“I understand why Ryke has to wear them,” I continue like they’re listening. “What if one of his conquests claims to have a Ryke baby? That’s a scary thought, right?”
Ryke spins around to face me. Finally! “Can you not call the girls I sleep with conquests? You make it seem like my goal in life is to fuck women, and they’re not trophies to me.”
“Sure, can you ask Lo why he has to wear condoms?” I reply.
Ryke gives me a look like are you really fucking serious? “It’s called protection from an unplanned pregnancy.”
“I’m on birth control,” I whisper-hiss, lowering my voice as people pass our aisle. They don’t notice who we are though, or if they do, they don’t care. Ryke and Lo chose an out-of-the-way drug store instead of one in town. To accommodate me and my paranoia. It was nice of them.
“Lil, it’s just for a little while,” Lo says, grabbing a box off the rack. He’s been getting badgered by my sister and his brother about being more careful. They’re worried that with the reality show stress and hamming it up for the cameras （aka excessive teasing）， we’re going to have a mistake.
“Wearing them doesn’t feel as good.” I pause. “For either party involved.” And then I point my finger at Ryke. “Don’t deny it.”
He raises his hands. “I wasn’t going to, but some things are worth sacrificing, Calloway.”
Fine. “So how many boxes are you going to buy? Three? Five?” He needs like eleven. His one-night stands can almost compete with past-me.
“One,” he replies. “And don’t you have to buy tampons?”
It would have been a rude comment if he wasn’t completely serious. “I don’t need them. I delay my period on birth control,” I say it all without blushing. Internally, I am patting myself on the back.
“Let me guess,” he says, his eyes darkening. “So you can have more sex.” My cheeks redden. Damn. But I have to give myself credit; I’ve been able to last this long talking about condoms and sex without my body revolting against me. When Ryke looks away, I give myself a literal quick tap on the shoulder. Go me.
“Hey,” Lo cuts in and puts his hand on Ryke’s shoulder. “Stop giving her a hard time.”
I’m used to it, and I’m sure I irritate Ryke just as equally. He barely glances at the rack before he tugs a pack of condoms off, which basically means he has a particular brand and size that he always wears. I focus on the check-out, avoiding eye-contact with the condoms—because knowing the size will weird me out.
My brain does a tailspin the minute I notice the line of magazines and tabloids stacked beside the counter. The headline stops my heart: Lily Calloway, Nymphomaniac and Reportedly Sleeping with Brothers. I’ve seen this many times before. But that’s the problem.
I thought that after the Celebrity Crush re-poll and positive effect of the reality show, these rumors would be put to rest. Not only that—but I would’ve never taken a quick condom pit stop for both Lo and Ryke if I knew the media was still buying into the rumors.
“Is this for you?” the attendant asks, eyeing the condoms and then the two guys. And me. Holy shit. Out of all bad ideas, this is a horrible one.
“No,” I cut in, wedging myself beside Lo. “We don’t want those anymore. And we’d like to buy all of these.” I start piling all the tabloids up on the counter.
“Not this again,” Ryke groans.
“Lily—” Lo starts.
“You don’t understand,” I snap. “You were eighty-eight percent, Lo. This shouldn’t be happening.”
“So you don’t want the condoms?” the attendant asks, confused.
“Yes, we want them,” Ryke says.
“No, we don’t,” I refute. “Just the magazines.” I empty the shelves and slide my card on the counter.
“For fuck’s sake, Lily,” Ryke snaps. “I’ll let you buy your fucking tabloids, but at least let me buy my condoms. I don’t want to have to go back out.”
“Fine,” I surrender. “The condoms too.” My neck heats. “But just so you know, we’re all three not sleeping together. These are wrong.” I slap my hand on the stack of tabloids. “He needs the condoms for other girls.”
“She gets it, love,” Lo says.
The attendant swipes my card, looking freaked out by me. I don’t care. All I want is for people to listen to the truth—is that too much to ask?