Chapter 37

thirty-seven

ISLA

What's so special about her?

She's a six. He could do better.

Omg, I love her hair!

"Hey." The chair beside me squeals against the tiled floor, announcing Jess's arrival. "You okay?"

"Hmm?" I look up at my best friend with a frown that she mirrors.

"I asked if you were okay. You're making a funny face." Jess snatches my phone before I can lock it and shove it deep inside my pocket. She eyes the photo Griffin posted of us and Sebastian from the day of the assembly, then scrolls through the comments, her brow furrowing deeper the more she reads.

My knee bounces as I watch her, and my bottom lip stings from worrying at it. Why did I have to read the comments? And why the hell didn't I put my phone away before Jess got here ?

This began with me opening up my Instagram account to find almost a hundred follow requests. Ninety-nine percent of them were strangers, though there were a few high school classmates I never actually spoke to thrown in for good measure. I denied each one. Even the classmates. I couldn't figure out where this random influx of follow requests came from. But then I remembered what Griffin posted the day of the assembly and navigated over to his profile to see if he'd tagged me. He had. There were a few fans who had been speculating about Maddox and me since I posted that photo of us without setting my profile to private. Looks like they don't need to speculate any longer.

I can't be mad at Griffin for tagging me because I know he's excited that Maddox and I are officially together. And I've seen the comments he gets on his photos. They're almost all positive. Especially from his female fans. I'm pretty sure most of his followers are women. So why would he think I'd receive different treatment?

None of the comments are overtly cruel, but there are a lot of women making bitchy assertions about me being with Maddox for the attention and a lot of men making digs at my appearance. As if they could condense the entirety of my value down to my body or the way I look. It's invasive and uncomfortable, and I've never had so much attention before. I have no idea how to shut those voices out. Especially when they echo things Alex has said.

"Sweet baby Hemsworth," Jess finally says. "How many of these did you read?"

I shrug. "Enough."

"People are assholes, Isla. I'm sorry. Never read the comments, babes. "

"I know. I know better. I mean, the internet is a cesspool. But it was hard to look away.

Despite my stomach churning, I take a sip of my latte. Jess and I sometimes meet up at That's Doppio after work, and with the newness of my relationship with Maddox, it's been a while since I've seen her or Nevaeh. We've kept up a steady stream of text conversations, but I've been missing my best friends. Nev couldn't meet up with us today, but with all of this, I'm even more grateful for Jess's presence beside me.

"Has Maddox seen these?" Jess locks my phone before placing it screen-down on the table with a wrinkled nose and a grimace. "Can't imagine he'll be pleased."

I can only shrug because I don't know, and I don't want to ask him. He's seen the ugly side of public attention, so I'm sure he'd sympathize. But what would I even say? Maddox, strangers on the internet are being mean to me.

Nope. Can't bring myself to do that.

My bestie sighs and gives my hand a squeeze. "How are things going outside of internet trolls? Tell me all about your first week of official dating."

So I do. I gush about Maddox. I tell her how I'm meeting his sister for their first preseason game at home. How I'm excited to watch Maddox play, but a little nervous for the season to start because I'm not sure what to expect. He'll be gone a lot once things kick off, and I've gotten so used to seeing him most days. I'm trying not to be that clingy girlfriend. Sure, I'm going to miss Maddox like hell, but all of this is still so new that I refuse to let him see how worried I am that the distance will be difficult.

Not to mention the deep, hidden fear that he'll meet someone prettier, smarter, and better than me while he's out on the road. I know Maddox isn't like that; I do. But I still don't understand why a guy like him would choose to be with a woman like me. I'm nobody. Clearly the internet agrees.

"So when is their first home game during the preseason?"

"Well, their first three games are away, then they have two at home, then another away game before the actual season starts." I open my phone and tap on the calendar app. "So the game I'm going to is on the last Wednesday of the month."

Jess grins. She can tell I'm excited to watch my man play for the first time. "And you're meeting his sister? That seems big. Like, serious, big."

Surprisingly, I'm not all that worried about meeting Mira. She seems really cool, and I have a feeling we'll get along well. "Yeah. She's going to come stay with Maddox for a week, so I should have some time to get to know her."

As an only child, I always wanted a sister. Alex didn't have any siblings, so the idea of forming a tight bond with Mira makes me kind of giddy. It's way too soon to be thinking like this, but I have a difficult time reminding myself to be logical where Maddox is concerned.

"Do you get to sit in some fancy box seats or something?" Jess asks. "Is that even a thing in hockey?"

All I can do is laugh, because hell if I know. Maybe tonight I should find a Hockey For Dummies book and at least learn the basics. "No idea. All I know is that I've seen photos of my man in uniform, and damn, does he look hot."

Jess shakes her head at me. I know I'm ridiculous, but I'm too happy to care. At least, as long as I'm not thinking about what a bunch of random strangers on the internet think about me.

"So, when are you going to meet his parents?"

"Just his mom," I say. "He doesn't have a relationship with his dad. And I'm not sure. I don't know if I'm ready for that yet, you know?"

Because Alex's family had always been ambivalent toward me. They never even tried to hide it. I'm not sure if it was a me problem, or a them problem, but after the way Maddox gushed about his mom, I know ambivalent won't be good enough for her. If she doesn't like me, it could very well spell the end of things between Maddox and me.

"You need to believe in yourself more, Isla. Alex was a dick, and so were his parents. Don't let them color your current relationship."

It's wise advice, though maybe not so easy to put into practice. "I know, I know."

Jess nods sharply. "Good. Now tell me about the sex."

My cheeks grow hot and I glance around to make sure no one's listening before I say, "Oh, God. Where should I start?" Because it's been five days since the assembly, and Maddox has been insatiable. And even though I refuse to go into graphic detail with my friends, I still have a hell of a lot to tell them about.

"Let's just say that I almost had to ice my vagina the other day…"