IILICIT AFFAIRS ━━ Lamelo Ball

1.3

Summer Keaton

Winona Rosario is not the first nor is she the last woman to ever have an affair. Marilyn Monroe had one. Julia Roberts had one. Hell, Lydia Fairchild had an affair with her best friend's boyfriend. In my five years of working in the gossip industry, I find it appalling that the woman is shunned more than the man who made the commitment. I'm not saying she's completely innocent, but it bothers me that Lamelo is seemingly left untouched in an affair he started, or at least I assume he started it. A woman like Winona Rosario is not the type of to start an affair.

Winona Rosario is sitting in front of me with her eyes glued to a crossword puzzle. I gain enough courage to ask if the seat in front of her is taken. She shakes her head and says I can sit there. Immediately, I feel the tension rise as I take the seat in front of her. I try to create small talk with her, but all Winona can muster are one-word responses. I begin to pray to whoever's up there that those college-aged girls hurry up with my food.

After a century of silence, Winona blurts out, keeping her eyes on the crossword puzzle, "I know who you are."

"You know who I am?" I echo.

"Yeah." Her pen grazes her lip as she focuses on the crossword puzzle. She's yet to make eye contact with me. "Six letter word, Matrix character. Has a Y. Also means to encode."

"I've never seen the Matrix before."

She writes something down before replying. "If it helps, there's an R at the end."

My brain scatters to find an answer. It takes me a few seconds to come up with a good enough answer. "Try cypher."

"It fits..." Winona stretches out the 'S' as she writes down the word, "and it works."

Winona puts down her book and pen and takes a sip of coffee from the mug in front of her. "You're Summer Keaton. You just wrote an article on my affair."

I turn into a shade of red I never thought was achievable. Flustered, I stutter, "Oh. I'm so–"

"Don't be sorry. I was a journalist at one point. I get it. When the opportunity strikes and you take it. I reported Tyrese Haliburton's trade when it all went down. I knew before he knew. I was the first person to report it. I knew how much Rese liked Sacramento, but duty calls. You gotta do what you gotta do." She shrugs nonchalantly. It's the apathy that comes with wanting to be on top.

"Lately it's been hard to find a story," I sigh. "I'm tired of writing about repeats from the other day or some celebrity's favourite sock brand."

"In my few years in journalism, all I can say is that it's one part luck and one part actually being able to write and present arguments. I always considered myself a little bit lucky, and I liked writing enough to pursue it."

"Amen to that." She smiles at my retort. "I'm the best writer in my office. It's not even close. I write more eloquently than anybody else in that office. I'm the one who's struggling the most story wise."

"Your recent article on my affair seems to be doing great."

"Yeah, but it's not my own. It's not really a story. It's just... relaying information. I want a story that I break out. A story that I find."

"The opportunity always comes up. I was in a bit of a slump before the Haliburton deal. Before that, I was writing about redrafts, and there are millions of articles on that," I wondered if she's ever been in a permanent slump like I've been in.

It gets quiet between us until I ask, "Why have there never been details?"

She tenses up and finds a way to articulate her thoughts. This is when she makes eye contact with me for the first time, and it feels like I asked the most dangerous question on the planet. This is what Eve must have felt when God had asked her if she ate the apple, of course only if the roles were reversed.

Winona clears her throat and shoves the strand of her hair behind her ear. She finally speaks, saying, "Because Lamelo and I, and even Skyla, never spoke about it. It was like a silent agreement between us three."

Just when I thought the conversation ended, Winona adds, "Maybe until now. Summer, have you ever been alienated? Because I'm tired of being ostracised. Lamelo was just as bad as me, if not worse. He was the one cheating on his fiancee. He strung me along. He was the one who told me he'd leave me for her. Of course I have fault in this, but everyone gets the blame except for him." Her anger crescendos with every mention of him. In my mind, I silently thank Laura. This is it. This is my story. This is what I've been waiting for.

LOVE LETTER FROM SHAY.

Next act is Winona's pov... hella excited!1