Page 53 of Try Hard

Fia

I n some ways, it had been a weird day. In others, it had been a perfect day. Waking up in Eve’s arms, having breakfast together, watching the world from her incredible balcony… The flip side was what happened when that world intruded into our content little bubble.

She’d posted her statement at nine, right after we’d had breakfast. Andra had approved it with no changes. Rohanna had sent multiple, emphatic messages that were basically her yelling support via text. And then the rest of the world had happened.

I was staying off social media, but it was impossible to be unaware of what was happening when Eve had a whole team monitoring it.

Now, we were sitting on a video call with Andra and Rohanna, back in Eve’s office, and the only messages I’d replied to so far were those from my parents and Sophie.

“Much as we expected,” Andra said, her tone serious in a way that implied she didn’t come in another tone, “it’s igniting quite the dialogue online.

Two sides taking shape very naturally —those who think famous people deserve privacy, and those who think that, by being in the public eye, you sacrifice any right to basic respect and dignity.

Thankfully, the supportive side is currently winning out. ”

“Too right it is,” Rohanna shot, in between bites of a fruit salad she was eating.

Andra continued as if she hadn’t been interrupted, even though Eve grinned.

“And, of course, the fact that Ophelia isn’t in the public eye is adding credence to that right to privacy, particularly given how brutal some of the commentary has been.

So, all that is to say, there are currently far more voices shouting down the loud, intrusive commenters, and a larger debate is being started again. ”

Eve caught the way I tilted my head, wondering at that phrasing.

She stroked gently over my thigh, where her hand had been resting the entire call.

“These discussions come up routinely. Just the cycles of online discourse. Whether or not this treatment of celebrities and their partners is acceptable isn’t the only one that does the rounds, but it isn’t a new thing.

They’ll talk about it now, but then it’ll fade away, and, when someone else’s partner gets discovered or people are thirsting after someone new, they’ll forget this ever happened and boundaries will be crossed again. ”

“Parasocial relationships are a weird trip,” I said quietly.

“You’re telling me.”

“We’ve received word that it’s being picked up by a few news outlets and will be discussed by some of the late night shows, but I think you’ll be most interested to know that Taylor Freely has reached out to ask if you’d like to do her podcast again, specifically to talk about this.

Though, of course, there will be the opportunity to plug your latest business venture. ”

“Yeah, get us that free marketing,” Rohanna quipped.

I could see why she and Eve were such good friends, and, despite the fact that we were not particularly similar personalities, I was looking forward to getting to know her a little more.

“Interesting,” Eve agreed, considering for a moment.

Taylor’s podcast was one Eve had done a few times over the years.

They had a good rapport and she wasn’t the type of interviewer who seemed to trick her guests.

However, she was also the host of the very same podcast that had started the whole ‘Daddy Eve’ thing.

It wasn’t Taylor’s fault, but it was the epicentre of that whole experience.

“Yeah,” Eve said eventually. “Have her send the details over. We can talk about the whole daddy thing too. Might as well finally discuss that in more detail now I’m not worried it’ll ruin my career.”

“Are you going to tell them to stop calling you that?” Rohanna asked, eyebrows raised.

Eve shrugged as she shook her head. “Probably not entirely. Like, most of the time, it’s whatever, but I would like to talk about how sexual people get with it, and how they think that makes other sexual comments or requests acceptable.

You know, just the whole conversation about how being in the public eye does not make personal boundaries non-existent. ”

Rohanna nodded, a small, impressed smile appearing on her face. She got it. Eve had been dealing with this stuff for a long time. It was amazing that she was finally able to talk about it and address the parts that made her uncomfortable.

I stroked the back of Eve’s hand, every bit as impressed with her as Rohanna was—as I’d always been.

“Great,” Andra said, making notes. “I’m sure she’ll want to move quickly on this, so I imagine I’ll have details for you by the end of the day.”

“Sounds good.” Eve looked at me as she answered. She was tired of this meeting, of the business of having to navigate the press and her boundaries again.

