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With that, she gets up and heads up to talk to her security team. It’s not long after that they take her to get ready for her big meet and greet. I stay and watch the rest of the game. The Courage wins, but I barely cheer. I just make notice of all the people that are staring at me and the whispers that come along with it.
After the game and the meet and greet with Serena, Jess and I go grab a drink. We’re in a hole-in-the-wall bar, sipping on margaritas.
“So, I saw you sitting with Serena.” Jess finally brings up the elephant in the room. We’ve covered the game and how they played, but I’m sure she was itching to talk about this sooner.
“She kind of took over my section. I didn’t really have a choice.”
“She seems fake,” Jess remarks.
“Thank you!” I cry out. “Everyone loves her, but Jess, she’s just evil. She made it so hard to enjoy the game.”
“If you want to come back next weekend and watch us…”
“I will,” I tell her.
“All this crap about you taking her man… it’s not true, is it?”
“You could tell that it was fake?” I ask. I’m surprised, but hopefully if Jess saw through it, others did too.
“She just seems so fake. I hated having to pose for pictures with her. It was all about the photo op with her. I mean, I’m good at reading people, so I knew something was wonky with her. But a lot of the other girls were all giddy at the thought of her.”
I roll my eyes. “She has that effect on people.”
I think she picks up on the fact that I’m not comfortable talking about her. I keep looking around and making sure that no one can hear us. So, she changes the subject. We move on to other topics about the upcoming games and my training schedule. After about two hours, we’re both beat, and I’m headed home.
Glancing at my phone, I realize I never bothered to answer any of the messages from Derek. I don’t know that I want to anymore. It’s only a little after ten here and not nearly as late in LA. His night is just getting started, but I don’t feel like talking. I shoot him a message letting him know we’ll talk tomorrow and turn my notifications off. I can’t deal with the world anymore. I go home and take a long hot shower before climbing into bed, where I can ignore the world. A quick peek at Instagram told me that was a great idea. There are pictures of Serena and me all over.
She’s such a fake bitch, I think to myself as I drift off to sleep.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Things don’t look any better in the morning light. I see I have more voicemails from Derek. They’re mostly him telling me he loves me and saying it doesn’t matter what time I wake up; he wants to talk to me. But I don’t feel right waking him up early in the morning in LA. I decide to wait until it’s at least ten o’clock his time, which makes it two o’clock my time.
Thankfully, I have no clients today or any commitments. It’s a Monday and it feels like a big one. I just lie around on the couch and watch trashy TV. I text back and forth with the realtor about the house in Corolla. She thinks she might have some offers for me to review by the end of the week. It’s great news for my mom. I’ll be sad to see the house go, but I know it’s for the best. I’ll review those offers for my mom, but ultimately, she’ll make the decision based on my recommendations.
One o’clock rolls around, and he calls.
“Hey,” I say as I answer the phone.
“Hi,” he says. He sounds like shit.
“Are you okay? You don’t sound so good.”
“I’m worried, Audrey. I know what she’s like, and I’m worried she filled your head with bullshit ideas and now you’re bailing on me. Aiden says you wouldn’t do that, but I don’t know, babe… This call feels like goodbye.”
I sigh.
“That’s not a good sound,” he tells me.
I laugh into the phone. “Sorry, it was just a very long game. I like going to those games, and I never dreamed she would show up there. But she chose that place because she knew I would be there. I can’t even imagine having that kind of power.”
“She’s a trip.”
“Do you have that type of power?” I ask him. I want to understand the full weight of his celebrity. Some of the things Serena said to me bothered me more than I’d like to admit.
“I guess, yeah… I could. I could shut down a soccer stadium section and have some alone time with you, if that’s something you’d be into.”
“No, I wouldn’t ask you to do that. But if you ever went with me to see my friends play, I guess you would have to.”
