War of the Roses: Redux Edition
War of the Roses: Redux Edition
Kaley and Carla Parfait.
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Captain Canada
- Posts: 2196
- Joined: 01 Dec 2018, 00:15
War of the Roses: Redux Edition
Are there any links to any of the previous RTGs or have these been lost to time?
War of the Roses: Redux Edition
I'd like to point out that I was 15-17 years old writing this stuff (it's bad) and for the most part have decoupled the small over the top bits of these from the arc of this.Captain Canada wrote: ↑18 Oct 2021, 11:06Are there any links to any of the previous RTGs or have these been lost to time?
https://www.ignboards.com/threads/a-leg ... 155261706/ - Deion Jenkins
https://www.ignboards.com/threads/the-o ... 180613177/ - Devin King, Jr.
https://www.ignboards.com/threads/the-w ... 150932933/ - Marcus Jenkins (there are few story updates in this and all of the code is broken)
War of the Roses: Redux Edition
Bonding
Devin sat on his bed, looking at the sneakers that Caesar had just pulled out of a box and set on the floor on his side of the room before leaving the room.
He then looked at his own shoes. A few pair that he’d lined up against the wall to keep them out of the way but still be easily accessible. Devin had nothing flashy, but he felt he owned a couple good pairs of mid-range shoes in terms of costs.
Glancing back at the shoes Caesar had set down, he wondered how much they were. They’d come in a dust bag so he’d imagine close to the $1,000 range.
Caesar walked back into the room carrying a smaller box and what looked like a suit bag over his shoulder.
He unzipped the bag and pulled out a bomber jacket that he threw on after removing the tags before pulling a jewel encrusted watch from the box and putting that on his wrist. He finished his outfit by shoving his feet into the sneakers before tying them.
Devin raised an eyebrow at the lack of care Caesar showed for the expensive shoes. But his attention was drawn elsewhere when Caesar threw the tags on the floor – on Devin’s side of the room.
“There’s a garbage can right there,” Devin said, pointing to the small can next to the door.
“You live like a pig so I was just adding to the junk that you already have over there,” Caesar said as he shoved his wallet and phone into his pockets. “Maybe you should try taking some time to clean your side of the room while your girl is over at UNO getting plowed by some quirky film student. Then you can go over and clean his room and him up like the cuck you are.”
“Some of us didn’t grow up with someone to clean up behind us. Or the money to hire someone to do the cleaning.”
“You can just say that you were broke growing up. I understand. Just tell Carla to give me a call if you need some money and the two of us can sort it out for you.”
“Eat a dick,” Devin said.
Caesar laughed as he started toward the door. “I think there is someone else you should be directing that at since I know she’s doing nothing of the sort, but if you need to know what she really likes I can tell you. You just have to ask nicely.”
Devin chose not to respond as Caesar left the room. It was petty and childish, but he stood up and kicked the tags he’d thrown on the floor over to Caesar’s “side” of the room all the same.
It’d probably make him lose his mind when he got back that his side of things wasn’t perfectly pristine as he seemed to like to keep it.
“They not going to win so sit your ass down with all that shit,” Omari laughed from the side of the room. He tapped Darius on the shoulder and pointed at K.J. “Motherfucker’s always betting on the most trash teams.”
“It’s the playoffs. No one trash,” K.J. said as he sat back down between Marcus and Rahim.
Devin sat at the kitchen table, sipping from a beer and trying to make heads or tails of the game that was playing on the screen. It didn’t help that the broadcast was in a foreign language.
In what was quickly becoming one of the highlights of his time at Tulane so far, all of the defensive backs had piled into Hayden and Christian’s apartment to kick back and relax after a long week of juggling practices, workouts and classes.
“It’s the German Football League,” Christian said from across the table as if he sensed that Devin needed an explanation of what was going on. “The team in black is the New Yorker Lions and the other one is the Stuttgart Scorpions. The Lions are the Bayern Munich of the GFL.”
“The who?” Devin asked.
“Soccer team,” Arik said, kicking out his foot for emphasis. “Motherfuckers that win the championship every single season.”
“Yeah,” Christian said, nodding. “They have something stupid like 40 German Bowl wins. Shit ton of Euro Bowls.”
Devin took in the information then pointed to the screen. “But why are we watching this?”
“See number five at corner?” Christian asked. “That’s Xavier Winston. He graduated last year from here. Tried to get with an NFL squad then a CFL squad and because he really fucking loves football, he took his ass over to Germany and is balling over there. So, we’re watching to support our guy.”
“We watch the X-League, too, for the same reason,” Marcus threw over his shoulder.
Christian nodded. “Japan. Byron Howard, who was here when we first got here, plays out there in Chiba. He’s been in Japan for a while though. He’s married to a Japanese woman, speaks the language, everything. Xavier’s just got to Germany.”
Devin took another swig of the beer, somewhat regretting not taking the other drink that was offered to him when he’d first gotten there. He’d never thought about football outside of the United States and, to some extent, Canada. The concept of stable football leagues existing in other countries made sense to him but it wasn’t something that immediately clicked in his head given the constant talk about the NFL.
But even the NFL was approaching its 150th year in operation. He imagined the leagues they mentioned were also getting up there in age.
It shouldn’t have come as a surprise considering how close knit the group was, but Devin was impressed by the commitment to support former teammates. Everyone could’ve easily forgotten about Byron Howard and Xavier Winston once they boarded a plane to Japan and Germany but there everyone was watching one of their games.
“You know what I like about these foreign leagues?” Christian asked Devin, or no one in particular. “It’s a little purer than the NFL. Sure, they are still getting paid for their abilities, but no one is signing a contract with $70 million in guaranteed money playing for Bergamo or Saint Ouen or Vienna.”
“It’s got to be good money if they stay,” Arik said.
Christian pointed to him and nodded. “It is good money. Definitely much more than a living wage, but you have to keep in mind that money goes further in a lot of these other countries. NFL teams pay undrafted FAs thirty or forty grand. You’re not living in Los Angeles with forty grand or even $100,000. You get $100,000 in Potsdam with all the social services in Germany and you’re living a good life.”
“Y’all done let this motherfucker get on his soapbox,” Quenshan said as he walked back into the room from the bathroom.
“You better have sprayed some fucking Scrubbing Bubbles in my fucking toilet with how long your ass been in there,” Hayden said, drawing laughter from the guys.
“Who bought those nasty ass wings here?” Quenshan asked. “Oh, right. It was you, motherfucker. Probably trying to kill us all.”
“I’m not on a soapbox. I’m just saying that we, as a country, should’ve done some soul searching thirty years ago about what we provide to our residents. If I want to spend my life pursuing a passion like football, I should be able to do so and not have to chase dollar signs,” Christian said. “We have four hundred million people here so it’s not like we’ll run out of athletes but shit, we’d have a lot more families lifted out of poverty by the shit that we do if the cost of living and what was considered a living wage was more in line with other countries.”
The sound of Hail to the Chief came from the other side of the room as Omari stood with his phone in one hand playing the song and saluted Christian. “Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States of America!”
Everyone laughed, including Christian.
“Hey, man. I just think money shouldn’t be the end-all, be-all,” he said, shrugging. “Quality of life is important too.”
Devin raised his bottle to Christian. “You’ve got my vote on that.”
Caesar nodded as he downed a pair of shots of vodka then motioned for the bartender to refill the glasses as well as those sitting in front of Darren and Tyrone. “Yeah, I’m sure. Shots on me for everyone in here. Top shelf.”
The bartender eyed him suspiciously before picking up the card Caesar had put on the bar and placing it next to the register.
“Big money grip!” Tyrone shouted over the din of the music and the people who were huddled around the bar trying to get a drink. He picked up a shot glass and knocked back the vodka, squinting his eyes as the liquid burned his throat. “That boy ballin’ out of control.”
Darren slapped Caesar on the shoulder before also taking his shot and waving for the bartender to refill the glasses – on Caesar’s tab.
A dozen or so Tulane football players were spread out through the club as they took one of their last chances to really let loose and party until sometime in December. Or sometime in January if they were lucky enough to reach the playoffs.
Many of them were usual suspects in that establishment and attracted some attention from others, but the free-wheeling spending Caesar was throwing around had many of the eyes in the club on them regardless of who those eyes belonged to.
