Page 9 of Try Hard
From the lack of complaint, I inferred that she must take her hot drinks extremely hot. Either that, or we needed to worry she was so cold she’d lost all sensation in her mouth, but she looked too healthy for that.
Her eyes closed and she shuddered. “This is the best thing I’ve ever tasted.”
I looked away, back at the runway as another plane prepared to take off. Our dads were talking animatedly to their stream about the plane and what was coming up after it. My familiar, loveable dad, and Jeremy—a man I could not understand. “I’m sure that’s not true.”
“Oh, you’ve been keeping track of what I put in my mouth, have you?”
My eyes went wide, my lips pursed, and I refused to look at her.
She laughed loudly. “Okay, I could have phrased that better.”
“Oh, I don’t know, it seems like a fair question given some of the talk I’ve seen about you online.”
She turned to me, absolutely glowing, her face regaining some of its earlier colour now that she had a hot drink inside her. “Have you been following me online, Ms. Pendrick?”
“No.” I said it far too quickly so it sounded like a lie. Of course, itwasa lie, but I didn’t want her to know that.
She nudged me, and I couldn’t help but wonder whether she was simply a tactile person or whether it was a result of having played a contact sport where your teammates are constantly touching each other so it became a non-issue after a while, something you simply didn’t register anymore.
“You don’t have to be shy,” she said through that huge grin. “I really will sign that article for you, if you want?”
“That’s not at all necessary.” I tucked my chin down into my collar, refusing to look at her. “We went to school together and you became a huge name. I have the internet, so it’s only natural that I would… pay a tiny bit of attention when your name comes up.”
“Enough attention to see what my thirstiest fans have to say.”
“They are the loudest ones.”
She laughed. “I mean, if both our dads have seen it, I suppose I can’t feel too special that you have.”
Finally, I turned towards her. “Both our dads?”
“Mm. Turns out they’re aware of some of the things I get called online.”
I winced. “Yikes. Is ‘Mommy’ or ‘Daddy’ the worse one for them to know?”
She laughed. “I like that you went withMommy, notMummy.”
“I’ve never seen anyone call you Mummy.”
“Right. I guess the other spelling is more common.”
“Indeed.”
“And, yeah, I think it’s worse than Daddy.” She paused, tilting her head. “Although, when the man you used to call Daddy knows people call you that, is that worse?”
“You’re asking me? Nobody calls me that. I don’t know.”
“Great. Doesn’t have a daddy kink. Noted.” Eve tapped her temple.
“You’re making a list of kinks I don’t have?”
“You have a list of kinks people put on me. I’m just levelling the playing field.”
“Okay, athlete. I don’t think that’s necessary.”
“I think it’s very necessary.”
“Of course you do.”
