Lover

Chapter 29: Strangers

~Three Months later~

"Aren't you a little upset you're not there?" My hairstylist asks.

"Honestly?" I ask looking at her through the mirror. I wait for her to nod before I look at the television and watch as they show the 49ers warm up. "No." I honestly reply. "The cheerleaders are treated like crap and they barely pay us, getting out of it has been the best thing I've done." I admit.

"But it's the Super Bowl." She says. "Your brother is playing in his rookie year, that's huge."

"Yeah." I dismiss scrolling through my phone. I am proud of him, but I'm still too hurt from the whole mess.

"We're only an hour away, we should go." She suggests.

"No, I have this shoot." I shake my head as she finishes my hair.

Debbie got me a shot on the sports illustrated magazine and I've been having an amazing run in the modeling world.

Of course that comes with traveling, so I haven't seen James in two months and I miss him, but this all goes two ways and I got tired of messaging him first.

"Do you want them to win?" She asks.

"Of course I do." I assure. "But Patrick is really good at pulling wins out of his ass in the last minute." I remind her as I fix my lipstick.

"Didn't you two.." she drags with a raised eyebrow.

"Shut up." I interrupt not wanting her to remind me.

"What happened? You never told me." She laughs.

"Nothing special, it was one time and not a very good time." I shyly tell her.

"Was he bad?" She giggles. "Small?!" I laugh at her questions trying to fix retouch my makeup.

"No, I'm just used to...better things I guess." I shrug. She doesn't know about Jimmy and I'm not planning on telling her.

"Katie, they need you." My manager says into my room.

"Who have you been with?" Claire asks.

"Nobody." I laugh off before I leave the room.

I'm confident the guys will win. Defenses win Super Bowls, I think historically that's how it's happened and we—they have the best in the league. They just have to stop Pat from running.

"You ready?" The photographer asks.

"Yes." I smile before getting into place.
—
"How are they doing?" I ask Claire as I get back to the room.

"They're clinching to a 3 point lead."

"Three points?" I ask while watching the TV closely.

"I think the defense is giving up, they were just up by 10 points." She explains.

Pat has the ball and I see a clear hold on my brother, but it goes uncalled. Oh my god.

Things get even worse and of course Patrick starts playing better. Why aren't the niners running the ball! If they're known for something it's our—their run game.

Jimmy is great, but Kyle hasn't set him up good enough to be throwing the ball this often. Time seems to be going fast right now, are they really not going to flag that helmet to helmet?
Jesus fuck if Nicky did that to the leagues precious princess Patrick they'd have flags all over that field. I see the camera pan to the 49ers sidelines and I see Nicky's head down, he's crying. And in this moment seeing him actually sob on national television I don't care about what he did or didn't do to me. That's my brother and I need to comfort him.