I never slept so soundly that night. I woke up to the boys getting ready to go to practice. We all had stuff to do that day.
“God damn I feel great!” said Corey, as he finished to get dressed. “Lotta times I was with a girl, I’d sneak out of her place or even sneak out of my own place to get away from her. But not you, Lex.”
Kyle was in the kitchen making eggs.
“Jackson, I thought you were a vegetarian,” said Kyle. “What’s all these eggs doing in here?”
“Eggs are okay,” he explaining. “I’m not hurting another animal to eat eggs. Well, some hardcore vegetarians or vegans might argue otherwise, but ya, know…”
“You eat cheese then?” he asked.
“Yeah, sure.”
“Oh, good. Cause I already put some on these eggs. Why do you have bacon in the fridge.”
“It’s not real bacon, it’s fake bacon,” he explained.
“Like from a fake cow?”
“Bacon comes from a pig, genius,” said Carey. “Did you fail biology or something?”
Carey picked up a piece of the fake bacon and bit into it. He grimaced.
“Oh, my God! This isn’t anything close to bacon,” he said, outraged.
“I know. It’s made of bean curd,” admitted Jackson. “You gotta get used to it.”
“That is a crime against breakfast,” stated Carey. “Yo, Lexi! Stay away from Jackson’s crazy bacon!”
“Why what’s wrong with it?” I said, picking up a piece and eating it.
It was one of the most disgusting things I put in my mouth at Jackson’s apartment.
“Oh, my God,” I said retching.
“It’s an acquired taste,” insisted Jackson. “You know how hard it is to fake bacon?”
“It tastes like crumbling shoe leather mixed with ass and feet,” I commented. “Please tell me there’s orange juice to wash the taste out of my mouth.”
Kyle handed me a glass of juice and I chugged it down.
“Thank you,” I said. “You’re a life safer Kyle.”
“You see?” said Carey. “That bacon is the worst, man. I ate out Lexi’s ass last night and that tasted better than this bacon.”
“Look, next time, bring your own bacon if you love bacon so much. I happen to not want to kill pigs. They’re highly intelligent beings,” insisted Jackson.
“Intelligent enough not to eat this,” added Carey.
In the foyer of Jackson’s building, I kissed them all good bye. We lingered a long time, our tongues intertwining, savoring the few seconds we all still had together. I couldn’t wait until we could spend more time together. It was an intimate moment. I was like a wife sending a husband to work, only there were three husbands instead of one.
Back at my apartment, instead of checking my emails, I decided to give myself the day off. I wasn’t really due back in the studio that day anyway and I had been doing so well, I figured I was due.
Feeling kind of nesty, I started baking some chocolate chip cookies for the boys. They probably had to stay away from them because of practice, but their season was just a few games away from ending, so I figured it would be okay. As I got the first batch in the oven, my phone started blowing up.
The messages kept referencing the TV. Stuff like, “Did you see the news?” or “Saw you on the news.” I figured Sports Ring must’ve aired my interview and people wanted to congratulate me. But after a while, the messages became more cryptic. Things like “Are you all right?” and “What’s going on with you?” I finally turned on the local news around four and was shocked at what I saw.
All over the local news and no doubt the newspapers too, the paparazzi had gotten pictures of me saying goodbye to the guys in the lobby of Jackson’s apartment building. There was all sorts of wild speculation, but most of it was focused on me and my relationship to the guys.
“Oh, no,” I said to the TV. “This is supposed to be private. Why can’t people leave private things alone?”
My phone rang and it was my producer.
“Lexi, you’re all over the news, Sweetie,” he said.
“Sir, I’m so sorry. I never meant for anything like this to happen. This was supposed to stay private.”
“Well, the network doesn’t really care what you do in your private life, but this story is the hottest thing out there. Get down to the studio,;we’re going to do an exclusive interview with you.”
“Oh, no, sir. I can’t.”
“Can’t? What are you saying? You’re going to do an interview somewhere else?”
“The guys have a game. This will be a total distraction for them.”
“Look, Lexi, in this business you either cover the news or become the news,” he explained. “You’ve become the news. We need to talk to you.”
“I can’t talk about my relationship with the guys. It’s private!”
“So you are having a relationship with all three players is what you’re saying?”
“You can’t interview me over the phone.”
“I produce your show, Lexi. Do you want to work or not?”
“You’re firing me? For not giving an interview?! I’ll sue the network. How about that!”
“Technically, by dating the players, you broke the behavior clause in your contract. The whole thing is a scandal. Makes the network look bad, unless we get ahead of the story.”
“No, I can’t! I won’t betray them.”
“You’re not betraying them; you’re telling your side of the story. This is all some misunderstanding, right? You can never see the players again, at least not for a while.”
“What? Now you get to dictate my social life too?”
“Do you have any idea what’s at stake here? Sports Ring had put millions into starting up a new network. You’re now the biggest thing connected to it. You think my bosses are just going to let that go? Think again!”
“I won’t betray them. I can’t reveal private things!”
“Suit yourself, but you’d better start looking for another job.”
“Yeah, well that’s not a problem. I have access to three of the best players in the league.”
