War of the Roses: Redux Edition
War of the Roses: Redux Edition
One of Those
Coach Shuman blew his whistle, his neck beginning to turn red as his annoyance at the team seemingly stuck in first gear wore on him. He was always a follower of the saying that practice didn’t make perfect. Perfect practice made perfect, and right now, his Green Wave football team were setting themselves up for a sloppy Saturday against Ole Miss – and potentially their first loss of the season.
“You’re making it real easy for the defense if you don’t have enough space between the damn routes! This isn’t peewee!” Tulane’s head coach yelled at his receivers. “Either throttle down in the space or get up the fucking field. You’re all on scholarship, ain’t ya?! Play like it!”
Caesar glanced at Arion and wagged an admonishing finger at him as it was his over route that was too close to Junie’s. The junior waved off his younger teammate as they headed back to the huddle for the next rep.
Lining up on the far side of the field, Caesar languidly got into his stance.
Darren called for the snap and Caesar jogged off the line before cutting inside and sprinting across the field. Christian gave him a shove as he ran past but passed him off to another zone.
Working his way to through the defense to try to find some space to sit down in, Caesar continued running until he reached the hashmarks on the opposite side of the field. He stopped and waved for the ball to be thrown.
Devin ran over as the pass headed Caesar’s way. The receiver barely jumped off the turf for the ball that was a bit too high, but Devin got up to try to swat the ball down.
And promptly landed awkwardly on Caesar’s foot.
Devin’s ankle twisted sharply, and he let out a shout of pain as he fell to the turf, bringing Caesar down with him.
Caesar all but kicked Devin off his leg as he got up to his feet. Snapping his chinstrap off, he bent over to grab his foot where a dull pain now throbbed.
Devin, on the other hand, clutched at his ankle and remained on the ground as the trainers jogged over to him.
Omari put his hand on Caesar’s shoulder to move him aside and check on Devin. The movement caused Caesar to take a step on his hurt foot. He stood up, glanced over his shoulder and swung at Omari. The corner barely had time to move out of the way.
The two players shoved each other before they were broken up by the others.
“Yeah, that’s smart. Punch a guy with a helmet on so you break your hand and give him a concussion so we have three guys out,” Coach Shuman said to Caesar as he walked over the fracas. “Fucking idiots.”
“Doesn’t look good, Coach,” one of the trainers said. “Already swelling.”
“Can you walk on that, bo?” Coach Chavis asked.
Devin nodded before rolling to a sitting position. Face screwed up in pain, he hopped up to his feet but resisted the urge to fall back down to the turf. Awkwardly and helped by the trainers, he limped off the field.
Caesar spit on the turf near Omari’s feet as everyone went back to resume practice.
“Might want to save that shit for the other teams, bruh,” Tyrone said to Caesar in the huddle. “We’re all teammates, you know?”
“He knew I was hurt, too.”
Darren shook his head. “One of y’all still practicing. No one cares about that little boo-boo you got, nigga. Stop swinging on our guys.”
Caesar chose to stay silent as they got the play for the next rep.
Devin inhaled sharply as he pressed down on the brake with his bum ankle. He’d expected it to already be on the mend after the meds he was given to fight off the swelling and the pain but he still winced whenever he moved his foot.
That made his decision to make the trek across the Crescent City in the middle of rush hour all the more ill-advised, but he didn’t have anything else to do being held out of practice until he could be re-evaluated.
He opened the door to get out of his car before the passenger side door was yanked open and Carla sat down in the seat.
Devin looked over his shoulder. “I was going to come up.”
“And hurt yourself more than you already are? I’m not going to have Tulane’s big wigs coming looking for me because one of their star players tripped getting out of an elevator with a fucked up ankle and busted his head on the linoleum.”
“It’s not that bad. I can walk on it. I told you that.”
She shook her head before reaching over and starting the car back up. “That’s why you’re swiveling around in the seat like you’re a 90-year-old man instead of hopping out of the car like you normally do. Besides, Misty has someone up there with her and they’re as weird as she is so this is a good escape route.”
“Thought you liked her?” Devin asked as he swung his legs back into the car and shut the door.
“Oh, she’s fine but there’s only so many struggling artists you can cram into one room before it becomes unbearable. I don’t need another rundown on the genius of Banksy.”
“Those splotches of paint not calling to you? You should probably think about opening your third eye and then maybe you’ll be able to see what they see.”
The comment earned an eye roll from Carla as she grabbed Devin’s phone out of the cupholder, unlocked it and turned on some music. “I know good and well there is no one at Tulane saying anything like that so I’m going to assume that you’re sneaking up here behind my back.”
“Could be someone at Loyola, maybe Xavier, SUNO, even Dillard,” he said, teasing her.
“They have some artsy people at SUNO. The rest of those? As bad as Tulane with how stuffy y’all are. Kaley was telling me about some sorority shit she is doing, and I could feel the judgy stares from all the way across town.”
“C’mon. You’re exaggerating now. Tulane’s not that bad. It’s just like any other university.”
“Oh yeah?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “I’ve never heard anyone at UNO talk about being a ‘legacy’ anything. Just face it, bae. You’re part of the elite class now. The landed gentry. Pinky out when you’re drinking wine from 1973.”
“Bit odd thing to say when I’m there to play football, huh?”
“Just calling it like it is.”
The two of them lapsed into silence for a few moments with only the sounds of the music that Carla had turned on to fill the car. Devin reached for his phone as it chirped twice with text notifications. One was to remind him of his early morning appointment at the doctor to assess the extent of his sprained ankle. The other, the group chat telling him that the weekly get together was at Marcus’s apartment.
Carla looked over at him as he responded to the group. “Do you ever feel like you’re missing out?”
“Missing out on what?”
“The whole college experience. Wild parties, fucking all kinds of girls, getting blackout drunk, all that good stuff.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever given you any sign that that’s something that I would be remotely interested in. I go out with the guys. That’s enough for me when you pile football on top of everything else. I’ll pass on the rest of it,” he said. “Besides, I did decide to get out of my LOI with TCU while at a wild party where people were fucking all kinds of girls and getting blackout drunk and all that good stuff.”
She only shrugged and turned so she was leaning against the door.
Devin raised an eyebrow at her lack of a response. “Is this your way of telling me that you’re feeling t hat way? There’s only so many times I want to get cheated on, you know?”
“I would never cheat, dick,” she said, kicking her foot out in his direction. “I’m just saying because even the few guys who play sports here seem to get around, so I know they do it there. They don’t throw pussy at high school football players for nothing.”
“What do you know what happens on recruiting visits?” he asked, laughing.
“As if it’s some state secret.”
“Carla, I’m good with how my life is right now. I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything. I’d let you know if there was something there but there isn’t. I got my hands too full with football and classes to be worried about that anyway.”
She rubbed her neck for a few moments before nodding.
“Anything else you want to hash out before we go up to your room because being cramped up in the car is killing me.”
“You could find a way to spend more time with me.”
Devin gestured between them. “Trying to.” He opened the door to get out of the car.
“Wait, I told you Misty has someone up there.”
“It’s been like 10 minutes. If they were fucking, they’re done. It’ll take another few minutes for us to get up there so they have some wrapping up time.”
“Some people fuck for a while, Devin.”
He looked back over his shoulder. “Is that a dig?”
“If you’re feeling guilty then I don’t know what to tell you.”
“Yikes.”
Caesar smashed his hand the steering wheel of his car causing the horn to blare as a junky pickup truck stopped short of a stop sign. The driver of the truck threw a middle finger out of the window as they took a left. He returned the gesture then turned right as he waited for Kaley to answer his call.
“Why are you calling me right now?” she asked as soon as she picked up.
“What do you mean why am I calling you right now?”
“I don’t know. Because you have practice around now?”
“Yes, they are practicing. I’m not there. I told you coach was pissed at me for yesterday and told me to sit one out. Reflect on my bad choices or some shit. You would think that you would try to remember some of the shit that I tell you.”
“Then where are you?”
“In the Bywater. So, you have time to get rid of any shrimp dick frat boys you fucking before I get back. Gia told me about that Marshall fella.”
“Didn’t know you and Gia were so buddy buddy that you were talking about boys together. Have you started doing each other’s hair? Marshall’s not my type, anyway. Too short. What are you doing in the Bywater?”
“Grabbing something to eat from this place Kendall recommended. You want something?”
“Nope. I’ve learned that anywhere y’all recommend to each other is just because they’re literally paying y’all to do that. Probably tastes terrible. Just bring me back some coffee. I have to study and I don’t feel like getting up to go get it myself.”
“It’s actually because it’s free, but you got it, beb.”
“Too late to try to get into the family’s good graces by speaking Cajun, Caesar. Hurry up because I’m already dozing off.”
“I’ll be expecting a tip. Or putting my tip in you.”
“Boy, bye.”
Caesar laughed and tapped his earpods before taking them out and tossing them onto the passenger seat. Just as he pulled to a stop in front of Dante’s house. He furrowed his brow in confusion as he saw that Dante’s SUV wasn’t outside. Grabbing his phone, he checked his texts to make sure that Dante had in fact told him that he could make the trip.
Sighing, he shut off the car and headed for the house.
The door opened as soon as he raised his hand to knock on it. The girl who’d interrogated him a few weeks ago now stood in front of him.
“Dante’s not here, but I thought I told you not to come back,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest and raising her chin a bit.
“Well, I’m still not sure if you’re a cop or not but I imagine that order to not come back isn’t legally binding since this is Dante’s house and the motherfucker told me to come right now but here we are talking at the fucking door. Do you know where he went? And when he’s coming back? I got places to be.”
“Nope. I don’t know so you can just go ahead and go to those places you need to be, Mr. Jenkins.”
Caesar laughed, shaking his head. “Oh, so you went do a little research on me. You’re really not selling this thing that you aren’t a police officer. It’s not like NOPD is known for being the cleanest department in the world.”
“I’m not a fucking cop. I’m a college student. Just like you.”
