Page 10 of Rumor Has It

“Your practice was supposed to end an hour ago. You didn’t text me anything before it either. And then I wake up to news articles of you getting into it with Becky Rothschild? You didn’t even tell me.” Andy sounded petulant and bratty, two things she had picked up since getting an agent. Two things that really grated on Wren’s nerves.

Wren fought back every snarky comment about not telling her because she was always out drinking with a bunch of fake friends. Andy had a right to be upset. Especially about Wren not texting her good morning. That was actually pretty shitty on her part. A total accident, but still not her best girlfriend moment. “You’re right, Baby. I should have texted you this morning. The past thirty-ish hours have been nuts, but that’s no excuse. I should have said “Good morning, Beautiful.’”

She heard Andy sigh heavily. She could picture her perfectly, pacing around their living room. Andy always paced when she was on the phone, like the whole thing made her nervous. Even if she was laughing, she was pacing. “Can I ask what took you so long after practice?”

Wren let out a dark chuckle. “You can ask anything you want, Baby. Good ol’ Becky and I had to run sprints for an hour after practice because of our little fight yesterday.”

“Oof, that really sucks.” The old Andy seeped through. The Andy Wren had fallen for.

“Not as bad as getting to be her travel buddy for the entire year,” Wren kept her voice down. She didn’t know if Coach T was gone, and she didn’t know if Rebecca would be able to hear her through the locker room door. She didn’t think she would, but she was not about to take any chances.

“Ew, what the fuck? That seems dramatic,” Andy said.

Wren bounced, feeling validated. Relief washed over her. “Right? I didn’t even do it.”

“She’s such a bitch. College is over. You’re on the same team. Grow up,” Andy said, fully her old self.

If they had had this conversation yesterday, Wren would have yelled ‘exactly’ at the top of her lungs. But after Rebecca had dragged her into that little side office after their punishment had been doled out, she was pretty sure there was a lot more to it than just that. Her heart stopped. Should she tell Andy what happened six years ago? It seemed kind of sketchy to not, but she didn’t know if Rebecca was out or really even how she identifies. This felt like a conversation that was best had in person. She also really felt like she needed to get Rebecca’s consent to say something. Wren sighed, heavily conflicted.

“Other than that, how’s it going?” Andy asked, pulling Wren out of her spiraling thoughts.

“Pretty good. I got dinner with Courtney, Danielle, and Ali last night, so that was cool.” Wren thought about anything else she could share at the moment. She needed to actually talk to Rebecca ASAP, and that sounded awful.

Just then Rebecca came out of the locker room with her bag slung over her shoulder looking confused. Wren pointed at her phone. Rebecca just mouthed, ‘oh,’ and stood there awkwardly, clearly wanting to ask something.

“Hey, Baby. Can I call you back later? I need to figure out how I’m getting back to the hotel. The team bus rolled without us.”

“Yeah, of course, Baby, that's fine. I’ll talk to you tonight.” Andy made kissy noises, which normally Wren would have returned, but she was very aware of the way that Rebecca had stiffened at her use of the word “Baby” and at the moment she just wanted off the phone.

“Bye, Babe,” she said as cheerfully as she could muster. “So, want to split an Uber?” she asked Rebecca as soon as she was off the phone.

Rebecca looked livid. Her jaw and fists were clenched so tightly that she was very nearly shaking. “You literally bet Courtney a hundred dollars yesterday that you could sleep with a Victoria’s Secret model.”

“Yeah. And?” Wren asked. She had no idea why Rebecca was so mad about some stupid bet she made with Courtney. “Dude, calm down. If it bothers you that much, I won’t actually take Courtney’s money. She’s kind of a multimillionaire though, so, you know, it feels like it’s kind of chump change to her, but I guess morals.”

Rebecca’s eyes widened. “Are you kidding me?”

“Jesus, okay, I won’t take the money.”

“But you’re still going to try and sleep with a Victoria’s Secret model?” Rebecca stepped into Wren’s personal space and glared down at her with all three inches of extra height. “You were just on the phone with someone you call “Baby,” and you’re still going to have sex with some model?” She let out a laugh of disbelief. “You know, for half a second there, I thought maybe I was the one who had been in the wrong, but turns out, you’re exactly who I thought you were.” Rebecca pushed past Wren, slamming her shoulder into Wren’s as she stormed down the hall. “Find your own ride to the hotel,” she yelled as she pushed through an exit door.

“What in the actual fuck just happened?” Wren asked the empty hallway. If Rebecca was going to be this hot and cold without clear explanation, it was going to be a long year.

CHAPTER

SIX

BECKY

Becky was fuming. She had really let Wren’s charm work on her yet again. And to think, she’d even started to wonder if she’d been wrong. Maybe Wren hadn’t been in a relationship all those years ago, maybe she had misjudged her social media, but now she could see it for what it really was, Wren just didn’t care if other people got hurt. She pushed down thoughts of her own pain from all those years ago, of seeing Wren with another girl. Her pulse raced. What if that was the same girl she was on the phone with just now? Should she say something? How would she?

Without knowing where she was going, Becky stormed away from their training facility. If she wasn’t so exhausted from conditioning, she might have started running. She needed her best friend. The problem with that was she had never actually told anyone what had happened between her and Wren before. She felt her stomach drop. Her hands shook as she stared at her phone screen. Six years. She had gone six years without telling anyone what had happened between them.

While she waited for a crosswalk chime, she started pacing and pulled up a map on her phone. There was a park a few blocks away. She managed to follow street laws and crossed at crosswalks when the light was on, but only barely. It took every ounce of self-control to not just sprint there and hope cars didn’t get in her way. Fortunately, since it was a Tuesday evening, there weren’t many people at the park. She climbed up on top of a picnic table and sat down on the tabletop, letting her legs dangle off the side.

Her phone never left her hand as she walked. Her thumb remained poised over the only contact in her favorites: Katie Royce. They had been best friends since the first grade, admittedly at first it was a friendship of proximity. With their last names so close together, they had been in the same classes throughout elementary school, but then as they grew older, they found that they had more things in common.

They were both incredibly intelligent and came from the type of families that were more focused on appearances than each other. And while they had always had different extracurriculars, they had always been there for each other. When they had gone to college, it had only made sense for them to apply to all the same schools and be roommates. Katie had been accepted into NCU’s medical school the day after Becky had been drafted by the NC Cougars. There was only one, Wren sized, secret in Becky’s entire life that she had ever kept from Katie. Becky had spent her entire plane ride back from camp all those years ago preparing to tell Katie everything—that she had figured out her lack of attraction to the boys at their school and that she had fallen in love at camp. Even in their small, conservative, evangelical town, Wren had felt worth the risk.