CHAPTER 26

A DATE

Back in L.A., Caleb was still having problems with his hometown of Enapay. The more famous he became, the more these people would talk about him. ESPN, a new cable network that had launched in 1979, asked Caleb if they could do a hometown story about him. They wanted his story, a story about a young man from a small town in Oklahoma who had gone through heartache and pain at a young age. His parents getting divorced, his brother killed in Vietnam, his sister dying in an accident, and his mom dying in that explosion. Caleb couldn’t stop ESPN from doing a story, but the coaches did step in and asked them to hold off on that. “There will be plenty of time to do that,” Coach Richert told them. “He hasn’t even started a game yet; you guys are doing this way too early in his career. Let’s see how this turns out before we start delving into his early life, please.”

Caleb, of course, was not happy about any of this. He didn’t want to talk about it and had no plans to ever go back to Enapay. Even though he had never been arrested for anything or even been questioned about any crime, he knew there was stuff out there that could not only ruin his career but put him in prison for a long time. Caleb had way too many skeletons in his closet, and he had to gather them up before they started stepping out of that closet.

Caleb called Johnny Caldwell that afternoon and talked to him about the whole situation.

“It is hard to control because of all the rumors about you in high school,” Johnny told him. “I’ve gone to a number of people that I heard were talking and asked them to keep their mouth shut or I would shut it for ‘em, but for everyone I shut up, two more come out of the woodwork. It’s like trying to step on cockroaches—there are way too many of them. What pisses me off is most of these people never had any dealing with you one way or the other. They just heard the stories and can’t keep their mouths shut because everyone wants their moment of fame, I guess.”

“Well, do you have any ideas on how to shut ‘em up?”

“Caleb,” Johnny said with a sigh, “short of me killing a couple of them and showing folks what would happen if they talked, I have no idea.”

“Johnny, I don’t want to kill people. There has to be a better way.”

“Well, you figure it out and I’ll do what you want.”

* * *

Caleb was lying in his bed that afternoon thinking about the people he’d hurt in Enapay. Now, he understood why he was like that at that time—he had read every psychiatric book he could get his hands on since he had been at CAU. In fact, he was so fascinated by psychology that he was considering majoring in it. Thanks to the change of his environment and his growing enjoyment in psychoanalyzing himself, he felt like he was starting to get a grip on who he was, for the most part. He considered just going back to Enapay and apologizing to many of the girls that he hurt, but he couldn’t wrap his mind around that. Would that bring on more trouble? Those girls are really angry; no telling what would happen if I showed up at their doorsteps. They might have a heart attack or just shoot me.

Caleb knew somewhere down the line, all the sex, pain, and drug addiction was going to come flooding out from some of these girls. He looked over at the Bible that Coach Axom had given him and actually picked it up. He figured he’d skim through it and see if it had anything promising like those psychology books. The havoc he caused in Enapay wasn’t normal, and he knew it. He was going to keep working on these really complex problems himself, and if he couldn’t figure it out, he might go talk with Coach Axom about it. Caleb trusted him.

Caleb meandered around for a while, lost in thought. He ate lunch and chatted with the guys for a while, then decided lying on his bed and reading a book was pretty nice and went back to his apartment to do just that. He was relieved that he hadn’t received a call from Anni and from her sore butt the last time, he didn’t figure she would just pop in to see him. He lounged in bed for a while, then picked up the phone and called Beth. “Whatcha doing?”

“I’m not doing anything,” Beth said, and Caleb could hear the smile on her face. “Just got home from church about 6, and I’m just watching TV and getting ready for bed.”

“Well, I was thinking maybe I could drive over there and we could go get something to eat and go see ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark,’” Caleb said. “I heard it’s really good.”

“Yes!” Beth said. “I’d love to do that. I live in the Paradise Apartments right down highway 60 from you. It’ll be a big complex on the left, and I live in building 4, apartment 10.”

“I’ll be there in 10 minutes,” Caleb said, swinging out of bed.

Beth cut in, “Give me 30 minutes—I need to get prettied up for you. I was getting ready for bed.”

Caleb chuckled. “See you in 30 minutes then.”

“See you soon!”

