Then you probably wouldn’t be where ya at now.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“Take it from me. Call they bluff. You see me and Erik got an extra room back there and shit been fire livin’ up here this last month. We ain’t gotta pay for nothin’. I ain’t had this much stuff in my kitchen since... fuck since ever. Just hop in your car, drive to campus and tell ‘em you comin’ here in the fall to win some ‘chips.”
“I don’t even know if LSU is considering themselves offering me any more at this point. Everyone’s probably waiting to see what’s left out there before they make any more decisions about who they’re giving scholarships to.”
“You soundin’ more and more like a bitch each second.”
Hasan grabbed two slices of bread and slapped them on the griddle, covering them with slices of cheese before adding two more slices of bread. He pressed the sandwiches down with his hand, sucking in air through his teeth as he did.
“All that talk of not having to pay for anything and you don’t have a spatula for the cheap [a..] grilled cheese sandwiches you’re about to eat?” Devin asked.
“I still don’t know how to cook, bruh. What you expect me to do?”
“Ask for a cookbook?”
The sound of a key being inserted into the lock preceded Erik opening the door and entering the apartment. He looked at Devin and nodded his head before stepping out of the way for a girl who was walking behind him.
“Which one is your room?” the girl asked Erik, pointing toward the back of the apartment.
“Straight to the back,” he said, closing the door behind them and locking it.
Hasan watched the girl as she disappeared down the hall and swung around, speaking in hushed tones. “You ain’t tell her bring a friend?”
“Nope. You got that,” Erik said. He walked to the kitchen, opened the fridge that was stocked like a cooler in a grocery store, and pulled out two bottles of water. “What brings you to Baton Rouge, Devin? I heard you told TCU to fuck off.”
“I wouldn’t say those are the words that I used,” Devin said.
“You might as well have. They’re going to have a problem with you in DFW for a good little while after that one. I hope you didn’t want to play for the Cowboys when you made the leap to the league.”
“Can’t be worried about playing in the NFL when I’m not even sure if I’m going to be playing college football.”
Hasan hissed as he flipped his grilled cheese sandwiches with his fingers then he turned to Erik. “I’ve been tryin’ to tell that boy to just come here, but he think that they gonna cause issues if he does that. TCU ain’t worried about what LSU doin’, right?”
Erik shrugged. “If I was them, I’d be worried about losing a possible in with Louisiana guys over the next few years because one of them decided to swap purple and gray for purple and gold. It’s just not a good look.”
“You not helpin’, nigga.”
“Just being honest.”
“So, what would you do if it were you, Erik?” Devin asked. “Go to some mid-major and then transfer in a year? Go to some lower tier power 5 school?”
“I wouldn’t have carried my ass to TCU in the first place. But if I were in your shoes, I’d go somewhere that wanted me to come to their school the entire time. No one who backed off when it looked like they weren’t going to get you and no one who is afraid to trying to get your signature now.”
Hasan picked up the griddle and awkwardly tried to poke the sandwiches off it and onto a plate. Erik sighed and opened a drawer, pulling out a spatula and dropping it on the counter next to Hasan.
“How long that shit been in there?” Hasan asked as he picked it up, flipping the sandwiches onto the plate.
“Since we moved in here. That girl from that sorority brought it over here, remember?”
Hasan shook his head. “Was she bad? If not, that’s why I don’t remember.”
Erik sighed again. “Devin, good luck with what you figure out. I just hope you aren’t taking this fool’s advice. You see that he doesn’t even have enough sense to look for a spatula before he starts touching hot pans with his fingers.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Devin said.
Erik took a moment to shake his head at Hasan again before heading to his room, shutting the door behind him.
“LSU, nigga,” Hasan said as he bit into one of the sandwiches.
“Shouldn’t you be running suicides or something to stay in shape during the offseason?”
Caesar opened his eyes to find Ron standing over him. Rubbing his face with the back of his hand, Caesar threw his legs out of the hammock that he’d set up in a corner of the backyard in an attempt to carve out a bit of a leisure spot in the usually active setting of Casa Jenkins.
“Shouldn’t you be in somebody’s sociology 101 class or did they let you drop that for winning them a national championship?” Caesar asked.
Ron laughed. “Still have a few more days before the semester starts, mom. And I’m not and will not be enrolled in any sociology courses. I just came down to pay the old stomping grounds a visit now that everything has settled down.”
“Settled down? You just won the fucking natty. Nothing should be ‘settled down.’ If I were you, I’d be swimming in fucking pussy from sun up to sun down to sun up. And if you were you, that’s what’s you better be fucking doing.”
“How would your girlfriend feel about you talking about, and I’m just quoting here, ‘swimming in fucking pussy’?”
Caesar waved off Ron’s comment and stood up from the hammock. “We’re talking about what you should be doing.”
“You do know realize that shit’s going to start to get old, right? Science has come a long way, but it’s still not fun wondering if the last woman you put your dick in is going to burn you. Is the athlete fast life really better than a good paying job and coming home to your family every night?”
“Ron,” Caesar said. “What kind of goofy ass shit are you saying right now? It’s been like a month since you won the biggest game in college football and you’re standing in front of me saying that being a punk ass family man would be better?”
“I’m ser—”
“Hold on, hold on.” Caesar cleared his throat and faked like he was tightening a tie around his neck. He turned to the side, talking to the air. “Honey, I’m going to be home around six after being stuck in traffic for an hour and a half on I-10. I’ll be pissed off because my boss ate the lunch I made so don’t mind that. Can you make sure that your lover is gone before I get home this time? And can you ask him not to drink my Perrier again? I need that for when I want to swallow a bottle of pills and end it all. Thanks, babe. Mwah.”
Ron shook his head. “You done?”
“Yeah, for now. I’ll save the second act for when the family man walks in on his wife with cock in every hole and two in her hands for next time before he deepthroats a pistol and blows his brains out on the wall while she gets her brains blown out on the bed.”
“The point I was trying to make was that when is your career going to be over best case? 35? More likely to be 32 or 33? That doesn’t sound appealing anymore. You have to live another 60 years doing nothing or maybe you’re a commentator or some bullshit.”
