Keegan116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGn1JmQgjwx
“This is a story about love. And about hate.”116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5HeziNyfD6
Rebecca Wolfe’s lush voice rises and falls as she looks into the camera; it almost sounds like she’s reciting a fairy tale. 116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuBfnraBCLR
But it’s not a fairy tale. She’s talking about real people, real problems. 116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0MsgvdQIxr
“This is a story about ambition and power,” Rebecca goes on, “heroism and heartbreak. It’s about two young lovers—rich college kids—just getting started in life. And about other young people who will never get a chance to live their lives, go to college.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRH6oOZ3noP
“Young, brave men barely out of boyhood, men from disadvantaged backgrounds, who will never get married or have a child. Who will never grow old, never look back at all they’ve accomplished.”116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmrWLwhNvcP
She’s really piling it on thick. Blue, standing next to me and holding my hand, flinches at her words.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzQoQmkHElf
We’re standing under a cloudy sky on the Oval, the center of campus. We’re just out of view of the camera trained on Rebecca, and we’ve been told to wait until she introduces us and then step into the shot together.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOKa1EoDQAW
“This is also a story about friendship,” Rebecca intones. “And betrayal. Courage and cowardice. It’s an almost Shakespearean saga. It’s about telling the truth. And about a terrible lie.”116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXeho0Raf69
Holmlund, standing a few feet away, fidgets at her words.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqTb7VWUXm6
“Un…fucking…believable,” he says loud enough to be heard by the producer, a woman named Allie, who is standing in front of Rebecca next to a burly, bearded cameraman.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQWhXS6c056
Allie turns to glare at Holmlund, and he swells up like one of the scrappy roosters at the ranch.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNAdzZI7YEf
“This is not what we agreed to,” he says in a stage whisper, obviously wanting Rebecca to hear him. He slaps his palm against his forehead and walks a tight, angry circle before continuing. “This is absolutely not what we agreed to.” 116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyT3c0e8Yuj
Allie moves toward Holmlund with her hands out, slowly lowering them as she tries to calm and quiet him. So, naturally, he raises his voice.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡikkAAd72Vy
“Allie,” he says, “what the hell is this about rich kids and disadvantaged backgrounds? What are you trying to do? Set up some kind of rich versus poor angle?”116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqLiQwbTwK7
I look back and forth between Holmlund and Rebecca, who goes on speaking into the camera as her eyes shift ever so slightly toward her whispering producer, who is doing her best to contain our lawyer.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0LUT2cAsWY
“Money has nothing to do with this story, and you know it,” Holmlund goes on. “I was promised an objective interview. And what’s stuff about a terrible lie? That’s editorializing.”116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7cmTGkCZMP
Blue’s eyes are fixed on Rebecca, but I’m not sure he’s really watching her. He has that look he sometimes gets when he is seeing something other than what’s in front of him.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCbAWHYcOy0
After another moment of Holmlund’s ranting, Rebecca drops her microphone. “Cut! Goddammit, cut.”116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwezsXKrlDj
She stomps over to Holmlund, her heels sinking into the brown grass. “What is the problem?” she snaps.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo9wGNQCNxy
This close, I realize she’s older than I’d initially thought. Wrinkles brackets her eyes at the temples, and two heavy frown lines between her brows are in full force. 116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF7c4M3yCZN
At least she hasn’t botoxed her face into an emotionless mask. As a public figure, the pressure to do that is probably intense. I like her a little better for resisting.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV4tBorAsE5
Until she opens her mouth again.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡikFBPeLqe9
“I told you up front that I would go where the facts take me in this story,” she says evenly, her gaze flickering over me and Blue before coming back to Holmlund’s contorted face. “And it’s a fact that these two had every possible advantage growing up and that the boys in Mr. Daniels’ unit, the boys who went out looking for him, who went out to save him from his own—”116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡylPqv2yzyV
Holmlund and I start protesting at the same time, but Blue silences all of us with his quiet words. 116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUzWLjCmkdM
“That’s right. You’re right. I grew up rich. And Monti, Hud, and Cunny all grew up without much money.”116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOIheuyw42r
All of us just stare at Blue for a moment.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUZusLwc19H
“But what I did,” he goes on, “and what they did, had nothing to do with money. I enlisted in the Army. I didn’t have to do that. I wanted to. I wanted to serve my country. And those guys didn’t have to go out looking for me. They wanted to find me and bring me back. They were my brothers. They were…”116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEHKuHlSLl6