“UNO?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Why would you just assume that I was going to UNO? Maybe, I go to Tulane and I’ll swing a couple grand out of them to tell them where one of their star football players spends his time so they can save him.”
“Hey. I just know a lot of people want to go to UNO. It wasn’t meant as an insult. So, Tulane?”
“Tulane’s too white,” she said, shaking her head and scrunching her nose. “Xavier.”
“Hold on – Alysa? That’s your name, right?”
“Yes, it is. Don’t act like you didn’t remember it.”
“Anyway,” he said without responding to that comment. “You go to Xavier. A school known for its fucking pharmacy program. And your brother sells pills? That had to be planned out, right? Transition from the illegal thing to the legal thing? Maybe steal pills from the pharms for him to sell?”
Alysa stepped back and grabbed the door. “That’s the stupidest fucking thing I’ve heard this week. Congratulations. Now, fuck off. Dante’s not here so you can just go somewhere else and find you someone new.”
Holding his hands up, Caesar backed down the steps and headed back to his car. The door slamming shut caused him to look back over his shoulder, but he only shook his head as he pulled out his phone to try to find some random hole-in-the-wall restaurant to buy food from before heading back uptown.
Coach Shuman blew his whistle, his neck beginning to turn red as his annoyance at the team seemingly stuck in first gear wore on him. He was always a follower of the saying that practice didn’t make perfect. Perfect practice made perfect, and right now, his Green Wave football team were setting themselves up for a sloppy Saturday against Ole Miss – and potentially their first loss of the season.
“You’re making it real easy for the defense if you don’t have enough space between the damn routes! This isn’t peewee!” Tulane’s head coach yelled at his receivers. “Either throttle down in the space or get up the fucking field. You’re all on scholarship, ain’t ya?! Play like it!”
Caesar glanced at Arion and wagged an admonishing finger at him as it was his over route that was too close to Junie’s. The junior waved off his younger teammate as they headed back to the huddle for the next rep.
Lining up on the far side of the field, Caesar languidly got into his stance.
Darren called for the snap and Caesar jogged off the line before cutting inside and sprinting across the field. Christian gave him a shove as he ran past but passed him off to another zone.
Working his way to through the defense to try to find some space to sit down in, Caesar continued running until he reached the hashmarks on the opposite side of the field. He stopped and waved for the ball to be thrown.
Devin ran over as the pass headed Caesar’s way. The receiver barely jumped off the turf for the ball that was a bit too high, but Devin got up to try to swat the ball down.
And promptly landed awkwardly on Caesar’s foot.
Devin’s ankle twisted sharply, and he let out a shout of pain as he fell to the turf, bringing Caesar down with him.
Caesar all but kicked Devin off his leg as he got up to his feet. Snapping his chinstrap off, he bent over to grab his foot where a dull pain now throbbed.
Devin, on the other hand, clutched at his ankle and remained on the ground as the trainers jogged over to him.
Omari put his hand on Caesar’s shoulder to move him aside and check on Devin. The movement caused Caesar to take a step on his hurt foot. He stood up, glanced over his shoulder and swung at Omari. The corner barely had time to move out of the way.
The two players shoved each other before they were broken up by the others.
“Yeah, that’s smart. Punch a guy with a helmet on so you break your hand and give him a concussion so we have three guys out,” Coach Shuman said to Caesar as he walked over the fracas. “Fucking idiots.”
“Doesn’t look good, Coach,” one of the trainers said. “Already swelling.”
“Can you walk on that, bo?” Coach Chavis asked.
Devin nodded before rolling to a sitting position. Face screwed up in pain, he hopped up to his feet but resisted the urge to fall back down to the turf. Awkwardly and helped by the trainers, he limped off the field.
Caesar spit on the turf near Omari’s feet as everyone went back to resume practice.
“Might want to save that shit for the other teams, bruh,” Tyrone said to Caesar in the huddle. “We’re all teammates, you know?”
“He knew I was hurt, too.”
Darren shook his head. “One of y’all still practicing. No one cares about that little boo-boo you got, nigga. Stop swinging on our guys.”
Caesar chose to stay silent as they got the play for the next rep.
-*****-
Devin inhaled sharply as he pressed down on the brake with his bum ankle. He’d expected it to already be on the mend after the meds he was given to fight off the swelling and the pain but he still winced whenever he moved his foot.
That made his decision to make the trek across the Crescent City in the middle of rush hour all the more ill-advised, but he didn’t have anything else to do being held out of practice until he could be re-evaluated.
He opened the door to get out of his car before the passenger side door was yanked open and Carla sat down in the seat.
Devin looked over his shoulder. “I was going to come up.”
“And hurt yourself more than you already are? I’m not going to have Tulane’s big wigs coming looking for me because one of their star players tripped getting out of an elevator with a fucked up ankle and busted his head on the linoleum.”
“It’s not that bad. I can walk on it. I told you that.”
She shook her head before reaching over and starting the car back up. “That’s why you’re swiveling around in the seat like you’re a 90-year-old man instead of hopping out of the car like you normally do. Besides, Misty has someone up there with her and they’re as weird as she is so this is a good escape route.”
“Thought you liked her?” Devin asked as he swung his legs back into the car and shut the door.
“Oh, she’s fine but there’s only so many struggling artists you can cram into one room before it becomes unbearable. I don’t need another rundown on the genius of Banksy.”
“Those splotches of paint not calling to you? You should probably think about opening your third eye and then maybe you’ll be able to see what they see.”
The comment earned an eye roll from Carla as she grabbed Devin’s phone out of the cupholder, unlocked it and turned on some music. “I know good and well there is no one at Tulane saying anything like that so I’m going to assume that you’re sneaking up here behind my back.”
“Could be someone at Loyola, maybe Xavier, SUNO, even Dillard,” he said, teasing her.
“They have some artsy people at SUNO. The rest of those? As bad as Tulane with how stuffy y’all are. Kaley was telling me about some sorority shit she is doing, and I could feel the judgy stares from all the way across town.”
“C’mon. You’re exaggerating now. Tulane’s not that bad. It’s just like any other university.”
“Oh yeah?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “I’ve never heard anyone at UNO talk about being a ‘legacy’ anything. Just face it, bae. You’re part of the elite class now. The landed gentry. Pinky out when you’re drinking wine from 1973.”
“Bit odd thing to say when I’m there to play football, huh?”
“Just calling it like it is.”
The two of them lapsed into silence for a few moments with only the sounds of the music that Carla had turned on to fill the car. Devin reached for his phone as it chirped twice with text notifications. One was to remind him of his early morning appointment at the doctor to assess the extent of his sprained ankle. The other, the group chat telling him that the weekly get together was at Marcus’s apartment.
Carla looked over at him as he responded to the group. “Do you ever feel like you’re missing out?”
“Missing out on what?”
“The whole college experience. Wild parties, fucking all kinds of girls, getting blackout drunk, all that good stuff.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever given you any sign that that’s something that I would be remotely interested in. I go out with the guys. That’s enough for me when you pile football on top of everything else. I’ll pass on the rest of it,” he said. “Besides, I did decide to get out of my LOI with TCU while at a wild party where people were fucking all kinds of girls and getting blackout drunk and all that good stuff.”
She only shrugged and turned so she was leaning against the door.
Devin raised an eyebrow at her lack of a response. “Is this your way of telling me that you’re feeling t hat way? There’s only so many times I want to get cheated on, you know?”
“I would never cheat, dick,” she said, kicking her foot out in his direction. “I’m just saying because even the few guys who play sports here seem to get around, so I know they do it there. They don’t throw pussy at high school football players for nothing.”
“What do you know what happens on recruiting visits?” he asked, laughing.
“As if it’s some state secret.”
“Carla, I’m good with how my life is right now. I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything. I’d let you know if there was something there but there isn’t. I got my hands too full with football and classes to be worried about that anyway.”
She rubbed her neck for a few moments before nodding.
“Anything else you want to hash out before we go up to your room because being cramped up in the car is killing me.”
“You could find a way to spend more time with me.”
Devin gestured between them. “Trying to.” He opened the door to get out of the car.
“Wait, I told you Misty has someone up there.”
“It’s been like 10 minutes. If they were fucking, they’re done. It’ll take another few minutes for us to get up there so they have some wrapping up time.”
“Some people fuck for a while, Devin.”
He looked back over his shoulder. “Is that a dig?”
“If you’re feeling guilty then I don’t know what to tell you.”
“Yikes.”
-*****-
Caesar smashed his hand the steering wheel of his car causing the horn to blare as a junky pickup truck stopped short of a stop sign. The driver of the truck threw a middle finger out of the window as they took a left. He returned the gesture then turned right as he waited for Kaley to answer his call.
“Why are you calling me right now?” she asked as soon as she picked up.
“What do you mean why am I calling you right now?”
“I don’t know. Because you have practice around now?”
“Yes, they are practicing. I’m not there. I told you coach was pissed at me for yesterday and told me to sit one out. Reflect on my bad choices or some shit. You would think that you would try to remember some of the shit that I tell you.”
“Then where are you?”
“In the Bywater. So, you have time to get rid of any shrimp dick frat boys you fucking before I get back. Gia told me about that Marshall fella.”
“Didn’t know you and Gia were so buddy buddy that you were talking about boys together. Have you started doing each other’s hair? Marshall’s not my type, anyway. Too short. What are you doing in the Bywater?”
“Grabbing something to eat from this place Kendall recommended. You want something?”
“Nope. I’ve learned that anywhere y’all recommend to each other is just because they’re literally paying y’all to do that. Probably tastes terrible. Just bring me back some coffee. I have to study and I don’t feel like getting up to go get it myself.”
“It’s actually because it’s free, but you got it, beb.”
“Too late to try to get into the family’s good graces by speaking Cajun, Caesar. Hurry up because I’m already dozing off.”
“I’ll be expecting a tip. Or putting my tip in you.”
“Boy, bye.”