Caesar pulled his phone out of his pocket, swiping his finger across the screen and tapping a few buttons. He held it up to show a website showing his father’s career earnings. “I’ll take retiring at 35 with a few hundred million in my pocket over working for eighty-five grand a year for the next 50 years until I can retire and act like I enjoy going to Bogue Chitto as a vacation until I die.”
Ron shook his head and laughed. “You don’t even know where you’re fucking going to college and you’re talking about making quarterback money in the NFL.”
“Ah, ah, ah. I do know where I’m going to college.”
“Where then? And why haven’t you announced it?”
“Nah, I ain’t telling you shit because you’re back here saying stupid shit. This isn’t the Ron DeRossi that I know and love, buddy. Unless you want to go get fucked up for old times’ sake and stop yourself from slowly turning into a pussy.”
“I’m just getting older, bro. Changing priorities and what not.”
Caesar held up his hands. “Are we going to go get drunk and have a good time or are you going to keep lecturing me on how I should throw away the plan both of us have had since we were pee-wees for a desk job?”
“Where are you fucking going to college, man?” Ron asked, laughing before throwing his arm around Caesar’s shoulders and dragging him along as he headed for the gate. “You know Devin got out of his LOI. Now, you can come to TCU without worrying about that goofy ass shit between your families.”
Caesar shoved Ron away as he opened the gate. “If TCU has you coming back here acting like this, I’m not even stepping foot in fucking Texas. They’re brain-washing y’all out there so you stay all four years and shit. And I just told you I already know where I’m going.”
“Give me your phone. I’m going to call Kaley and ask her.”
“I assume that NIL money has started hitting your accounts, so drinks are on you.”
“Didn’t you just show me that your dad made something like six hundred million bucks just from playing football?”
Caesar opened the passenger side door of Ron’s car, pausing before he got in. “No hablo ingles. Lo siento, senor. Cerveza, por favor.”
“This motherfucker. I don’t even know why I came here,” Ron said, shaking his head.
Devin stared into the glass of water in his hand as he pretended to listen to Hasan. A couple weeks of being back in the fray of recruiting was harder than he’d expected as he was in no position to jump at the offers from college football’s big boys. It didn’t help matters that National Signing Day was in a week and the pool of available scholarships would rapidly diminish.
“Bruh, why you over there lookin’ like your dog died or somethin’? You ain’t see the sign on the door? This a no sniffle zone,” Hasan said as he put his laptop on the floor before getting up from the couch and heading to the kitchen.
“What sign?”
“There ain’t no actual fucking sign, nigga. What I’m sayin’ is I know you ain’t carry your ass all the way up here to Baton Rouge to mope around. I already told you what do with ya issue. Just enroll here and let them show ya they tough.”
Devin sighed and placed the glass down, leaning back against the sofa cushions. “I don’t think it’s that easy. You don’t think they put it out there that I agreed to all that and that I’m willing to back out of a signed letter of intent? I should’ve just went ahead and stuck with them instead of making that split second decision. It’s all a clusterfuck now.”
Hasan dropped a griddle onto the stove and clicked on the burner. He then plopped a dollop of butter on the pan. “What you should’ve did was talk out your decision with other people like normal motherfuckas do. Then you probably wouldn’t be where ya at now.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“Take it from me. Call they bluff. You see me and Erik got an extra room back there and shit been fire livin’ up here this last month. We ain’t gotta pay for nothin’. I ain’t had this much stuff in my kitchen since... fuck since ever. Just hop in your car, drive to campus and tell ‘em you comin’ here in the fall to win some ‘chips.”
“I don’t even know if LSU is considering themselves offering me any more at this point. Everyone’s probably waiting to see what’s left out there before they make any more decisions about who they’re giving scholarships to.”
“You soundin’ more and more like a bitch each second.”
Hasan grabbed two slices of bread and slapped them on the griddle, covering them with slices of cheese before adding two more slices of bread. He pressed the sandwiches down with his hand, sucking in air through his teeth as he did.
“All that talk of not having to pay for anything and you don’t have a spatula for the cheap [a..] grilled cheese sandwiches you’re about to eat?” Devin asked.
“I still don’t know how to cook, bruh. What you expect me to do?”
“Ask for a cookbook?”
The sound of a key being inserted into the lock preceded Erik opening the door and entering the apartment. He looked at Devin and nodded his head before stepping out of the way for a girl who was walking behind him.
“Which one is your room?” the girl asked Erik, pointing toward the back of the apartment.
“Straight to the back,” he said, closing the door behind them and locking it.
Hasan watched the girl as she disappeared down the hall and swung around, speaking in hushed tones. “You ain’t tell her bring a friend?”
“Nope. You got that,” Erik said. He walked to the kitchen, opened the fridge that was stocked like a cooler in a grocery store, and pulled out two bottles of water. “What brings you to Baton Rouge, Devin? I heard you told TCU to fuck off.”
“I wouldn’t say those are the words that I used,” Devin said.
“You might as well have. They’re going to have a problem with you in DFW for a good little while after that one. I hope you didn’t want to play for the Cowboys when you made the leap to the league.”
“Can’t be worried about playing in the NFL when I’m not even sure if I’m going to be playing college football.”
Hasan hissed as he flipped his grilled cheese sandwiches with his fingers then he turned to Erik. “I’ve been tryin’ to tell that boy to just come here, but he think that they gonna cause issues if he does that. TCU ain’t worried about what LSU doin’, right?”
Erik shrugged. “If I was them, I’d be worried about losing a possible in with Louisiana guys over the next few years because one of them decided to swap purple and gray for purple and gold. It’s just not a good look.”
“You not helpin’, nigga.”
“Just being honest.”
“So, what would you do if it were you, Erik?” Devin asked. “Go to some mid-major and then transfer in a year? Go to some lower tier power 5 school?”
“I wouldn’t have carried my ass to TCU in the first place. But if I were in your shoes, I’d go somewhere that wanted me to come to their school the entire time. No one who backed off when it looked like they weren’t going to get you and no one who is afraid to trying to get your signature now.”
