"So, Eleanor, Jake, Logan, you're all from California?"

A pair of blue eyes blinked at me from under her heavy eye makeup. I wasn't the most fashionable person, especially with makeup, but the woman stared at us with what looked like blue shadow painted high into her upper eyelids and black wingtip-shapes drawn at the corners.

Tall, thin, and dressed in a black, fitted power suit that supported her subtle curves and contrasted her extremely blonde hair, Rachel Sorenson carried herself with a straight spine, sharp eye gaze that flicked mostly at Jake, and, according to Mr. Reynolds, a weird habit where she switched question topics back and forth. I wasn't sure if that was an interview tactic so she threw off me, Logan, and Jake but her approach certainly confused me.

We'd started the interview with literal introductions of ourselves, our names and majors at school, then season recap-related questions, which somehow led back into where we were from. The longer we continued, the more I felt like my mouth was stuffed with cotton balls.

I sat in between Logan and Jake on a small gray sofa that faced Rachel's casual chair, with a small glass-top coffee table and television screen hung on a wall between us, behind which was a green screen. On the other side of the room was an all-glass window that showcased Husky Stadium below.

Between the two cameramen, one aimed at Rachel and the other at our sofa, stood Mr. Reynolds. The gray in his hair was highlighted by the overhead lights, which also cast a glare over his frameless glasses, but his tall, slim frame and power suit exuded a quiet sense of authority. Harper leaned against the back wall, her arms crossed over her chest and eye daggers pointed straight at Rachel.

"Yeah." I nodded, then grabbed Logan's closest hand with my already damp palm. "Well, Jake and I are from California."

"Born and raised in Santa Cruz," Jake added with a slight nod, his eyes fixated on Rachel like they had been since she first walked into the room. An odd tension filtered through the air between them as her lips twitched up at the corners and one of her hand's fingertips patted her forehead lightly near her hairline.

Is she sweating? I'm sweating and we've asked one question.

"My family moved from Canada when I was twelve," Logan filled in his generic answer.

"From Sudbury?" Rachel asked and now I wondered why the hell she'd asked if she'd already known the answer.

"Yeah," he answered with a casual, even tone. It seemed sufficient since Rachel shifted her gaze to Jake, then back to Logan.

"Jake, you've previously mentioned you started football at seven, is that when you started playing Logan?" Rachel's perfectly styled, glossy-as-silk blonde hair slipped over her shoulder as her head tilted slightly. One of her red-soled black pumps twitched once, which distracted me just as much as her random question order and forehead pats.

"Seriously, more like twelve." Logan's calm voice filtered down at me. He swallowed lightly and to everyone else, he masked a polite smile but I knew better. "A year after we moved here."

His dad's drinking problems.

"So after you moved here at eleven," Rachel pressed, which Logan nodded at. "Your mom raised you as a single Mom, while your Dad had your younger brother, Brody?"

"No." Logan frowned, paused for a moment, then answered, "Our parents had shared custody of both of us."

"But you moved two years to the States after your Dad and brother," she stated, not asked and Logan just nodded silently again. "And you don't share the same last name as your brother?"

"No, I don't," he replied casually, like Rachel had asked him what his favorite food was. Logan on the surface seemed as cool as a cucumber but internally I sweated bullets. My stomach churned uncomfortably at how directly Rachel probed into his personal past.

Holy fuck. What's going to happen when we get to mine?

"And how long has football been in your life Eleanor?" Rachel's eyes paused on Jake, then shifted downward and met mine.

"You should ask Jake," I admitted with a tight smile and patted his arm. "He started playing when he was seven. That's the earliest I remember going to his games and seeing how excited he was, so six for me."

Honestly, Jake's football had been in my life longer than it hadn't been at this point.

"I already know that answer," she chuckled more to herself than any of us. "From the preseason interview. Favorite color?"

All three of us paused for a moment, my lower lip rolled under while Logan answered, "Blue, although I'm starting to like purple and gold more."

Blue? Thought it was red?

"Yellow," I replied slowly.

"Blonde," the ass on my right responded, which earned him an eye roll from me.

Rachel only looked at him with a quick smile, then pointed at a television screen in between our seats. "So you and Logan, like at other schools, are involved in your respective team's marketing."

Before Jake answered, she continued, "Let's take a look at this year's publicity."

Within a blink, a side-by-side comparison of their billboard pictures popped up on the screen.

"Oh gawd." My lips rolled inward at how menacing Jake's billboard picture looked. His mouth was screwed up in a scowl, chin dipped towards his chest, and his eyes dark like he prepared for an enemy conquest, not a football game.

Logan groaned when his crop top picture surfaced but Jake's was also definitely edited. His dark brown hair looked black and water, perspiration I assumed, beaded up on his forehead, streamed down the sides of his face, even dripped over the tip of his nose.

