by Cherry Kay
Denise was so nervous. She couldn’t believe that this was happening to him. Rick had told her the story about how he had accidentally collided with Dan during practice. It was a total accident and stuff like that happened occasionally. For some reason, Denise felt that there was more to it. After what Rick had said about Dan’s jealousy, she found herself wondering if he was capable of engineering something like this on purpose. She tried to put the thought out of her mind, but it kept rearing its ugly head. It kept nagging at her.
She felt that she was being a bit silly and grasping at straws. The situation just didn’t make sense and she was having a hard time accepting what had happened. She decided to just let it go for now and hope for the best.
Dan arrived right then as if on cue, swaggering into the room in that cocky fashion of his.
“Hey, how are you holding up man?” Dan asked.
“Good, no thanks to you, butt face,” Rick joked.
“Yeah, I keep thinking about the accident and wondering how it happened. I guess you were faster on that shoot at me then I realized you would be,” Dan said.
Rick smiled.
“Hey, Denise how are you?” Dan asked.
“I’m okay,” Denise said.
“We still going to set up a definite time for that interview?”
“Sure.”
“Great,” Dan said.
The doctor came in right then. He sat down on his stool and kept them waiting in anticipation while he wrote something down on his notes and looked over Ricky’s chart a few more times.
“Good news. There is nothing torn or broken. You have a bad sprain that should heal up okay, if you give it the proper rest,” the doctor said. He spoke softly and without any emotion.
“Yes!” Dan clapped.
Denise hugged Ricky. That was the best news she could have hoped for.
“Way to go!” Denise said.
“That’s fantastic,” Rick said. Denise could clearly see the relief in his face and she thought he might shed a tear for a moment, but his eyes remained dry.
While Rick was being discharged, Denise ran to the vending machine to grab a coffee quickly. She needed some caffeine after the stress of the past few hours. It would hit the spot. On her way back to the room, Dan almost bumped into her coming out of the bathroom.
“So, great news,” Dan said.
“Yeah, I can’t tell you how relieved I am,” Denise said, sipping her coffee.
“Absolutely. So when is a good time to do that interview? You want to set up a separate time or just when we have our dinner date this week? Did we ever decide on a day for that? I was thinking Thursday would be good.”
Denise swallowed hard. She had forgotten all about promising to go out with Dan. How could she in good conscience do that when she and Rick had started to get serious? At the time she didn’t know what was going to happen with them and she had off-handedly agreed to a date with Dan. She figured it was best to let him down gently now. She didn’t think he was going to break.
“Actually, I’m afraid I can’t go out with you, Dan. Ricky and I have gotten kind of serious. I know we just started dating, but I feel there is something special there. I just don’t think it would be right. I’m sorry,” Denise said. She felt great getting that off her chest.
Dan smiled. “That’s fine. I understand. I’m very happy for you two. But do you still want to do that interview?”
“Yeah, that would be fine.”
“Okay, let’s shoot for Friday afternoon? Do you know Mable’s Café? It’s on Oak Street”
“Yeah, I know the place. That would be fine.”
“Great. Five o’clock?” Dan asked.
“Yeah.”
“Great. Well, I’m glad Rick is going to be back and crushing it in a few weeks,” Dan said. “I’ll see you Friday.”
With that, he was off and down the hall.
Denise breathed easy. She was surprised at how well Dan handled the rejection. He didn’t seem like the jealous type to her, unless he was fantastic at hiding it.
Denise waited until they discharged Rick and drove him home.
***
Dan watched the footage on his phone one more time before he decided to send it to his contact. It was incredible that this plan had worked out so well. He sat there in his living room, drinking a beer and watching the video, feeling like he was on top of the world.
He had been certain that putting Rick out of commission on the field would have been a sure-fire way to get Denise to realize that he was not the man she thought he was and that now she could appreciate what Dan had to offer. He had been scratching his head wondering how she hadn’t grown bored with the guy. He knew what type of woman Denise was; she craved excitement. She was the kind of girl who went after guys who were fun and daring and famous. Not to say she was a gold digger necessarily, because she seemed to be deeply involved in her own career, and she was one of those girls who didn’t want a man to take care of her. Dan respected that. So when Rick was sidelined and not able to be the man that she had been initially excited by, Dan figured that she would kick him to the curb.
That hadn’t happened. If anything, she and Rick just kept getting closer and closer. Apparently Dan had slightly misjudged her and what the two of them had together. But there was more than one way to get this job done. After Denise had turned him down for a dinner date when she’d already said she would go out with him, he had been a bit angry about the whole thing.
After he’d calmed down and chugged a six pack, he decided that he just needed a different approach. So he had come up with the plan.
Dan had lured Rick into a guy’s night at the bar with some of their buddies from the team. It had been a while since they had done anything like that, so it was easy to guilt Rick into it.
