“Are you gonna spill the tea, heffa?”
“Why did we have to find out about it this way?”
“Y’all make a cute couple.”
All three of them were talking at once, and I was overwhelmed by their chatter and their excited energy. I pressed my hands against the side of my head, ready to scream as their questions continued.
I glanced at Tommi, and she placed two fingers in her mouth and let out a piercing whistle that silenced everyone. She placed her hands on her hips and asked, “Girl, what’s going on?”
“I don’t know.”
“I mean, how did you get from an interview to a torrid affair?”
“Tommi, this ain’t that.”
“Well, that’s what Sunni is saying.”
“Keep in mind that Sunni is a gossip columnist after all, and she’s been known to stretch and bend the truth,” Evie interjected.
“Operative word being truth. There has to be some truth in this, right? Because the pictures show you and him walking out of that hotel, and the way you’re angling your head and keeping it down, you look like you’re hiding something,” Sabrina whined.She sounded disappointed, as though I told Sunni a secret that I kept from her.
“I only dipped my head to look into my purse for some gum while Ashton and the driver placed my luggage in the trunk. My guess is that someone edited the photo to take my hands and purse out of the photo to make me look suspicious.”
“Well, you two do look awfully cozy at the bar and then again at the table,” Sabrina pointed out.
“We were chatting about some of the stuff that’s going into the story, and we didn’t want anyone eavesdropping on the conversation. That’s the only reason we sat so close together,” I lied.
UNKNOWN:
There’s no fun when the rabbit’s got the gun, is there?
“What’s wrong?” Evie asked as I frowned at the text message that had just come through on my phone. I held it up and showed it to them.
“It’s probably nothing,” Sabrina stated.
“Yeah, some jealous fan,” Evie added.
“Or the competition. Another reporter setting you up from the rip, if not another gossip column,” Tommi commented dryly.
I smiled, allowing their words to comfort and soothe me, but I didn’t believe that for one second. I dismissed it, though, because it was the least of my worries at the moment. My phone rang again, and this time, it was my parents.
“Ohhh, man.” I groaned.
“What?” Tommi asked.
“My parents.”
Tommi lifted an eyebrow. “Girl, you know they’re not going to stop until they get you, and if they can’t reach you, then my phone will be blowing up next.”
“Hello?”
“Hey, baby. What’s going on with you and Ashton Santoro? You told me you were interviewing him, not dating him. That man is married,” my father declared.
“Honestly, Daddy, I don’t know. I’m not dating Ashton. We were at the bar after the game yesterday. I was just doing some follow-up questions about the bigger article that I’m writing about him for the magazine. Someone has taken what was supposed to be and twisted it into something sordid.”
“What are you going to do about it?” my mother asked from the background, making me realize that I was on speaker.
“I’m not sure, because I haven’t had time to think it through. I just found out about it. Maybe after I eat, I can formulate a plan; the girls are here with me.”
