AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Why?”
“Because I wanted to talk to you.”
“Out with it then,” I say. I know for a fact that I’m not going to want to hear anything she has to say. But I’ve got no other choice. At this point, I’ll draw more attention to myself if I leave.
“We have all game. What’s the rush?” she says with a laugh. She points over to the jumbotron. “Look at that, we’re on the big screen.” Serena, of course, loves the camera and egging it on. She stands up and waves. Pulling me by the arm, she gets me to stand too. “Wave,” she instructs me.
I roll my eyes, hating that I listen to her, and she pulls me in for a hug and rubs my back. I pull away quicker than she’d like, but still, she maintains that composure and that optic she’s so interested in, continuing to please her public.
“Come on, you could at least get something about of this. Make yourself famous since you have a famous man,” she comments. “Or do you not know how to use your relationship to your advantage?”
I’m sure my disgust is clear on my face, and she laughs at me.
“Come on, kiddo. You can’t be that naive. Use it to your advantage. Make that Beachbody platform you’re on even bigger. If you wanna be with Derek, then you better learn how this world that he’s in works. And figure out how you fit and how you can get a piece of it for yourself.”
I don’t like what she’s said. I hate how she looks at things and the world as a whole. I don’t want anything from Derek. I don’t want anything in my world to change. I get that it will, given his position, but I’m not using him for anything.
“I guess that’s where you and I are different,” I tell her. “I don’t want anything from Derek. People have used him his whole life. I won’t be one of those people.”
“Grow up.” Serena shakes her head at me. “The type of things those people wanted from him aren’t the same. Couldn’t even compare.”
“You know about it?” I ask her.
“Sure, we talked about those things.”
“I highly doubt that,” I snark at her.
“Yeah, well, you don’t know him as well as you think you do, honey. Take it from me, you don’t fit with Derek. Just give him back to me, and we’ll call it no hard feelings.”
“And if I don’t? Is this PR campaign of niceness going to stop?”
“No, it won’t. Seems my friends like it when I’m the bigger person.”
We sit in silence. I want to move several chairs away from her, but I can’t. Finally, at halftime, I rise from my seat. “I need to use the bathroom.”
“Thanks for the notice,” she replies dryly.
I’m not sure why I announced where I was going, but it was stupid of me. I hope when I return, she’s not here. And if she is, maybe we can sit in silence for some more soccer.
When I return, of course she’s still sitting there, holding a smaller version of the popcorn that I have and a beer. She’s smiling and waving at fans who have tried to come close to get a picture.
“I’ll take pictures when the game is over. Let’s keep supporting the Courage.”
I roll my eyes behind my sunglasses; thankful she can’t see me do it.
“Oh, good your back,” she tells me.
“I thought about leaving,” I tell her. “But I’m here to watch the players. I actually care about them.”
“You don’t have to care about them to be here. Please, this isn’t all about them. A lot of these people are here filling up their little stadium because I’m here.”
“You really are a dreadful person.”
“Oh, knock it off. I’m not dreadful. I’m just not naive to how the real-world works. You think Derek isn’t like this? Well, think again, sweetheart. Spend enough time with him, you just might find out that you’re not with the man you thought you were.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Believe what you want to believe, but I don’t want you to wake up one day and realize you have no clue who the man you’re sleeping next to is, Audrey. Hate me all you want and ignore me all you want, but one day, you’ll see I’m right.”