At least he's clothed, but I'd rather look at Logan's air-brushed abs any day.

No, no I wouldn't. Real thing is definitely better.

"Mine's definitely better." Jake snorted. "Is that a ten pack?"

"No comment on that one," Logan replied with a laugh but with my closer proximity, I saw a slight flush of pink across his cheeks.

"Next one for all three, starting with Logan," Rachel switched gears. "Ideal date?"

What the hell?

Logan's ideal date answer from his actual Seventeen interview last year had definitely grabbed my attention. His specific words carried a bittersweet sting in them because he mentioned what we'd done every Friday evening after one of his football games.

'I'm a pretty simple guy, I chill at home a lot. So, nice dinner, then curled up and watching movies. If it's after a game though, can't promise I won't fall asleep.'

Now though, he'd definitely changed his answer to one that won him even more bonus points. "Anything Ellie plans," he replied with a soft smile that I wished I could've kissed him for.

"I do plan some awesome dates." I grinned up at him, then looked back at Rachel. "I wasn't sure he'd enjoyed them as much but I like anything where we do an activity, although chilling back for a movie is good too."

Logan's hand squeezed mine gently, like he'd gotten my reference. Now my lips pulled into a real smile and I leaned slightly into his shoulder.

Jake followed up with a half-diplomatic, half-cocky, "I'm up for whatever she wants to do."

"So... You're lazy," Rachel teased him with a bright smile and another flick of her foot.

"No." He shook his dark-haired head, but his eyes roamed over in Mr. Reynolds' direction. "I'll find out what my particular girl likes, then try to take it to the next level."

"Like..." Rachel prompted with a palm-up hand.

"Like if she likes the beach," Jake replied in a cool, even tone but Harper's tensed posture against the back wall was obvious from across the room. "Then I'd go ahead of time, set up a picnic for just the right sunset moment, carry her across the sand if she didn't want it in her shoes. Find her favorite song and put it on while we ate."

"And if her favorite song is gangster rap?" Rachel laughed quietly before her fingers dragged over the top of her forehead slightly.

"Then that's what we'll listen to," Jake replied and leaned back against the seat with a smirk. From the small contact points of his body against mine, he was completely relaxed but one glance back at Harper showed she looked like she wanted Jake tossed out the glass windows onto Husky Field below.

"And..." Jake sat up, then leaned forwards as his smirk creased deeper into his cheeks. "If she likes swimming then we'll go. Maybe I'll steal a kiss underwater."

At those words, a barely audible sound erupted from Harper that, since I knew her so well, was the word "Ass." She covered it up with a few light coughs by the time the room's eyes were on her, which included Rachel's.

Not two seconds after Rachel's head turned back towards us, Harper lifted one hand up to her forehead, which she scratched with one middle finger. Jake being, well Jake, just covered one hand over his mouth but I still saw his wide grin.

"Now," Rachel redirected the attention back to her. I took the opportunity of her slight pause while she skimmed over her notes, grabbed the water bottle near my feet, and splashed a few cool drops soothed my dry mouth and throat. Thankfully, I'd swallowed and set the bottle back down before she asked her next question because otherwise I would've sprayed the entire airspace between us.

"So you two went to rival high schools, roughly an hour apart." Rachel wagged a finger between me and Logan, then turned to my brother. "Did you introduce them, Jake?"

Jake a matchmaker? Hilarious.

More like he broke anyone's jaw just for looking at me.

"No." Jake snorted and drew my attention back to Rachel, who smiled widely at him and patted her brow again. "I definitely didn't introduce them."

Maybe Jake is making her skin crawl? Not the first time.

"We met at the Santa Cruz beach," Logan answered. "With no idea who each other was. This tiny, beautiful girl dragged a kayak bigger than her, wearing jeans and a sweatshirt at the beach, and looked completely pissed off."

By the way Jake's arm tensed at Logan's words, I assumed Logan had dragged up some less than pleasant memories for Jake. I hadn't ever told him exactly how Logan and I had met, how he'd intentionally taken my phone and switched it with his so I'd have to meet up with him again.

"I tripped," I offered. "He caught me but I didn't get a good look at him, pushed him away, and he dropped me."

My head bounced when Logan chuckled slowly, then he shifted and slipped his arm over my shoulders and tugged me closer to his side. "It sounds awful when she says it like that but pretty true. Before she insulted me."

"So it wasn't love at first sight," Rachel prompted with not one but two forehead taps and a glance at Jake in between.

Does she have fleas? Seriously?

"Was for me," Logan replied right away, which threaded a string of guilt in my chest.

"And you, Eleanor?" Rachel asked me with another foot twitch.

"No..." I shook my head and slowly went through memory lane. "I didn't have a good look at him and he was so cocky. I wanted nothing to do with him but we had our phones mixed up, then by the time we switched them back, I still wanted nothing to do with him."

