Thirty #2
“Aw, man. Don’t pout; don’t do the pout! You know I have no willpower when you pout.” Elliot holds his uneaten cupcake out for Zach to take a bite. “Fine, have half of mine.” Zach wastes no time taking a huge bite out of the cupcake, way more than half.
Alex chuckles beside me.
“What?”
He shakes his head, humor dancing in his eyes. “Nothing… I just… I guess I didn’t expect you guys to be like this.”
“Fun?” I smirk.
“Yeah.” He laughs. “You don’t really get to show much of your personality in interviews, I guess.”
“And we’re not really allowed to show ourselves completely.” I add.
Elliot flops down next to me and points his thumb at me. “Mainly because he’d probably say something rude.”
“No, I wouldn’t.”
“Uh, yes, you would,” Elliot argues while eating what's left of his cupcake.
Ethan rolls his eyes, then leans into Alex. “I swear it’s like I’m a dad to some overgrown toddlers.”
Elliot’s eyes light up. “Can I call you Daddy?”
Ethan throws his head back with a groan, covering his face with his hands, and when my eyes land on Alex, we burst into laughter.
We get comfortable as the game kicks off, and Zach goes silent as usual, chewing on the side of his nail as he watches his buddy out on the field.
Alex’s phone vibrates in his pocket, and when he takes it out and reads whatever is on the screen, I feel his body go rigid.
Another beat goes by until he quietly says, “Excuse me for a minute.”
There’s an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach when he gets up and heads down the hallway.
I let a few minutes pass by before I get up to follow him, finding him sitting at the far end of the hall in front of a huge window, his head looking down at his phone.
“Alex? You okay?” I ask.
He looks up, and when I see the expression on his face, it’s like I’ve been sucker punched in the balls. There’s sadness in his eyes, and his forehead creased with a frown. I crouch down in front of him, placing my hands on his hips.
“What happened?”
He takes in a shaky breath and closes his eyes for a beat before he speaks. “Since Christmas, I’ve been receiving some … uh … not so nice messages on Instagram…”
“Messages?”
“Yeah… I thought it was going to stop, but it didn’t…” He hands over his phone. “They’ve been saying some pretty horrible things, and they’re supposedly fans of yours…”
I take the phone from him, and that uneasy feeling is replaced with dread, then anger, as I begin to scroll through a few of the endless messages.
Don’t get too comfy. He’s only with u to clean up his image. He’ll soon get bored of u and come crawling back to my *kitten emoji* soon enough.
Do u realize he’s only with u because ur shiny and new? He will soon get bored of u
I don’t understand why he’s with u. He’s a ten and ur a two at best.
U do realize he’s using u, right? Who am I kidding, ur probs too stupid to know that ur not enough for him.
Tell Blaine I said hi, I’ll be here waiting when he gets tired of u.
LOL imagine being the reason Blaine’s career is going downhill. He’s been underperforming these last few games because of u. If u actually cared about him, u would leave him because he’s a better player when he’s not dating u.
How does it feel to be a prop in his image clean-up so he doesn’t get traded? As soon as the trade deadline has passed, he’ll dump ur ass quicker than u can ask him to stay.
I feel sick to my stomach.
“You know none of this is true, right?” I look at Alex, pleading that he believes me and not this bullshit.
My voice shakes with panic. “Yeah, when we met, I was in the shit and was told I had to clean up my image, but I’m not using you, I promise.
You’ve made me wanna be a better person, you mean everything to me. ”
“I do.” He nods, and my heart cracks when tears begin to fill his eyes, “I do believe you, it’s just…
it’s horrible. It’s constant, too. They send something almost every day and it’s getting to the point where I don’t know what to do.
I block them, but they make another account…
I don’t know what they’re expecting to achieve apart from breaking us up.
I just don’t understand how people can be so cruel. ”
Anger riles up inside of me, bubbling like a volcano ready to erupt. How fucking dare these people—so called fans —think they can try to interfere with my private life?
And coming after Alex? Completely un—fucking—acceptable. Part of me wants to message these people and give them a piece of my mind, but I know I’d have Hayden and Colleen on my ass quicker than I could retract my messages. How can I just sit by and let it happen, though?
“Is everything okay?”
I glance over my shoulder to see Ethan, worry laced in his eyes.
If there’s one person who might be able to help, it’ll be Ethan.
“You know that photo I posted at Christmas? Well, Alex has been receiving some pretty shitty messages.”
He frowns. “What do you mean by shitty messages?”
I turn back to Alex, asking without words whether Ethan can read them. He gives a small nod and hands over his phone. Ethan’s silent as he reads, the crease on his forehead deepening.
“Fucking assholes,” he mutters as he hands the phone back to Alex.
“Any idea what we could do?” I ask.
Ethan rubs a hand over his face. “We could ask Kendrick if Maria still receives anything like it. I know she used to as it’s not unusual for this shit to happen out of jealousy over someone else getting what they want.”
Shit, I didn’t even think about asking Kendrick.
Ethan spins on his heels and heads back down the hallway to where Kendrick is sitting watching the game. We follow closely behind, and I take Alex’s hand in mine, lacing our fingers together and giving it a gentle squeeze.
“I don’t want this to carry on, I just gotta find the right way of dealing with it…
If I do what I want to do, I’ll end up in big trouble.
” I stop and take his face into my hands, pressing a gentle kiss to his lips.
“Please don’t let anything they’ve said get to you.
I know it’s easier said than done, but I fucking adore you, okay?
I promise you, I’m not using you. I’d rather take out my eye with a broken stick than use you, even for a second. ”
He smiles, but it’s still tinged with sadness. “I know, thank you.”
We take a seat back on the couch and I open my arm up so he can curl into me. Ethan talks quietly to Kendrick, trying not to interrupt Zach’s zone as the defense are out on the field.
Kendrick leans over and says, “Come over one night this week for dinner, ‘kay? Maria will help you out.” He gives Alex’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze.
“Thank you.” Alex smiles.
I kiss the top of his head, holding him protectively to my body.
I want to climb onto the roof and roar in anger over those who have upset him. Those who are supposed to be my fans, and don’t appreciate that Alex actually makes me better .
And if I have my way, he’ll be with me until I’m old and gray.