Page 145 of How to Lose at Love

One thingI wasn’t counting on when we finished practice tonight was Diego ambushing me in the locker room, but it’s clearly his favorite place to back me into a corner for confrontation.

This is where our fucked-up relationship started, and this is where it will end.

“Are you still hanging out with Ryann?”

Hanging out with her? “Is that your polite way of asking why I was photographed kissing her in the parking lot of the stadium?”

He hangs back, half dressed in his practice pads, shoes dangling from his hand.

“Yes, I guess it is my polite way of asking why you were photographed kissing my ex-girlfriend in the parking lot after our game.”

I shrug, unlacing my shoulder pads. “The camera doesn’t lie.”

He shifts on his feet, standing there in his socks. “Stop acting like you don’t know what my point is. Haven’t you heard of bro code?”

That gives me pause.

I pull the pads off my shoulders and set them on the bench in front of my cubby.

“Dude, stop acting as if you cared about her. If she were dating someone else, would it matter?”

“That’s not the point.”

“What is your point?” I stand with my legs parted, arms folded across my chest. My hair is drenched with sweat and my face is bright red from the post-practice adrenaline rush.

“Bro code—that’s my point.”

“Your point sucks, and I’ll tell you all the reasons why.” I don’t budge from my position. “Ready?One, you’re the one who broke up with her.” I hold up two fingers. “Two, you didn’t have the guts to do it yourself.Three, the two of you were barely physical. Should I go on? ’Cause I can think of a fourth.”

“Say it.”

“Four, your relationship was an entire two months—your dates were never anything to write home about. Did you jerk off while picturing her naked even once?”

Cause I have.

Diego watches as the lightbulb goes on above my head, me making a mental note to text her after he’s done climbing up my asshole and ask her on a proper date.

It’s time.

My teammate looks resigned, shoulders sagging as I rattle off arguments.

“I feel like you went behind my back.”

“Man, I can’t help it if we became friends. We were thrown together because I helped you out, and she’s super cool. Of course I wanted to spend more time with her.”

It was inevitable.

Fate, as Posey would say.

“You should have asked me.”

That gets my full attention. “Excuse me? You wanted me to ask permission to date a girl who has free will? She could have said no when I offered her a ride home—but she didn’t.”

Should have asked him for permission—give me a goddamn break.

“That’s not what I meant. All I’m saying is a heads-up would have been decent.”

Fine. I’ll concede that it might have been the right thing to do considering he’s my teammate and everything and I’ve known him longer than I’ve known her.

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