Hasan picked up the griddle and awkwardly tried to poke the sandwiches off it and onto a plate. Erik sighed and opened a drawer, pulling out a spatula and dropping it on the counter next to Hasan.
“How long that shit been in there?” Hasan asked as he picked it up, flipping the sandwiches onto the plate.
“Since we moved in here. That girl from that sorority brought it over here, remember?”
Hasan shook his head. “Was she bad? If not, that’s why I don’t remember.”
Erik sighed again. “Devin, good luck with what you figure out. I just hope you aren’t taking this fool’s advice. You see that he doesn’t even have enough sense to look for a spatula before he starts touching hot pans with his fingers.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Devin said.
Erik took a moment to shake his head at Hasan again before heading to his room, shutting the door behind him.
“LSU, nigga,” Hasan said as he bit into one of the sandwiches.
-*****-
“Shouldn’t you be running suicides or something to stay in shape during the offseason?”
Caesar opened his eyes to find Ron standing over him. Rubbing his face with the back of his hand, Caesar threw his legs out of the hammock that he’d set up in a corner of the backyard in an attempt to carve out a bit of a leisure spot in the usually active setting of Casa Jenkins.
“Shouldn’t you be in somebody’s sociology 101 class or did they let you drop that for winning them a national championship?” Caesar asked.
Ron laughed. “Still have a few more days before the semester starts, mom. And I’m not and will not be enrolled in any sociology courses. I just came down to pay the old stomping grounds a visit now that everything has settled down.”
“Settled down? You just won the fucking natty. Nothing should be ‘settled down.’ If I were you, I’d be swimming in fucking pussy from sun up to sun down to sun up. And if you were you, that’s what’s you better be fucking doing.”
“How would your girlfriend feel about you talking about, and I’m just quoting here, ‘swimming in fucking pussy’?”
Caesar waved off Ron’s comment and stood up from the hammock. “We’re talking about what you should be doing.”
“You do know realize that shit’s going to start to get old, right? Science has come a long way, but it’s still not fun wondering if the last woman you put your dick in is going to burn you. Is the athlete fast life really better than a good paying job and coming home to your family every night?”
“Ron,” Caesar said. “What kind of goofy ass shit are you saying right now? It’s been like a month since you won the biggest game in college football and you’re standing in front of me saying that being a punk ass family man would be better?”
“I’m ser—”
“Hold on, hold on.” Caesar cleared his throat and faked like he was tightening a tie around his neck. He turned to the side, talking to the air. “Honey, I’m going to be home around six after being stuck in traffic for an hour and a half on I-10. I’ll be pissed off because my boss ate the lunch I made so don’t mind that. Can you make sure that your lover is gone before I get home this time? And can you ask him not to drink my Perrier again? I need that for when I want to swallow a bottle of pills and end it all. Thanks, babe. Mwah.”
Ron shook his head. “You done?”
“Yeah, for now. I’ll save the second act for when the family man walks in on his wife with cock in every hole and two in her hands for next time before he deepthroats a pistol and blows his brains out on the wall while she gets her brains blown out on the bed.”
“The point I was trying to make was that when is your career going to be over best case? 35? More likely to be 32 or 33? That doesn’t sound appealing anymore. You have to live another 60 years doing nothing or maybe you’re a commentator or some bullshit.”
Caesar pulled his phone out of his pocket, swiping his finger across the screen and tapping a few buttons. He held it up to show a website showing his father’s career earnings. “I’ll take retiring at 35 with a few hundred million in my pocket over working for eighty-five grand a year for the next 50 years until I can retire and act like I enjoy going to Bogue Chitto as a vacation until I die.”
Ron shook his head and laughed. “You don’t even know where you’re fucking going to college and you’re talking about making quarterback money in the NFL.”
“Ah, ah, ah. I do know where I’m going to college.”
“Where then? And why haven’t you announced it?”
“Nah, I ain’t telling you shit because you’re back here saying stupid shit. This isn’t the Ron DeRossi that I know and love, buddy. Unless you want to go get fucked up for old times’ sake and stop yourself from slowly turning into a pussy.”
“I’m just getting older, bro. Changing priorities and what not.”
Caesar held up his hands. “Are we going to go get drunk and have a good time or are you going to keep lecturing me on how I should throw away the plan both of us have had since we were pee-wees for a desk job?”
“Where are you fucking going to college, man?” Ron asked, laughing before throwing his arm around Caesar’s shoulders and dragging him along as he headed for the gate. “You know Devin got out of his LOI. Now, you can come to TCU without worrying about that goofy ass shit between your families.”
Caesar shoved Ron away as he opened the gate. “If TCU has you coming back here acting like this, I’m not even stepping foot in fucking Texas. They’re brain-washing y’all out there so you stay all four years and shit. And I just told you I already know where I’m going.”
“Give me your phone. I’m going to call Kaley and ask her.”
“I assume that NIL money has started hitting your accounts, so drinks are on you.”
“Didn’t you just show me that your dad made something like six hundred million bucks just from playing football?”
Caesar opened the passenger side door of Ron’s car, pausing before he got in. “No hablo ingles. Lo siento, senor. Cerveza, por favor.”
“This motherfucker. I don’t even know why I came here,” Ron said, shaking his head.
War of the Roses: Redux Edition
#wheredevingoing #wherecaesargoing
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Captain Canada
- Posts: 2181
- Joined: 01 Dec 2018, 00:15
War of the Roses: Redux Edition
We almost there 
War of the Roses: Redux Edition
Up on the River
“It’s like a madhouse here,” Danny said as he and Devin walked past the rows of satellite vans that lined the street outside of the school. “It wasn’t like this in the fall when everyone signed early. You think they’re all here for Caesar?”
Devin nodded, but didn’t say anything. A few videographers had noticed him walking by and tried to get their stuff together to get him on camera but he made sure to keep moving to avoid any awkward questions bright and early in the A.M.
National Signing Day had sprung up on him and he was still no closer to making a decision on where he wanted to go to college than he was when he decided that TCU wasn’t going to be the right school for him. He knew there were going to be questions, but he didn’t have the answers that anyone was looking for. Not any sports reporters nor any college football coaches.