A group of four young women pushed their way through the crowd of people hovering around the bar with free drinks flowing. Dressed in their finest club wear, they caught Tyrone’s eye as they walked up to the trio.
Tyrone tapped Caesar with the back of his hand and nodded to the ladies.
“Y’all buying us a drink, too?” one of them said over the music.
Caesar sipped from the cup in his hand and checked them out. They ran the gamut of looks and shapes, but they were all attractive enough. On a different day, he’d give them all a go if offered. But these days, he was an honest man.
Darren pointed to Caesar. “That’s the guy with the money.”
“But there are too many of us for just him,” a second woman said, winking at Darren.
“Not to speak on another man dick, but he young. He can handle two or three women by himself. How you think he got all that money? Nigga an amateur porn star. Call him the Marginy Pipe Layer because all them gentrifying moms know him.”
Caesar raised an eyebrow. “Marginy Pipe Layer?”
“Don’t be ashamed of your nicknames, nigga,” Darren said as he picked up his cup from the bar and started to walk away from the group. He gestured to Tyrone as he left. “Y’all can handle this.”
Tyrone rubbed his hands together. “Shit. Yeah, we can.”
“So those drinks?” the first woman asked Caesar.
“Just put it on my tab. Whatever y’all want,” Caesar said, nodding over his shoulder.
“By whatever, you mean some bottom shelf shit right, so your Discover card doesn’t decline right?” a third out of the group asked, clearly not convinced.
Caesar only laughed.
“No, we mean whatever whatever,” Tyrone said. He gave the woman who asked a once over. “And for you, get two or three of ‘em because God damn!”
“Ain’t gotta tell me twice,” she said as the four of them had to press between Caesar and Tyrone to get to the bar.
…
Caesar, Darren, Junie, Kerby and Kendrick walked – or did the best they could to walk – down Bourbon Street after leaving the club. Once Caesar had gotten properly liquored up, he loosened the purse strings and had taken “buying the bar” to new extremes as the establishment all but ran out of alcohol by the time they’d left.
The rest of their group had found their ways home with women they’d met at the club. Junie, Kerby and Kendrick struck out. Caesar and Darren turned it down.
“Why y’all ain’t call us when y’all were letting Tyrone go home with four bitches?” Kerby asked.
“You gotta get your own pussy, bruh,” Darren said, laughing. “And we didn’t let that nigga do shit. You need to blame Caesar for not taking a couple of them himself. They were bad, too. Social media models, for sure.”
“Me? What about you?” Caesar asked. “You walked away like you’re afraid of pussy.”
Darren shrugged. “I told you before I don’t do the random hookup thing.”
“Fuck all that. You niggas bitches for not helping us out,” Kendrick said. A freshman linebacker deep on the depth chart, Kendrick wasn’t getting any play on name recognition or because he had the NIL money to blow on buying women drinks.
Caesar stopped abruptly in front of an open tattoo parlor.
Junie almost walked into him and gave him a shove. “C’mon, my guy. You know your ass too big to just be stoppin’ in front of people.”
“I’m going get a tattoo.” Caesar looked at the group and nodded over his shoulder.
“Nigga, don’t do that shit when you drunk,” Darren said, laughing.
“They probably won’t even do it because his ass is drunk,” Kerby said.
“It’s 2052. If I wake up and want the shit off, I’m just going to drive somewhere and get the shit removed tomorrow,” Caesar said, waving off their suggestions not to do it. He turned toward the door and opened it. “And they’re going to do it.”
The other four watched as he walked into the parlor before looking at one another.
“Are we going to leave his ass and go about our business or…?” Kendrick asked. “Because I ain’t trying to be in a tattoo shop on Bourbon Street in the middle of the night. We’re a hundred precent gonna get robbed when we walk out of there if we stay.”
Darren shook his head as he turned toward the shop to walk inside. “It’s mad tourists out here. No one is getting robbed on Bourbon. Should’ve stayed your ass in Tupelo if you scared.”
“I’m from fucking Biloxi, man,” Kendrick said as he followed everyone into the shop.
Devin sat on his bed, looking at the sneakers that Caesar had just pulled out of a box and set on the floor on his side of the room before leaving the room.
He then looked at his own shoes. A few pair that he’d lined up against the wall to keep them out of the way but still be easily accessible. Devin had nothing flashy, but he felt he owned a couple good pairs of mid-range shoes in terms of costs.
Glancing back at the shoes Caesar had set down, he wondered how much they were. They’d come in a dust bag so he’d imagine close to the $1,000 range.
Caesar walked back into the room carrying a smaller box and what looked like a suit bag over his shoulder.
He unzipped the bag and pulled out a bomber jacket that he threw on after removing the tags before pulling a jewel encrusted watch from the box and putting that on his wrist. He finished his outfit by shoving his feet into the sneakers before tying them.
Devin raised an eyebrow at the lack of care Caesar showed for the expensive shoes. But his attention was drawn elsewhere when Caesar threw the tags on the floor – on Devin’s side of the room.
“There’s a garbage can right there,” Devin said, pointing to the small can next to the door.
“You live like a pig so I was just adding to the junk that you already have over there,” Caesar said as he shoved his wallet and phone into his pockets. “Maybe you should try taking some time to clean your side of the room while your girl is over at UNO getting plowed by some quirky film student. Then you can go over and clean his room and him up like the cuck you are.”
“Some of us didn’t grow up with someone to clean up behind us. Or the money to hire someone to do the cleaning.”
“You can just say that you were broke growing up. I understand. Just tell Carla to give me a call if you need some money and the two of us can sort it out for you.”
“Eat a dick,” Devin said.
Caesar laughed as he started toward the door. “I think there is someone else you should be directing that at since I know she’s doing nothing of the sort, but if you need to know what she really likes I can tell you. You just have to ask nicely.”
Devin chose not to respond as Caesar left the room. It was petty and childish, but he stood up and kicked the tags he’d thrown on the floor over to Caesar’s “side” of the room all the same.
It’d probably make him lose his mind when he got back that his side of things wasn’t perfectly pristine as he seemed to like to keep it.
-*****-
“Fuck yeah!” K.J. jumped up from the couch and almost leapt on to the coffee table in front of him as one of the two football teams on the screen scored a touchdown.“They not going to win so sit your ass down with all that shit,” Omari laughed from the side of the room. He tapped Darius on the shoulder and pointed at K.J. “Motherfucker’s always betting on the most trash teams.”
“It’s the playoffs. No one trash,” K.J. said as he sat back down between Marcus and Rahim.
Devin sat at the kitchen table, sipping from a beer and trying to make heads or tails of the game that was playing on the screen. It didn’t help that the broadcast was in a foreign language.
In what was quickly becoming one of the highlights of his time at Tulane so far, all of the defensive backs had piled into Hayden and Christian’s apartment to kick back and relax after a long week of juggling practices, workouts and classes.
“It’s the German Football League,” Christian said from across the table as if he sensed that Devin needed an explanation of what was going on. “The team in black is the New Yorker Lions and the other one is the Stuttgart Scorpions. The Lions are the Bayern Munich of the GFL.”
“The who?” Devin asked.
“Soccer team,” Arik said, kicking out his foot for emphasis. “Motherfuckers that win the championship every single season.”
“Yeah,” Christian said, nodding. “They have something stupid like 40 German Bowl wins. Shit ton of Euro Bowls.”
Devin took in the information then pointed to the screen. “But why are we watching this?”
“See number five at corner?” Christian asked. “That’s Xavier Winston. He graduated last year from here. Tried to get with an NFL squad then a CFL squad and because he really fucking loves football, he took his ass over to Germany and is balling over there. So, we’re watching to support our guy.”
“We watch the X-League, too, for the same reason,” Marcus threw over his shoulder.
Christian nodded. “Japan. Byron Howard, who was here when we first got here, plays out there in Chiba. He’s been in Japan for a while though. He’s married to a Japanese woman, speaks the language, everything. Xavier’s just got to Germany.”
Devin took another swig of the beer, somewhat regretting not taking the other drink that was offered to him when he’d first gotten there. He’d never thought about football outside of the United States and, to some extent, Canada. The concept of stable football leagues existing in other countries made sense to him but it wasn’t something that immediately clicked in his head given the constant talk about the NFL.
But even the NFL was approaching its 150th year in operation. He imagined the leagues they mentioned were also getting up there in age.