Caesar laughed and tapped his earpods before taking them out and tossing them onto the passenger seat. Just as he pulled to a stop in front of Dante’s house. He furrowed his brow in confusion as he saw that Dante’s SUV wasn’t outside. Grabbing his phone, he checked his texts to make sure that Dante had in fact told him that he could make the trip.
Sighing, he shut off the car and headed for the house.
The door opened as soon as he raised his hand to knock on it. The girl who’d interrogated him a few weeks ago now stood in front of him.
“Dante’s not here, but I thought I told you not to come back,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest and raising her chin a bit.
“Well, I’m still not sure if you’re a cop or not but I imagine that order to not come back isn’t legally binding since this is Dante’s house and the motherfucker told me to come right now but here we are talking at the fucking door. Do you know where he went? And when he’s coming back? I got places to be.”
“Nope. I don’t know so you can just go ahead and go to those places you need to be, Mr. Jenkins.”
Caesar laughed, shaking his head. “Oh, so you went do a little research on me. You’re really not selling this thing that you aren’t a police officer. It’s not like NOPD is known for being the cleanest department in the world.”
“I’m not a fucking cop. I’m a college student. Just like you.”
“UNO?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Why would you just assume that I was going to UNO? Maybe, I go to Tulane and I’ll swing a couple grand out of them to tell them where one of their star football players spends his time so they can save him.”
“Hey. I just know a lot of people want to go to UNO. It wasn’t meant as an insult. So, Tulane?”
“Tulane’s too white,” she said, shaking her head and scrunching her nose. “Xavier.”
“Hold on – Alysa? That’s your name, right?”
“Yes, it is. Don’t act like you didn’t remember it.”
“Anyway,” he said without responding to that comment. “You go to Xavier. A school known for its fucking pharmacy program. And your brother sells pills? That had to be planned out, right? Transition from the illegal thing to the legal thing? Maybe steal pills from the pharms for him to sell?”
Alysa stepped back and grabbed the door. “That’s the stupidest fucking thing I’ve heard this week. Congratulations. Now, fuck off. Dante’s not here so you can just go somewhere else and find you someone new.”
Holding his hands up, Caesar backed down the steps and headed back to his car. The door slamming shut caused him to look back over his shoulder, but he only shook his head as he pulled out his phone to try to find some random hole-in-the-wall restaurant to buy food from before heading back uptown.
-
Captain Canada
- Posts: 2183
- Joined: 01 Dec 2018, 00:15
War of the Roses: Redux Edition
Good to have something new to read. Carla acting real sus.
War of the Roses: Redux Edition
Ox-Ford Tough
Denver Shuman was a superstitious man. He’d had a single losing season as a head football coach. His first one in the college ranks. As a young coach at Jacksonville State, he couldn’t afford to move his family to Alabama for a few months. The team lost every game during that stretch. Once his family were in town, the Gamecocks finished the season with 5 straight wins to end the season 5-7.
Ever since, he made sure that his wife of 35 years was wherever the team was, and they would have breakfast together before he headed to prep for the game.
To be sure, he still lost games. But he still only had one losing season to his name.
It was also important that they not be disturbed.
That explained the sneer on his face as his boss strode into the hotel’s restaurant with two of the associate athletic directors in tow.
Benny Riviera had never seen eye-to-eye with Coach Shuman, but Shuman won games, allowing Riviera to do what he was hired from San Diego State to do – turn Tulane from a respectable G5 athletics program into a P5 national championship contender.
With him were Melinda Kennedy and Steve Marshall. Compliance. Or the Devil himself depending on how you felt.
“We need to talk,” Riviera said, motioning to a conference room on the opposite side of the hotel.
“What do we need to talk about that can’t wait until tomorrow? The game is only a few hours away. Surely, it can wait.”
The coach didn’t wait for an answer before he returned to his omelet. His wife had ignored many a conversation over the years, so she hadn’t even looked up from the book she was reading on her tablet.
“This can’t wait,” Melinda Kennedy said. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t have spent all night driving to Oxford to tell you this in person.”
“It really can’t, Denver,” Riviera added.
The old coach sighed and slapped his napkin over the omelet before shoving away from the table.
“Bro. My mother and my grandmother are both white and I’d be hesitant to stick my dick in any chick who came to fucking Oxford, Mississippi just because she wanted to come to Ole Miss. That’s how they start burning crosses in your fucking yard,” Caesar said, laughing.
“The Klan ain’t a thing anymore.”
“That’s a chance you’re willing to take?” Arion asked as he passed by and heard the conversation. “It’s not like Mississippi is known for having progressed that much since the 1860s.”
“In almost 200 years?”
Caesar and Arion just stared at Junie for a moment before Junie shook his head.
“Y’all right,” he said as all three of them laughed.
Coach Harley walked over to the group and grabbed Caesar’s helmet from the chair where he’d left it. He motioned with it as he walked away. “Follow me, kid. Coach needs to talk to you.”
“About what?” Caesar asked, confused.
“He’ll tell you.”
“Why can’t you?”
Coach Harley didn’t answer as he led Caesar through the locker room.
..
Devin sat on a table and watched as a trainer expertly wrapped his ankle. He’d never been injured before and didn’t know what to expect when he stepped out onto the field. Hell, he still wasn’t sure whether he would be playing or not.
Coach Major walked over and inspected the trainer’s handiwork before looking up at Devin. “How’s it feel?”
“Good,” Devin said, nodding.
“Coach doesn’t want you going out there if you can’t run. No need to try to be a hero when we have half the season left to go.”
“I’m good.”
“Alright. I’ll let Coach know and we’ll talk to Doc to see what he thinks.”
The trainer finished wrapping Devin’s ankle as Coach Major walked away. Devin flexed his foot up and down, feeling a bit of pain still lingering when he did so. But he knew the first test of if it would hold up would be out on the field at game speed.
“Not so fast, my friend. It seems there are a couple of gametime decisions coming out of that Tulane camp that might change the complexion of this game.”
“Let’s go down to Hannah Reese on the sideline for the latest. Hannah?”
“Thanks, guys. Gerald’s right. A lot of attention was being paid to Tulane’s injury report heading into the weekend where freshman cornerback Devin King was listed as questionable to participate today after suffering an ankle injury in practice but he’s down on the sideline, suited up and seemingly ready to go. That’s huge for the Green Wave because Omari Alvarez who would’ve started opposite of Christian Vaughn doesn’t quite have the cover skills of King despite being the older player.”
“And I understand there is a bit of a surprise on the inactives?”
“Yes, a surprise is an understatement. Star wide receiver Caesar Jenkins will not be playing today. He did travel to Oxford with the team and was spotted arriving to the stadium on the Tulane buses but isn’t out on the sideline. The reason for his sudden absence hasn’t been disclosed and everyone I’ve reached out to associated with the program has been tight lipped. It looks like we’ll have to wait until after the game for more on that but again, breakout star Caesar Jenkins is inactive for the Green Wave.”
“He was ejected out of last week’s game for two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. Could be discipline-related?”
“That would be a massive call from Denver Shuman to bench him this week against a conference foe instead of next week against James Madison for discipline reasons. This is a guy who was on pace to shatter Tulane’s single season receiving records. Whatever the reason, it’ll be a much different matchup for this Rebel defense without him to face.”
…
Devin waved to get Omari’s attention and pointed at the tight end who’d shifted to the opposite end of the line of scrimmage. He crept closer to the line as Omari did the same. The fullback motioned to an offset position behind the quarterback as the ball was snapped.
Devin took a step back, eyes in the backfield. The running back received the ball on a pitch. Omari found himself getting blown up by a pulling guard, but Devin was able to slip between the receivers’ poor attempts at blocking.
The fullback tried to keep him outside to create a lane for the back to get upfield, but Devin planted his foot and dove inside, throwing himself at the running back’s legs as he flew by. He felt his hand hit the Ole Miss player’s cleats as he slid by. Looking up, he smacked the turf in celebration when the back tripped over his own tangled feet and fell down for a short gain.
He jumped up and jogged back to the huddle.
…
“Knocked down by Devin King and the Rebels will have to settle for a field goal.”
“That’s exactly what you want to see from your young defensive backs! Stick to your man like glue, don’t draw the flag and make a play on the ball!”
…
“Darren Reyes drops back and fires a rope to Kendall Dallas on the quick out for a pickup of 9 yards.”
…
“Frazier bounces it off tackle and reels off ten yards in a hurry.”
…
“Reyes finds Conrad across the middle for fifteen.”
…
“Reyes fakes to Frazier and rolls back to his left. He stops and plants his feet, launching it downfield to Jacobi Randle who makes the diving catch and -- touchdown, Tulane! It only took 4 plays for the Green Wave to put their first points on the board.”
“If you all have no idea who Jacobi Randle is, you’re not alone. He’s a freshman out of Ferguson, Missouri who wasn’t expected to get any time on the field this season but with Caesar Jenkins out, next man up.”
“Well, if you’re going to make your first catch in college a touchdown then you’re off to a great start!”
…
“Tyler Stewart hits Rahim Rodgers-Smith in stride and Alvarez isn’t going to catch him! 30, 20, 10, touchdown Rebels! And he’s headed for the student section here in Vaught–Hemingway Stadium. He’s going to get flagged for jumping into the crowd.”
“The Green Wave players down on the sideline aren’t too happy with that but you get what you give and there’s only one player to blame for that and he wears olive and green.”
Devin had to pull Marcus away from an Ole Miss lineman that he was jawing back and forth with as the teams sent their special teams units on for the long extra point attempt.
He could only shake his head as he made his way to the headline, silently happy that Caesar wasn’t playing to make anything worse with them stealing his stupid ass signature touchdown celebration to mock him.
…
“Frazier spins out of that tackle and slips into the endzone to put the Green Wave back on top!”
…
“Metts brings Stewart down in the backfield and the Rebels are going to be forced to punt it away here.”
…
“Reyes climbs the pocket, plants, fires and Stanson is in for six! Tulane’s opening up the lead now up two scores late in the second quarter.”