As they rounded the corner, Coach McCoy stood in front of the Fieldhouse talking to Caesar. The coach noticed them, pointed to Devin and waved him over. Danny dapped him up and continued on his way as Devin walked over to the pair.
“Devin, the principal’s asking when you want to announce. He said he wants these people off the campus before lunch,” McCoy said when Devin was close enough for him to not have to shout over the din of students in the bus circle. “I figure y’all can both do it after first period. Y’all go home after lunch anyway.”
Caesar nodded in Devin’s direction. “King can announce today. It shouldn’t be a surprise when he tells the world that he’s going to North Carolina School for Sanitation Workers.”
Devin only shook his head, deciding that insult wasn’t worth the effort to respond to.
Coach McCoy, on the other hand, let out a long sigh. “Y’all. Plural. Both of you. The two of ya. Uno. Dos. Un. Doux. Unless you’re headed to the South Carolina School for Cousin Fuckers, Caesar, and want to keep that to yourself?”
“Nah. I’m not letting the cat out of the bag today. I’m going to let it simmer for a few more weeks before I announce where I’m going win a national championship or two,” Caesar said, shrugging.
“It’s National Signing Day.”
“I’m aware.”
“And you’re going to let it ‘simmer for a few more weeks?’”
“Yep.”
“It’ll be the end of March in a few more weeks. No one is filling out college paperwork at the end of March. What are you talking about you’re going to let it ‘simmer?’ These schools ain’t waiting for ya ass to figure out if you want to enroll in the fall at the end of the school year.”
Caesar shrugged. “I’m willing to take that chance.”
“Sometimes I don’t know why I decided coaching high school ball would be enjoyable,” the coach said. He turned to Devin. “And you?”
“I think I’m going to just keep everything quieter this time around because of, you know, the whole thing with TCU.”
Coach McCoy paused for a moment, looking between Devin and Caesar a few times. “Well, shit. Guess I can just tell these people to go on home then since we won’t be having any signings happening today on this campus. It would’ve been good if y’all told me that before I got my ass chewed about someone parking in one of the assistant principals’ spots.”
“Sorry about that,” Devin said, rubbing the back of his neck.
Caesar didn’t say anything, instead turning around and walking off toward the building as the homeroom bell rang.
If there was anything that Devin was not going to miss about Terrebonne, it was the frequency of fights in the middle of the halls between classes.
He squinted his eyes as he stepped outside, tugging at his collar feeling the unusually warm and humid February morning starting to hit him after a few hours in the air conditioning of the building. He noticed the reporters were still milling about near the Fieldhouse despite he and Caesar both telling Coach McCoy that they wouldn’t be signing that day. Maybe they didn’t believe him. Nonetheless, he felt a bit of annoyance at having to pass by them again to get to his car – this time without other students allowing him to blend in a bit.
“Fuck out the way!”
Devin shifted to his left just as the school’s SRO ran up the handicap ramp, shaking his can of mace and grabbing for his baton as he entered the school.
“I’m not going to miss all of that.”
Devin glanced to his side to see Scarlett standing next to him. He looked back over his shoulder and shrugged. “At least he doesn’t pretend like he isn’t always ready to mace someone. You have to give him points for being honest.”
“Yeah,” she said as students spilled out of the halls to avoid getting maced.
The two of them lapsed into an awkward silence for a few seconds before Scarlett spoke again.
“Don’t you have early dismissal?” she asked.
“Yep. I’m trying to decide if I’m going to go through the stadium or not.” He pointed to the corner where the reporters stood. “Trying to avoid all of that.”
Scarlett nodded slowly. “I heard about TCU and—I guess I probably shouldn’t talk to you about your life, right?”
“I’m sure the entire world has heard about the whole TCU situation,” he said, shrugging. “It is what it is. I think there are worse things that people could be talking about me behind my back on. Did you get into LSU?”
“Sure did. Didn’t even get waitlisted.”
“Congratulations. Hasan’s up there, you know? Has an apartment and everything.”
“And where are you going?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
“You’ll figure it out,” she said, starting to walk away but she stopped and turned back around. “Devin, since we’re about to graduate and all, do you think we could bury the hatchet and be friends? It’d be nice to hang out every once in a while when we’re both back in town to catch up after going off to college.”
“Yeah, we can do that.”
She smiled. “Good. You have my number.”
He nodded and started to say something witty in return, but a commotion in the middle of the parking lot drew both of their attention.
Caesar stood next to the flagpole with a pair of “cash cannons,” shooting dollar bills at the students nearby which had everyone’s eyes on him as people scrambled to grab up the money. It also brought the reporters fully onto the campus.
“Is that real money?” Scarlett asked.
“It’s Caesar. That’s definitely real money,” Devin said.
“Wow.”
Caesar threw the toy guns down when they stopped tossing bills around, bent down and what looked like sticks out of his backpack. He waved at the reporters, shouting, “You motherfuckers want to know where the king’s going win championships?!”
They all rushed into a circle around him, fingers on their phones ready to be the first one to post it on social media.
He pulled at the top of the sticks and quickly threw them aside. Two small pops sounded before green and blue smoking billowed into the air.
“I’m staying right fucking here!”
Whatever Caesar said next was drowned out by students trying to get away from the smoke now filling the bus circle and the teachers rushing to try to get rid of the smoke flares. For his part, Caesar continued to talk to the reporters as if he hadn’t just sparked an emergency situation in the middle of the school’s campus.
“What big football school is green and blue?” Scarlett asked Devin.
“I’m guessing that’s supposed to be for Tulane.”
“Tulane has a good football team?”
Devin shrugged. “Most people would say they definitely do now.”
“It’s like a madhouse here,” Danny said as he and Devin walked past the rows of satellite vans that lined the street outside of the school. “It wasn’t like this in the fall when everyone signed early. You think they’re all here for Caesar?”
Devin nodded, but didn’t say anything. A few videographers had noticed him walking by and tried to get their stuff together to get him on camera but he made sure to keep moving to avoid any awkward questions bright and early in the A.M.