It shouldn’t have come as a surprise considering how close knit the group was, but Devin was impressed by the commitment to support former teammates. Everyone could’ve easily forgotten about Byron Howard and Xavier Winston once they boarded a plane to Japan and Germany but there everyone was watching one of their games.
“You know what I like about these foreign leagues?” Christian asked Devin, or no one in particular. “It’s a little purer than the NFL. Sure, they are still getting paid for their abilities, but no one is signing a contract with $70 million in guaranteed money playing for Bergamo or Saint Ouen or Vienna.”
“It’s got to be good money if they stay,” Arik said.
Christian pointed to him and nodded. “It is good money. Definitely much more than a living wage, but you have to keep in mind that money goes further in a lot of these other countries. NFL teams pay undrafted FAs thirty or forty grand. You’re not living in Los Angeles with forty grand or even $100,000. You get $100,000 in Potsdam with all the social services in Germany and you’re living a good life.”
“Y’all done let this motherfucker get on his soapbox,” Quenshan said as he walked back into the room from the bathroom.
“You better have sprayed some fucking Scrubbing Bubbles in my fucking toilet with how long your ass been in there,” Hayden said, drawing laughter from the guys.
“Who bought those nasty ass wings here?” Quenshan asked. “Oh, right. It was you, motherfucker. Probably trying to kill us all.”
“I’m not on a soapbox. I’m just saying that we, as a country, should’ve done some soul searching thirty years ago about what we provide to our residents. If I want to spend my life pursuing a passion like football, I should be able to do so and not have to chase dollar signs,” Christian said. “We have four hundred million people here so it’s not like we’ll run out of athletes but shit, we’d have a lot more families lifted out of poverty by the shit that we do if the cost of living and what was considered a living wage was more in line with other countries.”
The sound of Hail to the Chief came from the other side of the room as Omari stood with his phone in one hand playing the song and saluted Christian. “Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States of America!”
Everyone laughed, including Christian.
“Hey, man. I just think money shouldn’t be the end-all, be-all,” he said, shrugging. “Quality of life is important too.”
Devin raised his bottle to Christian. “You’ve got my vote on that.”
-*****-
“There are a hundred people in here. You sure you want to do that?”Caesar nodded as he downed a pair of shots of vodka then motioned for the bartender to refill the glasses as well as those sitting in front of Darren and Tyrone. “Yeah, I’m sure. Shots on me for everyone in here. Top shelf.”
The bartender eyed him suspiciously before picking up the card Caesar had put on the bar and placing it next to the register.
“Big money grip!” Tyrone shouted over the din of the music and the people who were huddled around the bar trying to get a drink. He picked up a shot glass and knocked back the vodka, squinting his eyes as the liquid burned his throat. “That boy ballin’ out of control.”
Darren slapped Caesar on the shoulder before also taking his shot and waving for the bartender to refill the glasses – on Caesar’s tab.
A dozen or so Tulane football players were spread out through the club as they took one of their last chances to really let loose and party until sometime in December. Or sometime in January if they were lucky enough to reach the playoffs.
Many of them were usual suspects in that establishment and attracted some attention from others, but the free-wheeling spending Caesar was throwing around had many of the eyes in the club on them regardless of who those eyes belonged to.
A group of four young women pushed their way through the crowd of people hovering around the bar with free drinks flowing. Dressed in their finest club wear, they caught Tyrone’s eye as they walked up to the trio.
Tyrone tapped Caesar with the back of his hand and nodded to the ladies.
“Y’all buying us a drink, too?” one of them said over the music.
Caesar sipped from the cup in his hand and checked them out. They ran the gamut of looks and shapes, but they were all attractive enough. On a different day, he’d give them all a go if offered. But these days, he was an honest man.
Darren pointed to Caesar. “That’s the guy with the money.”
“But there are too many of us for just him,” a second woman said, winking at Darren.
“Not to speak on another man dick, but he young. He can handle two or three women by himself. How you think he got all that money? Nigga an amateur porn star. Call him the Marginy Pipe Layer because all them gentrifying moms know him.”
Caesar raised an eyebrow. “Marginy Pipe Layer?”
“Don’t be ashamed of your nicknames, nigga,” Darren said as he picked up his cup from the bar and started to walk away from the group. He gestured to Tyrone as he left. “Y’all can handle this.”
Tyrone rubbed his hands together. “Shit. Yeah, we can.”
“So those drinks?” the first woman asked Caesar.
“Just put it on my tab. Whatever y’all want,” Caesar said, nodding over his shoulder.
“By whatever, you mean some bottom shelf shit right, so your Discover card doesn’t decline right?” a third out of the group asked, clearly not convinced.
Caesar only laughed.
“No, we mean whatever whatever,” Tyrone said. He gave the woman who asked a once over. “And for you, get two or three of ‘em because God damn!”
“Ain’t gotta tell me twice,” she said as the four of them had to press between Caesar and Tyrone to get to the bar.
…
Caesar, Darren, Junie, Kerby and Kendrick walked – or did the best they could to walk – down Bourbon Street after leaving the club. Once Caesar had gotten properly liquored up, he loosened the purse strings and had taken “buying the bar” to new extremes as the establishment all but ran out of alcohol by the time they’d left.
The rest of their group had found their ways home with women they’d met at the club. Junie, Kerby and Kendrick struck out. Caesar and Darren turned it down.
“Why y’all ain’t call us when y’all were letting Tyrone go home with four bitches?” Kerby asked.
“You gotta get your own pussy, bruh,” Darren said, laughing. “And we didn’t let that nigga do shit. You need to blame Caesar for not taking a couple of them himself. They were bad, too. Social media models, for sure.”
“Me? What about you?” Caesar asked. “You walked away like you’re afraid of pussy.”
Darren shrugged. “I told you before I don’t do the random hookup thing.”
“Fuck all that. You niggas bitches for not helping us out,” Kendrick said. A freshman linebacker deep on the depth chart, Kendrick wasn’t getting any play on name recognition or because he had the NIL money to blow on buying women drinks.
Caesar stopped abruptly in front of an open tattoo parlor.
Junie almost walked into him and gave him a shove. “C’mon, my guy. You know your ass too big to just be stoppin’ in front of people.”
“I’m going get a tattoo.” Caesar looked at the group and nodded over his shoulder.
“Nigga, don’t do that shit when you drunk,” Darren said, laughing.
“They probably won’t even do it because his ass is drunk,” Kerby said.
“It’s 2052. If I wake up and want the shit off, I’m just going to drive somewhere and get the shit removed tomorrow,” Caesar said, waving off their suggestions not to do it. He turned toward the door and opened it. “And they’re going to do it.”
The other four watched as he walked into the parlor before looking at one another.
“Are we going to leave his ass and go about our business or…?” Kendrick asked. “Because I ain’t trying to be in a tattoo shop on Bourbon Street in the middle of the night. We’re a hundred precent gonna get robbed when we walk out of there if we stay.”
Darren shook his head as he turned toward the shop to walk inside. “It’s mad tourists out here. No one is getting robbed on Bourbon. Should’ve stayed your ass in Tupelo if you scared.”
“I’m from fucking Biloxi, man,” Kendrick said as he followed everyone into the shop.
War of the Roses: Redux Edition
he's paying for the tattoos right? asking for terrelle pryor
War of the Roses: Redux Edition
Homeboy coming back with a new tattoo & drunk just to find his trash back on his side of the room.
Fight happening.
Fight happening.
War of the Roses: Redux Edition
Letters
Caesar rubbed his arm against his side to try to soothe the itching that the new tattoos were causing. It’d been a couple days and he could barely remember why he’d decided to go through with it, but at least they weren’t dumb enough for him to need to get it removed. That would’ve been a chore.
He spotted Kaley standing in a line for food and walked up behind her, wrapping his arms around her.
She tensed and looked back over her shoulder, relaxing when she saw who it was. “You know people get stabbed for doing that kind of stuff, right?”
“How many people have you stabbed, killer?” Caesar asked, laughing. He glanced up at the menus for the restaurant she was standing in front of. “I don’t like anything up there. You really should’ve picked a better place.”
“Well, it’s a good thing that I didn’t come here thinking about what you wanted to eat, isn’t it?” She smacked his arm playfully. Feeling the plastic covering, she looked down and pulled at it. “What happened to your arm?”
