Page 67 of Wild Catch
I imagine myself walking into a doctor’s office and saying, “The reason I’m here is because my growing guilt over using a guy to advance my career, and lying to friends, coworkers, and the whole internet about it is making me sick. What can you prescribe for that?”
It’s close to midnight and I’m sure the game will be ending soon. While the guys duke it out in the stadium downtown, I sit in my room in front of my dresser applying all the products my hair needs to be happy. My lips are turned into a sad little arch as I work curl cream from my roots to my ends, which stretched out can reach the small of my back.
My chest expands and empties as I let out a big sigh. The Orlando Wild app pings with a notification that the team has won, three to one. Not bad. Maybe not enough for Logan to rethink his trade.
“Para, Rosalina,” I say in the language of my parents, with the same inflection Mom’s voice got that threatened with la chancla. I will throw a shoe at my own face if I continue.
It’s not like he doesn’t know what I’m doing. He agreed to participate of his own volition. I at least shouldn’t feel guilty about that. And perhaps I could tell Hope the truth. There’s no concern that she’ll run and tell the internet or anything. Rather, I don’t want to disappoint her for having lied.
“Ugh.”
I work a bit faster on my hair, switching to gel and scrunching. My phone pings again and I intend to ignore it, but something about the blur on the screen catches my attention.
Leaning over the screen, I all but get a heart attack when it turns out to not be a text, but a phone call. From Logan. For the first time in my life—what with only having exchanged numbers a few days ago. And right after a game?
The more I think about it, the stranger this feels.
My hands are goopy with products, though. I rush to the bathroom to wash them off and of course, when I return to my dresser the phone screen is completely black. Did I hallucinate Logan Kim calling me?
But then my phone goes off again, and this time I answer right away. “Logan? Hi? What’s up?” My voice comes out squeaky and choppy.
“Hey.” Meanwhile, his is all velvet as usual. “I was looking for you but your boss said you went home because you weren’t feeling well. Everything okay?”
My heart drops to the floor. I hate that he chooses this moment to show concern for me, when I’m drowning in worry and guilt.
“I—I’m okay. Just a bit tired.” I swallow hard and look at the Rose in the mirror, asking her for some extra strength. “Is, um… Is that what you were calling for?”
“Originally, no,” he responds with his shocking honesty. “Something else has come up. Something that’s pretty damn bad, not gonna lie.”
I gasp. “Did your fans caught on to the fact that we’re lying?” I rush to my window and peek out of the blinds, as though the backyard wasn’t right behind me and it was a busy street instead. “Are they coming for me now? Do I need witness protection services?”
Logan snorts and something like a laugh comes out of him, except I can’t be sure it’s really that because he stops it right away. “No, it’s a different kind of bad. Worse, I’d say.”
“Logan Kim, you’re about to give me a heart attack.”
“It’s my parents.” He sighs. “They just called me saying they’re coming to town tomorrow to meet my new girlfriend.”
Silence.
Silence except for my hair dripping on the hardwood floor.
Calmly, I walk into the bathroom again to get some paper towels. I drop them on the floor and wipe it with my foot as I speak. “Let me see if I get this straight. Your parents are coming to meetme. Tomorrow.”
“Right. I can buy you a plane ticket to go wherever you want tomorrow. Mikonos, Banff, the Maldives, Cape Town, Bangkok, you name it.” He sounds like he means it, too.
“So you don’t want me to meet your parents? What’s wrong with me? Is it because I’m not a Victoria’s Secret model?” I grouch.
“What? No. You are the one who doesn’t want to meetthem, trust me.”
“Are you kidding me?” I pause talking because my jaw drops. “I would love to meet TJ Kim and Freja Lindberg. I’m sure my boss would murder me if I didn’t get some pictures and videos of them to use on our socials.”
“Rose, I—Listen, it would be so much better if you let me provide you with an excuse to leave town than spend a whole night pretending to be my girlfriend in front of my eagle-eyed parents.”
“Is that a pun because your brother is an Eagle?” I tease.
It takes him a surprisingly long time to speak again. “If you’d rather not go far, how about an all-expenses-paid stay at one of the spa resorts? Just for you. Or you can bring a plus one.”
“Why do you sound like you want to be that plus one?”
