9
Evie
That whole thing I said to Fraser last night about the story blowing over?
Yeah. I was wrong.
"You and Fraser are in every single newspaper this morning," Levi says, pointing out the glaringly obvious.
I crashed at his LA apartment after last night's game. Dropping my gaze to the sports sections he collected on his morning run and has laid out on the coffee table, I let out a loud groan.
I was very wrong.
Fraser's return to form is getting wall-to-wall coverage, alongside photos of a certain someone yelling and cheering him on with their hair messed up and their face contorted like a lunatic.
"Do I really look like that when I watch a game?" I ask.
His eyes travel over the assortment of photos of me in various states of open-mouth, fist-pumping, face-scrunching fanaticism. "They haven't doctored the images, if that's what you're asking. So, yeah, that really is you."
"Why didn't you tell me I look hideous?"
Levi shrugs. "Because I don't think you look hideous. You're passionate about the guy. Sorry, I mean…the game. Besides, it takes the attention away from me and my total lack of interest. You're enthusiastic enough for the both of us."
"Yeah, well, now my enthusiasm is splashed across every sports section in the country."
And it's not my best look.
Although…it is a step up from freeze-frame memes of me in the middle of an uncontrollable sneezing fit.
"This is a nightmare." I collapse onto the sofa. "What am I going to do?"
The doorbell rings.
"I'm not meddling," Levi says all wide-eyed, before I get the chance to accuse him of anything. "He called me."
Levi answers the door. A few moments later, he returns with a worried-looking Fraser.
"Hey," he says when he spots me.
I tuck a pillow into my chest and fold my legs. "Hi."
"Have you seen the sports news?"
"Yeah," Levi replies, gesturing at the coffee table. "We have."
Fraser turns his head, taking in all the headlines. A line emerges between his brows. "Didn't know newspapers were still a thing."
I muster up a faint smile. "Well, they are."
He sits down next to me on the sofa, keeping some distance between us. "I called Levi as soon as I found out. I'm worried about you."
"Me?"
He nods. "Yeah. I know how much you want this all to blow over. To put it all in the past and move on."
Fraser looks genuinely worried as he repeats my words from dinner last night back to me. I do want to move on, but I want that even more for him, too. He's got to be hating the attention ten times more than I do.
"What about you?" I ask. "This isn't exactly your idea of heaven."