“I texted you yesterday and told you I got a tattoo. I even sent you a picture of it,” he said.
Kaley stepped away from him and turned around. “I didn’t think that you were being serious and I figured you googled something to make your joke more believable. I mean, you were pretty wasted when you called me at like 4 in the morning yesterday.”
“Well, I was being serious. Obviously.” He pointed at his arm for emphasis.
“What does it even say?” she asked before peeling the tape off the plastic to pull it off.
“Aut Caesar, aut nihil.”
She glanced up from his arm. “Okay, for those of us who don’t speak dead languages. Or do you not know and neither does the person who did this?”
“Har har har. It means ‘either a Caesar or nothing.’ You know like a Roman emperor. And because I’m a Caesar already. Literally by birth.”
“That sounds exactly like something someone would think up while they were drunk on Bourbon Street. I’d almost rather you’d told me you’d found some random girl to fuck because at least that line of thinking would make sense,” she said, rolling her eyes and putting the plastic covering back in place.
“Is that a hall--”
“No.” Her answer was sharp and quick and left no room for discussion.
“Just checking. It’s no more absurd than you walking around with the Greek alphabet on your clothes, though.”
“It’s a good thing I’m not then.”
“Just because it hasn’t come in yet. I was there when you ordered that jacket, Kappa,” he said, laughing.
Kaley rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything. A cashier stepped up to the counter, holding a bag, and called her name. Caesar followed her as she went to get the food, raising an eyebrow at the fact there was only one box inside the bag.
“Looks like you’re missing something there,” he said. He reached for the bag but she pulled it away.
“No, I have everything I ordered, and I remember someone saying that they didn’t like anything there so keep your eyes off my plate,” she said as she walked toward a set of tables in the food court.
“You know we eat together. You’re ruining traditions and shit. I would say this is grounds for a re-evaluation of our relationship.”
“Did you eat yesterday?”
“Well, yeah.”
“What about the day before?”
Caesar scrunched his lips to the side before answering. “Yes?”
“And which one of those days was I with you?”
“That’s not the point here. We’re talking about you. Not me.”
Kaley laughed as she came to a table where Gia, Janelle, and a few other girls were already sitting. She sat down in the only empty chair around the table, leaving Caesar to grab one from another table.
“Are you really going to sit there and let me starve? You don’t want me to starve to death, do you?” he asked as she pulled the box out of the bag and popped it open.
“You can get fucking free food if you just walk your ass across the campus,” Kaley said, swatting his hand away when he reached for the box.
Janelle glanced over at Caesar and raised an eyebrow at his begging for food. “Aren’t you able to buy that a few thousand times over?”
“You don’t have to get involved in this over here, you know?” Caesar said, waving his hand in a circle between himself and Kaley. He turned to Gia. “Talk some sense into your roommate and tell that she should quite literally break bread with me.”
“Why are you asking me to help you?” Gia asked, laughing.
“Kaley, who’s this thirsty – hot, but thirsty – guy you got following you around?” one of the other three girls asked.
“He would be my dickhead boyfriend,” Kaley said before she dug into the gyro she ordered.
“Dickhead? Yikes. You aren’t pulling any punches today,” Caesar said.
“That’s because everyone saw how you shut down that bar the other night and here you are asking someone else for shit,” Janelle said.
“You know, I went to high school with a girl named Janelle.”
“What’s your point?”
“I didn’t like her ass either.”
“You’ll survive.”
“Wait,” the girl who asked who he was said. “You’re the guy who was all on social media buying everyone bottles and shit?”
Caesar sat back in his chair. “A little rude for you to ask about my pockets and I don’t even know your name.”
“I’m Daisy. That’s Becky and Shari,” she said, pointing to the two girls sitting next to her. “So, was that you?”
“Yeah. It wasn’t that much.”
Shari slapped Kaley on the arm. “Here I was jealous of Gia and you’re the one we should be watching.”
“It’s all fun and games until you find out that he acts like this if you don’t feed him like he’s a 6-foot toddler,” Kaley said.
“I’m a 6’6” toddler. Thank you very much,” Caesar said, reaching toward her plate again only to get his hand swatted once more.
“Probably hung like a toddler, too,” Janelle said.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Becky laughed. “I actually would like to know because the whole tall guy thing has to be about more than just being tall.” She turned to Kaley. “We’ll talk later."
“Yeah, we won’t,” Kaley said.
“Gia, find out for me when she isn’t being so shy and it’s just the two of you.”
Gia looked up from her phone. “I’ll pass. That’s more than I need to know about him.”
“Anyway,” Janelle said. “We need to pick up our tickets for the game.”
Caesar gave up trying to steal Kaley’s food as they shifted the subject to the game that weekend. He needed to remember to revisit his conversation with Kaley about a pre-game ritual so he could get into a routine – or just so he could get some guaranteed sex before games. Either or.
He glanced over at Gia who’d buried her head back in her phone. She looked over at him for a second, winked and went back to whatever it was she was doing.
If the game wasn’t in New Orleans, he wouldn’t even be in the damn city on a Friday before the game and accommodations would’ve been made. He didn’t see a difference just because it was a home game.
He shoved his laptop away before standing up from his desk to stretch. Walking to the window, he looked out over the small bit of the campus that he could see from there as the sun set over Uptown. He did sometimes wish the dorms were taller so he could have a view of the river.
Maybe that was something he would look into if he got an off-campus apartment.
Picking up his phone from his bed, he answered a text from Carla. As he waited for her answer, he thought about the fact that his life was about to get as hectic as it had ever been, and he’d already been feeling guilty about not being as attentive to his relationship with Carla as he probably should’ve been.
He sighed and sent her another text. ’Where are you? I’m gonna come see you.’
’At the library. I’ll send you the location.
A few moments later, she sent him the location to UNO’s library.
’Cool. See ya in a bit.’
She replied with a kiss and a heart emoji.
…
Twenty minutes later, Devin backed into a parking space on the street outside of the library. He noticed all of the cards had university parking placards and wondered if his car would get towed if he left it there. New Orleans, in general, was notorious for overzealous meter maids and the last thing he wanted to do with his time was get his car out of an impound lot in New Orleans East.
Deciding that his Tulane student placard would be deceiving enough to a lazy attendant, he put it out of his mind.
Walking into the building, he followed the instructions that Carla had sent him and found her sitting in one of the study rooms with her laptop open in front of her. A second laptop was also on the table.
“Hey!” she said, jumping up when he walked into the room and throwing her arms around his neck to give him a kiss. “You should randomly come visit me more often.”
Devin smiled as the two of them sat down at the table. “You know I would if I could. There’s just always something. Meetings, practice, class, film, workouts. Then you throw the season starting on top of that this weekend.”
“Yeah, I know it’s crazy,” she said. She put her hand on his leg. “I know you’re trying. I know I don’t make it seem like I know that, but I just want you to hear me say so.”
“I could be doing a better job of making things work.”
“Oh, guess what?”
“You won the lotto and we’re going to buy a private villa in Bali?”
“No, but good idea for something for you to do when you sign one of those contracts like Caesar did. We can split the cost. You pay 99 percent and I’ll pay 1 percent.”
Devin laughed. “I don’t think I’m going to be getting image deals like Caesar does.”
“Wishful thinking never hurt anyone,” she said, shrugging. “But what I was going to say is that I’m coming to the game Saturday. Gina knows someone who has LSU season tick—”
“I go to Tulane.”
Carla smacked his shoulder. “I know that. If you would’ve let me finish. She knows someone who has LSU season tickets, and they aren’t going to their game Saturday so she was given them. She sold them and used the money to buy us tickets to y’all’s game.”
“For someone who claims to not like football, that’s a lot of work to go to a football game,” Devin said, laughing.
“She just wants to get out of Houma. I think she’s going stir crazy with everyone off at college places other than Nicholls.”
Devin scratched his chin. “I think we’ve lost every game that Gina has been at. Maybe tell her to not come until the fourth quarter so we can get a bit of a lead first.”
“That’s not even true, asshole!”
“Definitely is. She was at that one playoff game and when we played Euless.”
“Maybe,” Carla said, leaning closer to him. “Y’all just fucking sucked.”
Devin laughed at what she said, but he knew the look in her eye. It was one that said she was finished studying. He was just about to suggest that they either go back to her room or drive back across town to Tulane’s campus – praying that Caesar was occupied elsewhere – when the door to the study room opened.
