Page 32 of Rumor Has It

She asked her third question about places they could potentially grab dinner when Rebecca’s hand slid into her own with a gentle squeeze. Wren’s eyes shot down to their hands, and then over to Rebecca’s face. Her hazel eyes were still watery, but a small goofy grin had slid in place.

“What?” Wren whispered, worried that the driver might be listening.

Rebecca let out a small laugh. “You’re interrogating this man for dinner options.” Rebecca made eye contact with the driver through the rearview mirror. “I’m awfully sorry, sir. We’ve had just the worst week.”

He let out his own small laugh. “It’s okay. It happens. Are you two here for business?” He had an accent that decidedly did not match the Minnesota scenery. Wren guessed East Coast, maybe Boston, even.

She sank back into her seat and let Rebecca be in charge of the conversation for the rest of the ride. Thankfully, it was brief, and soon enough they had pulled to a stop in front of their hotel. Wren was oddly sad when Rebecca released her hand to climb out, but she didn’t let her thoughts linger on that. She still didn’t want to address what it might mean. Instead of facing her deeper issues head-on, Wren had spent her time away from Rebecca conditioning, stressing, and trying to separate her stuff from Andy’s.

Their room was much the same as the two they had shared before. Two queen sized beds, a small bathroom, weird art that Wren would never understand how or why hotel chains selected it. It was also silent, cramped with the weight of the week.

They both tried to talk at the same time. “Rebecca, I’m so sorry,” fell from Wren’s lips at the same time as Rebecca said, “I’m sorry about Andy.”

Wren slammed her hands in the pockets of her joggers. “Yeah, well. She never took that photo down, and she really did not react well to the fact that I lost my virginity to you. So. It was just a breakup waiting to happen, honestly.” Wren stepped around their luggage and paused, not knowing if Rebecca would actually appreciate a hug from her. “I’m much more concerned about you being outed.” Her hands fidgeted out of her pockets. “Can I hug you? I don’t want to overstep.”

Rebecca pulled her into a desperate hug. “I’m sorry. Seriously, Wren, about everything.”

Wren’s arms looped easily around Rebecca’s waist. “I know, Rebecca. I know. I’m sorry Coach T benched you. That’s shit. It’s honestly shit.”

“I was so worried they were going to kick us off the team. I’ll take being benched for a game. I just have to hope whoever plays in my spot doesn’t do as good of a job.” She buried her face in Wren’s shoulder and sighed.

“What happened with your parents?” Wren asked gently. She gripped tighter when she thought Rebecca might be pulling back.

Rebecca groaned. “They called me the morning after the article came out and asked if it was true. My best friend was there. We kind of had an ice cream and cry night beforehand. We watched Bend It Like Beckham and braced for the joy that is the Rothschild family.”

Wren laughed and pulled back a bit. “God, that should have been a sapphic film.”

“Thank you! I tell everyone that.” Rebecca let go of their hug, but she didn’t step back. She just needed to gesture with her hands. She looked down between them. A look of guilt passed through her hazel eyes. “My parents were pissed.” She scrunched up her face. “I think they’ve probably considered calling my oldest brother about going all lawyer mode on the magazine. Defamation or something to that extent, but I told them to just leave it alone.” She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair before continuing. “They don’t know. Like, about camp. They don’t know. I told them that we’re just teammates and working on being friends and that they can’t do anything that might make this worse for you.”

Wren’s eyes watered again. “Thank you, Rebecca. Seriously. How’d they take the rest of it?”

Rebecca shook her head. “They hardly even addressed it. I actually think they’re pretending it’s not real. My mom asked a clarifying ‘you’re a lesbian?’ And that was pretty much it.” She wiped at her eyes and cleared her throat. “I genuinely don’t know if they’ll ever say anything else about it.”

“That’s so messed up.” Wren pulled her back into a hug. She didn’t really know what else to do or say. It was royally messed up, and Rebecca deserved better than that. “Do you want to order pizza and watch shitty sapphic movies all evening?” She let go of Rebecca and backed up, trying to get a read on the taller woman. The reality was that she hardly knew her teammate. Sure, they had a past, but they had barely been more than kids. She didn’t really know this Rebecca well at all. That’s what had made Molly’s question so complicated. Wren knew how she’d felt at sixteen, but now? At twenty-two? She had no idea, just a lot of confusing, unresolved emotions.

Rebecca nodded, and oh she looked so devastated it made Wren’s heart hurt. “Yeah, that would be nice.”

“Okay, yeah. What kind of pizza do you like?” Wren asked, softly.

“Pineapple and ham,” Rebecca said, trying to stop the flow of her tears.

Wren scrunched up her nose. “Okay, because you’re having a rough week, I’m going to not judge you for that. But next week, you might get a scathing text.”

Rebecca let out a watery laugh. “Fair.” She sniffled and sighed. “Do you care if I take a shower? I’m a mess.”

“Nah, go for it. I’m going to order two pizzas and cheesy bread and see what we can stream that’s sapphic.” Wren pulled her phone out of her back pocket and started looking for a nearby pizza place.

“Hey, Wren?” Rebecca asked, her voice still filled with emotion.

Wren looked up, her greens eyes locking on Rebecca. “Yeah?”

“Thank you. You’ve had every reason to hate me this past month. And I just… Thank you.”

“I’ve never hated you, Rebecca,” Wren said softly, the truth of the words warming her from the inside out. She nodded back to the bathroom. “Go on. Get cleaned up. I’m going to see if I can find us a classic.”

Wren got their pizzas ordered and managed to find Imagine Me & You on a streaming service. She got it all ready to go, though she wasn’t entirely sure how they’d watch it on her laptop from separate beds. Maybe Rebecca had a way to get it to play on the hotel TV. The water had just cut off in the bathroom, so she figured she’d be safe to change into lounge clothes: baggy sweatpants over her loose, sleep boxers and a baggy LAU Grizzlies T-shirt. She moved quickly and efficiently, not wanting to add anything awkward between her and Rebecca, ensuring that she finished changing in plenty of time. Enough so that she had time to unload her suitcase into the bottom two drawers of their shared dresser, following the unspoken system they had used for the past two times they shared a room.

Rebecca emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later wearing a button-down shirt and sweatpants. Wren couldn’t help but let out a laugh. “Um, Rebecca?”