National Signing Day had sprung up on him and he was still no closer to making a decision on where he wanted to go to college than he was when he decided that TCU wasn’t going to be the right school for him. He knew there were going to be questions, but he didn’t have the answers that anyone was looking for. Not any sports reporters nor any college football coaches.
As they rounded the corner, Coach McCoy stood in front of the Fieldhouse talking to Caesar. The coach noticed them, pointed to Devin and waved him over. Danny dapped him up and continued on his way as Devin walked over to the pair.
“Devin, the principal’s asking when you want to announce. He said he wants these people off the campus before lunch,” McCoy said when Devin was close enough for him to not have to shout over the din of students in the bus circle. “I figure y’all can both do it after first period. Y’all go home after lunch anyway.”
Caesar nodded in Devin’s direction. “King can announce today. It shouldn’t be a surprise when he tells the world that he’s going to North Carolina School for Sanitation Workers.”
Devin only shook his head, deciding that insult wasn’t worth the effort to respond to.
Coach McCoy, on the other hand, let out a long sigh. “Y’all. Plural. Both of you. The two of ya. Uno. Dos. Un. Doux. Unless you’re headed to the South Carolina School for Cousin Fuckers, Caesar, and want to keep that to yourself?”
“Nah. I’m not letting the cat out of the bag today. I’m going to let it simmer for a few more weeks before I announce where I’m going win a national championship or two,” Caesar said, shrugging.
“It’s National Signing Day.”
“I’m aware.”
“And you’re going to let it ‘simmer for a few more weeks?’”
“Yep.”
“It’ll be the end of March in a few more weeks. No one is filling out college paperwork at the end of March. What are you talking about you’re going to let it ‘simmer?’ These schools ain’t waiting for ya ass to figure out if you want to enroll in the fall at the end of the school year.”
Caesar shrugged. “I’m willing to take that chance.”
“Sometimes I don’t know why I decided coaching high school ball would be enjoyable,” the coach said. He turned to Devin. “And you?”
“I think I’m going to just keep everything quieter this time around because of, you know, the whole thing with TCU.”
Coach McCoy paused for a moment, looking between Devin and Caesar a few times. “Well, shit. Guess I can just tell these people to go on home then since we won’t be having any signings happening today on this campus. It would’ve been good if y’all told me that before I got my ass chewed about someone parking in one of the assistant principals’ spots.”
“Sorry about that,” Devin said, rubbing the back of his neck.
Caesar didn’t say anything, instead turning around and walking off toward the building as the homeroom bell rang.
-*****-
Devin skirted around two guys in each other’s faces on the stairs, moments away from a fight to start the lunch period. He glanced back up when he reached the bottom just as they started swinging wildly at one another and everyone gave them their space for fear of falling down the marble staircase trying to avoid a haymaker to the side of the head.If there was anything that Devin was not going to miss about Terrebonne, it was the frequency of fights in the middle of the halls between classes.
He squinted his eyes as he stepped outside, tugging at his collar feeling the unusually warm and humid February morning starting to hit him after a few hours in the air conditioning of the building. He noticed the reporters were still milling about near the Fieldhouse despite he and Caesar both telling Coach McCoy that they wouldn’t be signing that day. Maybe they didn’t believe him. Nonetheless, he felt a bit of annoyance at having to pass by them again to get to his car – this time without other students allowing him to blend in a bit.
“Fuck out the way!”
Devin shifted to his left just as the school’s SRO ran up the handicap ramp, shaking his can of mace and grabbing for his baton as he entered the school.
“I’m not going to miss all of that.”
Devin glanced to his side to see Scarlett standing next to him. He looked back over his shoulder and shrugged. “At least he doesn’t pretend like he isn’t always ready to mace someone. You have to give him points for being honest.”
“Yeah,” she said as students spilled out of the halls to avoid getting maced.
The two of them lapsed into an awkward silence for a few seconds before Scarlett spoke again.
“Don’t you have early dismissal?” she asked.
“Yep. I’m trying to decide if I’m going to go through the stadium or not.” He pointed to the corner where the reporters stood. “Trying to avoid all of that.”
Scarlett nodded slowly. “I heard about TCU and—I guess I probably shouldn’t talk to you about your life, right?”
“I’m sure the entire world has heard about the whole TCU situation,” he said, shrugging. “It is what it is. I think there are worse things that people could be talking about me behind my back on. Did you get into LSU?”
“Sure did. Didn’t even get waitlisted.”
“Congratulations. Hasan’s up there, you know? Has an apartment and everything.”
“And where are you going?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
“You’ll figure it out,” she said, starting to walk away but she stopped and turned back around. “Devin, since we’re about to graduate and all, do you think we could bury the hatchet and be friends? It’d be nice to hang out every once in a while when we’re both back in town to catch up after going off to college.”
“Yeah, we can do that.”
She smiled. “Good. You have my number.”
He nodded and started to say something witty in return, but a commotion in the middle of the parking lot drew both of their attention.
Caesar stood next to the flagpole with a pair of “cash cannons,” shooting dollar bills at the students nearby which had everyone’s eyes on him as people scrambled to grab up the money. It also brought the reporters fully onto the campus.
“Is that real money?” Scarlett asked.
“It’s Caesar. That’s definitely real money,” Devin said.
“Wow.”
Caesar threw the toy guns down when they stopped tossing bills around, bent down and what looked like sticks out of his backpack. He waved at the reporters, shouting, “You motherfuckers want to know where the king’s going win championships?!”
They all rushed into a circle around him, fingers on their phones ready to be the first one to post it on social media.
He pulled at the top of the sticks and quickly threw them aside. Two small pops sounded before green and blue smoking billowed into the air.
“I’m staying right fucking here!”
Whatever Caesar said next was drowned out by students trying to get away from the smoke now filling the bus circle and the teachers rushing to try to get rid of the smoke flares. For his part, Caesar continued to talk to the reporters as if he hadn’t just sparked an emergency situation in the middle of the school’s campus.
“What big football school is green and blue?” Scarlett asked Devin.
“I’m guessing that’s supposed to be for Tulane.”
“Tulane has a good football team?”
Devin shrugged. “Most people would say they definitely do now.”