A guy walked in carrying two coffees and a bag. “Sorry, that took so long. Apparently their toaster oven thing broke so I had to wait for them to fix it to get these bagels.” He noticed Devin when he looked up. “Oh, hey. What’s up, man?”
Devin gave him a head nod.
Carla took one of the coffees from him. “Thanks, Ricky. Ricky, this is my boyfriend, Devin.”
“Nice to meet you,” Ricky said, offering his hand to Devin which he shook. “I wish she would’ve told me you were coming. I feel bad showing up with stuff and not having anything for you.”
“You’re good. I’m not much of a coffee drinker,” Devin said, waving the comment off with his hand. He turned back to Carla and said quietly, “You want to go back to your room?”
“Just give me like thirty minutes to finish going through this stuff,” she said as she sipped from the coffee and had turned her attention back to her laptop.
Devin shrugged and leaned back in his chair, pulling out his phone and starting to scroll through his social media accounts.
He had no problem sitting right where he was for thirty minutes.
Caesar rubbed his arm against his side to try to soothe the itching that the new tattoos were causing. It’d been a couple days and he could barely remember why he’d decided to go through with it, but at least they weren’t dumb enough for him to need to get it removed. That would’ve been a chore.
He spotted Kaley standing in a line for food and walked up behind her, wrapping his arms around her.
She tensed and looked back over her shoulder, relaxing when she saw who it was. “You know people get stabbed for doing that kind of stuff, right?”
“How many people have you stabbed, killer?” Caesar asked, laughing. He glanced up at the menus for the restaurant she was standing in front of. “I don’t like anything up there. You really should’ve picked a better place.”
“Well, it’s a good thing that I didn’t come here thinking about what you wanted to eat, isn’t it?” She smacked his arm playfully. Feeling the plastic covering, she looked down and pulled at it. “What happened to your arm?”
“I texted you yesterday and told you I got a tattoo. I even sent you a picture of it,” he said.
Kaley stepped away from him and turned around. “I didn’t think that you were being serious and I figured you googled something to make your joke more believable. I mean, you were pretty wasted when you called me at like 4 in the morning yesterday.”
“Well, I was being serious. Obviously.” He pointed at his arm for emphasis.
“What does it even say?” she asked before peeling the tape off the plastic to pull it off.
“Aut Caesar, aut nihil.”
She glanced up from his arm. “Okay, for those of us who don’t speak dead languages. Or do you not know and neither does the person who did this?”
“Har har har. It means ‘either a Caesar or nothing.’ You know like a Roman emperor. And because I’m a Caesar already. Literally by birth.”
“That sounds exactly like something someone would think up while they were drunk on Bourbon Street. I’d almost rather you’d told me you’d found some random girl to fuck because at least that line of thinking would make sense,” she said, rolling her eyes and putting the plastic covering back in place.
“Is that a hall--”
“No.” Her answer was sharp and quick and left no room for discussion.
“Just checking. It’s no more absurd than you walking around with the Greek alphabet on your clothes, though.”
“It’s a good thing I’m not then.”
“Just because it hasn’t come in yet. I was there when you ordered that jacket, Kappa,” he said, laughing.
Kaley rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything. A cashier stepped up to the counter, holding a bag, and called her name. Caesar followed her as she went to get the food, raising an eyebrow at the fact there was only one box inside the bag.
“Looks like you’re missing something there,” he said. He reached for the bag but she pulled it away.
“No, I have everything I ordered, and I remember someone saying that they didn’t like anything there so keep your eyes off my plate,” she said as she walked toward a set of tables in the food court.
“You know we eat together. You’re ruining traditions and shit. I would say this is grounds for a re-evaluation of our relationship.”
“Did you eat yesterday?”
“Well, yeah.”
“What about the day before?”
Caesar scrunched his lips to the side before answering. “Yes?”
“And which one of those days was I with you?”
“That’s not the point here. We’re talking about you. Not me.”
Kaley laughed as she came to a table where Gia, Janelle, and a few other girls were already sitting. She sat down in the only empty chair around the table, leaving Caesar to grab one from another table.
“Are you really going to sit there and let me starve? You don’t want me to starve to death, do you?” he asked as she pulled the box out of the bag and popped it open.
“You can get fucking free food if you just walk your ass across the campus,” Kaley said, swatting his hand away when he reached for the box.
Janelle glanced over at Caesar and raised an eyebrow at his begging for food. “Aren’t you able to buy that a few thousand times over?”
“You don’t have to get involved in this over here, you know?” Caesar said, waving his hand in a circle between himself and Kaley. He turned to Gia. “Talk some sense into your roommate and tell that she should quite literally break bread with me.”
“Why are you asking me to help you?” Gia asked, laughing.
“Kaley, who’s this thirsty – hot, but thirsty – guy you got following you around?” one of the other three girls asked.
“He would be my dickhead boyfriend,” Kaley said before she dug into the gyro she ordered.
“Dickhead? Yikes. You aren’t pulling any punches today,” Caesar said.
“That’s because everyone saw how you shut down that bar the other night and here you are asking someone else for shit,” Janelle said.
“You know, I went to high school with a girl named Janelle.”
“What’s your point?”
“I didn’t like her ass either.”
“You’ll survive.”
“Wait,” the girl who asked who he was said. “You’re the guy who was all on social media buying everyone bottles and shit?”
Caesar sat back in his chair. “A little rude for you to ask about my pockets and I don’t even know your name.”
“I’m Daisy. That’s Becky and Shari,” she said, pointing to the two girls sitting next to her. “So, was that you?”
“Yeah. It wasn’t that much.”
Shari slapped Kaley on the arm. “Here I was jealous of Gia and you’re the one we should be watching.”
“It’s all fun and games until you find out that he acts like this if you don’t feed him like he’s a 6-foot toddler,” Kaley said.
“I’m a 6’6” toddler. Thank you very much,” Caesar said, reaching toward her plate again only to get his hand swatted once more.
“Probably hung like a toddler, too,” Janelle said.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Becky laughed. “I actually would like to know because the whole tall guy thing has to be about more than just being tall.” She turned to Kaley. “We’ll talk later."
“Yeah, we won’t,” Kaley said.
“Gia, find out for me when she isn’t being so shy and it’s just the two of you.”
Gia looked up from her phone. “I’ll pass. That’s more than I need to know about him.”
“Anyway,” Janelle said. “We need to pick up our tickets for the game.”
Caesar gave up trying to steal Kaley’s food as they shifted the subject to the game that weekend. He needed to remember to revisit his conversation with Kaley about a pre-game ritual so he could get into a routine – or just so he could get some guaranteed sex before games. Either or.
He glanced over at Gia who’d buried her head back in her phone. She looked over at him for a second, winked and went back to whatever it was she was doing.
-*****-
Devin rubbed his temples, beginning to feel a tension headache forming after a couple hours of studying for an exam he had on Friday. It didn’t help that he wasn’t able to convince the instructor to let him take the exam Monday with the first game of the season on Saturday. Something about not wanting to give preferential treatment to athletes.If the game wasn’t in New Orleans, he wouldn’t even be in the damn city on a Friday before the game and accommodations would’ve been made. He didn’t see a difference just because it was a home game.
He shoved his laptop away before standing up from his desk to stretch. Walking to the window, he looked out over the small bit of the campus that he could see from there as the sun set over Uptown. He did sometimes wish the dorms were taller so he could have a view of the river.
Maybe that was something he would look into if he got an off-campus apartment.
Picking up his phone from his bed, he answered a text from Carla. As he waited for her answer, he thought about the fact that his life was about to get as hectic as it had ever been, and he’d already been feeling guilty about not being as attentive to his relationship with Carla as he probably should’ve been.
He sighed and sent her another text. ’Where are you? I’m gonna come see you.’
’At the library. I’ll send you the location.
A few moments later, she sent him the location to UNO’s library.
’Cool. See ya in a bit.’
She replied with a kiss and a heart emoji.
…
Twenty minutes later, Devin backed into a parking space on the street outside of the library. He noticed all of the cards had university parking placards and wondered if his car would get towed if he left it there. New Orleans, in general, was notorious for overzealous meter maids and the last thing he wanted to do with his time was get his car out of an impound lot in New Orleans East.
