Chapter 35
"May I have a moment alone with Brooklyn please?" Pablo asked when he walked up to us.
"I don't think that’s a goo-" I began but was interrupted by Brooklyn.
"Gimme 5 minutes tops please" she said looking at me pleadingly.
"Whatever, I’m gonna go look for Mase anyways" I said angrier than I intended. But could you blame me?
Rule# 13 - Sometimes it’s better to admit defeat (in times when you don’t think this applies refer to rule# 24).
Brooklyn turned her attention to Pablo after she gave Dylan an apologetic look. "What do you want Pablo?"
"Brooklyn I’ve missed you" she glared at him.
"I couldn't go back to Brazil, I can't play soccer, I can’t even think. I love you Brooklyn. I made a mistake and I’m begging for your forgiveness" he said getting down on one knee.
A tear fell down her face. "Oh get up off the floor, your causing a scene"
She had never been caught at a crossroads like this but obviously what Pablo and her had was deeper than what she had with Dylan... At least on her part.
"River I don't know"
"You called me River I suppose that’s step 1" Pablo said smiling weakly. He took hold of one of her hands and kissed it. Brooklyn didn’t pull back, instead she smiled and blushed.
This time it was Dylan's turn to clear his throat and break them apart.
"15 minutes till the start of the award ceremony." the MC announced.
"Oh don't mind me, carry on" I said dryly, "I need some air" I concluded and walked out.
"Hey, thought I’d find you here" Mason said coming up behind me.
"Thank God someone to talk to"
Rule#19 - When girls are being girls, remember your boy’s always got your back.
"I saw Brooklyn with Pablo and I assumed you wouldn't have stayed"
"I don't get her it's like she's using me to get back at him or something"
Brooklyn was upset at the way she was treating Dylan but the fact of the matter was that she had agreed to marry Pablo because she loved him. She'd loved him since the day they'd met. And sometimes they had arguments yeah. Some bigger than others like the recent one and Dylan Ryder had just gotten caught in the crossfire.
"River, can you give me a sec, there's something I need to do"
"Of course, anything for you"
"But maybe you jus-" Mason began but stopped when he saw Brooklyn standing there.
"Can I speak to Dylan for a minute" I stiffened when I heard her voice.
________________
"So you and Pablo are back together now?"
"See the thing with River and I is complicated."
"Ha, you’re already calling him River" I said laughing dryly.
"Just let me ex-"
"Save your breath, I get it. This wasn't serious anyways so forget it" I said and went back inside.
Rule#20 – staying around for explanations is pointless. Don’t do it!
I sat at the assigned table; luckily Mason and Gigi were seated there as well, so Brooklyn and Mason had swapped seats on the circular table so I was seated next to Mason. Another soccer player was on the table with his wife who was heavily pregnant.
"Why do you think Dylan got so... Mad?" Brooklyn whispered to Gigi.
"Well maybe it's coz he thought you were just using him to... I dunno make Pablo jealous"
"I'd never do anything like that"
"Considering you and Pablo have worked things out, it seems that way".
"Well he's a player, you said so yourself"
"You don't get it do you" Brooklyn thought she heard Gigi say. But she let the issue drop.
"MLS Golden Boot goes to Pablo Riviera" the presenter announced. The crowd cheered and applauded as he went up to give his speech.
"Well I’d like to thank my coach, my teammates the love of my life Brook I love you oh and Dylan Ryder for believing in me" he said concluding mockingly. The crowd laughed but my fists clenched, I wanted to hit him so effing hard he'd wish he'd never been born.
Rule #21 - Murdering the competition is out of the question unless you fancy going to jail.
Brooklyn was furious. Pablo was messing with Dylan to get a rise out of him. Okay he didn’t mention her name when he referred to her but did he need to make Dylan sound like such a suck up?
"MVP of the year, Dylan Ryder" the crowd cheered me on as I went up on stage to collect my award.
"How do you like me now?" I directed at Pablo in particular but the whole crowd cheered regardless. They obviously didn’t understand the beef between us.
"right, so I’d like to thank Mason my main man, coach, I told you I could do it and umm... Who else am I forgetting, oh yeah that’s right, thanks to Brooklyn for inspiring me" I said holding the trophy up in the air. "This ones for you".
"Defender of the year, Mason Mieser"
"Woohh" Mason cheered as the crowed applauded him up on to the stage. "So I’d like to thank everyone who helped me get to where I am today. Oh and my beautiful girlfriend Gigi" he concluded blowing her a kiss. Gigi blushed and smiled blowing him a kiss back.
