Page 66 of Best Year Ever
That’s not all. The two athletes filmed what is reported to be a racy photo shoot for the brand Triumph last month.
“They were completely professional on set,” an anonymous source told us. “But their chemistry was fire.”
We have reached out to reps for both, and neither have commented.
Will we see Landon at the women’s semis match next? What do you think?
As if that wasn’t bad enough, I check out the number of comments and reactions. “Oh my god,” I yell.
“Yeah, girl, this might be a story,” Maggie said, making a stink face.
I get out my own phone and send a screenshot to Landon.
RORI: Have you seen this?
A couple minutes pass by, and then I see three dots for thirty seconds, so I know he’s probably catching up.
NEW YEARS: I hadn’t yet. It’s going to be okay. We won’t say anything, and it’ll blow over.
Easy for him to say. He doesn’t have to play the match of his life in a day. My mind is churning about how disruptive this could be.
“I see those wheels turning,” Maggie says, sighing. “I’m sorry, my dramatics probably didn’t help. Don’t overthink it. The press doesn’t know anything real, and they aren’t going to be bombarding you with personal questions on the court. They are super preoccupied with the dynamic between Malcolm and you, too. Stay focused, and it won’t be a big thing.”
“Okay, okay,” I say, trying to calm myself down. “Landon said the same thing in his text.”
“See. Smart man. Ignore my earlier theatrics and listen to him.”
RORI: I’ll be over in about 30 minutes.
With a day off tomorrow, Julie has given me another short window to visit my “friend.” Given this latest news, I tell Landon I’ll walk over by myself. Best not to risk someone catching him meeting me for a short ten-house walk.
Landon flies back to Florida in the morning, though, so I’m not missing tonight for any reason.
CHAPTER 23
Rori
I’m in my own bed when I wake up the next morning, since I headed back from Landon’s house around ten PM last night. I turn my head and look at the clock and see that it is 7:26 AM, roughly thirty minutes after he was supposed to leave for the airport. Sure enough, I have a new text from him.
NEW YEARS: I’m off ! I’ll be home in time to talk tonight.
NEW YEARS: Have a good practice
My head falls back to my pillow, and I close my eyes, taking a minute to think through everything that happened yesterday.
When I showed up at his door last night still a little freaked out about the blog, Landon had repeated the earlier advice that Maggie and he had given. Focus on your game and don’t worry about the story—they have nothing to go on.
And that wasn’t wrong. The article is based solely on a few spare words from Landon.
“Every time I worry about a random news story or podcaster comment, it ends up being forgotten within a few days,” Landonhad said. “This is no different. There’s nothing for them to use to make it a bigger story.”
As far as they know, anyway.
I just hate being the center of attention for anything other than my tennis.
I come out of my memories of last night when my phone beeps. I open my eyes and check the notification, noting that Taylor has written me.
TAYLOR: Wanted to acknowledge that I’m tuned into that Social Scoops “article” from last night. I subtly checked with a couple of the network reporters to see if they are running with it on mainstream shows, and the answer is no. Everyone seems to think it’s an absurd clickbait story by Social Scoops.
