Devin stood at his locker room, scrolling through the timeline on one of his social media accounts. A lot of people were tagging him in posts about him being named the conference freshman of the week. He ignored most of it, though. The coaching staff had already acknowledged the accolade as did his teammates and that was all he needed in terms of praise.
Besides, while he would never say it aloud, popping James Madison in the mouth wasn’t anything to brag to the world about. They should’ve beaten them as bad as they had. Anything less would’ve been underwhelming.
Shaking his head as he saw a compilation of his biggest plays from the game, he muted the words “of the week” to hide all the posts from his feed before shoving his phone into his pocket. He bent down and tossed his practice gear into a nearby laundry basket for the team managers to take care of then shoved the rest of his things into a duffel bag.
He had a lot of studying to do and wasn’t looking forward to it, but that’s what he got from going to a Southern Ivy.
“Devin, they want you to talk to the media,” one of the graduate assistants said as he walked by, pointing in the direction of the hallway outside of the locker room.
Devin looked around, confused, then pointed to himself. “You mean me?”
“You’re the only Devin on the team. Yes, you. Jay’s out there with them right now. It’s just WDSU, WWL and Fox 8,” he said referring to one of the SIDs. “They’re just finishing up with Tucker so you might want to get out there.”
Devin nodded, feeling his hands begin to sweat as he thought about staring down multiple cameras. His only previous experience with “talking” to the media had been when he announced that he was going to be committing to TCU. By the time he’d changed his mind and switched to Tulane, it seemed like everyone had forgotten he existed.
He got up and headed out of the locker room, instantly coming face to face with the bright light of the cameras pointed at Tucker as he was answering a question. The tight end wasn’t the first name on the depth chart, having lost his spot to Sam in the spring but as a senior, he was one of the leaders on the team.
And his frat boy look sold well with certain demographics of donors living in Lakeview. Even with his limited experience in the area, Devin knew that wasn’t a coincidence. The school needed to remind them that there was still somewhat of a difference between LSU’s and Tulane’s football programs as that line blurred more and more every season.
Tucker wrapped up his answer, nodded his thanks to the reporters and slipped out of the semi-circle. He patted Devin on the shoulder as he passed.
Jay beckoned for Devin to take Tucker’s place. He had to take a few calming breaths before he squeezed between the nearest camera and the wall. Jay pulled a folded piece of white paper out of his pocket and held it in front of Devin’s face.
Devin looked at him, confused.
“Y’all got it?” the SID asked the cameramen. The three of them held a thumb up, and Jay put the paper back in his pocket. “D-e-v-i-n K-i-n-g. Alright, go ahead.”
One of the reporters in a Fox 8 shirt held his phone closer to Devin. “How you doing, Devin? You’ve had quite the rise over the last couple of years going back to high school. Then freshman player of the week honors for your performance against James Madison, what’s the secret?”
Devin looked over at Jay who had turned his attention to his phone. Gulping down a bit of spit, he shrugged. “I- I, uh, just do what the coaches tell me to do. And I, uh, try not to—you know—forget stuff when I’m out on the field?”
“Man, you’re some nervous! This is the easy stuff,” one of the other two reporters laughed, doing nothing to make Devin feel at ease. “What’s the atmosphere like in the locker room from your point of view? This is a team that has national championship aspirations right now and things seem to be going in that direction.”
“Well, we’re just, uh, taking it one game at a time. We go—got Texas A&M next and they’re a good team, too.” Devin paused and wiped his hands on his shirt then brushed his hand across his forehead feeling as if he was sweating bullets. “There’s, uh, still a lot of the season left so we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.”
“You’re a young guy on this team. How have you integrated into things so quickly?” the last of the three reporters asked.
“A lot of leaders on the team. Take you under their wings, you know? I’m, I’m lucky because there’s a lot of that in DB room especially.”
“One more,” Jay said, finally looking up from his phone.
The second reporter was the first to open his mouth. “You went to high school with Caesar Jenkins and you’re his roommate. Any thoughts on his situation?”
“No?” Devin said, glancing over at Jay who’d taken a step toward him. “I, uh, don’t really hav- have anything to say about that.”
“Thanks, guys,” Jay said, ushering Devin out of the semi-circle. He turned to the reporter and held his hands out. “C’mon, man. Really?”
“Just doing my job, Jay. You know that.”
Devin left them to it as he beat a hasty retreat back into the locker room, happy to not have the spotlight on him anymore – literally.
