LOVE and SECRETS

STICKS AND STONES

His alarm went off. He pried open his eyes. His head was pounding. He felt sick. He rolled over and came face to face with a sleeping Janessa. He jolted and sat straight up. She was naked, and so was he. He felt his chest tighten.

What the fuck have I done? Oh my God. How much did I drink last night? Obviously, way too much. I can't believe I did this. I've already fucked up once with Perri. I can not tell her about this. Oh shit, she was right. She couldn't trust me.

He sat up on the side of the bed. He ran his hands down his face. He felt her hand on his back.

"Good morning, Bodhizafa." She kissed him up the back of his neck.

He grimmist. "Don't call me that," he said, standing up and picking his shorts up from the floor.

"You let me call you that last night when I was calling out your name."

"You gotta go."

"Is that any way to talk to your girl?"

He looked disgusted. "You are most definitely not my girl."

"Really, because you told everyone I was your girl when we were leaving the club."

"What?" His head was spinning. "Who is everyone?"

"The entire gallery of paparazzi, of course."

He picked up her clothes and tossed them to her. "You will never be my girl. I already have one of those."

"Oh, the skinny broad? Yeah, I'm sure she is going to love seeing all those pictures of us dancing. Oh, and all the videos. Last I checked, we already had hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube."

He furrowed his brow, squinted his eyes, and asked, through gritted teeth, "What videos are on YouTube?"

She picked up her phone off the side table. "Ooh. Wow, look at those numbers! They are going up as we speak! I wonder how many you need before you go viral?"

He snatched the phone from her. He watched the six-minute-long video in horror. There he was at the club dancing with her. They looked like they were fucking right there on the dance floor. He watched as they kissed. So much kissing. All the color drained from his face. He slid down the wall and sat on the floor.

"Janessa, you have to leave now."

"But Bodhi---"

"NOW, JANESSA!"

She put on her clothes and snatched the phone from him. "Fine. I'll see you at the office tomorrow. Take a shower. You looked like shit."

He heard the door slam. He reached over and took his phone off of the charger. He had three missed FaceTime calls. It was from his Periwinkle. The tears started to burn his eyes.

"I could have seen her? Oh my God. What have I done?"

He had two texts from her.

🟣Music Speaks When Words Fail: Lost In This Moment -Big and Rich I dream about it, too. I dream about our babies and what life would be like married to a famous basketball player. 😊I am so proud of you. I hope you can make it home for my graduation. I'm graduating a little earlier than I thought. I should be out on New Year's Eve! So excited! I'll be home for my birthday! I have gained thirteen pounds! By the way, we really need to talk, and it's not bad, so don't panic. I love you so much! You mean everything to me, Bodhi.

"Oh my God, I am a total piece of shit."

🟣Here is that video you requested! I hope you like it! I sent one... of me... by myself... in nothing but my brand-new Newcastle Eagles jersey, Number 6, my absolute favorite player in the world, Bodhi O'Neill! Don't tell Jo!