“You think they don’t have behavior clauses in their contracts? And in this atmosphere of sexual harassment scandals, you’ll be lucky if these guys aren’t thrown out with you!”
“What?! No! They can’t do that. I wasn’t sexually harassed. If anything I was the harasser. It was all my idea. But, that’s not on record of course. Off the record. There was no sexual harassment at all, and definitely not by them.”
“It doesn’t matter. The guys are always the ones to go down for this sort of thing— lose their jobs, their livelihoods. Their football careers and all that money. I wouldn’t be surprised if that happens here. So how about it? You want to do that interview or what?”
I slammed the phone down. What an asshole. I never liked that producer anyway. I decided to call Baker. Maybe he would have some insight into this.
“Hey, I was just watching you on the news,” he said. “Tough break or good break, I can’t decide.”
“I just got fired.”
“Tough break then. Sorry, kid.”
“There’s got to be something I can do, right? I mean, they can’t just fire me because I won’t give an interview.”
“You won’t give an interview? Why not?”
“Baker, my private life is private.”
“You’re not a private person, you’re a public person!” he insisted. “If you wanted to be a private person you should’ve stayed down in the mud with us uggos.”
“So just because I’m on TV, my whole life has to get torn apart?!”
“Lexi, you got busted kissing three different football players!” said Baker.
“Good for you, Lexi!” shouted a woman in the background.
“Is that Emma the security guard?”
“Yeah, we hooked up again. Been having crazy sex for days,” admitted Baker. “Me and her sister.”
“You guys are polyamorous too?!”
“Yeah, but I don’t go flaunting everywhere; it’s private.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying about my situation!” I insisted. “I didn’t ask for this.”
“Lexi, you’re dating star athletes from one of the biggest teams in the NFL. I mean, these guys are going to the Super Bowl! This is national news. The general public just isn’t ready for a relationship like that.”
“I didn’t ask for it to be public.”
“Well, then you should’ve hooked up with three janitors rather than three pro athletes. What can I tell ya?”
“No, I can’t believe that. I’m an honest good person and so are the guys. Why should other people judge us?”
“They do, it’s just the way life goes kid. Hey, good luck and take care, huh?”
My phone continued to blow up with text, including some from the guys. I didn’t know what to say. I had to talk to someone. Get my head clear. I hopped in the car and drove to my dad’s.
Our old house had been through a lot of changes over the last five years. One of the major things was wheelchair ramps at the front and back doors, as well as a complete redesign of the house so it was 100 percent wheelchair accessible. Dad was pretty helpless in the beginning when he got disabled, but over the five years I was with him, he eventually learned to do most things for himself.
I found him in the living room watching TV.
“Lexi,” he began sounding very worried. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t know how to, dad,” I said, crying. “I’m in love with them. I just wanted to be with them.”
“But three men? You’re dating them all?”
“Dad, I love them. They’re some of the greatest guys you’ll ever meet. I’ve never been so happy!”
Dad looked at me and then looked at the TV. On the screen, a newsreporter was talking while the pictures of us in the foyer were displayed. Dad made an annoyed face and shut off the TV.
“To hell with them, then,” he said. “If you’re happy, that’s all that matters.”
“Really dad, you mean that?”
“Of course I do! The TV news game is made up of a bunch of creeps— present company excluded, of course. Half the time, they don’t even report the truth, they just report what people wanna hear. They just want to print salacious details about your relationship. They don’t know you as a person.”
“I lost my job today,” I cried. “They fired me over this.”
“It’s their loss, honey,” Dad assured me. “People need to be able to live their lives. Even public figures. We live in a society where everything gets endlessly picked apart and judge. And who’s doing the judging? Just other people! Stupid, fault-filled people that make mistakes too. Who are they to judge?”
“You really mean that?”
“Of course I do. When I was raising you by myself, people used to look at me weird and say, why doesn’t that guy get someone to take care of that little girl. He’s a man, a little girl needs a mommy. Kids need a mommy. I’d say, I can be the mommy too. People adapt. Who are you to say what my kid should and should not have! You forge your own path, Sweetie. I’ll back you 100 percent.”
“Thanks, Dad,” I said, finally stopping the crying. “That makes everything better. You know just what to say.”
“Ah, well,” he dismissed. “It’s a shame what they’re going to do to your friends.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, they’re treating this like a scandal. The Sea-Eagles are a big organization. They might bench all three of them.”
“What? They’re the star players! They need them to win the Super Bowl.”
“There are always back ups,” said Dad. “Plus, they’ve all been on thin ice for most of the season. Two of them got caught fighting over a girl. This kind of thing is exactly what might put them off and get them benched.”
“Oh, my God! I have to go down there and explain to the coach,” I said. “I can’t let the guys lose their dream over me!”
“Good luck, Sweetie. Whatever happens, know that I’m proud of you. Screw these TV goons!”
I rushed out of the house and got in my car. I was driving at break neck speed to the Sea-Eagles’ practice field. Some of the guys texted, but I wanted to talk to them in person. This was too important for a text. I needed to see them face to face. And this time, it wasn’t because I wanted them to fuck me all at the same time. Or at least, that wasn’t the only reason.