“Andy, is this the same offense that’s without their top receiver?”
“Maybe the Rebs spent so much time gameplanning around how to stop Caesar Jenkins that they’re struggling to adapt without him on the field.”
“Others are going to say he’s a luxury piece to an already extremely good offense.”
…
“Ole Miss lines up for the 47-yard field goal attempt with only four seconds on the clock in the second half. Manuel Lewis lines it up and boots it through the uprights to make it 21-13 Tulane heading into the break.”
…
“Reyes is flushed out of the pocket and rolls to his right. He pumps once but decides to bring it down and take it himself. He cuts inside and makes a man miss. He’s got some wheels! 20, 15, 10, dives for the pylon! Touchdown Green Wave!”
“A fifteen point lead isn’t insurmountable with the better part of a quarter and a half to play, but Ole Miss will have to score on their next drive to get some momentum going their way.”
…
Devin stuck close to his man as they battled for position. The receiver jabbed his foot into the turf and cut inside, opening a small bit of space between them. But despite the receiver looking back at the quarterback, the ball was still in the signal caller’s hands.
The quarterback was flushed out of the pocket and the receiver immediately broke off his route and started to get more depth to give him somewhere to lob it to. Devin turned upfield and ran with him, putting himself behind the wideout as they ran toward the sideline.
Hazarding a glance over his shoulder as the receiver looked back, Devin could see the ball spiraling through the air. He could see that it would be short. Using his bum ankle to leap, he turned his body in mid-air and made the catch.
With balance and agility he didn’t even know he had; he tapped his other foot in the field of play as his body continued to turn before falling out of bounds.
…
“What an interception by Devin King! That was looking like a promising drive for the Rebels and it ends in disaster and an amazing play by the freshman! His third of the year.”
“Which ankle is the one that he injured? He’s been playing lights out all day and he’s not even limping. That kid’s built Ford tough as they used to say!”
…
“And that will do it from Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Tulane improves to 6-0 with a 34-16 victory over Ole Miss.”
“The next three weeks for the Green Wave are pretty easy, even with Texas A&M mixed in there. There are a lot of question marks on this squad about keeping this pace over the long haul, but so far they’ve silenced the critics. And tonight they did it without a pretty big part of those first five wins. If they can get to Tuscaloosa with nine wins on the board, which it’s likely they will, watch out for this team in the CFP.”
“Coach, you benched Caesar Jenkins today. Can you elaborate on why you made that decision?” a reporter toward the back of the room asked.
“We had a lot of guys out there on that field who did play and who won a tough road game against a tough conference opponent. A lot of those guys were battling a lot of different things but they stepped up and got it done when the team needed them. I can’t say enough about Jacobi Randle who strapped it up without hesitation in a hostile environment and showed us why we brought him here in the first place. Our guys on defense? Played an outstanding game. They shut the game down and made it easy for our offense. I think we should talk about that.”
“Was it a disciplinary reason? Caesar’s been penalized six times for unsportsmanlike conduct in five games and there are rumors that he and Omari Alvarez were involved in a fight this week in practice which you held him out for one day for,” another reporter said.
“I’m not going to sit up here and answer questions about anything other than the 60 minutes of football we just played and the guys who were on – on – the field. You’ll find out about that when you find out about it. Now, with that said, we won the game but we have some things to work on and next week we’ll be up against James Madison. I don’t overlook any opponent and my team doesn’t either but that’ll give us a chance to iron some things out.”
Coach Shuman glanced over at Benny Riviera who nodded in agreement with how he’d steered the questions away from Caesar’s abrupt absence.
Denver Shuman was a superstitious man. He’d had a single losing season as a head football coach. His first one in the college ranks. As a young coach at Jacksonville State, he couldn’t afford to move his family to Alabama for a few months. The team lost every game during that stretch. Once his family were in town, the Gamecocks finished the season with 5 straight wins to end the season 5-7.
Ever since, he made sure that his wife of 35 years was wherever the team was, and they would have breakfast together before he headed to prep for the game.
To be sure, he still lost games. But he still only had one losing season to his name.
It was also important that they not be disturbed.
That explained the sneer on his face as his boss strode into the hotel’s restaurant with two of the associate athletic directors in tow.
Benny Riviera had never seen eye-to-eye with Coach Shuman, but Shuman won games, allowing Riviera to do what he was hired from San Diego State to do – turn Tulane from a respectable G5 athletics program into a P5 national championship contender.
With him were Melinda Kennedy and Steve Marshall. Compliance. Or the Devil himself depending on how you felt.
“We need to talk,” Riviera said, motioning to a conference room on the opposite side of the hotel.
“What do we need to talk about that can’t wait until tomorrow? The game is only a few hours away. Surely, it can wait.”
The coach didn’t wait for an answer before he returned to his omelet. His wife had ignored many a conversation over the years, so she hadn’t even looked up from the book she was reading on her tablet.
“This can’t wait,” Melinda Kennedy said. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t have spent all night driving to Oxford to tell you this in person.”
“It really can’t, Denver,” Riviera added.
The old coach sighed and slapped his napkin over the omelet before shoving away from the table.
-*****-
“I came here on a recruiting visit. I’m tellin’ you that these bitches out here got some quality pussy,” Junie said to Caesar as he laced up his cleats.“Bro. My mother and my grandmother are both white and I’d be hesitant to stick my dick in any chick who came to fucking Oxford, Mississippi just because she wanted to come to Ole Miss. That’s how they start burning crosses in your fucking yard,” Caesar said, laughing.
“The Klan ain’t a thing anymore.”
“That’s a chance you’re willing to take?” Arion asked as he passed by and heard the conversation. “It’s not like Mississippi is known for having progressed that much since the 1860s.”
“In almost 200 years?”
Caesar and Arion just stared at Junie for a moment before Junie shook his head.
“Y’all right,” he said as all three of them laughed.
Coach Harley walked over to the group and grabbed Caesar’s helmet from the chair where he’d left it. He motioned with it as he walked away. “Follow me, kid. Coach needs to talk to you.”
“About what?” Caesar asked, confused.
“He’ll tell you.”
“Why can’t you?”
Coach Harley didn’t answer as he led Caesar through the locker room.
..
Devin sat on a table and watched as a trainer expertly wrapped his ankle. He’d never been injured before and didn’t know what to expect when he stepped out onto the field. Hell, he still wasn’t sure whether he would be playing or not.
Coach Major walked over and inspected the trainer’s handiwork before looking up at Devin. “How’s it feel?”
“Good,” Devin said, nodding.
“Coach doesn’t want you going out there if you can’t run. No need to try to be a hero when we have half the season left to go.”
“I’m good.”
“Alright. I’ll let Coach know and we’ll talk to Doc to see what he thinks.”
The trainer finished wrapping Devin’s ankle as Coach Major walked away. Devin flexed his foot up and down, feeling a bit of pain still lingering when he did so. But he knew the first test of if it would hold up would be out on the field at game speed.
-*****-
“We’re coming to live from beautiful Oxford, Mississippi where the Rebels of Ole Miss are set to take on the Tulane Green Wave. Ole Miss have had an indifferent start to the season, standing at 3-and-2 and still searching for their first SEC win after back-to-back losses to Auburn and Texas A&M. On the other side of the field, the Green Wave are undefeated at 5-and-oh and surging up the polls with each week. It’s not a surprise that they’re the bookies’ favorites today.”“Not so fast, my friend. It seems there are a couple of gametime decisions coming out of that Tulane camp that might change the complexion of this game.”
“Let’s go down to Hannah Reese on the sideline for the latest. Hannah?”
“Thanks, guys. Gerald’s right. A lot of attention was being paid to Tulane’s injury report heading into the weekend where freshman cornerback Devin King was listed as questionable to participate today after suffering an ankle injury in practice but he’s down on the sideline, suited up and seemingly ready to go. That’s huge for the Green Wave because Omari Alvarez who would’ve started opposite of Christian Vaughn doesn’t quite have the cover skills of King despite being the older player.”
“And I understand there is a bit of a surprise on the inactives?”
“Yes, a surprise is an understatement. Star wide receiver Caesar Jenkins will not be playing today. He did travel to Oxford with the team and was spotted arriving to the stadium on the Tulane buses but isn’t out on the sideline. The reason for his sudden absence hasn’t been disclosed and everyone I’ve reached out to associated with the program has been tight lipped. It looks like we’ll have to wait until after the game for more on that but again, breakout star Caesar Jenkins is inactive for the Green Wave.”
“He was ejected out of last week’s game for two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. Could be discipline-related?”
“That would be a massive call from Denver Shuman to bench him this week against a conference foe instead of next week against James Madison for discipline reasons. This is a guy who was on pace to shatter Tulane’s single season receiving records. Whatever the reason, it’ll be a much different matchup for this Rebel defense without him to face.”
…
Devin waved to get Omari’s attention and pointed at the tight end who’d shifted to the opposite end of the line of scrimmage. He crept closer to the line as Omari did the same. The fullback motioned to an offset position behind the quarterback as the ball was snapped.
Devin took a step back, eyes in the backfield. The running back received the ball on a pitch. Omari found himself getting blown up by a pulling guard, but Devin was able to slip between the receivers’ poor attempts at blocking.
The fullback tried to keep him outside to create a lane for the back to get upfield, but Devin planted his foot and dove inside, throwing himself at the running back’s legs as he flew by. He felt his hand hit the Ole Miss player’s cleats as he slid by. Looking up, he smacked the turf in celebration when the back tripped over his own tangled feet and fell down for a short gain.
He jumped up and jogged back to the huddle.
…
“Knocked down by Devin King and the Rebels will have to settle for a field goal.”
“That’s exactly what you want to see from your young defensive backs! Stick to your man like glue, don’t draw the flag and make a play on the ball!”
…
“Darren Reyes drops back and fires a rope to Kendall Dallas on the quick out for a pickup of 9 yards.”
…
“Frazier bounces it off tackle and reels off ten yards in a hurry.”