Deciding that his Tulane student placard would be deceiving enough to a lazy attendant, he put it out of his mind.
Walking into the building, he followed the instructions that Carla had sent him and found her sitting in one of the study rooms with her laptop open in front of her. A second laptop was also on the table.
“Hey!” she said, jumping up when he walked into the room and throwing her arms around his neck to give him a kiss. “You should randomly come visit me more often.”
Devin smiled as the two of them sat down at the table. “You know I would if I could. There’s just always something. Meetings, practice, class, film, workouts. Then you throw the season starting on top of that this weekend.”
“Yeah, I know it’s crazy,” she said. She put her hand on his leg. “I know you’re trying. I know I don’t make it seem like I know that, but I just want you to hear me say so.”
“I could be doing a better job of making things work.”
“Oh, guess what?”
“You won the lotto and we’re going to buy a private villa in Bali?”
“No, but good idea for something for you to do when you sign one of those contracts like Caesar did. We can split the cost. You pay 99 percent and I’ll pay 1 percent.”
Devin laughed. “I don’t think I’m going to be getting image deals like Caesar does.”
“Wishful thinking never hurt anyone,” she said, shrugging. “But what I was going to say is that I’m coming to the game Saturday. Gina knows someone who has LSU season tick—”
“I go to Tulane.”
Carla smacked his shoulder. “I know that. If you would’ve let me finish. She knows someone who has LSU season tickets, and they aren’t going to their game Saturday so she was given them. She sold them and used the money to buy us tickets to y’all’s game.”
“For someone who claims to not like football, that’s a lot of work to go to a football game,” Devin said, laughing.
“She just wants to get out of Houma. I think she’s going stir crazy with everyone off at college places other than Nicholls.”
Devin scratched his chin. “I think we’ve lost every game that Gina has been at. Maybe tell her to not come until the fourth quarter so we can get a bit of a lead first.”
“That’s not even true, asshole!”
“Definitely is. She was at that one playoff game and when we played Euless.”
“Maybe,” Carla said, leaning closer to him. “Y’all just fucking sucked.”
Devin laughed at what she said, but he knew the look in her eye. It was one that said she was finished studying. He was just about to suggest that they either go back to her room or drive back across town to Tulane’s campus – praying that Caesar was occupied elsewhere – when the door to the study room opened.
A guy walked in carrying two coffees and a bag. “Sorry, that took so long. Apparently their toaster oven thing broke so I had to wait for them to fix it to get these bagels.” He noticed Devin when he looked up. “Oh, hey. What’s up, man?”
Devin gave him a head nod.
Carla took one of the coffees from him. “Thanks, Ricky. Ricky, this is my boyfriend, Devin.”
“Nice to meet you,” Ricky said, offering his hand to Devin which he shook. “I wish she would’ve told me you were coming. I feel bad showing up with stuff and not having anything for you.”
“You’re good. I’m not much of a coffee drinker,” Devin said, waving the comment off with his hand. He turned back to Carla and said quietly, “You want to go back to your room?”
“Just give me like thirty minutes to finish going through this stuff,” she said as she sipped from the coffee and had turned her attention back to her laptop.
Devin shrugged and leaned back in his chair, pulling out his phone and starting to scroll through his social media accounts.
He had no problem sitting right where he was for thirty minutes.
-
Captain Canada
- Posts: 2196
- Joined: 01 Dec 2018, 00:15
War of the Roses: Redux Edition
Caesar, this is what we doing?War of the Roses: Redux Edition
New Era in New Orleans
Devin stared at the Tulane helmet in his hands. His helmet. He looked down at the Tulane blue jersey he wore. His jersey. Emblazoned with the number 23, a change from the 4 that he’d worn since he first put on pads in peewee ball.
It was surreal to finally have a Power 5 school’s uniform on, moments before a game in which he would be starting opposite one of the best cornerbacks in the country.
He took a deep breath and stood up before pulling his helmet on. He gave the top of it two taps. Then he joined the rest of the team for Coach Shuman’s final instructions before they kicked off their season with dreams of playing for a national championship come January.
…
“Laissez le bon temps rouler! I’m Jonathan McGuire and with me is former Florida State linebacker Kavon Denard. We’re coming to you live from the Big Easy where the Tulane Green Wave are kicking off their season against the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks. There’s quite the atmosphere down there in Yulman Stadium, Kavon, but that’s expected in New Orleans, isn’t it?”
“You know, I think it is. I only played here once and it was crazy. These are people who love their football and love a good party. And they have a reason to party. When you look at the talent this Tulane team has on paper, I think it could go down as one of the best teams in the history of the school.”
“That’s right. After a few down years, the SEC West has returned to being one of, if not the, toughest divisions in all of college football and this Green Wave team, coached by Denver Shuman who is in his eighth year with the program is part of the reason why. There is elite talent in this division, this conference and down there on that field.”
“And on top of that elite talent, they have a freshman that has drawn every set of eyes to this money game. We’ve been hearing for four or five years that Caesar Jenkins is the next great one, but now we’re going to see if he’s a fraud or if he’s the real deal.”
…
Tulane broke from the huddle on their own 25 after the ball bounced out of the endzone for the opening kickoff. The stadium seemed to be bouncing despite the assumingly easy opponent the Green Wave were facing and the noon kickoff.
Caesar jogged out to the wide side of the field and got set. He stared at the visor covered face of the corner across from him then looked back toward the ball, waiting for the snap.
Darren barked adjustments to the offensive line before getting back into the shotgun alongside Tyrone. Calling for the snap, Darren held the ball out and Tyrone ran across him, his arms held as though he was preparing for the handoff.
Caesar beat his man off the line, easily batting away his attempt to jam him. He planted his foot and cut toward the middle of the field after running five yards.
Darren pulled the ball and barely gave Tyrone to clear out from in front of him before rearing back and firing the ball past the outstretched hand of a linebacker and into Caesar’s.
Bringing the ball in, Caesar cut upfield away from the corner who dove at his feet. He stiff-armed one safety into the other. He spun out of another tackle attempt before getting brought down after a gain of 12.
…
“Reyes drops back. He’s got time. And he finds Nigel Conrad for another Green Wave first down as Steven Washington is there to make the tackle.”
…
“Frazier takes the handoff and bounces it outside. He picks up a block and scampers out of bounds for a quick gain of nine on the play.”
…
“Five out wide for Tulane, now on the Warhawks 44 after only 3 plays. Reyes receives the snap. There’s pressure coming from the edge! Reyes brings the ball down and sprints out of the pocket! He sets and launches it downfield just as he’s hit and... it’s caught by Jenkins at the 25! 20! 15! 10! 5! Touchdown Tulane!”
“There goes that man, Jon! Once he got a step on Royal, it was all over. They might want to double up on him or it’s going to be a long day.”
…
“Masters drops back and his offensive line all but collapses in front of him! There are five blue shirts in the backfield and he has no choice but to go down and protect the ball! That’s not how you want your first play from scrimmage to go if you’re ULM!”
…
“Masters hands it off to Santos up the middle and he can only get a gain of 2 before being brought down by Blair Volken in that mike linebacker spot for the Green Wave.”
…
“Third and long for the Warhawks and I think if this stadium were any louder Entergy’s transmission line on the river might be in jeopardy of another dip in the Mississippi!”
Devin clenched and then opened his fists as he peeked toward the middle of the field for a moment. ULM’s quarterback motioned the receiver in front of him to the opposite side of the field and the defense shifted to match the new look.
The ball was snapped, and Devin took a couple steps back to drop into his zone assignment.
Mario Miles shoved the right tackle back until he was almost in his quarterback’s lap. The running back left his blocking assignment and ran out into the flats to give the quarterback somewhere to get rid of the ball.
As the quarterback’s arm came back to do just that, Devin sprinted toward where the back was headed. The ball was thrown, and the running back pulled it in, ready to turn up field. Devin met him just as he did and wrapped him up, slinging him to the ground for a huge loss.
Devin was met with plenty of slaps on his back and helmet as he jogged onto the sideline after a quick three-and-out to start the game.
…
“Frazier gashes the Warhawks for a huuuuuge gain of 27 on that one in a hurry!”
…
“Reyes has some wheels on him! Another first down for the Green Wave!”
…
“Jenkins reels in his third catch of the day for a pickup of 15!”
