West: did I mention you’re also arrogant?
Anthony: guilty
West: if I ask you a question, will you tell me the truth?
Anthony: it depends on the question, but probably
West: why did you clone my old number when you first texted me?
Anthony: because I figured you’d be more likely to open my text if the number caught your attention
Anthony: and because I knew it would fuck with you
West: why did you tell me about M cheating on me?
Anthony: do you want the full truth or the sanitized version?
West: the full truth
Anthony: because I wanted you to know that she betrayed you
West: but why? Why did you care if I found out she cheated?
Anthony: because this has been months in the making and I wanted you to know the truth so you didn’t keep letting her play you
West: she just cheated a few weeks ago…
Anthony: maybe physically, but she’s been emotionally checked out for a lot longer than that
I’m probably revealing too much of my hand right now, but I’m still riding the high from our win tonight. I’m feeling reckless and wild, and I don’t want to hold back.
West: you think so?
Anthony: I know so. It’s not like she was hiding it
West: what do you mean?
Anthony: are you sure you want to go there?
West: yes. Tell me what you mean
Instead of typing out an answer, I open my gallery and add almost a dozen photos to my text, then send it.
The pictures are screenshots from McKenna and West’s stories over the past few months. All the photos are selfies or shots of them posing together, and you can see the changes in McKenna’s body language as you look at the photos in chronological order.
The first was taken a few weeks after they announced their engagement, and they’re all smiles and holding each other soclose their faces are smushed together, and their clothes and hair are all askew. They look like a couple in love, but that energy shifts as you look at the others in the text.
Their smiles get progressively dimmer and less genuine, and they go from posing like they can’t keep their hands off each other to making sure they hit their angles and show off their fits. In one of the pictures, they’re taking a selfie in a car before attending some gala. In it, West is leaning all the way over the console to get them both in the shot while McKenna is sitting as far away from him as possible, and they both look uncomfortable as hell. In another one, they’re sitting with a group of her friends at some restaurant, but instead of leaning into West, McKenna has her arm around one of her girlfriends with her back fully turned to West as he awkwardly leans closer to them and smiles, like he’s not sure if he’s supposed to be part of the photo.
I wait a few more seconds, then send a screen recording I took of one of the videos McKenna posted to her stories over spring break. They’re posing together in front of a mirror in a hotel room, and it seems like they’re more focused on showing off how they look than they are on each other. After a few moments of that, West snuggles up to McKenna’s side and gently tips her face toward his and gives her a kiss. She kisses him back for a few seconds, then abruptly pulls away. But just before the video ends, she shoves his hand off her waist and rolls her eyes as she walks away from him.
Individually, the photos, and even the video, don’t necessarily mean anything, especially since they’re only a small sample of the many things she posts to her stories daily. But they paint another picture when you look at them all together like this.
He doesn’t answer for another full minute, and I type out a text.
Anthony: are you there?
I’m not expecting an answer, but the little dots pop up and stay up as he presumably writes and erases several messages based on how long it is before I get his answer.
