Chapter 9
To say that Kennedi Kincaid was in a full-on tizzy, at this point in time, would actually be an understatement. After waking up from the sweetest most enthralling dream that she’d had in a long, long time, she was more confused than ever. Despite her better judgement, she was falling in love with a star-athlete. Even worse that that, she was falling for an athlete who was pivotal to a series she had worked so hard to get greenlit and had invested so much hope into. Clearly, this was bad for business.
The more Kennedi thought about Dante’, the more convinced she was that she wanted to explore a relationship with him and see how feasible it would be to experience life with him by her side. But, she also figured, if she could discipline herself and look at her situation more strategically, she was close enough to the edge to reel herself back in from the brink – and avoid a romantic mishap – if the situation called for that. To get some guidance on what her next steps should be, Kennedi decided to do some old-fashioned homework.
As a reporter, a key aspect of her job was figuring out who knew what and asking the right people, the right questions, in the right context, in order to uncover the truth. What she wanted to know, in this case, was some background information on Dante’ Douglas – namely, his past relationships and whether or not he was currently seeing someone. To get to the bottom of it all, she felt compelled to do a little snooping and learn a little bit more about the object of her affection before she found herself way in over her head. To achieve her goal, she knew she would need to pull out the big guns and tap into her expansive, well-connected network of friends and associates.
Luckily for Kennedi, she didn’t have to think too long or too hard about where to turn. One of her closest friends, Monica Chavis, was the type who – if she didn’t have the answers to Kennedi’s questions in this context, she would definitely know who to ask. As soon as she decided to get in touch with her newly minted (though strategically unaware) informant, Kennedi rolled over to get her phone off of the night stand, rolled back to a supine position in bed, and scrolled down to Monica’s number in her list of contacts. For about 5 minutes, she stared at the number and wondered what she should do, if she was going too far. She knew, if nothing else, that in exchange for providing her with information, Monica would want to know why the information was valuable to her. She wondered if any of this was worth it – but that question didn’t linger long in her mind. Suddenly more convinced than ever that this was the way to go, Kennedi quickly pressed Monica’s number on her touch screen and waited patiently while it rang.
“Hey Kennedi,” Monica said, as soon as she picked up the phone. “It has been ages, doll!” she squealed, “to what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Hi Monica! First of all, let me say that the pleasure is all mine!” After a nervous chuckle, Kennedi continued, “I’m calling because I need your insight on a new story I’m working on. Is this a good time to chat?”
“Ooo, a new story. Sounds fabulous!” Monica said, primed and ready to contribute. “I’m about to get in line at the supermarket but I can talk for a second or two. What’s up? How can I help?”
“Well, I’ll try to keep it brief” Kennedi began. “So, I’m doing a story on Dante’ Douglas for the Weekly – you know, covering his journey from DSU to the NFL from a bunch of different angles.”
“Mmm hmm, mmm hmm,” Monica said, following along in the conversation.
“As I’m doing my reporting, I realize that I need to get a little more intel on his personal life – just so that I can get a more well-rounded view of who he is as a person.”
“OK, OK,” Monica said, sounding totally engrossed and like she might have some information to share. “What do you want to know in particular?”
As the conversation progressed, Kennedi began to feel more than just a little bit off. While it was indeed true that she was reporting a story and that she wanted it to be multi-dimensional, she wasn’t being exactly upfront with Monica about why she wanted this specific intel. Here she was claiming that Monica’s insight would help her develop an article when, in fact, that wasn’t quite the case. On a baseline level, Kennedi hated that was leveraging her profession and pulling the wool over Monica’s eyes for very personal reasons.
But, on the other hand, this conversation with Monica was just too easy. It looked like her unintended informant was buying her ruse hook, line, and sinker. With that being the case, she could definitely leverage this opportunity to get some good intel without showing her full hand.
In the end, Kennedi decided that, although it wasn’t the ideal situation or approach, she just might be able to get the information she needed, efficiently, and emerge from the conversation unscathed. Since that was the goal, she decided that this was the approach – and she would just have to cry about it later.
“Hey Kennedi,” Monica said, in a somewhat louder voice, “I’m not sure if my phone was breaking up but what do you want to know in particular?”
“Oh, OK. Well, tell me what you know about him? Or, better yet, tell me what kind of guy you perceive him to be?” In implementing her question-asking strategy, Kennedi decided to dance around the perimeter and not start off asking direct questions about Dante’s dating life. She figured that would be too obvious and she couldn’t chance it.
“Oh, well, I’ll have to say that I don’t know him that well, but I do know that he is quite the ladies’ man,” Monica offered.
Once again, on one level, Kennedi felt like this conversation was going way more swimmingly than she could have ever imagined. Without direct questioning, Monica was offering up the goods, and spilling the beans that Kennedi was interested in without much prodding.
Not sure what else to say, Kennedi followed with, “Really?”
“Oh yeah. Like, he’s not on the scene as much as the other football players and athletes are. You won’t necessarily catch him at all of the parties or anything like that. But, if he is out and about, he’s usually either already got a hot young thing with him or he’s about to get a hot young thing.”
“Hmm,” Kennedi said, thinking out loud and hoping that she wasn’t blowing her cover.
“Oh yeah, ladies love that dude,” Monica continued, gleefully. “And from what I hear, he’s happy to love each and every one of them right back!” she laughed, raucously.
“That’s interesting! I knew you could give me the buzz on the campus’ perspective,” Kennedi said, trying to get her cover back. “Now, tell me,” she began, about to dive into her most pivotal question, “does he have a girlfriend now?” she asked. “He could be a reformed ladies’ man. It may be good for me to connect with her and get her perspective.”
“Not that I know of,” Monica said, “from what I’ve heard, it’s kind of hard to tie him down. He’ll usually go out on a couple of dates and then say that he’s not interested in a girlfriend, that he just wants to have fun. Blah, blah, blah! You know, one of those.”
“Mmm hmm, I definitely know how they operate” Kennedi said, investing an enthusiasm in her voice that she didn’t really have.
“Hey Kennedi,” Monica interjected, “I just got in line at the grocery store and the line is moving faster than I thought it would.”
“Oh, OK,” Kennedi replied.
“Can I call you back?” Monica asked as the beep-beep of a cash register scanner played in the background.
“Oh, of course,” Kennedi said, relieved that her conversation with Monica played out the way it did.
After hanging up the phone, Kennedi took a moment to reflect. All in all, she thought her conversation with Monica had gone quite well. She was able to get the information she needed, in an efficient way, under a plausible guise. As far she could tell, Monica was none the wiser about her true interest in Dante’s love life.
Aside from her initial displeasure about not being completely up front with Monica, the only issue she had, and this was a biggie – she didn’t like the information she heard. From what she gathered, although she was interested in Dante’ and thought that they had made a connection, it was a good chance that he might not be interested in her in quite the same way. It’s possible that he was juggling a harem of girls at the moment and, at best, Kennedi would become one of many on his roster.
Not sure what to do with the information she’d just received, Kennedi hopped out of bed and got herself ready to return back to campus. After a restful nap, an intriguing dream, and a mandate to get out of bed (since her 3:00 PM appointment was less than an hour away), Kennedi knew she had to get up, get to her meeting, and figure out the Dante’ stuff much later.