Page 127 of Try Hard
Once it was over, she slumped against me, her arms dropping and wrapping around my body, and I followed suit, taking her in a gentle embrace and basking in the glory of loving her.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Fia
In some ways, it had been a weird day. In others, it had been a perfect day. Waking up in Eve’s arms, having breakfast together, watching the world from her incredible balcony… The flip side was what happened when that world intruded into our content little bubble.
She’d posted her statement at nine, right after we’d had breakfast. Andra had approved it with no changes. Rohanna had sent multiple, emphatic messages that were basically her yelling support via text. And then the rest of the world had happened.
I was staying off social media, but it was impossible to be unaware of what was happening when Eve had a whole team monitoring it.
Now, we were sitting on a video call with Andra and Rohanna, back in Eve’s office, and the only messages I’d replied to so far were those from my parents and Sophie.
“Much as we expected,” Andra said, her tone serious in a way that implied she didn’t come in another tone, “it’s igniting quite the dialogue online. Two sides taking shape very naturally—those who think famous people deserve privacy, and those who think that, by being in the public eye, you sacrifice any right to basic respect and dignity. Thankfully, the supportive side is currently winning out.”
“Too right it is,” Rohanna shot, in between bites of a fruit salad she was eating.
Andra continued as if she hadn’t been interrupted, even though Eve grinned. “And, of course, the fact that Ophelia isn’t in the public eye is adding credence to that right to privacy, particularly given how brutal some of the commentary has been. So, all that is to say, there are currently far more voices shouting down the loud, intrusive commenters, and a larger debate is being started again.”
Eve caught the way I tilted my head, wondering at that phrasing. She stroked gently over my thigh, where her hand had been resting the entire call. “These discussions come up routinely. Just the cycles of online discourse. Whether or not this treatment of celebrities and their partners is acceptable isn’t the only one that does the rounds, but it isn’t a new thing. They’ll talk about it now, but then it’ll fade away, and, when someone else’s partner gets discovered or people are thirsting after someone new, they’ll forget this ever happened and boundaries will be crossed again.”
“Parasocial relationships are a weird trip,” I said quietly.
“You’re telling me.”
“We’ve received word that it’s being picked up by a few news outlets and will be discussed by some of the late night shows, but I think you’ll be most interested to know that Taylor Freely has reached out to ask if you’d like to do her podcast again, specifically to talk about this. Though, of course, there will be the opportunity to plug your latest business venture.”
“Yeah, get us that free marketing,” Rohanna quipped.
I could see why she and Eve were such good friends, and, despite the fact that we were not particularly similar personalities, I was looking forward to getting to know her a little more.
“Interesting,” Eve agreed, considering for a moment.
Taylor’s podcast was one Eve had done a few times over the years. They had a good rapport and she wasn’t the type of interviewer who seemed to trick her guests. However, she was also the host of the very same podcast that had started the whole ‘Daddy Eve’ thing. It wasn’t Taylor’s fault, but it was the epicentre of that whole experience.
“Yeah,” Eve said eventually. “Have her send the details over. We can talk about the whole daddy thing too. Might as well finally discuss that in more detail now I’m not worried it’ll ruin my career.”
“Are you going to tell them to stop calling you that?” Rohanna asked, eyebrows raised.
Eve shrugged as she shook her head. “Probably not entirely. Like, most of the time, it’s whatever, but I would like to talk about how sexual people get with it, and how they think that makes other sexual comments or requests acceptable. You know, just the whole conversation about how being in the public eye does not make personal boundaries non-existent.”
Rohanna nodded, a small, impressed smile appearing on her face. She got it. Eve had been dealing with this stuff for a long time. It was amazing that she was finally able to talk about it and address the parts that made her uncomfortable.
I stroked the back of Eve’s hand, every bit as impressed with her as Rohanna was—as I’d always been.
“Great,” Andra said, making notes. “I’m sure she’ll want to move quickly on this, so I imagine I’ll have details for you by the end of the day.”
“Sounds good.” Eve looked at me as she answered. She was tired of this meeting, of the business of having to navigate the press and her boundaries again.
It was entirely understandable. Sure, she’d played sports professionally and she’d taken off in the media—especially social media—in a perfect cocktail of timing and events, but, at the end of the day, she was just a woman trying to live her life. She was a human who was impressive and magnetic, friendly and talented, and beautiful. It wasn’t hard to see why the fans had wanted more of her, and why the media had followed, but I wasn’t enjoying this glimpse into the dark side of that attention. And, of course, it was the small fraction of people who didn’t understand privacy or boundaries that were the loudest and required such a coordinated approach to deal with.
I didn’t envy Andra’s job.
“I’ll leave you to it for now then,” Andra said, looking up at the screen again. “Ophelia, it was nice to meet you. I look forward to doing so again under more pleasant circumstances, but don’t worry, we’ll get this thing taken care of and the attention will go away.”
I nodded once. “Understood. Thank you. Let me know if there’s anything else you need from me.”
“Don’t worry, she totally will,” Eve said, nudging me gently.