-
Captain Canada
- Posts: 2181
- Joined: 01 Dec 2018, 00:15
War of the Roses: Redux Edition
This dude... 
War of the Roses: Redux Edition
Loose Ends
“I’m going to take a shower before we go,” Kaley said, getting out of Caesar bed and heading to the en-suite.
Caesar watched her walk away, admiring her naked form as she did. He had half a mind to join her in the shower for another round, but there was always time when they got back from dinner that could be used for that.
In the weeks since signing his letter of intent with Tulane, Caesar had felt a weight off his shoulders as he cruised through the last jog of his time in high school. He now knew why Ron had chosen to not enroll early and use the final semester before college as a bit of a vacation that he’d be unlikely to truly get over the next three years.
It helped that he knew, regardless of what anyone did in camp, that he would be the number one receiver on the depth chart come the fall. The Green Wave had a solid receiving corps, but he didn’t need a few extra sessions looking at a playbook to get the edge over them. They knew that, he knew that, the coaching staff knew that. So, he’d jog his way into things.
Standing up, he walked over to his closet and grabbed a pair of pants and a shirt out to throw on.
He’d just gotten the pants zipped up when his father burst into the room, followed by his mother.
“What’s up?” Caesar asked, walking over to the bathroom to shut the door as the water began to run.
“Can you explain to me why you decided that it would be a good idea to sign for a school that was 8-5 last season and hasn’t done fuck all since rejoining the SEC?” Deion smacked his hand to his forehead. “Oh, nevermind. I know why you did it. You went somewhere that you can’t market your fucking self because you were following your fucking dick.”
“It’s a school in the SEC and in New Orleans. New Orleans is an NFL city and there are a lot of eyes on it. I don’t see the problem. It’s not like I can go back on the decision now. It’s too late in the game.”
“I fucking told your dumb ass what schools to pick from. LSU, Miami, USC. Those were the schools. It’s not that hard to just do what you’re fucking told for once.”
“Deion, stop it,” Candice said. “You didn’t tell him that and you know it.”
The elder Jenkins man wheeled around and pointed a finger at his wife. “It’s not that hard for him to read between the motherfucking lines when I tell him that those are his top three schools.” Then he turned back to his son. “What are you going to do when she goes to get another meal ticket? You’re going to waste your time trying to transfer somewhere that you aren’t killing your draft stock? Knowing you, you’ll just mope around for a couple years and end up playing in the ELF while she’s out getting fucked by some 95 year old man who wants a sugar baby.”
Caesar sighed and decided that it would be better to just let his father get out his frustrations. Arguing with him at this point would be a futile exercise.
“Do you have any idea how difficult it is to convince a GM to take a kid who doesn’t have absurd stats at third tier program in the first round? Have you even seen the kinds of numbers that Tulane puts up through the air? Of course not, because the only reason you’re going there is because of some gash as if college campuses aren’t filled with it. I had the biggest image rights deal for a freshman ever lined up but not for a fucking motherfucker at motherfucking Tu--”
“Deion,” Candice said, jumping in again. “Fucking stop it.”
The man looked between his wife and his son before shaking his head and leaving the room. A few moments later, the front door slammed.
Candice Jenkins ran her hand through her hair, clenching her fist in the strands. She took a deep breath before offering Caesar a smile.
“For what it’s worth, I think that Tulane is a good choice. Everything doesn’t have to be football all the time. Who knows? You might decide that you’ll be better off getting an engineering degree or something and fixing all these terrible roads in this damned state,” she said, rubbing his arm.
“Yeah, I guess.”
She looked over his shoulder at the closed bathroom door as the water shut off. “And I’m not going to lie to you, honey. It’s great that I’ll be able to go to your games and all, but now I have a reason to drive up to New Orleans to have spa days with my girl.”
Caesar rolled his eyes. “You do know that it’s possible that we could break up, right?”
“That’s fine. I just need to get her into a routine and then we won’t need you to be the go-between,” she said, laughing. She smiled again. “Everything’s going to work out.”
Caesar only nodded as his mother turned and left the room. He closed the door behind her as Kaley walked out of the bathroom, drying her hair with a towel.
“You heard all of that?” he asked her.
Kaley nodded as she walked to the closet to comb through the stockpile of her clothes which had grown over the time that they’d been dating. “You want to talk about it?”
“Nope.”
“Okay,” she said, but it was obvious by the tone of her voice that she wasn’t happy with that decision. “Where are we going to eat? I could really go for some fajitas.”
Caesar shrugged. “Works for me.”
He crossed over to the sofa in his bedroom and sat down, waiting for her as she got dressed. Now, he was beginning to wonder if he’d made the wrong choice not going to a traditional powerhouse. Too late now.
Devin glanced at his phone to check the time before tossing it back onto the sofa next to him. Kicking his feet up, he settled in to watch another episode of a show he’d watched forty-some-odd times before and was going through again. He’d let Carla talk him into driving her around to shop for things for her dorm room, but he wasn’t ashamed to admit he was trying to shorten the trip by not telling her when he was going to pick her up.
Nor that the reason he wasn’t on her doorstep was because he was watching a spin-off of a spin-off of a spin-off.
He glanced over his shoulder at the sound of the front door opening to see his parents walking into the house, grocery bags in their hands.
“Are you not going to get up to help us?” his father asked.
“Is that it?”
“Yes.”
Devin watched as they walked into the kitchen and shrugged. “I guess y’all didn’t need my help if you didn’t tell me until y’all were in the house?”
“Have you applied to any schools today or have you just been sitting around watching TV?” his mother asked as she started to put groceries away in the cabinets.
“Didn’t apply. Signed an LOI.”
The elder Devin King slammed a cabinet shut and walked around into the living room. “So, you did the same thing that you did when you decided that the last school wasn’t good enough for your football career? Where are you going now? River Parishes Community College?”
“I’m just trying to watch TV, man,” Devin said, pointing to the screen where a former drug dealer was trying to get his life together by buying a chain of gyms.
“We wouldn’t be having this conversation if you were making you decision based on academics and not football!”
Devin sat up, rubbed his hand over his face and sighed before getting up and walking to him room. He came back with a tablet and began swiping his fingers across the screen. He handed the tablet to his father as he grabbed his phone and his jacket from the couch.