…
“Reyes finds Conrad across the middle for fifteen.”
…
“Reyes fakes to Frazier and rolls back to his left. He stops and plants his feet, launching it downfield to Jacobi Randle who makes the diving catch and -- touchdown, Tulane! It only took 4 plays for the Green Wave to put their first points on the board.”
“If you all have no idea who Jacobi Randle is, you’re not alone. He’s a freshman out of Ferguson, Missouri who wasn’t expected to get any time on the field this season but with Caesar Jenkins out, next man up.”
“Well, if you’re going to make your first catch in college a touchdown then you’re off to a great start!”
…
“Tyler Stewart hits Rahim Rodgers-Smith in stride and Alvarez isn’t going to catch him! 30, 20, 10, touchdown Rebels! And he’s headed for the student section here in Vaught–Hemingway Stadium. He’s going to get flagged for jumping into the crowd.”
“The Green Wave players down on the sideline aren’t too happy with that but you get what you give and there’s only one player to blame for that and he wears olive and green.”
Devin had to pull Marcus away from an Ole Miss lineman that he was jawing back and forth with as the teams sent their special teams units on for the long extra point attempt.
He could only shake his head as he made his way to the headline, silently happy that Caesar wasn’t playing to make anything worse with them stealing his stupid ass signature touchdown celebration to mock him.
…
“Frazier spins out of that tackle and slips into the endzone to put the Green Wave back on top!”
…
“Metts brings Stewart down in the backfield and the Rebels are going to be forced to punt it away here.”
…
“Reyes climbs the pocket, plants, fires and Stanson is in for six! Tulane’s opening up the lead now up two scores late in the second quarter.”
“Andy, is this the same offense that’s without their top receiver?”
“Maybe the Rebs spent so much time gameplanning around how to stop Caesar Jenkins that they’re struggling to adapt without him on the field.”
“Others are going to say he’s a luxury piece to an already extremely good offense.”
…
“Ole Miss lines up for the 47-yard field goal attempt with only four seconds on the clock in the second half. Manuel Lewis lines it up and boots it through the uprights to make it 21-13 Tulane heading into the break.”
…
“Reyes is flushed out of the pocket and rolls to his right. He pumps once but decides to bring it down and take it himself. He cuts inside and makes a man miss. He’s got some wheels! 20, 15, 10, dives for the pylon! Touchdown Green Wave!”
“A fifteen point lead isn’t insurmountable with the better part of a quarter and a half to play, but Ole Miss will have to score on their next drive to get some momentum going their way.”
…
Devin stuck close to his man as they battled for position. The receiver jabbed his foot into the turf and cut inside, opening a small bit of space between them. But despite the receiver looking back at the quarterback, the ball was still in the signal caller’s hands.
The quarterback was flushed out of the pocket and the receiver immediately broke off his route and started to get more depth to give him somewhere to lob it to. Devin turned upfield and ran with him, putting himself behind the wideout as they ran toward the sideline.
Hazarding a glance over his shoulder as the receiver looked back, Devin could see the ball spiraling through the air. He could see that it would be short. Using his bum ankle to leap, he turned his body in mid-air and made the catch.
With balance and agility he didn’t even know he had; he tapped his other foot in the field of play as his body continued to turn before falling out of bounds.
…
“What an interception by Devin King! That was looking like a promising drive for the Rebels and it ends in disaster and an amazing play by the freshman! His third of the year.”
“Which ankle is the one that he injured? He’s been playing lights out all day and he’s not even limping. That kid’s built Ford tough as they used to say!”
…
“And that will do it from Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Tulane improves to 6-0 with a 34-16 victory over Ole Miss.”
“The next three weeks for the Green Wave are pretty easy, even with Texas A&M mixed in there. There are a lot of question marks on this squad about keeping this pace over the long haul, but so far they’ve silenced the critics. And tonight they did it without a pretty big part of those first five wins. If they can get to Tuscaloosa with nine wins on the board, which it’s likely they will, watch out for this team in the CFP.”
-*****-
Coach Shuman sat behind a table for the post-game press conference and already knew there would be little talking about the game itself. The press folks had already told him not to answer anything about the hot topic – above them maintaining their undefeated record and securing bowl eligibility.“Coach, you benched Caesar Jenkins today. Can you elaborate on why you made that decision?” a reporter toward the back of the room asked.
“We had a lot of guys out there on that field who did play and who won a tough road game against a tough conference opponent. A lot of those guys were battling a lot of different things but they stepped up and got it done when the team needed them. I can’t say enough about Jacobi Randle who strapped it up without hesitation in a hostile environment and showed us why we brought him here in the first place. Our guys on defense? Played an outstanding game. They shut the game down and made it easy for our offense. I think we should talk about that.”
“Was it a disciplinary reason? Caesar’s been penalized six times for unsportsmanlike conduct in five games and there are rumors that he and Omari Alvarez were involved in a fight this week in practice which you held him out for one day for,” another reporter said.
“I’m not going to sit up here and answer questions about anything other than the 60 minutes of football we just played and the guys who were on – on – the field. You’ll find out about that when you find out about it. Now, with that said, we won the game but we have some things to work on and next week we’ll be up against James Madison. I don’t overlook any opponent and my team doesn’t either but that’ll give us a chance to iron some things out.”
Coach Shuman glanced over at Benny Riviera who nodded in agreement with how he’d steered the questions away from Caesar’s abrupt absence.
War of the Roses: Redux Edition
You in trouble now Ceasar!
War of the Roses: Redux Edition
Tangled Web
“…make no mistake, this is the most consequential moment for college athletics in the last three decades. Should these allegations be proven to be true, the carnage that it will wreak on dozens of institutions of higher learning will be felt for years to come. This is a fight for the very soul of college athletics and the amateurism that it stands for. We cannot – must not – allow outside influences to control the hearts and minds of our young people. At the end of the day, this is the United States of America and money isn’t the root of who we are as a people. I pray that the NCAA gets to the bottom of this and if needed, I hope the president will ask the Justice Department to also investigate these most troubling allegations. The Conference will certainly be looking at forming a select committee in the coming weeks.”
The feed switched from Representative Houston Corbyn speaking in the halls of Congress to a studio in Los Angeles.
“And those were the words of one congressman from Fort Worth on the day a number of universities received official notices of allegations from the NCAA as part of its investigation into an alleged massive play for pay scheme. Our correspondent Blanca Lowe has been covering this each step of the way. What’s the latest, Blanca?”
“Thanks, Dexter. We knew this day was coming for a couple weeks now. While we don’t know which specific players are being looked at yet as that hasn’t been made public at this point, we do believe that these schools were informed before their most recent games. As many as forty-seven football players were held out of games this Saturday on weeks that they were not listed on official injury reports. About half of them were seen with their teams prior to kickoff. Keeping in mind that, if these players were ruled ineligible, any wins they participated in would be vacated, one would be forgiven for assuming this a precautionary measure to limit the damage should these allegations be proven.”
“And that was Blanca Lowe reporting from here in LA. Now, we aren’t a gossip-type outlet but our SEC reporter Earl Winston believes that he’s stumbled upon a scandal within the potential scandal that could connect a lot of the players in this thing. Earl, what do you have?”
“Dex, I think it goes without saying that no one would be surprised if it comes out that Caesar Jenkins, son of NFL Hall of Fame quarterback turned super-agent Deion Jenkins, is implicated in this investigation. Many will remember that it was a foregone conclusion that the freshman wide receiver would follow his father’s footsteps to Oklahoma State until it wasn’t. Tulane did not play Caesar Jenkins in their game this past Saturday against Ole Miss. That wasn’t the oddity down here in SEC. One coincidence too many is that LSU benched standout freshman safety Erik Jenkins in their loss to Auburn on the same day.”
“Jenkins isn’t an uncommon name, Earl, and Erik Jenkins was one of the top recruits in the country.”
“Both facts, but we looked back through some things and there were a lot of coincidences, Dex. Like Caesar, Erik was also heavily recruited by Oklahoma State despite TCU’s stranglehold on Dallas in the past few years. A keen-eyed observer who I spoke to about this pointed out that Erik Jenkins was born 9 months after the Oklahoma City Outlaws held joint practices with the Dallas Cowboys during Deion Jenkins’ third season with the Outlaws. I spoke with some sources in Dallas who confirmed that Erik Jenkins was raised by a single mother for much of his life. Finally, there was the showcase high school football game organized by a group headed by Deion Jenkins between Terrebonne High School, where Caesar played, and Erik’s Euless Trinity. We reached out to Deion Jenkins’ office and didn’t receive a comment.”
“So, you’re saying the guy somehow fathered two of the top freshmen in the SEC and arguably the nation? One of them out of wedlock and cheating on his wife of 20 some odd years?”
“That’s right. When you get a chance, go take a look at the hit that Erik laid on Caesar in that meeting between Euless Trinity and Terrebonne and tell me that’s not sibling rivalry. All I know is that I can’t wait for the last week of the season when Tulane goes to Baton Rouge to face LSU – if they are allowed to play that is.”
“Well, Mr. Jenkins if you feel the need to sue someone over this. That’s E-a-r-l J-o-h-n W-i-n-s-t-o-n. Next, we’re talking NFL. Who is on their way to getting fired at the end of the year? We look at the worst candidates and the best choices to replace them.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked, but she’d been with him long enough to know that he didn’t talk about things willingly.
His lack of any response at all was what had her at a lost. Typically, he’d have something snide to say if someone tried to get him to open up about his life. A way to deflect. This time, there was nothing, and she didn’t know how to deal with him doing that.
Kneeling in front of him, she leaned her head against his arms.
“Caesar, can you tell me how I can help you?”
At that, he stood up abruptly and walked to the opposite end of the room, beginning to pace. Kaley had to scramble backward to keep from catching a knee to the face as he did so. Her brow furrowed in anger, and he looked at her as if he was about to apologize but neither said a word.
