He looks warily at me. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“It’s not your decision to make. Now, tell me what Coach wants me to do for what happened this weekend.”
Troy sighs. “He wants you to coach a peewee team, and said you’re doing interviews twice a week until training camp.”
“Fine. I sure do hope Coach laid into his niece and has some kind of consequence for her actions,” I say pointedly.
“Oh, he does. Told me she’ll be putting in a ton of effort with a charity that works with people struggling with addiction.”
“Good.”
“I still think you should give me the name of the girl …” Troy trails off, before looking at me. “Shit. Dude, you better not be hooking up with that chick you’re planning the foundation event with.”
I keep my face devoid of emotion as I carefully ask, “Why?”
“Because this event is too big for you to fuck it up because of a little pussy.”
I roll my eyes. “Give me the benefit of the doubt, please. But — wait. How did you know I was planning the event with a woman?”
Troy looks confused. “Because the veterinarian is a woman?”
“I never told you that.”
He shrugs. “When the contact info came through, I saw her name is Audrey. I doubt that’s a gender-neutral name, but I could be wrong. Whatever the case, don’t fuck her.”
“Jesus, Troy. A little tact would be nice,” I reply, choosing not to acknowledge his overall fear of me sleeping with Audrey, because I’d really like to do just that in the near future.
“Tact is overrated,” he says with a laugh. “Just keep your head on straight. I want to ensure you’re protected at all times.”
“Can’t have your biggest client losing out on brand deals, because then you don’t get a commission, right?” I snap, aggravation clear in my tone. I know Troy. There are a lot of sleazy agents out there, and Troy has never been like that. I could give him Audrey’s name, and he wouldn’t leak it. But I want to protecther, so his interest is rubbing me the wrong way.
“Your deals have nothing to do with this,” Troy replies. “You’ve always been like a brother to me, man. When I say I want to protect you, it has nothing to do with football, and everything to do with you as a person. I don’t want to see anyone take advantage of you.”
I smile weakly with a tense nod, but I don’t respond. This conversation has given me one heck of a tension headache.
Me
I learned a new word today.
Audrey
Me too! What’s yours?
Me
Twattle.
Audrey
That sounds like a derogatory word for someone. “That little twattle!”
Me
Nope, but I have heard “twatwaffle” used as a derogatory name for someone, so I can see why you’d think that.
Audrey
*adds twatwaffle to memory for future use*
