Page 156 of How to Lose at Love

I turn around to face my brothers. “Drake, what did I say about talking?”

“You said not to talk.”

“Then why are you talking?”

“I’m trying to help.”

I give him a stare. “You can wait in the truck.”

Drew smacks him on the arm. “Dude, he’s being serious. Knock it off.”

I glare some more before turning back toward Ryann.

“Now you’re down to eight minutes,” she announces, and I could clobber my brother for wasting my precious groveling time.

Every second is valuable.

It’s on the tip of my tongue to sayIt wasn’t what it looked like, but I know better than that, having rehearsed in my head what I want to tell her.

“Ryann,” I start. “People will do a lot of things for their fifteen minutes of fame, and that’s what was happening in that photo.”

She shifts on the balls of her feet, glancing over her shoulder at some dude I assume might be the manager, then looking at the guy cooking my fries.

“After I left practice, I went straight home. Both of the twins were home, too, but when I walked up to the house, Tiffany was sitting on the swing. Waiting for me, I guess.”

“Uh-huh.” Her arms are still crossed. “Could we maybe not use her name for the duration of this story?”

Fair enough. “So she’s there waiting for me, which I had no clue about. I thought her friends might be inside and she was out there, I don’t know, smoking or something. Honestly, she looked like a moron, not wearing a coat or anything warm.”

“Oh, I’m so sure you were thinking about how she needed a warm coat.” Ryann rolls her eyes, not that I blame her for thinking it sounds fucking stupid—because it does.

I forge on, the clock ticking away. “She gets up and walks over as I’m questioning what she wants, and I swear on the Bible, she…” I cannot tell Ryann the neighbor girl offered to suck my dick. It would put her over the edge, especially considering Ryann doesn’t even want me to say Tiffany’s name. I can’t use ‘blow job’ in a sentence, either.

The kiss of death.

“She…what?”

“She propositioned me. Then I told her she was out of her fucking mind, ’cause I have a girlfriend.”

“And what did she say to that?”

“She leaned in and did that thing you see in the picture. But what you don’t see is me pushing her away and storming into the house. I called for the twins. They were in the kitchen making dinner. They saw how pissed I was.”

“We could barely console him,” Drake adds enthusiastically, ever the fountain of information. “For real, he was pissed.”

“I’m sorry, but the media has been camped outside your house for at least a week. How did you not know someone was there taking photos? Give me a break. You did this on purpose.”

I knew this wasn’t going to be easy, but I was hoping she’d at least see my logic and hear me out. Turns out she’s latching onto her own theories, ones fueled by an overactive imagination and the span of days she refused to talk to me.

“I promise you I had no idea anyone was watching us. Ryann, that was her plan, don’t you see?” I one hundred percent sound like I’m groveling now, the way the tone of my voice pitches. “I have no idea who she called, but that whole thing was a setup.”

My girlfriend’s mouth is downturned. “Don’t you see, though? Everyone thinks you cheated on me. It’s all over the news now—again. My parents have been calling me constantly—again. The whispers went from ‘Oh my God, that’s who he’s dating?’ to ‘Oh my God, did you hear? He cheated on her, go figure.’ No one thinks I’m hot enough to be your girlfriend.”

“That’s the fucking problem. Everyone thinks they know me because they see me on television and watch my interviews. Everyone thinks because they have a pulse, they get an opinion on my life. I don’t get to date who I want, I don’t get to go to college where I want, I don’t know if I’ll get to play for the team I want to play for.” I stand up, frustrated. “Don’t yousee? You’re the only thing I get to choose that’s choosing me back, and one little misunderstanding shouldn’t stand in the way.”

I’ve worked too damn hard and have been too damn unhappy for too damn long for her to dump me over this.

That fucking Tiffany.