From Bringston, With Love

Chapter 5: Cracks in Mr. Perfect

"Is this what you wanna do," Damon questions loudly as his teammates meet Lando at the mound just before Damon gets there. Damon pulls some of them back saying, "Back up, I'm not tryna fight." Then he asks Lando again, "Is this what you wanna do? Do you want to embarrass yourself and us in front of all of those eyes watching us, in front of the media? This weekend is supposed to be about HBCUs versus everybody, not me versus you. When I came here I wasn't trying to take your spot or anybody's spot. I didn't come here to boost my brand or to outshine anyone else. I made a conscious decision to share my resources with the baseball program because they needed support at the time. There is room for all of us to shine. We can either make each other look like fools out here fighting each other or we can play ball the right way, and show the world the unrecognized talent that has been overlooked at HBCUs for far too long. The choice is up to you." Damon looks directly at Lando before finally walking back to the pit. Lando decides to finishes the game clean.

After the game, Marcus grabs a drink in his office with one of the guest coaches, Terry 'TNT' Tucker, who he played with in the minors. Terry made it to the majors, but he didn't get there solely based on his talent. He took PEDs too. Terry let Marcus know that he is about to get outed for taking PEDs in his early years in the league. Terry is unsure of how he should handle the situation so Marcus encourages him to get ahead of it, and tell the truth himself. That way, his fans and supporters will hear it directly from him instead of the media. Terry pushes back.

"Just tell the truth. It's better that your supporters hear it from you anyway. Plus you only have a few more years left in the league anyway. You'll be set no matter what," Marcus says.

"Oh, so that's what this is about? You being jealous that I made it to the majors and you didn't? Now I'm just supposed to give up my final years because of some newfound code of honor you have?"

"I'm good," Marcus responds. "I'm the healthiest and in the best state of mind that I've ever been in, and I didn't have to to use drugs to be this way."

"Don't get all high and mighty on me now Marcus because we all know if you hadn't had a bad reaction to the PEDs, you probably would've continued to use them to make it to the big leagues just like I did." Terry storms out of the office.

It was at this moment that Marcus thought to himself about the fact that he had been taking medication for his bipolar disorder. He lied. He was his healthiest without drugs. He actually took drugs to be that way. He then decided that he should follow his own advice and leave the drugs alone.

Later that night, a concerned Simone goes to check on Damon after witnessing the commotion at the game. She walks up to his room. The door is open, but she still knocks and announces herself. "Hey, I saw what happened out there on the field today and I just wanted to check and make sure that you're okay." Damon is a little stand offish. "I appreciate you checking on me, but I'm good. Thanks..." Simone can sense that Damon is preoccupied and doesn't seem to want her there so she says, "Okay cool, I'll catch you later." As she walks toward the door, Thea is coming in. "My bad, was I interrupting something," Thea inquires. "No, you're good," Simone says. "He's all yours." As Thea goes to officially greet Damon, Simone turns back looking at them reluctantly before walking off.

The next day, Damon catches up with JR at the gym.

"I saw Celine in the stands yesterday. Did you get the chance to talk to her yet?"

"I thought about it and if my mom said that she doesn't know Xavier, then she probably doesn't. Maybe your dad just recalled it incorrectly. Plus, we took the DNA test and it said that we're not brothers so maybe we should just put it to the side and focus on the future."

"Oh, so that's how it is now? You got all the answers you need and now it's bump me and what I need?"

"Bro you know that's not what I said"

Damon interrupts. "All you ever care about is you and what you need. You never want to have the tough conversations. You've done it with the baseball team and that's what you did with your ex too right? When are you gonna stop avoiding things just because it gets a little complicated?"

"Woah, so we analyzing and each other now? Cause all this adoption stuff you keep pressing me about is the same stuff that has apparently caused some separation between you and Simone."

"This ain't got nothing to do with Simone"

"Are you sure about that? Because you drug her all the way with you to Chicago to help you get answers and now she's barely talking to you. Do what you gotta do, but just leave me and my mom out of it." JR leaves the gym.

When JR gets back to to the frat house, he finds Celine in his room.

"I hope you don't mind. One of your frat brothers let me in."

"It's all good. I was going to reach out to you to see if you were doing okay anyway. I'm sorry about whatever happened with Damon. I was just trying to help him out but if that comes at the expense of your peace of mind, you don't even have to worry about it, especially when he's being ungrateful," JR says as he puts his bags down.

"Wait, did you and Damon have a falling out?"

"Yeah, because he thinks that I'm some weak fool that runs away things get complicated."

Celine grabs JR's hand. Her voice gets a little shaky for a moment. "Well, I think it's about time that we both stop running." JR looks at her confused.

Damon is still in the gym working out when Thea walks by. She stops when she realizes that he is working out pretty intensely. "I only work out that hard when I have big things on my mind. You wanna talk about it?"

Damon responds, "It's all good. I don't want to bore you."

"You won't. Maybe we can grab a bite and talk about it?"

"So like, as friends or as a date?" Damon looks a little confused as he stands up to face her.

"Can it be both?"

Damon thinks for a second. "Aight bet, let me just shower, change and we can get going." Damon then gets a text from JR saying they need to talk asap. Damon looks at Thea apologetically.

"It's all good. Just handle whatever that is and come find me later."

Damon goes to meet JR and finds that Celine is also there. Celine apologizes for her prior behavior, and explains that she was not truthful when they spoke before. She in fact does know Xavier and she believes that she has the answers to his questions about his adoption. She believes that Damon is the baby in the picture that JR found in his Bible.

Check out Cracks in Mr. Perfect by Ne-Yo