Page 38 of Rumor Has It

But Wren’s great mood immediately soured when she made it back to her apartment only to find Andy sitting on her couch, clearly waiting for her.

“Hey,” Andy said, softly.

“Hey,” Wren offered. She dropped her bags unceremoniously in the cramped entryway.

Andy stood up. “I wanted to talk to you.” She started pacing. “I think us breaking up was a mistake.”

“You posted a photo that I specifically asked you to take down. A photo that is still up, I might add, on your Instagram and, you accused me of cheating on you. Then you stormed out.” So much for the great day Wren had been having.

“Well, you had a past with your teammate that you hadn’t told me about.” Andy crossed her arms over her chest. “I want to try and work this out with you, Wren. I don’t want to fight with you anymore.”

Wren sighed. “I wanted to tell you about my past with Rebecca, but I didn’t want to out her. You know how I feel about that. Everyone should get to come out on their own terms.”

Andy nodded, her blue eyes looked sad, truly. Her entire expression felt almost genuine for the first time in a really long time. Like how things had felt their last year of college. “Did you sleep with her?”

“I mean, yeah. I told you that. When we were teenagers at camp.”

“No, I meant since then. Since we broke up.”

“Since you dumped me?” Wren clarified, but she shook her head. “No, Andy. I haven’t slept with Rebecca since we broke up. I haven’t slept with anyone. Not that it’s any of your business.”

Andy’s eyes watered. “Can I take it back?”

Wren looked at her, really looked at her. She looked around their little apartment that they had never really bothered to unpack. She looked at their messy kitchen, all the dishes Andy had used while Wren was gone that she hadn’t bothered to wash. She looked at their one plant, wilting due to lack of water. “Where’s this coming from?” She asked. Andy’s words and actions weren’t aligned; and for the first time, Wren could see it.

“It’s coming from the fact that I love you.” Andy said, her voice breaking as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Wren looked at Andy, truly looked at her. Everything about this felt wrong. Alarm bells were ringing in the back of Wren’s mind. “What’s my jersey number?” Wren asked, not really sure where the question came from, but it suddenly seemed very important. The fact that Andy had never even seen her play hit her suddenly like a freight train.

“What?” Andy asked.

“I said, what’s my jersey number?” Wren couldn’t shake the feeling that Andy wanted Wren back for all the wrong reasons. She couldn’t believe that it had anything to do with love or feelings at all. It had everything to do with status. Wren’s fame had risen. This scandal with Rebecca had taken her farther into the limelight than she had wanted, but it was exactly the type of thing that Andy craved. That’s why she hadn’t taken Wren’s photo down. It was her most liked Instagram post to date. And the comment section had been filled with nasty things about Wren being a cheater. Wren had only checked to see if Andy had pulled the photo down. She shouldn’t have read what people had had to say. But she had. And Andy hadn’t said a single thing to defend her.

But if Andy was standing here, asking for a second chance, she should have done or said something, anything to clear Wren’s name. And she sure as hell should have taken that photo down.

Andy sighed dramatically, tears forgotten. “I don’t know Wren, six?”

“Eleven. It’s always been eleven.” Wren clenched her jaw. She felt like she could scream. She didn’t know how to prove that Andy wasn’t really in this for her, but she knew it. Deep down in her gut, she knew it, and it made her blood boil.

“Okay. Well, I’m sorry I didn’t know that.” Andy threw her hands up in the air. “Maybe I would have known if you had gotten me a jersey like you did everyone else.”

“I did,” Wren said, her voice getting louder. “It’s still in your closet with the tags on it.” She shook her head. “Take the photo down.”

Andy glared at her. “That was my coming-out post.”

“I’m not asking you to take the whole post down. I’m asking you to remove the photo of me from the hotel bathroom.”

“Wren, that’s my most liked and commented on post.” Andy said it so easily, as if that mattered more than how Wren felt about her photo being shared like that.

“Andy, I’m not asking you to delete the post. I’m asking you to take down that one photo. But you won’t. Because you don’t care about me. Not anymore. I hope you did at some point. But you haven’t since we’ve moved in together. Not since you got that contract. Not since you’ve become obsessed with being an A-Lister. Who told you to try and fix things with me? Was it your agent? Or did you come up with this plan all by yourself?”

“Fuck you, Wren,” Andy spat. “I’ve cared about you this whole time.” She gestured at herself. “So I don’t know your jersey number. You happen to play the most boring sport on the planet. You don’t know anything about me, either.”

“Yeah, you’re right about that. I never knew you were someone who would treat me like this. Get out of my apartment,” Wren said, gathering up her things from the floor. Screw their two-week arrangement. Wren shouldn’t have to put up with this shit.

“Our apartment. You can’t just kick me out.”

Wren let out a laugh, though there was absolutely no humor in it. “So, that’s what this is about. You’ve realized you can’t afford to live in Los Angeles now that you don’t have scholarship money without either living with me or a shit-ton of roommates. We agreed. You had two weeks to figure out what you were going to do. You’re down to four days. And Andy, I’m having the locks changed at the end. So figure it out.”