…
“Greer has a step on his man and Reyes finds him and he’s going to scoot! Two-for-two for Tulane as they go up 13-0 here in the first quarter!”
“I’m going to preface what I’m about to say by pointing out that this is a money game for ULM but this Tulane offense has come out of the gates hot! They’ve only been on the field for eight plays and already have a two-score lead.”
“Their defense will probably be asking them to slow down so they can get a breather!”
…
“Louisiana-Monroe thought they had something going on that one, but they’ll be forced to punt after three straight batted down passes by Tulane’s secondary.”
…
“Dallas has it for a quick eight.”
…
“Frazier doing work in the passing game for a gain of ten.”
…
“Thibodeaux checks in for Frazier and goes straight up the middle for four tough yards.”
…
“Reyes flips it out to Frazier, he makes a move and picks up a big block from Jenkins! He’s gone, folks! Touchdown Tulane! How about Jenkins doing some of the dirty work on that play?”
“He’s clearly been listening to the offensive line coach, Jon. He almost put Andrew Jones into the water coolers!”
…
“King stops Sanderson short of the first down marker and Louisiana-Monroe’s punting team are jogging back out onto the field.”
…
“Reyes hits Jenkins on the crossing route and that’s another touchdown for the Green Wave!”
…
“Masters throws it up and it’s—picked off by Vaughn! Tulane’s got it going the other way!”
“You can’t hang that pass up there if you’re Courtney Masters and down 28-0 midway through the second quarter and driving to chip into the lead. Christian Vaughn’s too good of a corner to test him with something like that.”
…
“That’s the fourth time Darren Reyes has found Caesar Jenkins on this drive and he’s into the endzone again for his third touchdown on the day!”
“They’re down there dancing in the endzone and it’s not even halftime yet! There are some big talent disparities in games like this but I’m willing to die on this hill already. By the end of the season, barring injury, we’ll be calling number 17 for Tulane the best receiver in the country.”
“As a freshman, Kavon? Over Jameis Westbrook at Miami, Demonte Highsmith at Ohio State or Lorenzo Gentry over in Oregon?”
“Over all of them. He enrolled late and he’s already completely in sync with his quarterback. There are guys that take time to find their feet jumping from being a big fish in a small pond in high school to a small fish in college but we’re talking about a kid, in his first game, in front of his classmates, with all of the expectations and pressure, who has what? Eight catches for 150 or 160 yards and 3 touchdowns? At halftime!”
“Nine for 154 and three scores. For you historians out there, assuming the dogs aren’t called off at halftime, that puts Caesar Jenkins on pace to threaten Jerome McIntosh’s single game Tulane record of 271 yards that has stood since – wait for this – November 28, 1989.
…
Devin felt a bit of extra pep in his step breaking the huddle for a big third down play for the Green Wave. Following a touchdown on the ground by Tyrone to put Tulane up 42-3 deep into the third quarter, this would be their last action of the game if they could force the Warhawks to punt.
Despite the score, the stadium remained full and some of the guys on the field were waving for them to get louder than they already were. Louisiana-Monroe’s offense looked as if they were ready to throw in the towel as they walked to the line of scrimmage, all hands on hips and breathing heavily. Even an MMA referee would’ve stopped this bout with both fighters still on their feet.
Devin lined up as the nickel corner, a swap that Coach Chavis hoped a tired and beaten down quarterback would overlook.
He jogged to the opposite side of the field as the receiver he was set to cover was motioned across the formation. Marcus shouted and signaled adjustments from his spot at safety. Devin took a couple of steps back from the line of scrimmage.
The quarterback made some last minute adjustments then stepped back into the shotgun, calling for the snap.
Devin took a step back before planting his foot and sprinting around the edge of the offensive line and into the backfield. The running back shifted over and dove at his knees to try to chop him down, but Devin jumped over him. The quarterback stepped up in the pocket, but it was too late as Devin brought him down from behind for the sack.
He jumped up only to have Alec leap on his back, crumpling him under the weight of the big defensive tackle. Fortunately, he didn’t have to stay under him for long as he was yanked back to his feet to celebrate with his teammates.
…
The offense broke the huddle on their own three-yard line after the only good thing that Warhawks had done to that point in the game – a near perfect punt that pinned them deep in their own territory.
Caesar all but walked to the far side of the field with his mouthpiece in his hand. It would be their last drive before the backups were sent in to finish things up.
As he stuck his mouthpiece in, he looked at the corner standing across from him who looked like he’d gone through hell and back that afternoon. Caesar winked at him and blew him a kiss as he got set. It was the defeated look in the corner’s eyes that did it for him.
Darren called for the snap, running a RPO. He stuck the ball in Tyrone’s belly, but the defensive end crashed down hoping to take Tyrone down in the backfield and possibly get a safety. Darren pulled the ball and zipped it out to Caesar on the screen.
Caesar dipped to the outside of Arion who’d set a decent block and hit the sideline. A safety ran over to make the tackle but was sent sprawling out of bounds when Caesar juked to the inside. He cut across the field, glancing over his shoulder to find any chasing defenders.
Not seeing any, he put his head down and listened to the growing roar of the crowd to let him know he was pulling away from the defense.
As the endzone sped toward him, he looked over his shoulder again before slowing to a jog as he waltz in for a touchdown.
Then he kept jogging and jumped into the student section at the back of the endzone, getting mobbed by those sitting in the front few rows.
The flag would be worth it.
…
“Hammond takes a knee and that’ll be all from New Orleans as the Tulane Green Wave decimate the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks, 49-10. People around the country will be talking about this one as freshman wideout Caesar Jenkins broke two school records and tied a third here tonight. Brace yourselves as we read out this stat-line, folks. Fourteen catches, school record, for 291 yards, school record and four touchdowns, tied for a school record.”
“And he invented the Yulman Leap! I think the SEC and the nation’s on notice, now, Jon. There’s a new sheriff in town in New Orleans and he’s bringing a new era in with him.”
Devin stared at the Tulane helmet in his hands. His helmet. He looked down at the Tulane blue jersey he wore. His jersey. Emblazoned with the number 23, a change from the 4 that he’d worn since he first put on pads in peewee ball.
It was surreal to finally have a Power 5 school’s uniform on, moments before a game in which he would be starting opposite one of the best cornerbacks in the country.
He took a deep breath and stood up before pulling his helmet on. He gave the top of it two taps. Then he joined the rest of the team for Coach Shuman’s final instructions before they kicked off their season with dreams of playing for a national championship come January.
…
“Laissez le bon temps rouler! I’m Jonathan McGuire and with me is former Florida State linebacker Kavon Denard. We’re coming to you live from the Big Easy where the Tulane Green Wave are kicking off their season against the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks. There’s quite the atmosphere down there in Yulman Stadium, Kavon, but that’s expected in New Orleans, isn’t it?”
“You know, I think it is. I only played here once and it was crazy. These are people who love their football and love a good party. And they have a reason to party. When you look at the talent this Tulane team has on paper, I think it could go down as one of the best teams in the history of the school.”
“That’s right. After a few down years, the SEC West has returned to being one of, if not the, toughest divisions in all of college football and this Green Wave team, coached by Denver Shuman who is in his eighth year with the program is part of the reason why. There is elite talent in this division, this conference and down there on that field.”
“And on top of that elite talent, they have a freshman that has drawn every set of eyes to this money game. We’ve been hearing for four or five years that Caesar Jenkins is the next great one, but now we’re going to see if he’s a fraud or if he’s the real deal.”
…
Tulane broke from the huddle on their own 25 after the ball bounced out of the endzone for the opening kickoff. The stadium seemed to be bouncing despite the assumingly easy opponent the Green Wave were facing and the noon kickoff.
Caesar jogged out to the wide side of the field and got set. He stared at the visor covered face of the corner across from him then looked back toward the ball, waiting for the snap.
Darren barked adjustments to the offensive line before getting back into the shotgun alongside Tyrone. Calling for the snap, Darren held the ball out and Tyrone ran across him, his arms held as though he was preparing for the handoff.
Caesar beat his man off the line, easily batting away his attempt to jam him. He planted his foot and cut toward the middle of the field after running five yards.
Darren pulled the ball and barely gave Tyrone to clear out from in front of him before rearing back and firing the ball past the outstretched hand of a linebacker and into Caesar’s.
