"How the heck did you not get caught?"
"I guess the joy of dumping milk and cereal on freshmen was too distracting for any of the boys to notice me recording them," I say and take back my phone after showing Sophie the video I got last night.
"That's crazy. What are you going to do?"
"What do you mean? I'm obviously going to write about this in my article." I open my laptop to pull up the notes I have so far for my article. "This story is going to blow up. Possibly nation-wide. What do you think about the title, Coco for STD's? Oh wait. Even better. Frat Loops!"
"Brooklyn."
"You get it? Like Coco for Cocopuffs? Fruit Loops? Because it's cereal?"
"Brooklyn." She closes my laptop. "Aiden's in that video."
I frown. "Well, I can just blur out all their faces. Joseph is good with tech, so he can totally help."
"You think any news source is not going straight to the President?" Sophie looks very upset. "Brooklyn, I can tell you really care about Aiden. I just don't think this article is a good idea."
"It could be my big break, Soph. Like, really big. Something like this will go national."
"Exactly," she says. "If it goes national, think about what will happen to Aiden."
"Why do you care so much? You barely know him," I say. I'm getting defensive, but I know she's right. I'm just in denial.
The possibility to have an article be so successful it reaches news stations is too exciting to not consider. How can I, a girl boss, give up this opportunity because I like a guy in a frat?
"Whatever, Brooklyn. It's whatever you decide," she says. "But just think about it before you take that story to the paper."
As if on cue, I get a text from Aiden. He asked if I got home okay. He's typing... He said we need to talk.
"Crap," I whisper. "He knows."
I reply and say I'm just at my apartment working on homework. He says he'll come over in an hour with lunch. Hm. Bringing lunch over seems pretty cordial.
Maybe he doesn't know?
My anxiety is pretty bad as the anticipation of what Aiden wants to talk about eats at me. I make sure to send the video from my phone to my laptop, so I can delete it off my phone just as I did with the exam photos. I can't make any mistakes and let Aiden find this.
Sophie leaves for Joseph's, and I can tell she's a little upset at me. It's understandable. I'm a little upset at me too.
I retouch up my makeup once Aiden texts that he's on his way. This is the first time he's coming over to my apartment, which is kind of crazy considering how much time I spent at the frat house. I make sure to clean my room and take down any embarrassing photos.
He knocks on the door in a cute little pattern. Almost everything he does is cute.
"Hey," I greet him with a big smile.
"Hey," he replies and walks in to set our lunch on the counter. "This is a pretty nice apartment. Rent not too bad?"
"It's reasonable," I say.
We sit down at the counter and begin eating our lunch.
"How are you feeling? Hungover at all?" he asks.
"I'm okay. I had a really good night of sleep," I lie. Waking up at 3am to see frat guys dumping cereal all over each other wasn't the best night of my life.
"You look so cute when you sleep," he says. "You've got this real angry face. Your nose is all scrunched up." He pokes my nose. "And you snore."
"I snore?" I groan. "How embarrassing!"
"Your cuteness makes up for it." He clicks his tongue. "The guys were pretty mad when they found out you slept over last night."
"Why's that?"
"We're just doing some pledging stuff that's kind of frat-secrecy."
I nod. Ah, yes. Pledging stuff. A kind word for hazing poor freshmen.
Last night was kind of a rough look for Aiden. It's a side of him that I really didn't like to see. I know it's very common for fraternities to do this type of thing, but it was hard to see him in the basement last night as almost the ring leader of it all.
"Hail to the STD, am I right?" I say and jab his side with my elbow.
He laughs, but his smile doesn't meet his eyes. I can tell something is off. "Yeah," he says with a sigh.
"Everything alright?"
"Uh, yeah, sorry," he says. "I just had a long night."
There's a silence that follows as we finish up eating our lunch.
We decide to sit on the couch and pick a movie to watch since it's raining today. Aiden is unusually quiet, and I'm not sure it's just because he's tired.
He doesn't even laugh once during the Bee Movie.
I mute the TV. "Okay. What's up?"
"Nothing," he says apologetically. "I'm just in my head right now."
"What about?"
"The guys," he says. "They were really pissed at me, especially Bradley." He rubs his temples. "It's hard to live up to their expectations all the time."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, they just put a lot of pressure on me since I'm the President. That's why I've been so bad at texting this week. I just feel like I have to do so much all the time to even be considered a good President in their eyes."
I nod. "Yeah, that seems really hard."
"And I, like, I really want to be President next year too. Our reputation is so good, all the connections I can make. It would just be amazing for me," he says.
The guilt starts trickling in.
"Connections?"
"Like, with alumni, from Sigs. I know there's a few from my area who are into politics and can get me working with some really good companies." He sighs. "This re-election is going to be huge for me."
"When do they decide?" I ask. Hopefully before my deadline for the paper.
"Elections take place in November. So about a month away." He smiles at me. "You're going to have to keep me sane that whole month."
I smile. "Oh, so you think I'll still be hanging around in a month?"
"I like to keep daydreaming," he says and leans in to give me a kiss.
I'm not good enough for you, I want to tell him. I want to just admit everything about the paper. The guilt is going to eat me alive. I'm clearly a terrible person, and he deserves so much better.
I can't be with him if I submit that article about Sigma Tau Delta to the paper.
Sophie is right. It'll end up hurting Aiden, and I don't want to do that. I'm not going to start a relationship built on a lie. But, at the same time, it's my chance. I've always wanted this moment, this groundbreaking story. I have it right in front of me.
I know I can't have both, the guy or the dream. I need to pick one.
Oh, to my icon and savior, Michelle Obama, what should I do?
~~
AN:
hi!!! thanks for reading :) I appreciate all the support!
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