Caleb hung up the phone and hopped in the shower to wash, shave, and blow-dry his hair. He put on his clothes and some cologne, then went down and jumped in his Vette. He had never been on a real date before, so this was new ground for him. Thinking about being with a girl one-on-one was still a little nerve-wracking, but Beth talked so much it would probably be fine.

When Caleb knocked on the door, Beth came springing out in a cute, modest dress with frills. She smiled at him coyly. Mother Mary, this is one handsome man. She jumped up and hugged Caleb and said, “Thanks for calling! This will be fun.”

Beth made Caleb feel good—she was so pure and had a joy about her that was contagious. Caleb looked down at her and smiled. “You look fantastic tonight.”

The first thing she did when she slid into the Corvette was fiddle with the buttons. “I’ve never ridden in a Corvette before. How fun!”

Caleb was nervous watching her toying with everything. “I hadn’t either until I got this one. I’m kinda tall for it, but I’m getting used to it. So, where would you like to eat?”

“I don’t care, I’m not all that hungry,” she said as she rolled the windows up and down repeatedly.

Caleb sighed and reached over and slapped her hand away from the window buttons. “Me either, but the movie doesn’t start for a couple of hours. What should we do?”

Beth looked down at her hand, confused. Why did he just slap my hand? But when she looked up at Caleb again, she couldn’t help but smile. “Let’s go down to the beach and walk around,” she said.

“Great idea! I haven’t been to the ocean before; I haven’t had time since I’ve been here. How do I get there?”

Beth pointed and said, “Go west, young man,” and giggled at herself.

* * *

After about half an hour of pleasant talk on the way, they hopped out of the car and made their way down the beach. “That’s one bunch of water there; I haven’t ever seen so much water!” Caleb said with a smile. “And look at those big waves crashing in…WOW!”

Beth reached over and took Caleb’s large hand in her little small one and they walked along the beach for an hour, just talking about anything and everything. Beth was so easy to talk to; Caleb’s words just poured out of his mouth and she laughed and giggled the whole time. The sun was setting over the Pacific, and it was just spectacular—he had never seen anything like it. Beth put her hands around Caleb’s waist and stood on her tiptoes to reach up for his face. He lifted her up to him and gave her a very soft, loving kiss. It was easily the best kiss he had ever had, and Beth said with a soft sigh, “Best kiss ever.”

Caleb smiled.

* * *

When they arrived at the movies later that night, it didn’t take more than a few minutes of them standing out front before people started recognizing Caleb. He signed a couple of autographs, and before he quite knew what happened, there were twenty or thirty people lined up. People were taking pictures and wanting autographs. He hated all this attention, and it made him uncomfortable. Thankfully, the manager of the theater shoved himself through the crowd, snagged their arms, and led them inside.

“I have a private suite upstairs that’s really nice for celebrities like you, if you’d like to use it,” he said. “I’ll send a waiter up to get your drinks and snack orders. How does that sound?”

Caleb looked at Beth, and Beth looked at Caleb, and they both grinned. “Sounds good to us!”

Caleb sank into the chair next to Beth, head back in a deep sigh. “That’s the first time that has happened, but then again I don’t leave the campus much. Sorry.”

“I thought it was kind of exciting,” Beth giggled. “I felt like I was with a Hollywood star.”

Caleb laughed. “You’re with a country boy from Oklahoma who ain’t no Hollywood star. I just play football.”

She playfully jabbed him, grabbing his hand. She didn’t let go for the rest of the movie. And he was okay with that.

* * *

When it was over, they made a quick exit out the front and got in the car. “It’s late and I have class and football tomorrow, so I’d better get some shut-eye and would you PLEASE quit playing with the buttons in my car?”

Beth chuckled and folded her hands in her lap.

As Caleb walked Beth up to her apartment, she reached up and put her hands around Caleb’s neck. “This is the best date I’ve ever had. Thank you so much for asking me out.”

Caleb, relieved, replied, “You aren’t going to believe this, but it’s my first date ever. I just wasn’t too interested in girls until I met you. You’re special. Thanks for going out; we will do it again soon, okay?” Caleb reached down, gave her a kiss, saw her into her apartment, and went home.