“Oh well, I didn’t know you had made your mind up.”
Devin tossed on his jacket, shrugging. “Didn’t really have many options so I just went ahead and made a decision this morning.”
His mother walked into the living room and took the tablet from his father. She read the screen before looking up. “Do you want to talk about what you need to get together before August?”
“June. I’ll have to be there in June. We can talk about it later.”
…
“I think I might need a couple more of these,” Carla said, holding up a pair of decorative pillows. She dropped her hands to her side with a huff when she noticed Devin wasn’t paying attention to what she was saying. “You could at least pretend to pay attention to me, you know?”
Devin looked up from his phone and pointed to the items that were almost falling out of the cart that he was leaning on. “You already have pillows that aren’t meant to be slept on in there. I don’t know what you need two more for. Do you even know how big the room is?”
“Does it matter?”
“I guess not unless you’re worrying about the entire floor being covered by pillows between you and your roommate.”
She looked at the two pillows that she was holding. “I just think the issue is that you don’t appreciate the power of a good decorative pillow to making a space look nice. Just because it’s a dorm room doesn’t mean it has to look like a prison cell.”
“Beyond throw pillows, I don’t know why you couldn’t wait until you’d gotten to UNO to figure out how much space you were splitting before buying all of this shit. I’ve seen dorm rooms at other schools, and I think you’re already pushing the limit.”
“I got accepted in January, Devin,” she said, starting to walk down the aisle to look at other items on the shelves. “I know how big the dorm room is and who my roommate is. They do tell you these things before you get there, you know?”
“My bad. I haven’t gotten to that point yet.”
As he followed behind her, he glanced around the store at the other people who were doing the same as they were – prepping to pack up their bags and move to somewhere new for the next four years. Or maybe preparing to move down the road for a softer launch into adulthood.
Devin was somewhat happy that he wouldn’t have to go through the process, for the most part. Most of his needs were said to be taken care of by the time he got to campus. He just needed to make sure that he was ready to hit the ground running with practice, and maybe do a little bit of work in the classroom to stay eligible.
A perk of being a student-athlete, he supposed.
“What do you think?” Carla asked.
“About what?”
She shook her head. “I hope you know you’re a terrible shopping buddy. We can’t find the best stuff if I’m the only one looking for it!”
“You damn near need another buggy and you think I need to help you find stuff?” Devin asked, laughing. “You got it covered.”
“And here I was thinking about getting something you’d like to see me ‘uncovered’ in for the rare chance that you’re able to visit me. I guess I’ll change my mind on that since you feel that I have it covered.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let’s not get crazy here. What you mean something I’d like? I think you should go ahead with that.”
“Nope. You missed your chance. Now, the only thing that you’ll be seeing me in is a parka and floor length dresses like they wore in the 1800s. I hope you have an ankle fetish because that’s all the skin you’ll be seeing.”
“You can take off a parka and a floor length dress just like anything else.”
Carla laughed. “I’ll wear a fucking chastity belt then.”
“I’m going to take a shower before we go,” Kaley said, getting out of Caesar bed and heading to the en-suite.
Caesar watched her walk away, admiring her naked form as she did. He had half a mind to join her in the shower for another round, but there was always time when they got back from dinner that could be used for that.
In the weeks since signing his letter of intent with Tulane, Caesar had felt a weight off his shoulders as he cruised through the last jog of his time in high school. He now knew why Ron had chosen to not enroll early and use the final semester before college as a bit of a vacation that he’d be unlikely to truly get over the next three years.
It helped that he knew, regardless of what anyone did in camp, that he would be the number one receiver on the depth chart come the fall. The Green Wave had a solid receiving corps, but he didn’t need a few extra sessions looking at a playbook to get the edge over them. They knew that, he knew that, the coaching staff knew that. So, he’d jog his way into things.
Standing up, he walked over to his closet and grabbed a pair of pants and a shirt out to throw on.
He’d just gotten the pants zipped up when his father burst into the room, followed by his mother.
“What’s up?” Caesar asked, walking over to the bathroom to shut the door as the water began to run.
“Can you explain to me why you decided that it would be a good idea to sign for a school that was 8-5 last season and hasn’t done fuck all since rejoining the SEC?” Deion smacked his hand to his forehead. “Oh, nevermind. I know why you did it. You went somewhere that you can’t market your fucking self because you were following your fucking dick.”
“It’s a school in the SEC and in New Orleans. New Orleans is an NFL city and there are a lot of eyes on it. I don’t see the problem. It’s not like I can go back on the decision now. It’s too late in the game.”
“I fucking told your dumb ass what schools to pick from. LSU, Miami, USC. Those were the schools. It’s not that hard to just do what you’re fucking told for once.”
“Deion, stop it,” Candice said. “You didn’t tell him that and you know it.”
The elder Jenkins man wheeled around and pointed a finger at his wife. “It’s not that hard for him to read between the motherfucking lines when I tell him that those are his top three schools.” Then he turned back to his son. “What are you going to do when she goes to get another meal ticket? You’re going to waste your time trying to transfer somewhere that you aren’t killing your draft stock? Knowing you, you’ll just mope around for a couple years and end up playing in the ELF while she’s out getting fucked by some 95 year old man who wants a sugar baby.”
Caesar sighed and decided that it would be better to just let his father get out his frustrations. Arguing with him at this point would be a futile exercise.
“Do you have any idea how difficult it is to convince a GM to take a kid who doesn’t have absurd stats at third tier program in the first round? Have you even seen the kinds of numbers that Tulane puts up through the air? Of course not, because the only reason you’re going there is because of some gash as if college campuses aren’t filled with it. I had the biggest image rights deal for a freshman ever lined up but not for a fucking motherfucker at motherfucking Tu--”
“Deion,” Candice said, jumping in again. “Fucking stop it.”
The man looked between his wife and his son before shaking his head and leaving the room. A few moments later, the front door slammed.
Candice Jenkins ran her hand through her hair, clenching her fist in the strands. She took a deep breath before offering Caesar a smile.