Getting up to sit on her bed, Kaley waved her hand toward him. “Mope around like a child who got his sucker taken away then. Act like your life is over because you didn’t play in one football game. It’s not the end of the fucking world. A few days from now you’ll be back to your normal bullshit because they told you that you can play.”
She picked up her phone and saw a deluge of texts from her sorority sisters asking if the stuff about Caesar and Erik Jenkins was true. A few of them because they were willing to drive to Baton Rouge to get their hands on the Jenkins family riches, especially after looking Erik up. Others simply because they were being nosey.
Sighing, she sent only a shrug back before putting it on airplane mode. A part of her wanted to ask him while the rest was just concerned that he’d heard that and that was the actual reason for his behavior and not anything football-related.
She stood up and walked over to him. She reached for his hands but paused for a moment before grabbing them. “Come on, Caesar. Please just talk to me. It’s just one game, right? Everything will blow over by the end of the week.”
“Indefinitely,” he said.
“What?”
“I’m suspended indefinitely. My whole fucking career is over. I’m a fucking freshman and it’s over!”
“I don’t understand everything but they just can’t play you until everything’s sorted out, right? That’s not forever. That’s just until whenever it’s sorted out. Nothing is over. Besides, it’s just football. You said it yourself you can pay to come here.”
He pulled his hands away, pounding his chest when he spoke. “Football is all I have! This isn’t just a game for me, Kaley. How would I ever look any poor bastard I made in the face and tell them who their father is if I’m the one who screwed everything up? I might as well go jump off the Huey P. right now over my kid being told ‘nah, kid. Your broke dick ass father never had the makings of a varsity athlete.’”
“Football is all you have? What the fuck am I then?!”
“Get out of here with that bullshit, Kaley. You know what the fuck I meant. You wouldn’t even be standing here having this stupid ass fucking conversation if it wasn’t for me playing motherfucking football.”
Caesar barely had time to close his mouth before she slapped him.
“What the fu—”
“Fuck you, Caesar. I’m here because of me! I would’ve gotten here whether I met you or fucking not. You can drop that fake ass persona with me because I know how much of a scared little boy you can be.”
“Kaley, I swe—”
She shoved him, and while it didn’t move him, it cut him off. “I’m fucking talking. Are you sure you’re upset about being suspended? Maybe you are. Or maybe it’s that talk that the Erik Jenkins kid is your brother or some shit? Why don’t you be honest for yourself for once, huh? Football is all you have? Well, look what football’s gotten you. Congrat-u-fucking-lations.”
He laughed, but it lacked even the sarcastic humor of a deflecting Caesar. “Erik Jenkins my brother? The dude doesn’t even fucking look like me! He grew up in a fucking crackhouse. You think my dad would let his kid grow up poor? The man is nothing if not about appearances. Someone’s trying to cash in on some bullshit. Let them have their few thousand bucks for the ‘story of the century.’ I don’t give a fuck about that shit.”
“Caesar. Stop it. Anyone would care if they heard from the fucking news that they have a brother out the—”
He turned, reached into his pocket and threw his phone at one of the vanity mirrors, shattering it. Kaley took a step back and clenched her fists.
“I said I don’t give a fuck about that shit.”
The two of them stood in silence, staring at one another for an uncomfortable beat. Then Caesar turned and started to pick up the glass that had fallen into the face bowl, organizing it neatly on the side of the sink.
Kaley reached a hand out to put on his shoulder but had to wait for it to stop shaky first before she did. He tensed for a moment under her touch then relaxed. “You’re going to cut yourself. Let me get a broom or something.”
He didn’t answer but continued to stack the glass shards. In a painstakingly tidy pile.
Sighing, she grabbed a towel and sat down on the bed to wait for him to finish. There were already little red streaks on the porcelain.
“…make no mistake, this is the most consequential moment for college athletics in the last three decades. Should these allegations be proven to be true, the carnage that it will wreak on dozens of institutions of higher learning will be felt for years to come. This is a fight for the very soul of college athletics and the amateurism that it stands for. We cannot – must not – allow outside influences to control the hearts and minds of our young people. At the end of the day, this is the United States of America and money isn’t the root of who we are as a people. I pray that the NCAA gets to the bottom of this and if needed, I hope the president will ask the Justice Department to also investigate these most troubling allegations. The Conference will certainly be looking at forming a select committee in the coming weeks.”
The feed switched from Representative Houston Corbyn speaking in the halls of Congress to a studio in Los Angeles.
“And those were the words of one congressman from Fort Worth on the day a number of universities received official notices of allegations from the NCAA as part of its investigation into an alleged massive play for pay scheme. Our correspondent Blanca Lowe has been covering this each step of the way. What’s the latest, Blanca?”
“Thanks, Dexter. We knew this day was coming for a couple weeks now. While we don’t know which specific players are being looked at yet as that hasn’t been made public at this point, we do believe that these schools were informed before their most recent games. As many as forty-seven football players were held out of games this Saturday on weeks that they were not listed on official injury reports. About half of them were seen with their teams prior to kickoff. Keeping in mind that, if these players were ruled ineligible, any wins they participated in would be vacated, one would be forgiven for assuming this a precautionary measure to limit the damage should these allegations be proven.”
“And that was Blanca Lowe reporting from here in LA. Now, we aren’t a gossip-type outlet but our SEC reporter Earl Winston believes that he’s stumbled upon a scandal within the potential scandal that could connect a lot of the players in this thing. Earl, what do you have?”
“Dex, I think it goes without saying that no one would be surprised if it comes out that Caesar Jenkins, son of NFL Hall of Fame quarterback turned super-agent Deion Jenkins, is implicated in this investigation. Many will remember that it was a foregone conclusion that the freshman wide receiver would follow his father’s footsteps to Oklahoma State until it wasn’t. Tulane did not play Caesar Jenkins in their game this past Saturday against Ole Miss. That wasn’t the oddity down here in SEC. One coincidence too many is that LSU benched standout freshman safety Erik Jenkins in their loss to Auburn on the same day.”
“Jenkins isn’t an uncommon name, Earl, and Erik Jenkins was one of the top recruits in the country.”
“Both facts, but we looked back through some things and there were a lot of coincidences, Dex. Like Caesar, Erik was also heavily recruited by Oklahoma State despite TCU’s stranglehold on Dallas in the past few years. A keen-eyed observer who I spoke to about this pointed out that Erik Jenkins was born 9 months after the Oklahoma City Outlaws held joint practices with the Dallas Cowboys during Deion Jenkins’ third season with the Outlaws. I spoke with some sources in Dallas who confirmed that Erik Jenkins was raised by a single mother for much of his life. Finally, there was the showcase high school football game organized by a group headed by Deion Jenkins between Terrebonne High School, where Caesar played, and Erik’s Euless Trinity. We reached out to Deion Jenkins’ office and didn’t receive a comment.”
“So, you’re saying the guy somehow fathered two of the top freshmen in the SEC and arguably the nation? One of them out of wedlock and cheating on his wife of 20 some odd years?”
“That’s right. When you get a chance, go take a look at the hit that Erik laid on Caesar in that meeting between Euless Trinity and Terrebonne and tell me that’s not sibling rivalry. All I know is that I can’t wait for the last week of the season when Tulane goes to Baton Rouge to face LSU – if they are allowed to play that is.”
“Well, Mr. Jenkins if you feel the need to sue someone over this. That’s E-a-r-l J-o-h-n W-i-n-s-t-o-n. Next, we’re talking NFL. Who is on their way to getting fired at the end of the year? We look at the worst candidates and the best choices to replace them.”
-*****-
Kaley exhaled as she plucked the earbuds from her ears and set them and her phone on the nightstand. She glanced at Caesar who hadn’t so much as twitched since he’d gotten to her room a few hours ago and sat down on the edge of her bed. His head was buried in his hands and he hadn’t actually spoken to her save for a text to ask her where she was.“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked, but she’d been with him long enough to know that he didn’t talk about things willingly.
His lack of any response at all was what had her at a lost. Typically, he’d have something snide to say if someone tried to get him to open up about his life. A way to deflect. This time, there was nothing, and she didn’t know how to deal with him doing that.
Kneeling in front of him, she leaned her head against his arms.
“Caesar, can you tell me how I can help you?”
At that, he stood up abruptly and walked to the opposite end of the room, beginning to pace. Kaley had to scramble backward to keep from catching a knee to the face as he did so. Her brow furrowed in anger, and he looked at her as if he was about to apologize but neither said a word.
Getting up to sit on her bed, Kaley waved her hand toward him. “Mope around like a child who got his sucker taken away then. Act like your life is over because you didn’t play in one football game. It’s not the end of the fucking world. A few days from now you’ll be back to your normal bullshit because they told you that you can play.”
She picked up her phone and saw a deluge of texts from her sorority sisters asking if the stuff about Caesar and Erik Jenkins was true. A few of them because they were willing to drive to Baton Rouge to get their hands on the Jenkins family riches, especially after looking Erik up. Others simply because they were being nosey.
Sighing, she sent only a shrug back before putting it on airplane mode. A part of her wanted to ask him while the rest was just concerned that he’d heard that and that was the actual reason for his behavior and not anything football-related.
She stood up and walked over to him. She reached for his hands but paused for a moment before grabbing them. “Come on, Caesar. Please just talk to me. It’s just one game, right? Everything will blow over by the end of the week.”
“Indefinitely,” he said.
“What?”
“I’m suspended indefinitely. My whole fucking career is over. I’m a fucking freshman and it’s over!”
“I don’t understand everything but they just can’t play you until everything’s sorted out, right? That’s not forever. That’s just until whenever it’s sorted out. Nothing is over. Besides, it’s just football. You said it yourself you can pay to come here.”
He pulled his hands away, pounding his chest when he spoke. “Football is all I have! This isn’t just a game for me, Kaley. How would I ever look any poor bastard I made in the face and tell them who their father is if I’m the one who screwed everything up? I might as well go jump off the Huey P. right now over my kid being told ‘nah, kid. Your broke dick ass father never had the makings of a varsity athlete.’”