It was actually a fun time hanging with friends and getting stinking drunk, especially Rick. Dan made sure of that. He kept buying Rick drink after drink until the guy could hardly stand up. The other guys kept encouraging him because Rick was the least likely guy to party that hard on the team. He was a bit of a health nut and he rarely partied to that extent.
After Rick was good and plowed, it was time for phase two of his plan. Dan began chatting up a few sexy girls at a table that was close by. One of the girls was a girl that Dan had dated briefly and occasionally had sex with. She was a fun girl and she was game for his little plan. Dan had arranged for Jessica to come over and flirt with Rick, which she did expertly.
This included making out with him slightly while Dan filmed it all on his phone. The other guys were so hammered they didn’t have the slightest clue what was going on. They just figured that Rick was enjoying himself a little too much.
Now Rick being the Boy Scout that he was of course came to his senses and realized that Jessica was not Denise. He moved her away from him and politely turned down her sexual advances. Dan had to laugh at it all. It didn’t matter; he had what he needed.
So now here he was watching the evidence for the fifth time. He attached the footage to an email and sent it to Alex. Alex was a popular blogger that Dan had befriended a while back. Within a day or two, this story would be all over the news that Rick was a partying like there was no tomorrow. It was to be expected after the injury, but he would be back to playing form in a few weeks. It wasn’t that tragic.
***
“I can’t believe it!” Ali said.
“That dog! How could he do that to you? That doesn’t seem like him,” Kelly added.
Denise groaned and tossed her phone down on a couple of magazines that littered her coffee table. She was thankful there had been magazines there to break its fall. Her head was spinning. She just couldn’t believe that Rick would cheat on her that way, and in public no less. She felt humiliated, angry, embarrassed, and deeply hurt. Her heart felt like it was broken into ten pieces and a sharp pain was stabbing her in the chest. She wondered if she was having a heart attack.
How dare Rick treat her that way?
“You’re better off finding this out now, rather than down the road,” Ali said.
“I know. Thanks. I just don’t know how I could have missed the signs,” Denise said.
“Did he really leave any signs?” Kelly asked.
“No. Rick was the perfect guy. He was perfect in every way. I just don’t get it.”
“Well, that’s the problem. If a guy is that perfect then he is usually a damn phony,” Ali said.
“How come you couldn’t have told me that before?” Denise asked.
“I didn’t want to worry you,” Ali replied.
“Well, thanks.”
Denise spooned another mouthful of chocolate ice cream in her face. It was one of the few things that helped at a time like this. At least until evening when it was acceptable to get hammered.
“I just don’t understand how I could have been so fooled. I’m stronger than that.”
“It’s not your fault. Quit blaming yourself, sweetie,” Ali said.
Denise smiled. She knew her friends meant well, but nothing could really help at a time like this.
The Final Chapter
Denise was amazed at how much fun she was having with Dan. After the interview went so well at the coffee shop, Dan had invited her back to his place for a few drinks. He had an amazing margarita maker he said, and he wasn’t lying. The man had some bartending skills.
He was also one of the funniest guys she had ever met and he helped get her mind off Rick. It had been almost two weeks since she had spoken to Rick. He had left her message after message telling her how it was all a mistake, but she couldn’t bear to speak with him. He had his chance and he had blown it. A man only got one chance with her like that; if they cheated on her then it was over.
Denise had been pretty hard on herself at first, but then she decided to just let it go and focus her attention back on her work and her life. She was going to move on, and she had done remarkably well. Rick had stopped trying to call. She figured he had received the message.
“So, are you all done with the interview questions for the piece?” Dan asked.
“Yeah, I’ve got more than enough. I might even be able to talk my boss in to letting me turn the sidebar into a full story on you. I think it would be pretty interesting,” Denise said.
“Nice. That would be great,” Dan replied.
“He was thrilled with the story on Rick, so doing another story about you should definitely be something he would be interested in.”
“I can see that. I would love that. Thanks. So how are you doing after the whole Rick thing?” Dan asked.
Denise couldn’t help but roll her eyes.
“It is what it is. If he’s that kind of guy then I’m glad I found out early on.”
“Well, Rick is my friend, but he has a bit of a reputation as a player,” Dan said.
“Thanks for the warning,” Denise replied.
“Well, he’s my friend. At the time, it wasn’t really my place to tell you that.”
“I get it. I can understand friend loyalty.”
Dan excused himself to the restroom.
Denise sat back and tried to get the thoughts of Rick Thomas out of her mind. She had managed to avoid those thoughts for almost five whole minutes. It was a new record for her and she was hoping to beat her high score.
Her phone started to ring right then. The ringer was on vibrate, which she didn’t remember leaving it on, but she had done crazier things. She grabbed the phone off the coffee table and touched the screen to answer it before she realized that it was Dan’s phone.
Crap! She had not meant to answer his phone.
“Hello?” Denise said.
“Yeah, is Dan there?” A female voice answered.
“I’m sorry he just stepped out. Can I take a message?”