Jake sat silently but he couldn't have hid the smug grin on his face if he tried, so I gently elbowed his closest arm.

"What was that for?" Rachel pointed the tip of her pen at the space between us.

"For the record, I didn't like him," Jake piped up with a small laugh.

"Hmm, sounds like you were quite the protective older brother, Jake..." Rachel leaned back in her seat and pursed her lips slightly. "So Ellie, did you dislike or like Logan because of Jake?"

"I didn't know who Logan was for a few weeks. By the time I did, it was too late," I answered honestly. "He just... grew on me slowly."

"So when did you officially get together in high school?" Rachel's eyes read like there was something in our responses that wanted more from, so I squeezed Logan's hand.

"Right after the Santa Cruz-Salesian game," he answered right away. "I went into the locker room beforehand and told Jake that I was in love with Ellie."

He did what!?

I knew Logan had told Jake about his feelings for me but not that he'd expressed them before that particular football game.

He felt that way before he even asked me to be his girlfriend?

"In love?" Rachel's eyebrows lifted and she pointed at Jake while her eyes stayed fixed on Logan. "You told him, her brother, just like that before your big game?"

"Just like that," he chuckled quietly. "He wasn't so happy to hear it but eventually got over us."

"Putting it mildly, Hightower," Jake mumbled, which earned him another elbow jab.

"So we have a few pictures you've sent in, ahh here... Look at you two," Rachel cooed when a slideshow of pictures of us from high school flashed on the TV monitor between us.

I knew which pictures we'd sent over before the interview but a smile still tugged across my lips at us and Jake on my parents' stairs before Santa Cruz's Homecoming Dance, Logan's unenthusiastic face when he sat on a horse during our date, then the picture from Salinus' newspaper, where we kissed after Logan's championship game.

A moment of awkward silence filled the space between us once the screen darkened and Rachel shuffled through her next questions.

"So what did your parents think, Eleanor, about you dating the rival quarterback in high school?"

"I don't think they wanted me dating anyone, really," I aimed my best for sarcasm but by the way Logan's hand squeezed mine, I knew the bitterness that formed a small tightness in my chest had also slipped out.

Rachel drove forwards, "Unlike your brother, right? Any sibling rivalry here?"

I squirmed slightly under her direct eye gaze and while the detailed questions raised my nerves for sure, I was also relieved she hadn't probed too deep. "It was pretty one-sided, I mean my brother was the starting quarterback, I focused on school and worked at Pizza Palace while I saved up for college."

Jake surprised me when he answered, "I always envied her for how smart Ellie is and how hard she works too."

Now I couldn't have hidden back my reaction if I'd been paid to. My mouth parted and I looked up at Jake, who offered me a soft smile that pushed warmth into my chest.

"Let's talk about college, since you all started out at different schools." Rachel kicked her leg again. "Logan, you went to UC-Davis your first two years, right after the Ryder Stevens scandal broke up the majority of their team."

Both Jake and Logan's arms tensed on either side of me, which was less than helpful at the pounding sensations in my chest at the mention of Ryder's name. Fortunately, Mr. Reynolds' head snapped up and his eyes fixed straight on the back of Rachel's head.

"I did," Logan replied in a cool, even tone that I envied because every nerve inside me now fired with tension. "And even though everyone thought we were rebuilding, the Aggies crushed it in Big Sky those two years."

"I'm sure they miss you, they're oh-and-three," Rachel deadpanned, which tensed the muscles from Logan's wrist to his shoulder.

"It was a tough choice, leaving such a great football program, amazing fans." He shifted his hips slightly, then continued, "I owe my developmental credit to Coaches Hawk, Jackson, and Pierce, for -"

"Pierce," Rachel interrupted. "He was at U-Dub the season before you started at UC-Davis, worked on a watered down offensive system just like the Huskies."

"Yes." Logan nodded but his shoulder tensed slightly. "I wouldn't call it a watered-down offensive but a lot of the plays were similar and played to my strengths. It's no secret I love the trick plays."

"Hmm," Rachel mused without a blink. "What would you say Jake Harrison's strengths are?"

"He's prepared, hard-working, USC's offensive system runs under his control and leadership," Logan's voice carried no air of judgment or conceit, like he stated facts that he truly believed.

"Let's take a look at what Jake had to say about you." Rachel lifted one hand towards the TV screen.

A view of Jake flashed into view, dressed formally from what I recognized as one of his earlier interviews this year. He sat in a chair with a Los Angeles city backdrop behind him.

"So Jake," Rachel's voice came through and his eyes lifted upward and at a slight diagonal angle. "Any comments on Logan Hightower transferring into the Big-Twelve Conference up at University of Washington? Even as their backup quarterback?"

"Takes a whole team to be on the top," Jake replied with a casual lift of his shoulders. "But he won't be there for long."

