Page 24 of A Shot at Love
Jadea rolls her eyes. “Think bigger, Annie. We’re talking about social media dating here. Daniel has a huge following. In the span of four years, he’s exploded onto the scene as not only a sports commentator, but also a TV host and journalist. He had seven million YouTube subscribers before HBO snatched him up, and he won an Emmy last year! He has nearly twelve million followers across all of his platforms. We need to put your relationship out there, and it will be believable becauseyou already have chemistry. Instead of everyone talking about Jack and Trenton, they’ll be posting #Dannie.”
I groan and slump into my seat. This is a disaster. When Daniel was actually my boyfriend, he didn’t want to be with me, and now Jadea is asking him topretendto want to be with me? I cover my eyes to hide from the humiliation.
“I don’t know if it would work,” Daniel says cautiously. “I may have a following, but they’re mostly sports fans looking for commentary. I’m a D-List celebrity, if that.”
“That’s perfect.” Even without seeing her, I can imagine the animation in Jadea’s face. “Your fans are just the community we want to reach. By bringing their attention to Annie in a positive way, they’re more likely to see her as a basketball player and badass woman, not some villain of the league. People are fascinated by romantic relationships, especially with eligible bachelors such as yourself.”
I groan again. “Jadea. Stop. Please.”
“What?” Her voice is innocent. “Is there some problem I don’t know about?” An idea occurs to her, and she asks, almost accusingly, “You are single, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” Daniel answers, and I feel a strange flutter in my chest that takes some effort to tamp down.
“Excellent.” Jadea sounds smug. “Now you just both have to agree.”
I uncover my eyes and take a deep breath, ready to tell Jadea that this is the worst idea in the history of the world when Daniel silences me by saying, “I’m in.”
I whirl on him, panicked. “You’re in? What do you mean you’rein?”
He shrugs casually. “She’s right. If we want people to see you differently, we need to change the narrative. I don’t know if I really have the sway she believes I do, but maybe our collective social media power could help. Your Instagram isn’t bad, but you hardly use it. We could both try to boost our online presences.” He softens when he sees the anxiety on my face. “I’ll do anything to help you, Annie. I owe you, remember?”
Jadea claps her hands in delight. “Amazing!” She turns to me, pleading. “Come on, Annie, we can do this. I promise.”
I look between the two of them, torn. The reflex reaction is to give a firm refusal and walk out. That’s what the ostrich would do. Burrow deeper. Ignore the problems in front of her. But a small part of me, growing louder each moment, thinks this actually could be a good idea. If no one will tune in to see me play, they might tune in to my romantic life. Sadly, that type of gossip gets the most attention.
And…I’d get to see Daniel more. Despite my reservations about our past, I still crave his presence. I still want to talk to him. To laugh with him. To stare into those deep, dark eyes of his and run my hands through his curls. I could do that in a safe way. I could test the waters. Maybe we could be friends. Maybe I could learn why he left.
I find myself nodding. “Okay,” I say cautiously. “We can try.”
Jadea is beyond herself with excitement, but I find myself peeking at Daniel. He looks almost relieved. As if he thought I would say no. His arm lies across the back of our booth, and his fingers just brush the top of my shoulder. I suppress a shiver.
Fortunately, Jadea doesn’t notice and comment once again on our “chemistry”. She’s already moving on to stage two of her elaborate scheme. “In this day and age, a relationship is only ‘real’ to the world if it’s put on Instagram.” Jadea says this with all the wisdom her two million followers afford her. “So, we need to make a cute post for you two that subtly acknowledges your relationship. It shouldn’t feel forced. We have to post just the right amount, so no one gets suspicious. We want everyone to feel the chemistry and genuine tension between you two.”
I shift uncomfortably at her words. Is it really that obvious to everyone? I’m hoping Jadea’s just more observant because she wants this scheme to be successful.
Before Daniel and I can chime in with any ideas, her eyes light up. “I’ve got it! Follow me.” She slaps down some money on our table, even though we’ve only been served coffee at this point.
*
Considering that Jadea is staging a romantic picture, I’m immediately brainstorming possible places we could be going. She called a cab, but I didn’t hear the address she gave, too distracted by Daniel’s warm body beside mine, and the insane scheme I just agreed to. The St. Louis Arch, maybe? It is the most notable landmark in our hometown. One of the numerous parks or gardens in the city? The basilica? I’m pretty sure Jadea has filmed some sort of TikTok at all those locations.
When we finally pull up in front of our destination, I don’t know why I’m surprised. It’s Arch Arena, our home stadium, where we’ll play again in two days. Our sleek, silver stadium looks fresh and shiny. Jack’s company logo of railroad tracks broken up into an S-shape graces the side, which makes me wince a bit. Could the world stop sending me signs about my biological father abandoning me?
“Isn’t this a little on the nose?” I ask dryly as we hop out of the cab. I have to admit that the brand-new stadium was a lovely addition to the city and is nicer than many of the other WNBA stadiums I’ve visited. It even has some garden features encircling the stadium and an outdoor bar that’s open during the summer.
Jadea shoots me alook, not appreciating my cynicism. “This is the perfect place. One, it reminds people who you are and that we’re in season. Two, it tells people that Daniel came to visit you, and he cares about your success. Three, it’s not too obviously romantic or staged. We’ll take a picture under the sign announcing our game Sunday.” There’s a tall electric sign loomingabove us, flashing our scarlet colors and advertising our next game. It is pretty amazing to see our team’s name in lights, I have to admit.
Daniel’s nodding like this is all perfectly normal. “What will the caption say? How long have we been dating? We can’t have just started dating now, people would be suspicious.”
Jadea falls silent at his good point.
“We could have met at Stanford,” I offer tentatively. “It would make sense that you would know Jadea and me.” I shift a bit from foot to foot. “People at school saw us together.”
Daniel is giving me a searing, pained look as if he knew this was the future I imagined for us. I look away. Jadea crinkles up her face. “No, a mysterious relationship of five years is too difficult to explain.” It does sound pretty unrealistic; I have to admit. Maybe that’s why it never happened.
Daniel rubs his chin. “Maybe we met at Stanford, but reconnected recently? Maybe six months ago? We could be celebrating our anniversary, and that’s why we’re posting now. It’s a reasonable time frame to keep it to ourselves.”
“Good.” Jadea nods her approval. “We could say we all met again at the ESPYs. That was a little over six months ago. You were presenting, and Annie was my date. You could have reconnected then.” I want to laugh and admit that when Daniel walked past our group at the ESPYs, I casually sprinted to the bathroom to avoid him. Instead, I just nod.
