Page 89 of The Baller

“No,” I shook my head. “Nope. Not exactly. No.”

Delaney eased her phone out of Millie’s grip, and stared at the screen. “What’s going on? Do you know this guy?”

I glanced at Millie who’d gone uncharacteristically quiet, chewing on the end of her thumb. While we’d been spending more time with Delaney on account of the fact she was in most of our classes, I’d never opened up to her. I’d never put any level of trust in her beyond the basics of hanging out sometimes after class. But I’d begun to realize that unless I did put my trust in someone, how would I ever know they could be trusted?

Honestly, Doctor Jessops should be giving me a gold star or something. Everything she’d been drilling into me for the past few years wasfinallybeginning to sink in. It had only taken a baseball player, a Hollywood darling, and a lot of sex.

“That guy is the one who leaked the pictures of me.”

To her credit, Delaney didn’t ask what pictures like I’d expected her to. She didn’t pretend to not understand what I was talking about in an attempt to save me some dignity. She just looked back down at the phone, and up at me. The amusement had been replaced by something else… satisfaction, if I wasn’t mistaken.

“He’s covered in glitter,” she whispered.

I glanced back down at the screen. She’d zoomed in on his sparkly face.

“Yes.” A giggle bubbled up, and burst out. “He is.”

“Covered,” she repeated, louder this time, adding a giggle of her own.

“There has… to be… a pound of glitter… in there,” cackled Millie between breaths as the tears started pouring again.

“More.”

The diners near us all turned around again as the three of us erupted in laughter; deep, cleansing, belly-aching laughter. Every time we looked at the screen, at Christopher Ellington’s face, it started up again.

“I’m gonna pee my pants!” announced Delaney, as she took off for the bathroom.

Millie pressed the sleeves of her sweater onto her face, and wiped her eyes. “Radley, how did you do this?”

I sucked down the rest of my Diet Coke and sat back shaking my head. “I didn’t.”

“How did you know about it?”

I’d already told her what happened during the weekend I’d spent with Lux, or rather, everything that was mine to tell. I’d left out Holiday’s story.

“You know I said I told the guys about the photos?”

She nodded.

“The boys wanted revenge…” I shrugged. “I guess, this is the revenge.”

Her mouth formed into a perfect little O. “It’s awesome.”

“It really is.”

“They did this for you?”

I nodded. “I don’t know for sure it was them, but I can’t believe two independent sets of people would come up with the same idea at the same time.”

“It’s really awesome they did this for you,” she smiled. “I wish I’d have thought of it.”

“Me, too.”

“I asked for the check,” Delaney announced as she dropped into her seat. “What are you two doing later?”

“I’m going to the gym with Lux, and then studying. I need to decide what essay to write.”

“I’m doing the revenge one. I’ve just decided I’m a big fan,” grinned Millie.

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