This Love

21

After a very long week of working towards training camp and the OHL Draft I find myself sleeping in when Saturday comes around, or at least that was my plan. "Callie your phone has been going crazy" I hear, I ignore Lexi but she throws the device onto my bed, "oh and Daniel keeps calling" I open my eyes at her words sitting up while rubbing my eyes, "nothing like the boyfriend to get you up" I throw a pillow and she laugh while leaving my room. I sigh putting on my glasses before picking up my phone, my eyes widen at what looks like millions of notifications on all of my social media apps.

Before I can check anything my phone starts vibrating, Dan's name appearing on the screen, I accept the call bringing the device to my ear. "Hello?" I say, "Cal thank god" my boyfriend replies alerting me that something happened, "what's wrong? are you hurt?" I immediately assume the worst, "no i'm fine, are you okay though?" I'm confused by his question, "yeahhh, why wouldn't I be okay? I literally just woke up" he groans, "they found out" is all he tells me. It takes me a few seconds to realize what he's referring to, "how?" I ask, "I don't know, it looks like a media outlet did the research and then posted it online" I flop back onto my bed my hand running over my face, "that's why I've been getting so many notifications, Lexi wanted to kill me and it's not even 10 yet" he huffs and I can picture the Australian running his fingers through his hair. "Daniel, this is not you're fault, I'm fine and you're fine, that's all that matters" I tell him reassuringly, "but what if it escalates? I don't want my girlfriend, who isn't in the same country as me, to get harassed online" I hear the concern in his voice.

I take a deep breath feeling my muscles loosen, "Dan...it's going to take a lot to make me even start to worry, if anything happens I'll call you, I trust you and I trust this relationship so please for me relax and prepare for your race, I've got it covered" I explain hoping that I've lessened his concern, "okay, I'm sorry if I overwhelmed you, I just know that my lifestyle is intense and that sharing personal stuff can change things for the worst" I frown at the sadness in his voice, "we've got this hotshot" he lets out a laugh making me smile, "yes more laughing" I tell him. My eyes find the clock on my desk and i'm shocked that its approaching 10:30, I throw my covers back and carefully try to slide out of bed while still holding my phone to my ear. When I step out of bed my foot gets a bit tangled making me stumble with a squeak, " you okay Cal?" I hear Dan ask with a chuckle, "yeah just trying to win a battle with my sheets no biggie" I reply while blushing slightly as I finally stand. "Man I miss you" I smile at his statement, "I miss you too, but we'll see each other when we can right?" I hear some added noise on his end, "yeah, I gotta go Cal, keep me updated on the social media situation" I nod but then realize he can't see me, "okay, have a good day hotshot", "bye gorgeous" I hang up and put my phone onto my bed so that I can go shower before having to deal with whatever is happening on my social media accounts.

——

A nice long shower later I'm dressed in plain t-shirt and some perforated sport shorts as I towel dry my hair walking back into my bedroom. My gaze lands on my phone, I bite my lip not knowing what to expect s I just suck it up and grab the device once i've dropped the wet towel in my hamper. I cross my legs as I sit on my unmade bed my fingers unlocking the device, immediately tapping the Instagram app. My eyes widen at the number on the notifications tab, I furrow my brow as I delve into the notifications, in the back of my mind wishing that Dan was here with me for this. I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding in when I see that it's all good things in the notifications. My shoulders relax and lower from my ears as I keep scrolling through the comments that have been added to a bunch of my posts, as I keep reading I also get nostalgic of the memories that came with the photos. She's probably just with him for his money there's no way she actually cares, I suck in a sharp breath at the first nasty comment, but smirk when I go to reply. As I bring a finger down onto the keyboard to type I suddenly stop, thinking about Dan and how he probably wouldn't want me to engage with the girl, so I lift my finger off the touch screen and delete the reply deciding that I should just get off my phone for the next few hours.

My feet take me to the living room, my phone safely in my room, I flop onto the couch with a sigh. "How's fame treating you?" I turn my head to Jill, "I'm not famous, my boyfriend is" I reply, "did you see your new follower count, girl you're famous" Lexi adds. "I don't want to be, but the stupid media couldn't stay out of it" I mumble, "if you care about Daniel you might just have to get accustomed to this" I nod resting my head on Jill's shoulder, "are people being okay?" I shrug, "everyone seems to be really nice about it, this one girl though, called me a gold digger like it was no big deal" my friends stare at me with wide eyes, "wait what?" I nod and my gaze focuses on what's playing on the TV. "Have you told Daniel?" I shake my head, "it's just one girl and it's not true so there's no point worrying him" Lexi pats my arm, "I love this badass version of you, she needs to come out more often" I laugh, "bring on the negative comments and she might just stick around" I reply while wiggling my eyebrows at my friends sending them into a fit of giggles. We sit on the couch together for the rest of the day, making a girls day of this Saturday knowing that we'll need it to get through a month that is sure to be a hard one.