Page 30 of The Frathole

“You didn’t say anything about telling other people about our agreement.”

“Gisele promised to be discreet, and doesn’t she look trustworthy?” He waves to her, and she waves back with those bright eyes on Ryan.

“Okay, it’s pretty apparent why she’s offering to help, and it has nothing to do with me.”

“She’s in the drama department. I said it might be good practice for her with character work.”

I feel a migraine coming on. “I never should have said yes to this. I had this gut feeling you’d find a way to turn this into the perfect opportunity to humiliate me, and congratulations if that was your goal.”

“Whoa, whoa. You can ask Keeg and Jaxon, I did the same with them. How did you think this was gonna go down?”

“I was expecting pointers. Like tips. I showed you movesin private. I didn’t bring in a hot girl to judge.”

“You need practice talking to a girl, and given how red your face is, Gisele is gonna be perfect for you because she makes you nervous. And the more you sit with that, the less uncomfortableyou’ll be during the real thing because you’ll be used to having that feeling and knowing what to do when it comes up.”

Wait a fucking second… “Exposure therapy?”

“Huh?”

“You’re talking about exposure therapy, essentially.”

“I’m lost.”

“You get me to do the thing that makes me uncomfortable until I’m familiar enough with the discomfort that it doesn’t intimidate me.”

He shrugs. “I guess.”

It’s stunning that an idiot like Ryan has inadvertently stumbled upon his own version of exposure therapy, which when he pitches it like that, I must admit might work.

But I’m probably gonna hate every second of it, which is kind of the point.

“I’m listening,” I say, “but just know, I’ve still got some Jell-O up my ass from earlier. I’m on edge, and I’m more than a little annoyed that you didn’t give me a heads-up.”

“If I’d told you, would you have said yes?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Exactly. So why don’t we get back to Gisele and get to work.”

I hesitate, still unconvinced. “You’re saying you did this with Keegan and Jaxon?”

At his nod, I search around, spotting Angie chatting with Ash and Lance. I think about how many days I’ve spent chatting with her, fumbling my words, pining away, knowing I’d never have the confidence to flirt with her. It gives me the boost I need to surrender to Ryan’s plan.

“Okay. Let’s just get through it.”

“That’s what I like to hear.” He slaps my back, urging me toward Gisele.

“Okay, don’t touch me like you do your football bros,” I say,and he backs off.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Gisele says before turning to Ryan. “Ooh, is that not how we should start? You should probably start, Marty.” She giggles, as though she’s the one who should be embarrassed about what’s happening.

“Uh…”

“Here’s the scenario,” Ryan interjects. “Gisele and I are having a conversation, and you approach and insert yourself into it. Easy enough?”

“Why not?” I step away and approach.

“So then Carmichael was coming down the field for a Hail Mary when—” He acts like he’s just spotted me and says, “Ah, hey, Mart. This is… Sorry, what was it again?”