Page 6 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 10

Sunday

Alina

Kristen caught up to me shortly after I collapsed on a bench in the village square.

There had been an hour-long train ride between me exiting the arena and now, but I didn't remember it.

All I could see were those images of Chris and Gabriela burned into my brain.

Kristen wrapped her arms around me and cried with me.

I didn't care about the people giving us weird looks. I just needed to cry.

Eventually I ran out of tears. I didn't have a tissue, so I just blew my nose in my jersey. It was already covered in sweat and tears. Why not add a little snot?

"I can't believe he did that to me," I said.

"Men are assholes."

"I really thought he was different."

"I did too. He seemed like one of the good ones."

Bullshit. Kristen always hated him. It was sweet of her to not bring that up now, though. I shook my head. "Maybe Gabriela just sat next to him and took that picture to get under my skin." Saying the theory out loud gave me a glimmer of hope that Chris wasn't a total asshole.

"I can definitely see Gabriela doing that. But his reaction made him seem so guilty. If he hadn't done anything wrong, he would have laughed it off rather than asking where you got the picture from."

Damn. Kristen was right. He was so guilty. I buried my face in my hands. Two years of memories, all ruined by Chris and that bitch Gabriela. I couldn't believe that she had taken everything from me again.

"How about we get some ice cream?" suggested Kristen.

"I don't want to move."

"Okay, I'll get you some. Be right back." Kristen got up and walked over to a nearby ice cream vendor.

I closed my eyes and waited for her to return.

"Rough day?" asked a deep voice next to me.

I opened my eyes and looked over at him. He seemed familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it. I had probably seen him in a commercial or something. He was certainly handsome enough to be in a commercial.

"You have no idea," I said.

"Well, I think I might have something to cheer you up."

Oh God. Is this guy seriously hitting on me right now? "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. How about a magic trick?"

"You really think magic is going to impress me? I'm not an eight year old boy."

He laughed. "What if I told you I could make your missing phone appear?"

"How'd you know..." Suddenly something clicked and I realized where I recognized him from.

He was the guy I had run into in the locker room.

I hadn't recognized him because he wasn't naked.

"Oh my God." My face started to turn bright red.

First I had barged into the men's locker room and ripped his towel off, and now he was sitting next to me right after I had been crying.

And I was sweaty and my jersey was covered in snot. I was a hot mess.

He smiled at me. "So you do remember me after all?"

"I'm so sorry I ran into you the other day. I was on my phone and accidently walked in there. I promise I didn't see anything though."

"It's okay," he said, handing me my phone. "Please tell me you'll stop crying now that you have your phone back? It pains me to see a girl as beautiful as you upset."

I forced a small laugh. "Oh yeah, I was totally sobbing inconsolably because I lost my phone."

"Do you want to talk about what's really wrong?"

"Not really."

"Okay. Want to play a game instead? It'll be good to get your mind off of whatever's bothering you."

"What game?"

"Guess the sport. Every time someone walks by, we have to try to guess what event they're competing in. Here, I'll go first." He pointed at an Asian girl walking by who looked like she was twelve years old. "See her? Definitely a gymnast. Your turn."

I looked around at the different options. There were a few people walking by who were in great shape, but they didn't have distinctive characteristics that betrayed their sport. Then I spotted a sloppy guy with a big gut and a baseball cap. I pointed at him. "First baseman on a baseball team?"

Bryce laughed. "Could be. But I'm pretty sure he's just the cashier at the burger stand."

"Oh. Oops. Your turn. What do you think of those two guys over there?"

"Eh, I'm not really into guys," said Bryce.

"That's not what I meant."

"But that seven foot tall guy who just walked by is a basketball player. You're up. You should try to guess the sport of that handsome stud on the bench."

"Ew, don't talk about yourself like that."

"What? Oh, no. I was talking about him." Bryce pointed to some guy on a bench across the path stuffing his face with nachos. "But I'm very flattered that you think I'm a handsome stud."

"The dude eating nachos is definitely a table tennis player. And you...hmmm."

"Come on, it should be easy for you to guess what I am after you saw me naked," said Bryce.

"Why would seeing you naked help me guess what you are? Unless you were a porn star and had a giant penis or something."

"I do have a giant penis, but I'm not a porn star. So I guess seeing me naked would have just been misleading for you."

Did he have a giant penis? My mind raced back to the previous day. All I remembered seeing was his hand in front of his junk and his abs. My God, those abs...

"Are you picturing me naked right now?" he asked.

"What? No." I laughed awkwardly.

"Well you seem to be feeling better," said Kristen. She plopped a bowl of ice cream down in my lap. "Who's your new friend?"

Oh God. Did she hear that whole conversation? "This is uh..."

"Bryce," he said, holding his hand out for her to shake it.

"Oh, the guy who you saw naked who told his pervy friend that you were super hot? Did he give you your phone back?"

Bryce smiled. "Pervy friend? That was just some roided up weirdo. My actual friends are super normal."

I looked away and hoped he wouldn't notice me blushing. Please don't say anything else embarrassing, Kristen.

"He's so hot!" mouthed Kristen when Bryce wasn't looking. Or at least, she tried to mouth it. I was pretty sure she said it loud enough for Bryce to clearly hear her.

"Well, I better get going. I promised a few friends I'd meet up with them for dinner." Bryce stood up. "What was your name again?"

"Alina."

"It was great to meet you, Alina." He smiled at me and walked off.

"Damn," said Kristen. "I leave you alone for five minutes and you have the hottest guy at the games flirting with you. Now that's how to rebound."

"I wasn't flirting, I was just getting my phone back."

"That's not what it looked like to me. God, his eyes are incredible."

Yeah they are. "Stop, I wasn't flirting with him. I'm still with Chris." Just saying his name made me feel horrible. The image of him and Gabriela at Club Blue came flooding back into my mind. Any bit of happiness that Bryce had brought me quickly dissipated.

"Well, whatever you were doing, it sure looked like it made you happy."

"Yeah, maybe I'll be happy again some time." I shoved a big spoon full of chocolate ice cream into my mouth to try to keep the tears at bay.

We sat in silence as we both ate an inappropriate amount of ice cream. I didn't know why stuffing my face with delicious ice cream was so comforting, but it was the best. I wished I could date ice cream rather than stupid boys.

"So what do you want to do tonight?" asked Kristen.

I shrugged. I didn't feel like doing anything besides eating more ice cream.

"How about we go get drunk?" she suggested.

Images of Club Blue and Chris getting drunk with Gabriela filled my head and tears welled up in my eyes.

"Uh, okay. No drinking. How about we stay in and watch a movie?"

I nodded.

Kristen gave me a hug and then we got up and headed towards our dorm.