Page 36 of Game Plan

“Yes. I really love him, and I can picture us going the distance. I just hope that whatever he’s dealing with, it is fixable.” She paused. “He started seeing a shrink last week. I didn’t know. He told me yesterday. I think he confided in Jett, and my brother recommended someone. He’s making an effort, and just that is worth a lot in my mind, don’t you think?”

“I do. You’re lucky. I agree that if he wants to do better by you, seeing a therapist to deal with his past is a great first step. It helped me a lot last year when I was dealing with stuff. I hope it will be beneficial for you two.”

“It will. I have a great feeling about it.”

“Is Jett still sleeping on Shawn’s couch?”

“Nope. He moved back to his own place yesterday morning. It was about time. Shawn and I need some space to work on our relationship. If my dorm had been coed, I would have let him crash there instead, but they had some guys’ bonding time, so it’s all good.”

I grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “I’m happy for you. How’s the support group’s project going?”

“Girl, you won’t believe it. It’s growing faster than I could have ever imagined. We met with the chancellor, and he said we could count on him and the university to back our designated driver service initiative on and around campus, to help keep people from driving under the influence. His grandson was killed by a drunk driver twenty-something years ago, so the cause speaks to him. We have almost three thousand signatures so far. We all know that even if the drinking age is twenty-one, nobody respects it, which means college campuses are our perfect audience. Local businesses wanna partake in our pilot project, so we’ve decided to extend the service offer up to two miles around the university for now. We’ll see how it goes, and then we’ll decide if we extend it further or keep it around campus only. That press release you helped us write has helped tremendously. I have six requests from local news stations for interviews, and three colleges, one in California and two in Texas, have contacted us because they are interested in implementing the service on their own campuses once the pilot project is over and we have some data to share. Students are filling out the form online to volunteer. In the best-case scenario, we’ll be able to start around Thanksgiving.”

“Just in time for the holidays. Your timing couldn’t be better. Have you decided how it will work?”

“Yes.” She clasped her hands before her, practically vibrating with excitement. “We’ll have like a headquarters, which will be a small office in the social sciences building. It will also act as a call center. We’ll have four volunteers taking the calls and dispatching the drivers, also volunteers. The driver teams will be made of three people—three sober people—and their shift will last four hours. Two of them will drive the not-so-sober caller’s car to the destination, and the other will follow in one of our vehicles to pick up the volunteers once the customer has been dropped off. I saw a documentary about a service like that in another country, and it gave me the idea.”

I admired her contagious enthusiasm. She reminded me of Paige whenever she tried new cupcake recipes and was excited to have us taste-test them. It felt like forever since the last time I couldn’t shut up about something that fired me up so much it was all I could think about. Sure, I liked my life here, my friends, my classes, and my sport, but I often felt like something was missing, and I couldn’t pinpoint what it was exactly.

“Brilliant. Where did you get the vehicles from?”

Jules smiled. “A local dealership is our main sponsor and is lending us four vehicles. The volunteers will be wearing either shirts, sweatshirts, or hats with their logo on them, and all our marketing material will be showcasing their brand too. They are tiny, fuel-efficient cars. Easy to drive and to park. The dealership received a batch of lime-green vehicles that won’t sell, so they are perfect for us. I’m hoping it’s so successful that we can get more vehicles by the end of the winter semester.”

“That’s really smart.”

“Thank you. Shawn and I even came up with a name last night. It needs approval by the committee—and the university—first to make it official, but I think it fits perfectly.”

I lifted a brow as if to say Keep going.

“Home Alive Driving Buddies. Or HADB for short. What do you think?”

“I love it. Do you think we have time to grab coffee from Hot Shot before our next class? I was hoping to talk to Cassie for a minute. Our schedules never match, so we’re barely ever in our room at the same time.”

“If we hurry, yeah. I’m desperate for an espresso anyway.”

“How was training this morning?” Donovan asked as we met at the door of the sports center.

“Good.” It took me a few weeks to get used to these early college training sessions, but now I enjoyed them because they helped me clear my head and shot me with energy for the rest of the day. “Coach thinks I have a chance to make it onto the podium, at least in the Women’s 100-meter backstroke event at the conference meet next week.”

“With your talent and discipline, I’m sure you will. Seriously, you’re faster than the senior who collected the most medals last year. I understand why they recruited you.” He circled my neck with an arm and pulled me to him for a quick side hug before letting go of me. “Are you going to your next class right away, or do you need to stop by your room?”

“I’m meeting Cassie for breakfast in”—I looked at my watch—“ten minutes. We have so much catching up to do. See you after lunch in English class?”

“Yes. I’ll be there. Save me a spot. I might be five minutes late.”

In a weird twist of fate, Donovan and I shared many classes together this semester, which made things easier with our training schedules and study sessions.

“All right. I gotta run.” I waved at him as we parted ways in the parking lot.

I spotted Cassidy the minute I entered Eggcited, the breakfast joint on the outskirts of campus. She gestured to me, and I edged my way through the patrons toward her table at the far back. The little restaurant’s decor was all but trendy. Upholstered chairs with mismatching floral patterns, maple wood tables with golden trims that seemed to be from another era, terra cotta tiled floor, yellowed cream wallpaper with pictures of chickens covered by paintings of farm animals and dairy products. The entire place was a bit overwhelming to the eyes, but the food was good, the servings generous, and the prices reasonable for any college student. On school days, they offered discounts on all breakfast served before nine, which meant it was always full to the brim before the first class of the day.

My friend nodded toward the steaming mug of coffee set on the table. “I took the liberty of ordering this for you.”

I removed my jacket and hung it on the free-standing coat rack to the left of our table before sitting down and curling my hands around the warm mug to bring it to my mouth, the scent of caffeine filling my nostrils. “Thank you. I’d been dreaming about coffee since I opened my eyes at five thirty.”

“I have no idea how you can swim and train so early in the morning with just a protein shake in your system.”

“It takes my stomach a few hours to wake up. I’m always starving afterward, though.”