Page 83 of High Notes & Hail Marys

Fuck GoGo. If you had the means to do it yourself, you would have.

Chapter Twenty

Kefi ACTIVE DAY! Yogurt -- Draft

2025 Campaign Commercial

Starring: Kaius Reinhart

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KR:A bullet can’t stop a moving Train, but you know what can? Bloating and stomach cramps. When I’m on the field…

[MONTAGE OF KR FOOTBALL HIGHLIGHTS]

…I need the reassurance that comes with feeling great and moving like a champion. I achieve that feeling with Kefi ACTIVE DAY! Yogurt, containing live cultures. Probiotic foods increase the diversity of gut flora, keeping my insides as strong and active as the rest of my body. One serving of Kefi a day promotes gastrointestinal health, not to mention tasting great! Now with less sugar, to ensure that I’m getting all the good stuff, and none of the additives. Kefi ACTIVE DAY! comes in five delicious flavors, so I can reach for my favorite every morning. Look for it in your grocer’s dairy section.

[TIGHT FOCUS ON KR’S FACE]

Kefi. Food to fuel greatness.

***

The weekend that Ster is in Lisbon, you fly back to the States for the weekend to film a commercial for Kefi. It’s a weird experience. You’re home, but alsonot home… you’re in Los Angeles, staying in Sterling’s house. The yogurt company offered to put you up in a hotel, five stars, the whole VIP treatment, but you’d prefer the quiet of Sterling’s bungalow in the Palisades. Not that it’s any less luxurious—the whole house is a smart home, and, small as it is, every square inch screamshigh end—but it’s comforting, in a way. You’ve been there before. It doesn’t smell like Sterling, unfortunately, since he’s not there often enough, but some of his spare clothes are in the closet. There’s a bamboo hairbrush on the dresser belonging to him, and a bottle of his cologne in the bathroom. You’d never admit it, but maybe you sprayed it on the opposite pillow the first night.

(As an unrelated side note, there’s a possibility that you may be a little bitch for Sterling Grayson.)

It’s only been a few weeks since you’ve stayed somewhere by yourself, but the emptiness of the house feels weird. Like you are a marble rattling around a bowl.

Kefi keeps you busy. The shoot is kind of weird, but not as bad as you feared. All you have to do is wear your jersey, smile, and eat some yogurt on camera while reciting a few lines. You don’t even have to memorize them; they have a teleprompter. You were worried about coming across as inauthentic or hokey, but the director, Chris, is very encouraging. Between takes, he talks to you like it’s just a chill job, not a nationwide commercial, and gives you tips: treat the camera like it’s another person. Hold eye contact. Say it like you mean it.

(That doesn’t stop you from retreating to the bathroom and making faces in the mirror as you strive for a cross between confident and sexy, mouthing the words,food to fuel greatness.)

The commercial wraps in one afternoon, and then you are the guest of honor at a small reception held by the company. Calling it a “party” is stretching things, but you dress up and hobnob with a lot of people in suits. There is wine and beer, but you don’t imbibe. This iswork. You stay sober, smiling,and serious.

On Sunday, you get photos taken for print ads. You hold yogurt in your jersey, you hold yogurt in a white t-shirt, and you hold yogurt shirtless, after a blushing redheaded young lady rubs baby oil on your upper body. Late that night, you’re curled up on the bed in Sterling’s bedroom, watching the eucalyptus sway in the breeze, when your phone dings.

Ster ♥:Happy anniversary. I miss you.

You stare at the message, confused. Is it your anniversary? Do youhavean anniversary? You slide off the Cartier bracelet on your wrist, which you never remove, except on the field, and click on the bedside light to squint at the inscription. Then you check the date on your phone to be sure—the date on the bracelet is in April, which has come and gone. It’s now mid-May.

You:I’m confused

Ster ♥:We met a year ago. When you came to see me in Nashville that first time.

You:yeah but is that an anniversary?? didn’t start officially dating for a few months

Ster ♥:True. But we kissed for the first time. And I didn’t date anyone else after that.

You:you never told me that

Ster ♥:It never came up. And we didn’t discuss exclusivity. It’s not like I expect that you weren’t seeing anyone else.

You:I mean it doesn’t matter because I wasn’t

Ster ♥:You weren’t seeing anyone else on purpose, or just because it didn’t happen?

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