“Football is all you have? What the fuck am I then?!”
“Get out of here with that bullshit, Kaley. You know what the fuck I meant. You wouldn’t even be standing here having this stupid ass fucking conversation if it wasn’t for me playing motherfucking football.”
Caesar barely had time to close his mouth before she slapped him.
“What the fu—”
“Fuck you, Caesar. I’m here because of me! I would’ve gotten here whether I met you or fucking not. You can drop that fake ass persona with me because I know how much of a scared little boy you can be.”
“Kaley, I swe—”
She shoved him, and while it didn’t move him, it cut him off. “I’m fucking talking. Are you sure you’re upset about being suspended? Maybe you are. Or maybe it’s that talk that the Erik Jenkins kid is your brother or some shit? Why don’t you be honest for yourself for once, huh? Football is all you have? Well, look what football’s gotten you. Congrat-u-fucking-lations.”
He laughed, but it lacked even the sarcastic humor of a deflecting Caesar. “Erik Jenkins my brother? The dude doesn’t even fucking look like me! He grew up in a fucking crackhouse. You think my dad would let his kid grow up poor? The man is nothing if not about appearances. Someone’s trying to cash in on some bullshit. Let them have their few thousand bucks for the ‘story of the century.’ I don’t give a fuck about that shit.”
“Caesar. Stop it. Anyone would care if they heard from the fucking news that they have a brother out the—”
He turned, reached into his pocket and threw his phone at one of the vanity mirrors, shattering it. Kaley took a step back and clenched her fists.
“I said I don’t give a fuck about that shit.”
The two of them stood in silence, staring at one another for an uncomfortable beat. Then Caesar turned and started to pick up the glass that had fallen into the face bowl, organizing it neatly on the side of the sink.
Kaley reached a hand out to put on his shoulder but had to wait for it to stop shaky first before she did. He tensed for a moment under her touch then relaxed. “You’re going to cut yourself. Let me get a broom or something.”
He didn’t answer but continued to stack the glass shards. In a painstakingly tidy pile.
Sighing, she grabbed a towel and sat down on the bed to wait for him to finish. There were already little red streaks on the porcelain.
War of the Roses: Redux Edition
Wow wonderful update. Looking forward to what’s next
-
Captain Canada
- Posts: 2183
- Joined: 01 Dec 2018, 00:15
War of the Roses: Redux Edition
When it rains, it pours 
War of the Roses: Redux Edition
Out of Control
“So, you dropped a jug of water on this?”
Devin looked at the student worker holding his busted tablet and nodded. “Yeah. That’s why it doesn’t turn on it because it got soaked and shit. They told me just bring it back and y’all would replace it for me.”
It didn’t look like he was buying the story as he continued to rotate the tablet in his hands to inspect it for other defects.
“Water doesn’t crack the screen, my guy,” the worker said. “I don’t know why y’all gotta be so rough with these damn things just because they’re free. You’re the fourth person today to come get a replacement.”
“Tulane’s got a lot of athletes,” Devin said, shrugging.
“Wait here. I have to go upstairs to get another one.”
“Appreciate it,” Devin said, but the worker had already disappeared up a staircase without so much as a glance behind him.
Turning around to lean against the counter, he watched as some of the university’s other student-athletes walking about the athletic facilities. With the fall turning to the winter, there was more activity in the building every day as the spring folks started to prep for their seasons.
He spotted Sol pulling a cart filled with boxes and gave her a small wave which she returned before walking over to him.
“Broke something?” she asked.
“How you figure?”
“I do work here, you know?”
“Right, right. And I see they have you doing all the manual labor,” he said, pointing to the boxes.
“They aren’t going to move themselves.” She shrugged.
“I guess not.”
Sol smiled and gestured to the stacks of boxes on the cart behind her. “Well, it was nice seeing you, but I do have to get these boxes across campus before my boss has a heart attack.”
“I’ll help you load them up.”
“Oh no, you don’t have to do that. I’d get run out of New Orleans if you dropped a box on your foot or something and got hurt.”
Devin looked down at the slides he was wearing and shook his head. “What’s in the boxes if you’re worried about me breaking my foot? Dumbells? I think I can manage tossing a couple of boxes around. I’ll have you know I did my time in the trenches as a grocery store stocker.”
“That at the top of your resume?”
“Since it’s 100 percent of my work experience, yeah, it’s at the top.”
“Throw the whole resume away then, Devin. It’s not going to be getting you any Fortune 500 offers,” she said, but the laughter that followed let him know she was only teasing. “I guess it would be rude of me to say no to someone offering to help me, right?”
He nodded. “It would be. That’s what the old ladies at church always told me.”
She shook her head, waved for him to follow her. She led them out of the building to where a van was parked out front.
“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you anywhere else on the campus. I’m starting to think you’re a ghost that everyone just accepts they’re able to see,” Devin said, gesturing around them.
“This is New Orleans. I don’t think it would be out of the question that there are a few ghosts wandering around on a college campus here. I’d actually say it would be breaking the mystique of the city if there weren’t ghosts on college campuses in New Orleans,” she said before grabbing one of the boxes. “I go to class and I come here then I go back to my room. Rinse and repeat everyday until I graduate.”
Testing the boxes’ weight, still wondering what was in them that could’ve possibly been heavy, he did the same. “Sol, that’s pretty boring. And I know boring.”
“I like to stay focused.” She took the box from him to stack it on top of the other. “But clearly you just aren’t that attentive because I’m on the sideline for every game so that’s three places you can find me.”
“Our games?”
“Yep. Part of the job.”
He shrugged. “I can’t be blamed for not knowing what’s going on off the field during a game, to be fair. I think Coach Shuman would rip my head off for that.”
“I think your roommate has Coach Shuman’s hands full enough. And everyone likes you too much to let that happen. You’re like Christian without the –”
“Intelligence?”
“No, I was going to say…” she trailed off as she thought of a word. “No one knows what to make of you so you’re just like everyone else. You just happen to play college football, too. You’re easy to root for. Post-NIL, that’s not always true.”
Devin nodded as he thought about what she said. Then he smiled. “So, what you’re saying is that in this room of yours, that you claim exists somewhere on this campus, you have a game photo of me as your background?”
She laughed. “One, I don’t like American football that much. Two, I would only ever do that for my brothers.”
“Look at us getting somewhere in getting to know you! What do your brothers play?”
“Only two of them. One of them is a businessman. But my irmãozinho, Josue, plays futebol for our club Corinthians. He just played with the senior team for the first time,” she said, smiling, clearly proud. Then she stopped smiling. “Afonso, my older brother, he fights.”
Devin didn’t miss the change in her voice between the brothers. It was subtle but it was there.
“Fights?”
Hopping down from the van to grab the last box, she nodded. “You know, like UFC.”
“Oh,” was all he said as he scratched the side of his face.
“Thanks for helping me,” she said, throwing a smile over her shoulder as she closed the van door. “I’ll let you put it on your resume so it’s a little less sad looking with one job.”
“I appreciate it, boss,” he said, laughing.
She pointed back to the building. “You might want to go get your new tablet from Ethan. He’s going to be pissed.”
“Ah, shit.”
Turning around, he ran back into the building, cursing.
Everyone sitting in Darren’s living room laughed at Kerby and A.J.’s, a sophomore center, expense.
“That ain’t even how it happened,” Kerby said. “We wasn’t in there at the same time. I went in there first and then she came out and said A.J. could smash, too.”
A.J. rubbed his stomach. “Hey, if she say she like ‘em big then who am I to turn it down? I’m not trying to ruin anybody’s dreams.”
“Y’all better tell that bitch transfer to Oklahoma if she out here getting fucked missionary by 800 pounds of nigga in 10 minutes. Probably could break some Olympic records lifting,” Kendrick said. “Get her ass on an athletic scholarship right now.”
Tyrone sat back and looked at Junie who was sitting next to him. “Say, if your brother running around out here at 360 on a good day –“
“I’m 317, bruh,” Kerby shot back.
“360 on a good day when we got that Dong Phuong’s in the cafe,” Tyrone finished. “And fucking skinny bitches, do you balance that out by fucking fat bitches?”
“That shit foul, bruh,” Junie said, shaking his head. “All them niggas nasty on the seventh floor though. Them basketball niggas worse than Kerby and A.J. That motherfucker Quondre gotta have at least 10 charges pending. Yet he gonna be out there on the court come November.”
“How do you think we found this chick?” A.J. said, laughing and dapping up Kerby.
“Ah hell nah. I need the whole story from A to Z now,” Tyrone said, waving his hand. “I been knowing Quondre since before Tulane, me and that fool came up together and y’all niggas lying through ya teeth if you telling me, hand on the Bible, that some bitch that he know didn’t let y’all run a train on her or just Eiffel Tower her ass. That bitch was probably selling that pussy. How much y’all paid? Fifty? A hundred?”
“I’m telling you, man. It happened like this,” Kerby started.
Darren glanced over at Caesar, who was leaning against the wall away from everyone else. “Hey, bro? You good?”
He whispered something to Ramona who got off his lap and went to the kitchen. Standing up, Darren put his hand on Caesar’s shoulder and shook him a bit.
“You need to go to the hospital or something, man? You sweating your ass off and we don’t even have the heater on in here,” he said.
Caesar shrugged Darren’s hand off and stood up, wiping his forehead. He dried his hand on his shirt. “I’m going back to my room.”
“Nah, bro. Just sleep in my spare room. I’ll tell these motherfuckers to keep it down or go outside or some shit. Not trying to be a dick, but you look like shit so maybe sleeping in your room alone ain’t the brightest idea.”
Ramona came back with a glass of water that she handed to Darren before she sat back down on the couch. She glanced over her shoulder a couple times then turned her focus to the others who were still laughing about the story that Kerby and A.J. were telling.
“Here, kno—”
“Fuck off, man. Stop trying to fucking son me. I told you I’m fine and I’m going back to my room. Can’t even fucking sweat without people all in your shit.”