He’d become increasingly distant as the days wore on since he was suspended and there seemed to be no resolution in sight on his status with the team. He was supposed to be meeting with the NCAA but that had been pushed back, likely prolonging the time that he’d be barred from playing while everything was sorted out.
If he ever played again as he framed it to her.
She tapped the unopened box of food on the edge of the desk with a pair of chopsticks. “Are you going to eat that?”
“I’d be eating it if I wanted to eat it, don’t you think?” he asked, still staring out of the window.
“It was just a question. You don’t have to be a dickhead about it, Caesar.” She leaned back in the chair, setting the chopsticks down and crossing her arms over her chest. “Why don’t we go somewhere? It’s better than being cooped up in here all the time. Some sunlight might do you some good to make you feel better.”
He held his hand up toward the window and moved it around in the bits of sun that were coming through the opened blinds. “Nope. Still feel like shit. Your food’s going to get cold if you don’t shut the fuck up and start eating.”
“Are you—You know what? Fuck you, Caesar. How about that?”
“Fuck you, too,” he said, shrugging.
“That’s rich considering you aren’t even doing that lately, huh?”
“Sounds like a personal problem. We’re on a college campus filled with fucking dudes and there’s a different college literally across the street. You can sort that out on your own if it’s so much of a fucking problem.”
“Maybe I should,” she said angrily.
“Maybe you should,” he said, shrugging. “Make sure you take your birth control so you don’t get knocked up by some random dude and ruin that lawyer dream.”
She sighed and rubbed at her temples with her fingers. Picking up the chopsticks, she poked at the food at few times before putting them back down.
“Your mom called me,” she said, trying her best to soften her tone.
He snorted out a laugh. “Of course, she fucking did.”
“She’s worried about you, and you aren’t answering her calls so what did you expect her to do?”
“Did she tell you what she told me?”
Kaley nodded. “Yeah.”
“Alright then.”
“You can’t be mad at her forever. She’s your mother. I understand finding out that you have a brother like this is a shitty situation, but c’mon, Caesar. Is it really the worst thing that could’ve happened to you? Like be honest with yourself. Maybe you should go to Baton Rouge and talk to him and see where that goes.”
He turned his body, so he was facing her. “That’s the dumbest shit I’ve heard in a long time. Thanks for that.”
“I’m just trying to give you a suggestion. He is going through the same thing that you are right now, right? They suspended him, too. And he found out about you the same way you found out about him. I’ll go with you if you want.”
He sighed then pushed up from the bed, shoving his feet into his shoes.
She stood up as well, blocking his way out of the room. “Caesar, you don’t have to leave. It’s been three weeks now. You have to figure out what you’re going to do next because moping around all the time isn’t healthy. I’m worried about you. You don’t eat. You barely talk to me. You just sit in silence all the time.”
“I don’t know why we have to keep going through this fucking shit, Kaley! Just fucking drop it!” he shouted. “I don’t know why you have to be such nagging fucking bitch about this. I don’t need your worry or your damn pity.”
“Nagging bitch? You’re mad at me because I fucking care? Jesus Christ. Fine, fuck off to wherever you were going then,” she said, running her hand through her hair as she sat back down.
“Fuck this shit,” he said under his breath before grabbing his stuff off the night stand and heading for the door. He glanced over his shoulder at Kaley, but she’d gone back to picking at her food with the chopsticks in her hand.
Gia had to jump out of the way as he barreled through the door, slamming it behind him.
“Everything okay?” she asked as she dropped her hand awkwardly, having been moments away from opening the door.
He only sucked his teeth, shook his head and started down the hallway toward the elevators.
She jogged behind him to keep up with his long stride. “Hey, I know we aren’t really all that close or that we know each other all that well, but I do think of you as a friend. You can talk to me about things and I’ll listen and not say anything. I’m really good at that.”
“That’s what you offer your sugar daddies? A therapist?” he asked, raising an eyebrow as he jabbed the call button for the elevator. “Do they know that there are people who are trained to do that or is it because you’re naked while listening?”
“I’m just saying that it’s sometimes easier to talk about things with someone who isn’t as close to everything,” she said, largely ignoring Caesar’s insult. She shrugged. “It’s just an offer. I know that you and Kaley have been arguing a lot and this way you can vent to someone else so you can be nicer to her. Because she’s really trying, you know?”
The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. He stepped into the car and pressed the button for the first floor without responding.
“You know how to find me if you change your mind,” she said before the doors closed.
Taking his phone out of his pocket, he switched it onto airplane mode in case anyone tried to get in touch with him.