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"So happy that my sad, tragic love affair brings you such joy."
Just then, Avery and Holly breeze into the dining room. Avery looks around from table to table until her eyes meet mine. She beelines towards me, Holly on her tail, like two women on a mission.
"You, Lily Valentine, are brilliant," Avery preens, which is never a good sign. She has that maniacal look in her eyes. "And Holly and I have an even more brilliant idea."
7
The Bachelorette
Lily
"What do you think of The Bachelorette?" Avery asks, staring at me like a maniac. She has the I-have-an-evil-genius-plan glazed looked in her eye, which means I'm about to be talked into doing something idiotic.
But honestly, what kind of stupid question is that? Both Holly and Avery know I loveThe Bachelorfranchise. We all do. We have girls' nights for the explicit purpose of screaming at the TV while bitching about the drama and contestants on the show. Every season and every episode is “the most dramatic inBachelorhistory.”
"You know I love it," I say hesitantly. I feel like I'm consenting to something without knowing what the fuck is going on.
"Have you read the article in The Buzz?" Holly asks, waving her phone in my face.
"Yes, and I want to know how she does it? Who leaked those photos?"
"We don't know," Holly shrugs as if battling Cassidy Tippett for a scoop is pointless. "But the story's gone viral. Everyone is obsessed with your love triangle."
"It's not a love triangle," I insist, discretely looking around the dining room. Sam still hasn't shown his face, and Chase is MIA. "Sam and I are just friends. I only brought him to make Chase jealous."
"And it worked famously," Riley adds. "But now you kinda like Sam too, and you still owe him a few dates." I shoot her a look. Why can't she just shut her mouth? I'm confused enough as it is.
"Exactly," Avery draws out with a grin, and she says it like I'm supposed to know what she means. At least seventy percent of the time, I have no clue what's running through her crazy ass head. "You owe Sam dates, and all of Northmen Nation is invested in your love life thanks to last night's entertainment."
"That's an exaggeration. No one cares who I date."
"I beg to differ," Holly cuts me off, tapping the screen of her iPhone. "Over three thousand comments and counting says otherwise."
Three thousand! I grab my phone and pull up the article again.Holy crap. She's right. More and more comments are popping up every second. People are debating and arguing over whether I should date Sam or Chase. The poll Cassidy posted has over ten thousand votes. Chase has caught up a little, but Sam still leads the popular vote fifty-two to forty-eight. And it looks like Cassidy has added more fodder to the article. She's included short bios of me, Chase, and Sam.Seriously, where does she find this shit?She even has information about Derrick Richardson and my dating history.What the fucking fuck?
I scroll down to Chase's profile. Cassidy details some of his sexploits, including the incident in London with his billet family. I was devastated when I had to read about Chase sleeping with this billet mom and her daughter. I wasn't under any illusion that Chase was celibate or waiting for me, but the whole situation was lurid and wrong and not anything like the boy I thought I knew.
Sam's profile is shorter and much more favourable. There is no way Cassidy is being unbiased. She's painting Chase as the bad boy and Sam as the knight in shining armour. No wonder people are clicking on Sam over Chase. After reading this shit, I'd click on Sam too. He's the sexy part-Scottish guy who opens doors for women and walks elderly ladies across the road while holding their groceries. By all accounts, choosing Chase will just lead to heartache. Sam is the safe choice, and Chase is the bad boy with the devilish grin, eagerly waiting to stomp my poor little heart into itty bitty pieces.
I turn back to Riley, Holly, and Avery. They're looking at me expectantly, but I still don't know what game they're playing.
"We have an idea," Avery chimes too brightly, and I already know I'm not going to like this idea. "Do you remember ‘The Blue and White Life’ segment I did with Ryan last spring?"
"Lily," a calm, masculine voice I'd know anywhere, calls my name from the doorway to the dining room, effectively cutting Avery off. Chase, along with Luke trailing behind him, walks swiftly toward me. A few other guys enjoying the buffet nod in greeting, including Ollie, who is stuffing his face with waffles with Hunter LaRoux and Daniel Drake. My parents, who I didn't realize were even here, wave from the other side of the room.
God, it's like having a live audience for my humiliation. And Chase looks awful.
His eye is purple and swollen shut. With training camp starting this week, I can only imagine how pissed off Coach must be. But even with the bruised face, Chase is still the most handsome man I've ever seen. I can't stop my heart from beating overtime at the sight of him.
"Speak of the devil," Riley mutters and takes a bite of a blueberry muffin.
"Can I talk to you?" Chase asks nervously. He's never nervous, so I don't know if this is a good "can we talk" or a bad one.
"Anything you want to say to Lily, you can say in front of us," Holly declares, like this is her business. "I'm the bride. No secrets at my wedding."
"Your wedding was yesterday," I point out. "You can't keep playing the bride card."
"I'm the bride. I can play it for as long as I want."