It was entirely understandable. Sure, she’d played sports professionally and she’d taken off in the media—especially social media—in a perfect cocktail of timing and events, but, at the end of the day, she was just a woman trying to live her life.

She was a human who was impressive and magnetic, friendly and talented, and beautiful.

It wasn’t hard to see why the fans had wanted more of her, and why the media had followed, but I wasn’t enjoying this glimpse into the dark side of that attention.

And, of course, it was the small fraction of people who didn’t understand privacy or boundaries that were the loudest and required such a coordinated approach to deal with.

I didn’t envy Andra’s job.

“I’ll leave you to it for now then,” Andra said, looking up at the screen again. “Ophelia, it was nice to meet you. I look forward to doing so again under more pleasant circumstances, but don’t worry, we’ll get this thing taken care of and the attention will go away.”

I nodded once. “Understood. Thank you. Let me know if there’s anything else you need from me.”

“Don’t worry, she totally will,” Eve said, nudging me gently.

They exchanged a few more pleasantries and Andra left the call. Once she was gone, Rohanna’s smile shifted and became more amused.

Eve relaxed back in her seat, moving her arm to wrap around me and pull me closer into her side. “Don’t start now,” she warned with a laugh.

Rohanna let out a startled sound. “I didn’t say a thing!”

“You were about to.”

“Hey, you finally get the love of your life and I get introduced to her in a crisis meeting. The least you can do is let me be a good friend and admire how happy you are.”

“We’ll be happier when this whole thing is over.”

“Oh, sure. But it really says something that, even in the middle of all this, you’re so happy.”

I looked at Eve. She did seem blissful. Annoyed by the nonsense, but that was all external.

Internally, she seemed content in a way I’d never seen her.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out it was the exact same way I felt.

And for the exact same reasons. Twenty years was a long time to wait for someone.

Without even thinking about it—as natural as breathing—I leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to Eve’s lips.

I’d never really engaged in PDA before her, but touching her, kissing her, loving her just came naturally, and I didn’t want Eve’s best friend to be another person we had to hide ourselves around.

“Oh, my god,” Rohanna squealed as Eve and I pulled apart. “I’m going to die at how cute you two are together.”

“Please don’t,” I said, not looking away from Eve. “We don’t have the bandwidth for more mess right now.”

They both laughed, and it was nice feeling like I belonged with Eve’s friends.

Just like with her family, I was now slotting into life with her friends.

Maybe it hadn’t been so wild to imagine all the ways we’d make it work back when I was still wishing I got to be the one loving her. There we were, making it happen.

“So,” Rohanna said, focusing on me, “how’s it been on your end? Eve said something about your bosses wanting to… cash in on your newly famous status.”

I scrunched my face up in a grimace. “Indeed. I’m quitting though. Already started working on my resignation letter. I have no interest in working for a company that sees me only as Eve Archer’s girlfriend they can exploit.”

“What are you going to do instead?”

I tried not to show how much my stomach clenched at that question. Ordinarily, I wasn’t the kind of person to jump ship without having something solid lined up to land on. This time, I had no fucking clue. But I’d figure it out.

I let out a steady breath as Eve kissed my shoulder reassuringly. “I don’t know yet. But, I have a strong CV and a decent number of industry contacts, so I’ll figure something out.”

Rohanna lit up as she bit her lip, eyes bouncing from me to Eve and back again. “Okay. So. I might… have a lead.”

“What?” Eve asked as I simply stared.

She wiggled her eyebrows, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. “The person I’ve been… seeing is pretty high up over at Intentional Traveller —I don’t know how well you know it?”

“Really well,” I said slowly. It was actually my favourite travel magazine to read in recent years.

“Great! Well, yeah, she’s… kind of a massive fan of your work and has secretly been hoping she’d get to meet you since she found out you and Eve are dating—”

“So glad she knows so much about us when you won’t even tell me her name,” Eve said, laughing and relaxed.

Rohanna shot her a look before continuing. “So, if you wanted an introduction, I’m sure she’d be desperate to hire you. Honestly, I think she’s been trying to figure out how to headhunt you for years…”