Chapter 11
Wade
My phone buzzes for the fourteenth time today. This text is from my sister.
Sadie
Explain.
Attached is an Instagram reel of Ari in my lap, my hands on her waist, her hair falling everywhere, while both of us look one second away from making out in public.
I watch the video again, even though I’ve already seen and been tagged in dozens of posts like this since the fiasco happened last night. Honestly, the videos make the whole thing look worse than I remember.
The comments underneath aren’t helping either.
STEVIE GOT A GIRLFRIEND???
MISS LANGFORD IS SO REAL FOR THIS
NOT THE PRINCIPAL PULLING TEACHERS
One of the football players even commented: TENSION CRAZIER THAN THE GAME
I should probably be horrified. None of this helps my case that I’m a respectable principal who deserves his job.
Instead, I grin.
Which honestly says a lot about the state of my mental health. It’s either jail time for inappropriate principal-student relationships or gossip about inappropriate sitting positions in the bleachers.
I’ll take the town gossip every single time.
“Are you gonna fish or look at your phone all day?” Jaxon asks beside me as he casts his line.
“Sorry. I got a lot going on.” I shove my phone into the pocket on my fishing vest and refocus on the sport I love so much.
Fly-fishing is really just casting, drifting, watching, adjusting, and repeating. Most of the time, nothing happens. It’s not peaceful. It’s work disguised as patience, with the occasional disappointment you learn not to take personally.
That’s what I tell the kids in the fly-fishing club.
Grim, I know.
In order to be a real fly-fisherman, you have to understand the process.
But today, getting out on the river is more about hanging out with my best friend than it is about catching fish.
Jaxon shifts beside me in the water, waders making that slow, rubbery sound I’ve grown to love. “When were you planning on telling me you and Ari were one step away from indecent exposure on the bleachers last night?”
I nearly miss my cast. “We were not one step away from indecent exposure.”
“That’s not what Instagram says.”
“That’s because Instagram is the worst.”
Jaxon laughs under his breath as he flicks his line out over the current. “Landrie showed me the videos this morning. Barb’s apparently organizing the troops to pray for her daughter to stay away from you.”
This makes me smile. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”
“Seriously, she’s not thrilled.”
“No kidding.”
What mom in this town would be thrilled to see me like that with their daughter? When it comes to women, it’s not like I’ve earned anyone’s respect for being the best boyfriend in the world.
We stand in silence for a minute, water moving around our legs while the river hums low and steady around us.
Then Jaxon says, “So what was actually going on between you and Ari?”
“Bees.”
Jaxon stares at me. “Bees?”
“There was honey butter involved too.”
“That somehow led to Ari straddling you in front of the student section?”
“When you say it like that, it sounds suspicious.”
“Because it is suspicious.”
I laugh quietly, shaking my head.
The truth is, I don’t entirely know what’s going on with Ari and me.
She said she wants nothing to do with my fake-dating plan, but last night, half the town watched her practically climb me like a tree.
And somewhere in between all the posts and tags, I started liking the idea of people thinking she was mine—which feels like a problem.
A problem that doesn’t make any sense. I usually try to avoid relationships at all costs, and now I like that people think I’m in one with Ari.
It just doesn’t add up, other than as a way to get Ashtyn off my back.
Yeah, that has to be why I like it. There’s no other plausible reason for a guy like me.
Jaxon adjusts his stance in the water. “Normally, I wouldn’t say anything, but she’s Landrie’s sister and my friend, so you know I have to.”
I already know where this is going.
“You can’t date Ari. We both know you have no intention of committing to her or any other woman.”
“Oh, you’re one to talk,” I huff back. “But since you’re about to get married, I guess you’ve forgotten that six months ago you were exactly like me and proud of it.”
A laugh slips out before he can stop it. “I haven’t forgotten. But Ari’s not like the other girls. You can’t mess around with her. It’s bad form to hurt a friend like her.”
“Bad form,” I mutter in disgust. “You act like I’m going to purposely break her heart just for the fun of it.”
He pins me with his stare.
And as much as I’d like to pretend like Jaxon’s exaggerating, I know I didn’t get my reputation by being the good guy.
There’s what women say they want. What women think they want. And then what women actually respond to.
I’m the guy they respond to.
And then regret later.
Fun for a few dates. Good for a laugh. Exciting for a Friday night.
Not the guy you build a future around.
But things with Ari aren’t like that. Half the time, I don’t even think she likes me. She acts like I’m one bad decision away from ruining her life.
Which, to be fair, might be accurate, but I hate thinking she might believe that.
“You know what I mean,” Jaxon says. “Ari’s different.”
My jaw tightens slightly as I cast again. “I know she’s different. We’re all friends, remember? I don’t know why you’re acting like you know her better than I do.”
“Maybe I do from Landrie. Ari actually feels things deeply. She jokes around and acts as if nothing fazes her, but she takes things hard, especially rejection.”
Now I’m thinking about the football game and the exact moment Ari found out I dated Landrie. The hurt in her eyes lasted maybe two seconds before she covered it up with sarcasm.
She laughed.
Smiled.
Acted normal.
But something shifted, like it cut deep that I dated Landrie in the past.
I saw it. And now I can’t unsee it. I have to know what’s behind that reaction.
Because liking Ari Langford has never been the problem.
Commitment is the problem.
Jaxon continues, oblivious to the spiral currently happening in my head. “Landrie said Ari was weird this morning.”
“Weird how?”
“She won’t talk about the game or the viral videos, which probably means she’s embarrassed.”
“Or it means it wasn’t a big deal. Just a clumsy accident. Nothing serious is happening between us.”
His eyes narrow slightly. “You sure about that?”
Honestly, I’m not sure about anything now. Or how the events of last night will affect our friendship, my job, my proposed fake-dating plan.
Thankfully, something splashes farther downstream before I have to answer.
Jaxon immediately perks up. “Was that—”
“Don’t get excited,” I interrupt. “You’re not catching anything today.”
“Neither are you.”
The sound of the river fills the silence until I finally ask the question that’s been sitting in the back of my mind.
“What’s the deal with Ari’s ex? I heard he left her at the altar.”
“No.” Jaxon shakes his head while working his line through the water. “She was engaged for, like, four years, but as far as I know, they never even set a date. Andy, I think his name was.”
“Landrie didn’t like him?”
“Nobody liked him.” Jaxon snorts. “The guy was a complete loser.”
My brows furrow. “What kind of loser?”
I can’t picture someone as smart and confident as Ari getting involved with a guy who’s not good enough for her.
“Like, he was always between jobs because he wanted to surf all the time. Or he’d play video games for twelve hours instead of contributing to rent. He just never followed through with anything in his life. Liked a good time, just didn’t like responsibility.”
In some ways, that description sounds a lot like how people view me.
But the truth is very different.
Unlike Andy, I’ve worked hard to become a principal at the young age of twenty-seven. Some might say I slid into the position, but I still had the credentials and the experience as an administrator to even be considered for the job.
Some people only see the casual side of my personal life and assume I behave that way professionally too. So yeah, maybe my dating life resembles this Andy guy. But professionally, I’m focused.
I don’t even know why I’m thinking about this right now and trying to rationalize why I’m different than her loser ex-fiancé. Ari and I are nothing. This train of thought has zero impact on anything.
I turn my focus back to Jaxon. “If her fiancé was so bad, why’d Ari stay with him for so long?”
“Beats me. You’ll have to ask her that.”
Maybe I will eventually.
But I’d rather our relationship get to a place where she’d tell me that freely.
After the incident last night, I’m not sure she’ll trust me with anything anymore.