“Sure. This is Alex. You can tell him that if he has anymore awesome videos like the one he sent me before then he should definitely hook me up.”
“Videos?”
“Yea, he will know what I meant. The guy should have a career as a practical joker after the way he set up that other guy in the club.”
What did she say?
“Will you give him the message?”
“Oh, yeah. I’ll give him the message,” Denise replied.
She sat Dan’s phone down on the table. What had she just heard? Did Dan set Rick up? Rick had tried to tell her that nothing happened with that woman. He said she had come on to him and he had rebuked her advances.
Was he telling the truth?
Dan came back from the bathroom, grabbed a beer from the fridge, and sat back down beside her on the couch.
“You okay? You seem upset about something,” Dan said.
He must have read the nasty look she was no doubt giving him.
“You just got a phone call. I accidentally answered it—you should probably lock your phone by the way—and I spoke to a very interesting woman.”
Dan looked like he had seen a ghost.
“You set Rick up?” Denise asked
“No, it isn’t like that…” Dan began. She could tell he was lying.
“What did you do? You get someone to come on to him while you filmed it? You make a bunch of money from selling your friend out like that to some media bitch?”
“Wait, Denise. That’s not what happened,” Dan said.
“I don’t believe you. Rick was right about you; you’ve been jealous of him since the start. You’re sick.”
With that she was out the door before Dan knew what hit him.
She had to talk to Rick. She hoped that he would understand how they had all been played.
***
“I love these Sunday morning walks,” Rick said, grabbing Denise by the hand.
They had started a routine of having Sunday breakfast at their favorite corner diner and then taking a romantic stroll down Main St., looking in all of the stores. It was a fun way to get out of the house and it was very romantic this time of year. It was still early enough in the day that the scorching summer temperatures were not beating down on them just yet.
“Me, too. It’s so peaceful this time of day,” Denise replied.
She couldn’t help but smile at the sentiment. It had been two weeks since she and Rick had rekindled their relationship. After she found out what Dan did, she had immediately gone to Rick’s to talk to him and explain. Rick’s temper flared a bit when she finished telling him the minute details about Dan. For the first time she saw real, true anger flashing in Rick’s eyes.
He was upset that someone he thought was his friend had betrayed him and tried to mess with his life that way. Rick didn’t even give a second thought to welcoming her back with open arms. She half expected that he would be mad because she hadn’t trusted him. She did not want that to ever be an issue between the two of them.
“So, what do you want to do today?” Rick asked.
“Well, there is that play I wanted to go see,” Denise replied. She had been trying to talk Rick into going to see “Annie” at the local college theatre. There was a traveling theatre group that was going to be there. Rick wasn’t exactly thrilled to be going, but he was being a good sport about it. With their busy schedules it was just tough going to find the best time to do it.
“Oh, okay. Well, I guess today is as good a day as any. We want to catch them before they leave town, right?” Rick said.
“You will like this play, trust me.”
“I never said I wouldn’t like it,” Rick said.
“Oh, I can tell. It’s like you want to roll your eyes really bad, but you are trying to hide your disdain.”
Rick laughed. “That is not even remotely true.”
“Oh, it totally is. I know you too well. You can�
��t hide that from me.”
Rick laughed. “Okay, you got me. I’m not that stoked to see “Annie.” Hell, I hated the movie, but if you want to see it then I’m all for it.”
“That is so sweet,” Denise replied.
“I’m a sweet guy.”
“You really are, but sometimes you are just naughty enough,” Denise said.
Rick cracked up. It always brought him to hysterics when she said corny things like that, but that was part of the reason why they worked so well together. Denise couldn’t believe that they had only been together for a little over a month, not counting those two weeks they were split up because of what Dan Richards did. The very thought of it made her want to scream.
Dan had actually been kicked off the team after Rick told the coach about what he did and Rick was really starting to suspect that Dan had hurt him on purpose too, but he would never be able to prove that. Regardless, the coach took Rick’s side and decided to suspend Dan. Dan flew into a rage and quit the team altogether. There were only a few more games left in the season anyway. Dan would probably get on somewhere else soon. He was a good player, but Rick would never have to worry about playing with him again and playing against him was going to be fun.
Denise wondered if Rick would take the chance to do a cheap shot on Dan and injure him. She would have been fine with this since she had always believed in revenge when it was properly warranted, but she wasn’t sure if Rick was wired that way. He would always hate Dan for what he did, but Rick wasn’t the kind of guy to let revenge fuel his brain.
She liked that about him.
They were just rounding the corner from Main St. onto Jacobs Ave. when they heard the car engine behind them. Denise did not have time to even turn around or process what was happening until it was too late.
She whipped her head around to the sound of a car engine being gunned right behind her. It was so close she could smell the exhaust and she could hear the radio playing in the car. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of the car only feet from her, barreling down about to run her over. Her life was going to be done. She knew that with utmost certainty.