Rumor Has It I'm Dating the Football Captain

Chapter 85: Chapter 85: Don’t Tell Mason

The sharp pop and fizz of a soda can echoed loudly in the quiet apartment kitchen.

Audrey took a sip of the pale pink peach-lychee drink. It was sweet and incredibly cold. She leaned back against the counter and looked at her two roommates.

Chloe was sitting on a barstool. She was wearing her oversized pajamas and drinking a mug of entirely black coffee. Zoya was sitting at the small dining table. Her dark hair was pulled into a neat bun. She was aggressively highlighting a thick legal textbook with a bright yellow marker.

"I am officially moving on," Audrey announced.

Chloe stopped halfway through a sip of coffee. She slowly lowered her mug. She squinted at Audrey with deep suspicion.

"Moving on from what?" Chloe asked cautiously.

"From Mason," Audrey stated. Her voice was steady. She took another sip of her soda. "I met someone last night."

Zoya’s yellow highlighter squeaked to a sudden halt on the paper.

Chloe’s eyes went completely wide. "You met someone? Where? When?"

"At the campus convenience store," Audrey explained casually. "I was buying layout supplies late last night. We reached for the same drink. His name is Rowan. He is an art history major. He has curly hair and green eyes, and he is entirely normal."

Chloe stared at her. She looked like Audrey had just announced she was dropping out of school to join a circus.

"You bumped hands over a sparkling soda," Chloe summarized flatly. "And now you are magically cured? You are just completely over the giant football captain?"

"It is a highly logical strategy," Zoya chimed in from the table. She closed her textbook. "Replacing a primary subject of emotional fixation with a low-stakes alternative breaks the neural dependency. It is an effective way to accelerate detachment."

Chloe rolled her eyes so hard she almost fell off the barstool.

"Please," Chloe groaned loudly. "What do you know about love, Zoya? Your entire heart is a spreadsheet. You treat romance like a mathematical equation."

Zoya pushed her dark-rimmed glasses up the bridge of her nose. She did not look offended. She just looked entirely clinical.

"Logic prevents unnecessary emotional pain," Zoya reasoned calmly. "Feelings are just chemical reactions in the brain. Dopamine and serotonin. Audrey is making a calculated, healthy choice to seek those chemicals elsewhere instead of dwelling on a lost cause."

"Love is not a chemical reaction!" Chloe argued. "It is messy. It is terrifying. You cannot just schedule it away!"

"Actually," Zoya countered smoothly, "scheduling boundaries is the smartest way to handle any relationship. It eliminates confusion."

Audrey set her pink soda can down on the counter with a loud thud.

"Stop it," Audrey commanded. She pointed a firm finger directly at Chloe. "You literally ran away from Leo for three months because you were too terrified to admit you liked him. You treated him terribly to protect your own pride."

Chloe snapped her mouth shut. A faint pink flush crept up her neck.

Audrey turned her finger toward the kitchen table. "And you," she told Zoya. "You literally drafted a legal document to manage your physical arrangement with Jackson. You are trying to control a chaotic football player with a piece of paper."

Zoya blinked. She looked down at her highlighter, suddenly very quiet.

"Neither of you are relationship experts," Audrey said. Her voice softened slightly. The frustration melted into a quiet, raw honesty. "None of us are perfect at this. We all have massive flaws. But I just want to be happy."

The kitchen fell completely silent. The morning sunlight filtered through the blinds, casting warm stripes across the floor.

"Look," Audrey continued quietly. "Mason has a completely new life in Florida. He is going to sign a massive WFA transfer deal. He is walking red carpets with Elena Hayes. He has clearly moved on. So I have the right to move on as well."

Chloe let out a long, heavy sigh. She looked at her coffee mug. She knew Audrey was hurting. She knew the pictures from Miami had absolutely crushed her.

"You do have the right to be happy," Chloe finally agreed softly. She looked back up. "Are you going to see this art guy again?"