“For what it’s worth, I think that Tulane is a good choice. Everything doesn’t have to be football all the time. Who knows? You might decide that you’ll be better off getting an engineering degree or something and fixing all these terrible roads in this damned state,” she said, rubbing his arm.
“Yeah, I guess.”
She looked over his shoulder at the closed bathroom door as the water shut off. “And I’m not going to lie to you, honey. It’s great that I’ll be able to go to your games and all, but now I have a reason to drive up to New Orleans to have spa days with my girl.”
Caesar rolled his eyes. “You do know that it’s possible that we could break up, right?”
“That’s fine. I just need to get her into a routine and then we won’t need you to be the go-between,” she said, laughing. She smiled again. “Everything’s going to work out.”
Caesar only nodded as his mother turned and left the room. He closed the door behind her as Kaley walked out of the bathroom, drying her hair with a towel.
“You heard all of that?” he asked her.
Kaley nodded as she walked to the closet to comb through the stockpile of her clothes which had grown over the time that they’d been dating. “You want to talk about it?”
“Nope.”
“Okay,” she said, but it was obvious by the tone of her voice that she wasn’t happy with that decision. “Where are we going to eat? I could really go for some fajitas.”
Caesar shrugged. “Works for me.”
He crossed over to the sofa in his bedroom and sat down, waiting for her as she got dressed. Now, he was beginning to wonder if he’d made the wrong choice not going to a traditional powerhouse. Too late now.
-*****-
Devin glanced at his phone to check the time before tossing it back onto the sofa next to him. Kicking his feet up, he settled in to watch another episode of a show he’d watched forty-some-odd times before and was going through again. He’d let Carla talk him into driving her around to shop for things for her dorm room, but he wasn’t ashamed to admit he was trying to shorten the trip by not telling her when he was going to pick her up.
Nor that the reason he wasn’t on her doorstep was because he was watching a spin-off of a spin-off of a spin-off.
He glanced over his shoulder at the sound of the front door opening to see his parents walking into the house, grocery bags in their hands.
“Are you not going to get up to help us?” his father asked.
“Is that it?”
“Yes.”
Devin watched as they walked into the kitchen and shrugged. “I guess y’all didn’t need my help if you didn’t tell me until y’all were in the house?”
“Have you applied to any schools today or have you just been sitting around watching TV?” his mother asked as she started to put groceries away in the cabinets.
“Didn’t apply. Signed an LOI.”
The elder Devin King slammed a cabinet shut and walked around into the living room. “So, you did the same thing that you did when you decided that the last school wasn’t good enough for your football career? Where are you going now? River Parishes Community College?”
“I’m just trying to watch TV, man,” Devin said, pointing to the screen where a former drug dealer was trying to get his life together by buying a chain of gyms.
“We wouldn’t be having this conversation if you were making you decision based on academics and not football!”
Devin sat up, rubbed his hand over his face and sighed before getting up and walking to him room. He came back with a tablet and began swiping his fingers across the screen. He handed the tablet to his father as he grabbed his phone and his jacket from the couch.
“Oh well, I didn’t know you had made your mind up.”
Devin tossed on his jacket, shrugging. “Didn’t really have many options so I just went ahead and made a decision this morning.”
His mother walked into the living room and took the tablet from his father. She read the screen before looking up. “Do you want to talk about what you need to get together before August?”
“June. I’ll have to be there in June. We can talk about it later.”
…
“I think I might need a couple more of these,” Carla said, holding up a pair of decorative pillows. She dropped her hands to her side with a huff when she noticed Devin wasn’t paying attention to what she was saying. “You could at least pretend to pay attention to me, you know?”
Devin looked up from his phone and pointed to the items that were almost falling out of the cart that he was leaning on. “You already have pillows that aren’t meant to be slept on in there. I don’t know what you need two more for. Do you even know how big the room is?”
“Does it matter?”
“I guess not unless you’re worrying about the entire floor being covered by pillows between you and your roommate.”
She looked at the two pillows that she was holding. “I just think the issue is that you don’t appreciate the power of a good decorative pillow to making a space look nice. Just because it’s a dorm room doesn’t mean it has to look like a prison cell.”
“Beyond throw pillows, I don’t know why you couldn’t wait until you’d gotten to UNO to figure out how much space you were splitting before buying all of this shit. I’ve seen dorm rooms at other schools, and I think you’re already pushing the limit.”
“I got accepted in January, Devin,” she said, starting to walk down the aisle to look at other items on the shelves. “I know how big the dorm room is and who my roommate is. They do tell you these things before you get there, you know?”
“My bad. I haven’t gotten to that point yet.”
As he followed behind her, he glanced around the store at the other people who were doing the same as they were – prepping to pack up their bags and move to somewhere new for the next four years. Or maybe preparing to move down the road for a softer launch into adulthood.
Devin was somewhat happy that he wouldn’t have to go through the process, for the most part. Most of his needs were said to be taken care of by the time he got to campus. He just needed to make sure that he was ready to hit the ground running with practice, and maybe do a little bit of work in the classroom to stay eligible.
A perk of being a student-athlete, he supposed.
“What do you think?” Carla asked.
“About what?”
She shook her head. “I hope you know you’re a terrible shopping buddy. We can’t find the best stuff if I’m the only one looking for it!”
“You damn near need another buggy and you think I need to help you find stuff?” Devin asked, laughing. “You got it covered.”
“And here I was thinking about getting something you’d like to see me ‘uncovered’ in for the rare chance that you’re able to visit me. I guess I’ll change my mind on that since you feel that I have it covered.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let’s not get crazy here. What you mean something I’d like? I think you should go ahead with that.”
“Nope. You missed your chance. Now, the only thing that you’ll be seeing me in is a parka and floor length dresses like they wore in the 1800s. I hope you have an ankle fetish because that’s all the skin you’ll be seeing.”
“You can take off a parka and a floor length dress just like anything else.”
Carla laughed. “I’ll wear a fucking chastity belt then.”
-
Captain Canada
- Posts: 2181
- Joined: 01 Dec 2018, 00:15
War of the Roses: Redux Edition
Both these muthafuckas going to Tulane, aren't they