Darren raised his free hand up. “I’m just trying to make sure you good, man. I don’t want nothing to happen to you. But I’ll let you go and stop nagging ya. Just know we can set you up here if you need. You know how to reach me.”
Caesar waved his hand dismissively at the comment and headed for the door. A couple glances were spared his direction as he was leaving but no one made mention of it and he couldn’t be bothered to make any sort of grand exit.
He just wanted to be alone.
The wind felt colder than it should’ve as it whipped around him, another cold front blowing through the state that would give way to the usual 80 degree fall and winter days and 20 degree nights that Louisianans were used to.
Grabbing his phone out of his pocket, he cleared the notifications – and the eight missed calls and eleven texts from Kaley asking why he wasn’t answering her. He had every intention to continue ignoring her. She knew how to find him if it was that important.
He pulled a baggie from his back pocket and dumped the last two pills in it into his hand before throwing them into his mouth and swallowing them.
He shook his head as a wave of dizziness hit him and then passed before he started on the trek back to campus and his room.
“So, you dropped a jug of water on this?”
Devin looked at the student worker holding his busted tablet and nodded. “Yeah. That’s why it doesn’t turn on it because it got soaked and shit. They told me just bring it back and y’all would replace it for me.”
It didn’t look like he was buying the story as he continued to rotate the tablet in his hands to inspect it for other defects.
“Water doesn’t crack the screen, my guy,” the worker said. “I don’t know why y’all gotta be so rough with these damn things just because they’re free. You’re the fourth person today to come get a replacement.”
“Tulane’s got a lot of athletes,” Devin said, shrugging.
“Wait here. I have to go upstairs to get another one.”
“Appreciate it,” Devin said, but the worker had already disappeared up a staircase without so much as a glance behind him.
Turning around to lean against the counter, he watched as some of the university’s other student-athletes walking about the athletic facilities. With the fall turning to the winter, there was more activity in the building every day as the spring folks started to prep for their seasons.
He spotted Sol pulling a cart filled with boxes and gave her a small wave which she returned before walking over to him.
“Broke something?” she asked.
“How you figure?”
“I do work here, you know?”
“Right, right. And I see they have you doing all the manual labor,” he said, pointing to the boxes.
“They aren’t going to move themselves.” She shrugged.
“I guess not.”
Sol smiled and gestured to the stacks of boxes on the cart behind her. “Well, it was nice seeing you, but I do have to get these boxes across campus before my boss has a heart attack.”
“I’ll help you load them up.”
“Oh no, you don’t have to do that. I’d get run out of New Orleans if you dropped a box on your foot or something and got hurt.”
Devin looked down at the slides he was wearing and shook his head. “What’s in the boxes if you’re worried about me breaking my foot? Dumbells? I think I can manage tossing a couple of boxes around. I’ll have you know I did my time in the trenches as a grocery store stocker.”
“That at the top of your resume?”
“Since it’s 100 percent of my work experience, yeah, it’s at the top.”
“Throw the whole resume away then, Devin. It’s not going to be getting you any Fortune 500 offers,” she said, but the laughter that followed let him know she was only teasing. “I guess it would be rude of me to say no to someone offering to help me, right?”
He nodded. “It would be. That’s what the old ladies at church always told me.”
She shook her head, waved for him to follow her. She led them out of the building to where a van was parked out front.
“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you anywhere else on the campus. I’m starting to think you’re a ghost that everyone just accepts they’re able to see,” Devin said, gesturing around them.
“This is New Orleans. I don’t think it would be out of the question that there are a few ghosts wandering around on a college campus here. I’d actually say it would be breaking the mystique of the city if there weren’t ghosts on college campuses in New Orleans,” she said before grabbing one of the boxes. “I go to class and I come here then I go back to my room. Rinse and repeat everyday until I graduate.”
Testing the boxes’ weight, still wondering what was in them that could’ve possibly been heavy, he did the same. “Sol, that’s pretty boring. And I know boring.”
“I like to stay focused.” She took the box from him to stack it on top of the other. “But clearly you just aren’t that attentive because I’m on the sideline for every game so that’s three places you can find me.”
“Our games?”
“Yep. Part of the job.”
He shrugged. “I can’t be blamed for not knowing what’s going on off the field during a game, to be fair. I think Coach Shuman would rip my head off for that.”
“I think your roommate has Coach Shuman’s hands full enough. And everyone likes you too much to let that happen. You’re like Christian without the –”
“Intelligence?”
“No, I was going to say…” she trailed off as she thought of a word. “No one knows what to make of you so you’re just like everyone else. You just happen to play college football, too. You’re easy to root for. Post-NIL, that’s not always true.”
Devin nodded as he thought about what she said. Then he smiled. “So, what you’re saying is that in this room of yours, that you claim exists somewhere on this campus, you have a game photo of me as your background?”
She laughed. “One, I don’t like American football that much. Two, I would only ever do that for my brothers.”
“Look at us getting somewhere in getting to know you! What do your brothers play?”
“Only two of them. One of them is a businessman. But my irmãozinho, Josue, plays futebol for our club Corinthians. He just played with the senior team for the first time,” she said, smiling, clearly proud. Then she stopped smiling. “Afonso, my older brother, he fights.”
Devin didn’t miss the change in her voice between the brothers. It was subtle but it was there.
“Fights?”
Hopping down from the van to grab the last box, she nodded. “You know, like UFC.”
“Oh,” was all he said as he scratched the side of his face.
“Thanks for helping me,” she said, throwing a smile over her shoulder as she closed the van door. “I’ll let you put it on your resume so it’s a little less sad looking with one job.”
“I appreciate it, boss,” he said, laughing.
She pointed back to the building. “You might want to go get your new tablet from Ethan. He’s going to be pissed.”
“Ah, shit.”
Turning around, he ran back into the building, cursing.
-*****-
“Let me get this straight,” Tyrone said, sitting forward as he spoke. “You two fat motherfuckers fucked some skinny bitch at the same time? Ain’t that how you start a motherfucking fire pouring all that fucking Crisco on a stick then rubbing it?”Everyone sitting in Darren’s living room laughed at Kerby and A.J.’s, a sophomore center, expense.
“That ain’t even how it happened,” Kerby said. “We wasn’t in there at the same time. I went in there first and then she came out and said A.J. could smash, too.”
A.J. rubbed his stomach. “Hey, if she say she like ‘em big then who am I to turn it down? I’m not trying to ruin anybody’s dreams.”
“Y’all better tell that bitch transfer to Oklahoma if she out here getting fucked missionary by 800 pounds of nigga in 10 minutes. Probably could break some Olympic records lifting,” Kendrick said. “Get her ass on an athletic scholarship right now.”
Tyrone sat back and looked at Junie who was sitting next to him. “Say, if your brother running around out here at 360 on a good day –“
“I’m 317, bruh,” Kerby shot back.
“360 on a good day when we got that Dong Phuong’s in the cafe,” Tyrone finished. “And fucking skinny bitches, do you balance that out by fucking fat bitches?”
“That shit foul, bruh,” Junie said, shaking his head. “All them niggas nasty on the seventh floor though. Them basketball niggas worse than Kerby and A.J. That motherfucker Quondre gotta have at least 10 charges pending. Yet he gonna be out there on the court come November.”
“How do you think we found this chick?” A.J. said, laughing and dapping up Kerby.
“Ah hell nah. I need the whole story from A to Z now,” Tyrone said, waving his hand. “I been knowing Quondre since before Tulane, me and that fool came up together and y’all niggas lying through ya teeth if you telling me, hand on the Bible, that some bitch that he know didn’t let y’all run a train on her or just Eiffel Tower her ass. That bitch was probably selling that pussy. How much y’all paid? Fifty? A hundred?”
“I’m telling you, man. It happened like this,” Kerby started.
Darren glanced over at Caesar, who was leaning against the wall away from everyone else. “Hey, bro? You good?”
He whispered something to Ramona who got off his lap and went to the kitchen. Standing up, Darren put his hand on Caesar’s shoulder and shook him a bit.
“You need to go to the hospital or something, man? You sweating your ass off and we don’t even have the heater on in here,” he said.
Caesar shrugged Darren’s hand off and stood up, wiping his forehead. He dried his hand on his shirt. “I’m going back to my room.”
“Nah, bro. Just sleep in my spare room. I’ll tell these motherfuckers to keep it down or go outside or some shit. Not trying to be a dick, but you look like shit so maybe sleeping in your room alone ain’t the brightest idea.”
Ramona came back with a glass of water that she handed to Darren before she sat back down on the couch. She glanced over her shoulder a couple times then turned her focus to the others who were still laughing about the story that Kerby and A.J. were telling.
“Here, kno—”
“Fuck off, man. Stop trying to fucking son me. I told you I’m fine and I’m going back to my room. Can’t even fucking sweat without people all in your shit.”
Darren raised his free hand up. “I’m just trying to make sure you good, man. I don’t want nothing to happen to you. But I’ll let you go and stop nagging ya. Just know we can set you up here if you need. You know how to reach me.”
Caesar waved his hand dismissively at the comment and headed for the door. A couple glances were spared his direction as he was leaving but no one made mention of it and he couldn’t be bothered to make any sort of grand exit.
He just wanted to be alone.
The wind felt colder than it should’ve as it whipped around him, another cold front blowing through the state that would give way to the usual 80 degree fall and winter days and 20 degree nights that Louisianans were used to.
Grabbing his phone out of his pocket, he cleared the notifications – and the eight missed calls and eleven texts from Kaley asking why he wasn’t answering her. He had every intention to continue ignoring her. She knew how to find him if it was that important.
He pulled a baggie from his back pocket and dumped the last two pills in it into his hand before throwing them into his mouth and swallowing them.
He shook his head as a wave of dizziness hit him and then passed before he started on the trek back to campus and his room.
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Captain Canada
- Posts: 2183
- Joined: 01 Dec 2018, 00:15
War of the Roses: Redux Edition
And the tail spin has officially begun