Page 2 of Against All Odds

There’s nothing else to do, so I make a bag of popcorn and plop my ass on the couch. I turn on the television and then hear the vibration of my cell phone, which I apparently left upstairs.

Crap.

I leap off the couch and run up the ridiculously polished staircase, focusing on not cracking my head open as I rush in case it’s my parents, who are out of the country. But I miss the call anyway.

It was my best friend, Analeigh.

I get back downstairs, and before I can press the button to return her call, I freeze.

The phone begins to ring again.

But, I swear, I can’t even register it.

My eyes are glued to the television as one photo slides to another.

“It can’t be,” I whisper, my throat growing tight.

The first photo comes back again, and the headline crawling across the bottom makes my bile rise.

Dylan Leone and Whitney Reisinger—a real-life couple after their movie? It seems so!

The phone begins to vibrate in my hand, and I answer: “Hello?”

“Violet! Are you okay? I just saw ...” Analeigh is talking quickly.

“It’s a lie, Ana. It’s not ... true. It can’t be. True? Can it? I mean, this is photoshopped, right?”

I keep seeing Dylan’s hand on her hip as he kisses her. It’s probably an on-set photo. But ... that’s not the set. That’s a beach.

They filmed the movie in the mountains a few weeks ago.

Another photo of Whitney and him, lying together, holding hands as she is taking the selfie, rolls onto the screen.

Another—this time he’s wearing only a towel, and he’s winking.

“I’m not sure,” Ana says, but the tone tells me she’s sure.

A tear trails down my cheek as my heart and my head get on the same page.

It’s all true.

The gossip reporter appears on the screen and talks to the host. I turn the volume up.

“I mean, I’m not surprised, are you?” the reporter asks.

“I am a little. Wasn’t he just on vacation with his wife?”

The first girl nods. “He was, which is why I bet these got leaked now. I’m sure Whitney was none too happy finding out her man was on the beach with his wife.”

“Say that aloud one more time,” the other host says with a laugh. “Her man? I mean, I feel bad for his wife.”

“Look, Dylan Leone is the hottest thing in Hollywood right now. I’m not saying she should’ve expected this, but I’mnotnot saying she should’ve seen it coming.”

I sink down on the floor, holding the remote, not even knowing whether Ana is still on the phone as I cry.

I didn’t see it coming.

I didn’t know he was cheating on me. For how long? Why? What did I do other than support him?

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