Bringing the ball in, Caesar cut upfield away from the corner who dove at his feet. He stiff-armed one safety into the other. He spun out of another tackle attempt before getting brought down after a gain of 12.
…
“Reyes drops back. He’s got time. And he finds Nigel Conrad for another Green Wave first down as Steven Washington is there to make the tackle.”
…
“Frazier takes the handoff and bounces it outside. He picks up a block and scampers out of bounds for a quick gain of nine on the play.”
…
“Five out wide for Tulane, now on the Warhawks 44 after only 3 plays. Reyes receives the snap. There’s pressure coming from the edge! Reyes brings the ball down and sprints out of the pocket! He sets and launches it downfield just as he’s hit and... it’s caught by Jenkins at the 25! 20! 15! 10! 5! Touchdown Tulane!”
“There goes that man, Jon! Once he got a step on Royal, it was all over. They might want to double up on him or it’s going to be a long day.”
…
“Masters drops back and his offensive line all but collapses in front of him! There are five blue shirts in the backfield and he has no choice but to go down and protect the ball! That’s not how you want your first play from scrimmage to go if you’re ULM!”
…
“Masters hands it off to Santos up the middle and he can only get a gain of 2 before being brought down by Blair Volken in that mike linebacker spot for the Green Wave.”
…
“Third and long for the Warhawks and I think if this stadium were any louder Entergy’s transmission line on the river might be in jeopardy of another dip in the Mississippi!”
Devin clenched and then opened his fists as he peeked toward the middle of the field for a moment. ULM’s quarterback motioned the receiver in front of him to the opposite side of the field and the defense shifted to match the new look.
The ball was snapped, and Devin took a couple steps back to drop into his zone assignment.
Mario Miles shoved the right tackle back until he was almost in his quarterback’s lap. The running back left his blocking assignment and ran out into the flats to give the quarterback somewhere to get rid of the ball.
As the quarterback’s arm came back to do just that, Devin sprinted toward where the back was headed. The ball was thrown, and the running back pulled it in, ready to turn up field. Devin met him just as he did and wrapped him up, slinging him to the ground for a huge loss.
Devin was met with plenty of slaps on his back and helmet as he jogged onto the sideline after a quick three-and-out to start the game.
…
“Frazier gashes the Warhawks for a huuuuuge gain of 27 on that one in a hurry!”
…
“Reyes has some wheels on him! Another first down for the Green Wave!”
…
“Jenkins reels in his third catch of the day for a pickup of 15!”
…
“Greer has a step on his man and Reyes finds him and he’s going to scoot! Two-for-two for Tulane as they go up 13-0 here in the first quarter!”
“I’m going to preface what I’m about to say by pointing out that this is a money game for ULM but this Tulane offense has come out of the gates hot! They’ve only been on the field for eight plays and already have a two-score lead.”
“Their defense will probably be asking them to slow down so they can get a breather!”
…
“Louisiana-Monroe thought they had something going on that one, but they’ll be forced to punt after three straight batted down passes by Tulane’s secondary.”
…
“Dallas has it for a quick eight.”
…
“Frazier doing work in the passing game for a gain of ten.”
…
“Thibodeaux checks in for Frazier and goes straight up the middle for four tough yards.”
…
“Reyes flips it out to Frazier, he makes a move and picks up a big block from Jenkins! He’s gone, folks! Touchdown Tulane! How about Jenkins doing some of the dirty work on that play?”
“He’s clearly been listening to the offensive line coach, Jon. He almost put Andrew Jones into the water coolers!”
…
“King stops Sanderson short of the first down marker and Louisiana-Monroe’s punting team are jogging back out onto the field.”
…
“Reyes hits Jenkins on the crossing route and that’s another touchdown for the Green Wave!”
…
“Masters throws it up and it’s—picked off by Vaughn! Tulane’s got it going the other way!”
“You can’t hang that pass up there if you’re Courtney Masters and down 28-0 midway through the second quarter and driving to chip into the lead. Christian Vaughn’s too good of a corner to test him with something like that.”
…
“That’s the fourth time Darren Reyes has found Caesar Jenkins on this drive and he’s into the endzone again for his third touchdown on the day!”
“They’re down there dancing in the endzone and it’s not even halftime yet! There are some big talent disparities in games like this but I’m willing to die on this hill already. By the end of the season, barring injury, we’ll be calling number 17 for Tulane the best receiver in the country.”
“As a freshman, Kavon? Over Jameis Westbrook at Miami, Demonte Highsmith at Ohio State or Lorenzo Gentry over in Oregon?”
“Over all of them. He enrolled late and he’s already completely in sync with his quarterback. There are guys that take time to find their feet jumping from being a big fish in a small pond in high school to a small fish in college but we’re talking about a kid, in his first game, in front of his classmates, with all of the expectations and pressure, who has what? Eight catches for 150 or 160 yards and 3 touchdowns? At halftime!”
“Nine for 154 and three scores. For you historians out there, assuming the dogs aren’t called off at halftime, that puts Caesar Jenkins on pace to threaten Jerome McIntosh’s single game Tulane record of 271 yards that has stood since – wait for this – November 28, 1989.
…
Devin felt a bit of extra pep in his step breaking the huddle for a big third down play for the Green Wave. Following a touchdown on the ground by Tyrone to put Tulane up 42-3 deep into the third quarter, this would be their last action of the game if they could force the Warhawks to punt.
Despite the score, the stadium remained full and some of the guys on the field were waving for them to get louder than they already were. Louisiana-Monroe’s offense looked as if they were ready to throw in the towel as they walked to the line of scrimmage, all hands on hips and breathing heavily. Even an MMA referee would’ve stopped this bout with both fighters still on their feet.
Devin lined up as the nickel corner, a swap that Coach Chavis hoped a tired and beaten down quarterback would overlook.
He jogged to the opposite side of the field as the receiver he was set to cover was motioned across the formation. Marcus shouted and signaled adjustments from his spot at safety. Devin took a couple of steps back from the line of scrimmage.
The quarterback made some last minute adjustments then stepped back into the shotgun, calling for the snap.
Devin took a step back before planting his foot and sprinting around the edge of the offensive line and into the backfield. The running back shifted over and dove at his knees to try to chop him down, but Devin jumped over him. The quarterback stepped up in the pocket, but it was too late as Devin brought him down from behind for the sack.
He jumped up only to have Alec leap on his back, crumpling him under the weight of the big defensive tackle. Fortunately, he didn’t have to stay under him for long as he was yanked back to his feet to celebrate with his teammates.
…
The offense broke the huddle on their own three-yard line after the only good thing that Warhawks had done to that point in the game – a near perfect punt that pinned them deep in their own territory.
Caesar all but walked to the far side of the field with his mouthpiece in his hand. It would be their last drive before the backups were sent in to finish things up.
As he stuck his mouthpiece in, he looked at the corner standing across from him who looked like he’d gone through hell and back that afternoon. Caesar winked at him and blew him a kiss as he got set. It was the defeated look in the corner’s eyes that did it for him.
Darren called for the snap, running a RPO. He stuck the ball in Tyrone’s belly, but the defensive end crashed down hoping to take Tyrone down in the backfield and possibly get a safety. Darren pulled the ball and zipped it out to Caesar on the screen.
Caesar dipped to the outside of Arion who’d set a decent block and hit the sideline. A safety ran over to make the tackle but was sent sprawling out of bounds when Caesar juked to the inside. He cut across the field, glancing over his shoulder to find any chasing defenders.
Not seeing any, he put his head down and listened to the growing roar of the crowd to let him know he was pulling away from the defense.
As the endzone sped toward him, he looked over his shoulder again before slowing to a jog as he waltz in for a touchdown.
Then he kept jogging and jumped into the student section at the back of the endzone, getting mobbed by those sitting in the front few rows.
The flag would be worth it.
…
“Hammond takes a knee and that’ll be all from New Orleans as the Tulane Green Wave decimate the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks, 49-10. People around the country will be talking about this one as freshman wideout Caesar Jenkins broke two school records and tied a third here tonight. Brace yourselves as we read out this stat-line, folks. Fourteen catches, school record, for 291 yards, school record and four touchdowns, tied for a school record.”
“And he invented the Yulman Leap! I think the SEC and the nation’s on notice, now, Jon. There’s a new sheriff in town in New Orleans and he’s bringing a new era in with him.”