"What do you mean?" Rachel's voice continued. "You were rivals in high school, right?"

"He won't be back up for long," Jake corrected his answer. "Guy's got too much talent to ride the bench."

"Aww, Jake." I turned away from the screen and smiled at his impassive expression.

"Didn't know you cared." Logan chuckles hit the back of my head.

"You tried out at UW, didn't you Logan? Why didn't you come here as a redshirt freshman? Wait a few years then take over the team?" Rachel showed that she, or at least an ESPN colleague, had done their homework. The idea had kept my pulse elevated during the entire damn interview.

"When I worked out here, Coach Peterson recommended that I get as much field time in a smaller program." Logan's relaxed posture had returned, which I envied him for because I was still a giant ball of nerves. "In hindsight, he was right. I hate the bench and UCD was a better fit to start with."

"I'd say you fit pretty well, three-zero to start out in the PAC-Twelve Division," Rachel started.

"The team is three-oh," Logan corrected her with a slight frown. "Emmitt Verns won the first game, I just came in for mop-up duty."

"So... You pointed at her, during the Oregon game?" Rachel's eyes were on me but her question was directed at Logan.

"I did." Logan's confidence washed waves of comfort over me. "Started that in high school."

Her eyes flipped straight to mine. "So then different college dreams were the only thing that kept you apart? Did you date long-distance?"

I glanced over at Mr. Reynolds, who flashed me two fingers on one of his hands, so I answered her second question, "No, we broke up after high school."

Logan came off like a doting, love-inspired ex-boyfriend who chased the one that got away as he fielded most of the questions about our current roommate setup. During that stretch, I studied Rachel. The way she asked indirect questions and delicately danced around the edge of the real issues reminded me of a cobra that lulled its prey into a false sense of security before the kill strike.

While this interview had been our choice, my skin tingled with the level of scrutiny we faced. The overhead lights felt warmer and incriminatingly bright. I pressed my heels tight into the floor so I avoided squirming all over my seat.

While we opened up and exposed our relationship to the public, we presented a farce, the perfect surface-level appearance. I was the cute, perfect, supportive girlfriend who answered further questions about cooking, my food blog, and questioned what problem Logan had with cauliflower.

"So let's jump back," Rachel pointed her pen between Jake and Logan. "Both of you are quarterbacks at high-profile colleges. Any comments on the Ryder Stevens scandal? He's from Santa Cruz so I assume you're all familiar with the situation."

Her question sucked what energy I had left from my body. My clothes clung slightly to my damp skin, my curled and styled hair even felt foreign from the level of hairspray Harper had used. My skin wore a mask of makeup that she'd recommended so my normal level of blushing was hidden beneath heavy layers of concealer.

However, at that moment, with that question, nothing could've hidden the panicked sensations that flurried inside me like a storm. My lower lip quivered once, twice, then I rolled it under and bit down.

"Not relevant to comment on an ongoing legal investigation, Miss Sorenson." Thankfully, Mr. Reynolds interjected with, "I think you have more than enough fluff content to last two interviews."

"One last unrelated question," she requested, which all of us nodded at. "Who's going to win the game?'

Relief relaxed the tension that squeezed my neck, shoulders, and pinched my cheeks. My smile melted the stress in my face, especially when Jake and Logan answered simultaneously.

"Trojans." "Huskies."

After a few low laughs, Logan added, "No way, bro. Twelfth man advantage."

"And you Eleanor?" Rachel pressed.

My insides still felt knotted and twisted around themselves but I squeaked out, "I guess we'll see but it'll be exciting either way."

A laugh left Rachel, one that sounded hollow and well-rehearsed. "You have to give me more than that, who's side are you cheering on?"

"Huskies, of course," I replied, squeezed my threaded that now sat numbly between Logan's, then rested my other hand on Jake's forearm. "But I always cheer for my brother when he comes onto the field. So thankfully I'm glad they're both on offense because otherwise I'd be a total mess."

Once Rachel's head nodded, my body collapsed slightly into itself and I leaned back against the sofa. My chest lifted as my lungs expanded to their fully stretched open point and I exhaled slowly once the cameras were flicked off and our microphones shut off and removed.

"Thank you." Rachel stood up, then shook all of our hands. I couldn't help but notice her hand lingered longer on Jake's, but her eyes trained on mine when she said, "Very interesting story, the three of you. Can't help but feel like we've just scratched the surface here."

My only response, other than how my heart dropped into my stomach, was I swallowed hard and gripped Logan's hand tightly. Thankfully, by the time the hairs on the back of my neck raised, his natural charm took over, he thanked her for both of us, and led me out.

Thank God that's over.

Unfortunately, the reality of an ongoing legal battle sank down into my stomach like a stone dropped into a well. I swallowed hard against the bile that rose up in the back of my mouth at the idea things truly weren't over.