His voice falters, and I loop an arm around him. Then I swing around to face Rebecca. 116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP5AMYXW9Vb
“Are you even interested in hearing our story, hearing the truth?” I hiss. “Or are you just looking to sensationalize it, turn me and Blue into some kind of friggin’ media circus? That’s not journalism, that’s just…just… pathetic.”116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡclD0K56bpf
Brilliant. Insult one of the most powerful journalists in the country, Keegan. Very strategic.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkz3iRlGGUP
“I think we may have to cancel this interview,” Holmlund piles on, shaking his head and shooting me a look. 116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Xmu2xU1c3
I guess I’m supposed to leave the verbal jousting to him. 116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVJgsiVQre8
“It’s obvious,” he adds in the portentous tone I already recognize as part of his act, “that my clients are not going to be treated fairly.” 116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb2PwVRuPXv
“From a journalist of your stature, Ms. Wolfe, I expected an objective, open-minded approach. But this, this is the exact opposite of that.”116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6VI6w0gkwK
Again the grave, theatrical shake of his head. 116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrGqp8xlRRc
There’s no way he’s really canceling the interview. He’s just angling for better treatment. 116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqUcHb2LShU
I can tell from the way Rebecca’s bright-red lips curve into a cynical smile that she’s not buying it either.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyYvPOCx933
“The stupidest thing you could do at this point,” she says calmly, looking only at me and Blue, “is to walk away. It’s too late to stop this story from getting out there.”116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHajm9vXxYX
She pauses dramatically, studying her bright red fingernails. 116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2wYxUbS7lf
“Whether you go through with the interview or not,” Rebecca goes on, “I’m doing a whole hour on it. Tonight. I’ve got other sources I can put on camera. I’m pretty good at getting people to talk to me.”116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1VBpbjKM10
I can’t help taking a sharp, audible breath, instantly think about Megz. Would she really break the NDA she signed and risk getting thrown out of OU to appear on TV? Or could it also be people from Fort Sill? Lots of people there now know what Blue did. 116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0yxJisf1AA
It could even be the family members of the men who died. It’s inevitable some of them will give media interviews.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7yJt4UZZv8
But we were supposed to get our story out there first.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKgRMHaqkVy
Rebecca turns back toward me and Blue. 116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsrNQgqHoxH
“As for Keegan and Blue, I need a decision now on whether they’re continuing with the interview. We’re on a tight schedule here.”116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr8xq8AiHHf
No one says anything for a long, awkward moment.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6DVY3ERBgt
“This story is going to be big,” Rebecca continues, ramming home her point. “The rich, powerful families involved, the life-and-death drama of it all. The love story. The media and public are going to eat it up.” Her voice has softens just a little.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡewiwMmpiOI
“Your attorney knows this,” she adds, her eyes raking Holmlund. “That’s why he called me. That’s why he desperately wants you to do this interview with me.”116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNLe4WLtins
Holmlund makes some small, disagreeable sound, but we all know it’s just for show.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ukOtCKp2y
“So let’s stop playing games,” Rebecca wraps up, her tone crisp, dismissive. “This is your chance to tell the world your story. After today, it’s not going to be a media circus like Keegan said. It’s going to be a media storm. I don’t think you two really understand what’s about to rain down on you.”116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHniirAB0SO
I’m a friggin’ journalism major. I’ve followed the news as long as I can remember. Especially in the internet age, I do understand. And it scares the shit out of me. But I don’t want Blue to know that.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdSREWdc8zD
And Holmlund is probably right. That media storm may be the only thing that can save Blue.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeYiyLZNqka
“You need to have the whole story—your side of it—out there from the beginning,” Rebecca says. “And there’s no one who can give you a bigger audience than me.”116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfu1hTbYhKY
It’s like the three of us are frozen. We just stand there. Not even Holmlund says anything. 116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVkGIVRjWOm
“Still,” Rebecca sighs, turning on her heel, “if you’ve decided to cancel, that’s fine. That’s fine.”116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUqQbbw5oS8
“Wait.” Blue tucks my hand into his arm as he says it and pulls me with him toward the camera. “We’ll do it.” 116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ31HXy4XSGF
He takes a deep breath, and then his whole body seems to deflate. “Of course we’re going to do it. I just. . .never mind. Let’s get it over with.”116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMdeKHAo5Vy
~~~
Thanks for reading Tangled Up in Blue! More coming up soon. What do you think so far? Please like, share and follow this story!
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