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.