Pablo won another award for some sort of humanitarian crap, but considering I’d won the major award of the night, I just wanted to get out of here.
I noticed Brooklyn watching me with apologetic eyes, "we need to talk" she said dragging me with her to a more private area at the back. "Look I know what it looks like"
"What does it look like?"
"It looks like I was just using you or something but I wasn’t"
"Forget about it I don't hold anything against you" I said dryly avoiding eye contact for fear she'd be able to read my emotions.
"Anyways I’ve heard about your reputation, you bounce back"
"Ha-ha my rep? What did you think I was just playing you? You really don't get it"
Brooklyn was confused, "get what?"
"Forget about it" I said walking away. She thought my relationship with her was completely physical. She probably would have laughed in my face if I’d told her I loved her.
The plan to make her fall for me was backfiring completely. She'd gone running back into the arms of Pablo the egotistical prick, god I hated him. On my way inside I walked past him and he purposely bumped (more like shoved) himself into me.
"what the f#*k man?"
"oh sorry it was an accident man"
"right" I said sarcastically
He looked at me with a 'duh' expression "bro" he said "I get that you’re pissed... So pissed that you didn’t see the pregnant woman rush past me" he wasn’t finished “you know what I’ll cut the BS, Brooklyn doesn’t love YOU. She's known you for what a month. You’re a joke seriously... You don’t love HER, its infatuation what you think you've got with her. Brook only found comfort in you because I haven’t been here"
To say I was angry was an understatement I wanted to beat the f@#ker to a pulp. “First of all I’m not you're bro and second, you have no idea what I feel for Brooklyn", I punched him straight on his jaw. Causing him to fall back.
"What the f#*k!" he yelled holding his jaw, coming at me. He punched me in the eye, mouth and shoulder. I had to hand it to him; he fought like some street fighter. Yeah I gave him a few hits but when I was about to get him in his jaw again we were pulled apart and taken away in a police car. Separate of course.
I had to stay the night even though dad was a district attorney and could pull strings, 30 minutes after being brought in Pablo had his lawyer bail him out.
My dad turned up the next morning. My head was in my hands. I hadn't slept the whole night and my knuckles were still raw from the fight. Brooklyn was destroying me inside out and she didn’t even effing know it.
"Hey son" My dad said sitting down on the bench next to me. I stayed silent. "I wasn’t in the country; I came as quickly as I could".
"Whatever" I muttered.
"Now I can pull strings and your criminal record will disappear"
"What’s the catch?"
"You haven't been completely honest with me... I know something’s going on or has gone on with you and Brooklyn and I didn’t need to see it on the cover of St. Pierre to know, I mean when I heard you'd gotten into a fight with Pablo I was confused. Till I saw this". He said holding up a magazine with Brooklyn and I's first (and last) public kiss.
"Okay well it all started when I went into her studio a few weeks ago"
"Hmm go on"
________________________
"BROOKLYN I am honestly sick and tired of hearing about your personal life in the tabloids".
"Look dad I jus-"
"Don't 'look dad I just' me. Enough is enough. What was an engaged woman doing kissing another man?"
"Ohh right about that, Pablo and I hit a rough patch"
"Well you better smooth down that patch. While in Paris I was meeting with a few designers that have agreed to collaborate and design your dress".
"Oh... Well dad I wanted to maybe postpone it till someti-"
"Oh shush don’t be ridiculous, I booked the reception at that place a few blocks from the Louvre, cost a fortune even for me. But it’s in 6 months"
__________________
"You know son, you remind me a hell of a lot of myself, have I mentioned that?"
"Ahh yeah a couple too many times"
"Well your mum was a book worm. That was like no go territory for me. But anyways one day I bumped into her literally, she was on her way out of the library a pile of books in her hand when I accidentally knocked her over."
"Oh so it was love at first sight?"
"Hell no! She yelled every possible profanity at me before she glared at me and pushed past. I mean she was a nut bag. But a damn hot one"
"Ha-ha that’s so weird"
"It got worse but eventually I asked her out, we broke up a few times, but years later we found each other again and well magic happened".
"Ergh! I don't need to know the details but I’m guessing I was the product"
"Haha you weren't supposed to know all of the above but I told you anyways" My dad said laughing.
"So you gonna make the crim rec disappear or what?"
XxxGhostWritersxxX