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“Calm your farm, Drew, I’m getting there, okay? Anyway, so today we met again to pick up where we left off. It was hell, by the way. Like pulling teeth. She may be smart as balls, with a sharp tongue to match, but she’s as awkward as a priest in a whorehouse.”
“Bear, hurry it the fuck along. My patience is hanging by a thread right now.” Yes, Mein Führer.
“Well the conversation had gotten to the point where I had to refrain from squirming, and I was jack of it, so I decided to switch things up. I turned the tables, and put her in the hot seat. She didn’t like it at all, and when I had her back totally against the wall, she started fiddling with her ears. I was watching her hands, and boom! There it was. Some silver dangly earrings with the exact same pattern as the one on the wall.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’d bet my life. Besides, it makes sense of the fact that she was asking probing questions about you, today.” I nodded toward Xavier.
“What the fuck do you mean?”
“Exactly what I said. When you called me yesterday, she watched me take the call, and must have seen your name flash up on the screen. She didn’t say anything then—not that she had the choice, as I hightailed it out of there without even bothering to say goodbye properly.”
“So she knows we know each other?”
“Exactly. So then half way through the conversation today, she started asking me about you.”
“What exactly did she say?”
“She inquired about the nature of our friendship and what that friendship said about me as a person.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning she wanted me to say how our association reflects on me. It was fucking weird, to be completely honest.”
“So what did you say?”
“That we’re deeply in love and plan on marrying soon after graduation. I didn’t confirm or deny that we were friends, and I told her that the company I keep off the field is none of her fucking business, as it isn’t relevant to the article. What the fuck do you think I’d say?”
“Watch your mouth.” I stared him down. I was in a shitty enough mood during the interview before I noticed the earrings, let alone after, and I had no patience to put up with Xavier’s bullshit. Something in my eyes must have told him that I meant business, as he didn’t say anything else.
“So then what happened?” Drew cut in, ever the faithful barrier between Xavier and the rest of the world.
“She tried to say that it was relevant as it spoke to the kind of leader I am, but I continued to shut it down. The conversation moved on, and the rest you know. I played it cool around the earring, but made my excuses and left.
“Well, that makes sense of why she called me for an interview also.”
“What? Four pairs of eyes were suddenly trained on Xavier.
“When the fuck were you going to tell us?”
“I’m telling you now, aren’t I?”
“Yeah, way after the horse has bolted.” Drew wasn’t even bothering to try to conceal his contempt.
“What horse?”
“Well, you didn’t think it was a big coincidence that Bear was being interviewed, and then the same editor comes sniffing around you?”
“Bear is the captain of the football team.” As if we didn’t all know that. “A certain amount of interest and scrutiny is to be expected. And I’m me, so ditto. I saw no connection between the two, until now.”
“So why did she want to interview you?” Kane was clearly trying to defuse the growing tension between Xavier and Drew.
I didn’t blame him. The last thing we needed at that point was for the two of them to have one of their blowups. Even more so for me, as I was usually the one called to break that shit up, which, inevitably, neither of them thanked me for.
In fact, there had been times where I’d ended up Public Enemy Number One after intervening, and they’d patched up their toxic friendship by coming together against a common foe, leaving me out in the cold.
These days I was more inclined to watch them fight to the death, but if the other guys were to be believed—Kane and Fox—this wasn’t the morally defensible approach. Why it was apparently my job to save two grown adult males from themselves, while also—temporarily at least—jeopardizing my own place in the team dynamic, I had no fucking idea.
