“Yeah well, what can I say? I’m a trendsetter.” He ran his fingers across the back of his head and smiled, but it was a sheepish one. Not the confident Alex his fans knew. Not the team player his coach knew. Not even the person who he knew. But Rylie saw right through the mask - she always had. “Yeah I was watching…. I didn’t realize you even liked football.” Maybe it would be better to ignore her: after all, they were probably better off alone. But her comment left him with a small glimmer of hope, and a genuine smile spread across Alex’s face. “I was at Faye’s, actually.” A small pause. “Have you been at WDA this whole time? You look…. good.” The word beautiful lingered in Alex’s head, unsaid. But it was true: she was radiant, like he had never known her. The sallowness that they had both come to know was gone in Rylie: Alex too, but only on the surface.
“yeah…- this is the exact sort of thing i can see you endorsing, alright.” it was a joke that probably would have settled better without all the history behind them. she realized, as she came to a pause, that she should’ve coupled them with something - a lighter tone, a wider smile, an added phrase. anything that would’ve made them into what they should’ve been, that they would have been, before. now she just… didn’t know. what she got away with, once, she couldn’t tell if she’d get away with, now. that was what experiencing the end with someone did. she had gotten so used to alex and vice versa, and now…- now they were strangers, all over again. “i don’t-” she speaks without thinking, and she says too much. surprise, surprise. “i mean- i didn’t. but i like the womens games. they’re good.” rylie had never cared about the game. she’d been a cheerleader, once, but that was because of phoebe - she’d wanted to be like the other, and she’d thought that doing the same things as her would do that. she’d only realized when she was stood beside the blonde brandishing blue pompoms and wearing one of those trademark outfits that there was a great deal more to it than just dressing up like her and trying to copy her every move. that was the closest she had gotten to the field, though, and she had only ever watched for HIM. that had never gone away. “oh. faye. how was she?- is she here?” gods, she hoped not. the less that were here, the better, and- and she had more thoughts on that, about how she didn’t want people outside to worry, and how she hoped this would be over soon, but there were some things that just… never changed, and being on the opposite end of the words he said and the way he said them had the same reaction as it always did. she hated the way she could be so taken aback. how her stomach fluttered, and her heart skipped a beat. she wished they wouldn’t, in the same breath as wishing he’d say it again. say more. “yeah, well, i’m- i’m sober, and that’s… what it does.” her volume dropped, a little, and her surety with it. “anyone can look good when they’re not boozing it up, alex. you’d know that better than most.”
The edges of his mouth curved upwards. It was maybe a cruel hearted joke, coming from anyone but Rylie. And he had mostly come to terms with the fact that he probably should have at least said goodbye. Even if it hurt like hell. (Meanwhile, leaving entirely was - and would always be - in Alex’s mind, an unavoidable fact of life. One that he probably never would apologize for.) Hey, at least she was joking about it. “Maybe without the dome part?” His mouth opened again, if only to add I’m honestly feeling a little claustrophobic. But he decided against it. That might not have come out so well, even if it was the truth.
He resisted the urge to push a lock of hair behind her ear, reminding himself that this was, in effect, a stranger. Not the girl he had loved - or still did. Her words made him really smile now - because (as stupid as Alex was), it was him wearing off on her. Proof that even as he disappeared, he hadn’t really left. “Well, if we ever get out of here..... I’ll take you to a game sometime.” Had it been that game that he had gone to with..... Alex suddenly wondered how much of the game she had seen, how close the broadcast had shown his face, shown his companion.... But Rylie couldn’t have known. She didn’t read French tabloids. Was she waiting for him to say something? To explain himself?
“Faye’s.... good. I think she’s worried about Kyle, though...” Alex said, uneasily. If anyone could read right through him, it was Rylie. And even if Alex had nothing to hide, he knew he still projected shame. A confident smile was enough to snap him out of it (at least, as best he could): “I dunno, I was always pretty attractive.”
