Page 22 of We Can't Be Friends

Live Outdoor, a ski apparel brand, is the company Seth works for. He’s on their brand partnership team, managing accounts. He attends most of their marketing events, that’s how we met.

Specifically an influencer brand trip that our respective companies were collaborating on in Vail. Second Chance Beauty was launching our winter sunscreen explicitly designed for outdoor winter sports. We partnered with Live Outdoors to host a brand trip to kickoff the start of the ski season.

Seth and I met at a cocktail bar one of the evenings, landing ourselves in bed together. We crossed paths at another event a month later, which spiraled into us casually seeing each other. Seth slipped up one day, introducing me as his girlfriend to a group of people. I never questioned it. I wasn’t sleeping with anyone else at the time.

The word girlfriend didn’t come out of his mouth again unless he was making a point, like this past weekend.

We were exclusive, or so I thought.

Tamara flips her phone around, passing it to me. “Swipe right.”

I get why Tamara asked about the photos.

Looking at the set again, I wish I felt anything, but I don’t.

“Thank you.” I pass the phone back to her, keeping my reaction zipped up.

Tamara also knows Seth. Met him that same event. I swear she’s had the hots for him.

She did this on purpose. Either to get a rise out of me, or payback from Ryan picking my idea from last week’s meeting.

I swear she goes out of her way to be my nemesis.

“Not going to say anything?”

“Nope.” I push off the edge of my desk, walking around to my chair.

“Seriously, Chloe?”

“What do you want, Tamara? You obviously came in here to show those to me on purpose. Is my reaction not up to your satisfaction?”

She scoffs.

“I have a meeting to prep for. Leave.” I debated adding a please, but that’s a courtesy she doesn’t deserve.

She scoffs again. “You probably deserved this.”

I pretend not to hear her or watch her leave, the door slamming behind her.

Right, somehow I deserve to be shown photos of my boyfriend with his hand up another woman’s skirt and tongue down her throat.

I don’t even think twice about how she got those photos. Picking up my desk phone, I call the person who would have sent them to her, the Tweedledee to her Tweedledum. Twenty minutes later, I have the files downloaded to my phone.

Didn’t know I dyed my hair blonde. Oh, wait…

Seeing those photos of Seth removed the rose-colored glasses that’ve been glued to my face.

I should have known better.

The signs were there, but I truly didn’t think it would come down to this. To cheating.

I leave my phone in my office when I go to meet with Ryan. He’s always peppy in the morning. I swear he must drink rainbows for breakfast and shit sunshine.

He knows and understands that I am the opposite of him. So when I sit across from him in one of our meeting pods, he isn’t fazed by my lack of a smile.

“Is that a new tattoo?” he asks. I cross one ankle over the other.

“Which one?”

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