Page 64 of Bachelor

“Well, it’s coming up in three weeks, so we don’t have that much time to prepare if we’re going to go somewhere. I was thinking we could go to New York City for like five days. I don’t know.” She shrugged, then went into another squat. “We could see something on Broadway.”

“I’d love that, actually,” I replied, giving her a smile. “What about Bill? He’ll probably want to come.”

“Yeah, would that be okay? I was thinking we’d go with him and Rhys.”

“Why would Rhys go?” I set down my weights.

“Why wouldn’t he? You guys are together, aren’t you?”

“I don’t think we’ve labeled anything. And this is supposed to be a secret, Jessica.”

“I’m not telling anyone,” she replied, shaking her head. “Don’t worry.”

“Iamworried.” I sat down on one of the weight benches and ran my fingers through my hair until I reached the scrunchie holding it back and pulled it free. My hair fell around my shoulders and I sighed with relief. “We walked about it yesterday morning, and we’ve been texting a little, but we don’t get any time alone to actually hash out the details of what this is supposed to look like. We don’t have the freedom to let things progress organically. We have to have a plan. If we’re going to be together, we have to plan it out. It sucks.”

“I know.” Jessica set the squat bar back on the rack and took a seat on the other weight bench, facing me. “I hate that you’re going through this. Bill and I talked about it, and there’s always the bookshop if you guys need a little privacy.”

I shook my head. “I want to be out in the open with him. I want to be able to give him a kiss when I see him in the hallway. I don’t want to worry about anyone listening in to our conversations or getting caught.”

“Then come to New York City, Whitney.” She reached out and squeezed my hands. “We’ll all go together. We’ll get hotel rooms, and you and Rhys can figure this out and enjoy yourselves for a little while. Then it’s only like two months until the semester ends and you graduate! You’ll be free, and the two of you can move on from this.”

“I’ll think about it.” There was so much going on right now that even thinking about a trip for Spring Break felt like a pipe dream. I didn’t know if anything would come from the rumors being spread, whether we’d get in trouble, but the thing was that the rumors were true, and there was no way around it without lying through my teeth.

And I was sick of lying and pretending.

Another group came into the gym before we could continue the conversation. I gathered my things and walked to the locker room, Jessica tailing behind me.

I took a quick shower and we made plans to grab dinner at the Commons together, but as I was dressing my phone buzzed on the bench beside my gym bag. I picked it up, and my chest tightened with sudden tension.

My dad’s name flashed across the screen.

“What’s wrong?” Jessica asked, coming up beside me and sitting down on the bench to pull her boots on.

“My dad just texted me. He wants to get lunch later this week.” I found it hard to swallow as I opened the text.

“When was the last time you talked to him?”

“Before Christmas break, just briefly.” After my mom called to chew me out. Dad had always been the levelheaded one, although he did give in to my mom’s schemes and did nothing to stop them.

“What does he want?” Jessica asked, leaning in to view the text.

“I don’t know. He just says he’ll be in town and wants to get lunch. Which means he wants to talk to me about something.” I sighed heavily and slid my phone in my jacket pocket. “Maybe the rumors spread all the way back to the Hamptons.”

“Surely not.”

“I wouldn’t put it past Christian to have spread it there as well.” My dad was coming here because he’d heard. I closed my eyes for a moment, wondering how this could get worse.

“I think we need to go get some drinks,” Jessica said slowly, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Strong ones.”

“I think you’re right.”

“Don’t worry about it right now. You can text him back later, and we can grab some Mexican food and margaritas first, and then go to the Gallery.”

I smiled up at my friend and her fervent attempts to make me feel better. It was working.

“And then I’ll see what Bill is up to. Maybe the four of us can have a movie night or something.”

“Rhys is holding an evening lecture for the next week for those who want some extra study time before midterms.”

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