"I don’t know," Audrey admitted. "But for the first time in months, I actually want to try."

The athletic dorm room was filled with the loud, roaring sound of a digital car engine.

Leo sat on the edge of his mattress. His eyes were glued intensely to the television screen. He violently twisted the video game controller in his hands, leaning into the sharp digital turns.

Chloe was lying on her stomach on his bed. She was wearing his favorite gray hoodie. Her chin rested on her hands, and she was watching him play.

"Audrey met a guy," Chloe said casually.

On the screen, Leo’s digital race car violently swerved off the track. It smashed directly into a concrete wall. The screen flashed GAME OVER in massive red letters.

Leo completely dropped the controller. It hit the floor with a clatter.

He spun around on the mattress. His dark eyes were wide with pure, absolute panic.

"Excuse me?!" Leo practically shouted. "What do you mean she met a guy?"

"I mean she met a guy," Chloe repeated. She reached over and grabbed a potato chip from the bag sitting on the nightstand. "His name is Rowan. He has green eyes. He is an art history major. She met him in the soda aisle."

Leo looked horrified. He grabbed his hair with both hands.

"No," Leo gasped. "No, that is completely illegal. She belongs with Captain."

"They broke up, Leo," Chloe reminded him logically. She chewed the chip. "Mason is literally in Miami playing the perfect boyfriend for Elena Hayes. The entire internet saw the pictures."

"Those pictures are absolute garbage!" Leo argued fiercely. He stood up from the bed and started pacing the narrow dorm room. "Mason looked miserable. You know he looked miserable. He hates stuff like that."

"Well, Audrey was miserable too," Chloe pointed out. She sat up and crossed her legs. "She cried in her room. She worked until three in the morning just to avoid thinking about him. Now she is finally smiling again. You need to leave it alone."

Leo stopped pacing. He stared at his own desk. He felt a massive, heavy knot forming in his stomach.

He walked over and grabbed his phone.

"I cannot leave it alone," Leo muttered. He unlocked the screen and scrolled quickly through his contacts. "I have to call him. I have to tell Mason."

Chloe jumped off the bed. She marched right over to him and snatched the phone directly out of his hand.

"Hey!" Leo complained, reaching for it.

"You are not calling him," Chloe ordered strictly. She held the phone behind her back. "If you call him and tell him some random art guy is talking to Audrey, he is going to lose his mind."

"That is exactly the point!" Leo pleaded. "It is the bro code, Chloe! If someone is trying to steal his girl, he has to know!"

"She is not his girl anymore!" Chloe yelled back. Her voice echoed in the small room.

Leo froze. The harsh words hit him hard.

"Mason is in the middle of the most important week of his entire life," Chloe explained. Her voice dropped to a much softer, gentler tone. "He is trying to secure a professional WFA contract. If you throw this at him right now, you are just going to mess with his head. You will completely ruin his focus."

Leo stared at her. He knew she was right. Mason was under intense pressure. Director Hayes was watching his every move. If Mason panicked and tried to fly back to campus, he could ruin his entire career.

But hiding this felt entirely wrong. Mason loved Audrey. Leo knew that better than anyone else in the world.

Leo slowly lowered his hands. His broad shoulders slumped in total defeat.

"It just feels like a massive betrayal," Leo whispered. He looked at the floor. "He told me to watch out for her while he was gone."

"You are watching out for her," Chloe promised softly. She stepped closer and gently placed her hand on his chest. "You are letting her be happy. That is what a good friend does."

Leo looked down at Chloe’s hand. He let out a long, exhausted sigh.

"Fine," Leo grumbled reluctantly. "I won’t call him. But if this art guy breaks her heart, I am going to tackle him into a fountain."

Chloe smirked. She handed his phone back to him.

"I will gladly help you drown him," Chloe agreed.

Leo took the phone. He tossed it onto the desk. He felt terrible keeping a secret from his captain. He just prayed Mason would finish his business in Florida and get back to campus before the quiet guy with green eyes completely stole Audrey away.