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“Out for air. What’s up?”
I answered to the voice of my best friend on the other end of the line. His voice was calm but cautious and I dropped my leg from the bench, knowing my moment alone was over.
“You need to get back to the house.”
“Why, what is it?”
“You’re on the news again.”
I scoffed, “When am I not on the news, Bing?”
“Just get back here, Troy.”
I ended the call, glanced once more at the object of my attention. The swing slowed and the woman stopped it but the smile on the child’s face had clearly not been affected and the image would stay with me as I turned away and continued my jog.
“There had better be some good reason why you interrupted my routine, Bing,” I said as I walked to the refrigerator, pulled out the pitcher of cold water and poured it into the glass waiting on the counter. I took a long gulp, waiting for Bing to tell me what was going on.
The jaw on his angular face was set hard, and his mouth formed a tight line. It wasn’t completely unusual for Bing. He typically looked intimidating; it was his brand. Letting out a sigh, he ran a hand through his black buzz cut and walked over, sliding the tablet he was holding across the stone countertop.
“What?”
“I have no idea how they keep doing it,” Bing said, his worried expression pulling his dark brows close together. “But they seem to beverygood at their job.”
My jaw flexed as I scanned the headline. My eyes caught on images of myself and several other women, and the meaningless content. I scoffed as I pushed the tablet away.
“They could have asked for a better photo. I really don’t like that one.”
“Seriously?” Bing’s dark eyes shot daggers through me, frustrated that I was missing the point.
“What?” I asked, feigning nonchalance. This really was getting annoying.
Bing shook his head as he grabbed a glass from the cabinet and poured from the water pitcher I had left on the counter. I was trying to show patience but was slowly losing it–I really wanted Bing’s thoughts.
“What?” I repeated, my voice snapping, impatience thinly veiled this time.
“What?” Bing mocked. I was really tiring of this word. “Are you really going to pretend you don’t see how that article doesn’t do you any favors?” He waved in the general direction of the tablet, clearly frustrated with me now.
I glanced at the tablet and kept my grimace hidden.
“So some tabloid’s spewing about me for clicks. Again. Am I supposed to get riled by every little piece of gossip about me?”
“Considering the fact that this is the third one in the last week, I would say it's more than enough reason for you to take it seriously, Troy.”
“Exactly—it’s the third one in the last week, and there’s a chance some other blog’s going to post something else about me before the day’s over. I’m not worrying myself about this, Bing, and frankly, I don’t think you should either. If anything, it’s even more publicity and we all know there’s no such thing as bad publicity.”
Bing calmly took a sip of water, clearly trying to think over his next words.
“No,” he finally said, a little quietly but gathered strength. “No. No. This kind of noise is getting way too distracting, Troy. There was a time when it might have been cool and frankly it would’ve been another star on your shoulder, but this is not some hot twenty-something bachelor exploring his options. You’re older now. They’re dissecting your trysts with all these women and saying you’re merely taking advantage–”
“Oh, come on. That’s bullshit and everyone knows it. It’s not as if I did anything wrong with any of them—we had fun, and it didn’t work out. But it was completely consensual, and everyone had a good time.”
“Maybe, but I bet what’s going to draw attention for everyone that reads that article is the fact that you can’t seem to keep a woman—which is the clickbait.”
“And since when am I supposed to care what the fuck they think of my personal life?”
“Since you still have a career, Troy. Believe it or not, this is not as entertaining as you think. It’s not a great look and could end up doing more harm than good.”
I put my glass in the sink as I walked away, “I’m not going to let some idiots who only want clicks determine how I’m going to live my life, Bing. Haven’t done that before and I don’t plan on starting now.”
