Page 2 of The Emerson Effect
“What?” I ask when her stare becomes slightly uncomfortable.
“I was just thinking,” she says, her words slow and measured.
“Don’t hurt yourself!” Callie chirps, and Joey nearly spits out the drink she was in the middle of taking.
“Shut up, you,” Raven says, narrowing her dark eyes at her best friend before turning her gaze back to me. “Callie fell in love with Royal while unknowingly texting a stranger who turned out to be him. And our dearJosettefell for Dallas while unbeknownst to her, he was Bodacious Buckaroo––her Cackle nemesis––all along.”
“And?” I ask when her words trail off, and her eyes narrow like she’s pondering the secrets of the universe.
“I’m just saying, maybe it’s your turn. Maybe you’ll fall for a guy, and he’ll turn out to be someone you hate on BingBang.”
“Impossible,” I say with a shrug.
“Why’s that?” she asks.
“Because BingBang is a video app. There’s no anonymity.”
“Does everyone post videos of themselves? Like, of their faces?”
“Well, no,” I say, conceding.
“Well, there you have it,” she says, slapping her palm on the table. “I’m calling it, now. Twila is going to fall for someone from BingBang.”
I shake my head. “What about you? Who says you’re not next?”
“Ha!” she scoffs. “You know I don’t participate much on social media. No chance of online love for me.”
“Callie’s thing wasn’t social media. It was texting. Maybe you’ll get an accidental text from some hottie. Or you’ll send money to some guy claiming to be royalty from another country in an email, and he’ll turn out to beyourprince.”
She rolls her eyes. “We both know I have no money to send even if I was that gullible, so not happening. But we were talking about you. Got a beef with anyone on BingBang we can ship you with?”
I start to shake my head, then flinch when Joey shouts, “Emerson!”
“No. Nope. No way. Fuck that guy,” I grumble, setting my water bottle aside and taking another drink of my margarita, instead.
Emerson––aka The Emerson Effect––makes reaction videos by tacking or duoing my “for fun” videos and copying me in a mocking way. He leaves my sponsored videos alone, thank God, but any time I post something personal, he uses it for his own gain. Shots of me dancing, cooking, crafting…they’re all fodder for his reaction videos.
I know he does it to other influencers, too. It’s not just me. But his tacks and duos with me have been getting more views and engagement than my original videos, and it’s fucking frustrating. It’s not like he’s overtly mean or insulting in his videos, but there’s an edge to them viewers can’t miss. Like they’re laced with irony. With satire.
Andhe uses my videos for his content more than he does anyone else’s.AndI have to react kindly so I don’t get cancelled or doxed by his loyal followers. All I want to do is tear into him, but I can’t. So I “like” his videos and scroll away like it’s not me he’s mocking.
The others have drifted into a different conversation while I’ve sat here and stewed, so I discreetly pull out my phone to check BingBang. And sure enough, Emerson has duoed the video I posted a few hours ago. Joey filmed me jumping into the pool in slow-motion, and I looked cute in my red and white polka dot bikini, so I posted it with a caption talking about summer’s arrival. In Emerson’s side-by-side video, he’s sitting in the sun on a lounge chair, and he has someone throw water on him the second I splash into the pool. Like a fuck-ton of water, implying the little splash I made was more of a tidal wave.
I don’t tap the like button as the insult floods my veins. I watch it again and again, not scrolling like I should. My anger rises up inside me like the tsunami he implied, and I navigate to his profile, frowning at his stupid face in his profile picture because I hate how fucking attractive he is.
And because tequila makes me stupid, I tap the icon to private message him and type out a short note.
“So glad the sight of me in a bikini made you wet, douchebag.”
I hit “send,” and lean back in my chair as I tuck my phone away and chug the rest of my margarita, not giving two shits about the strong possibility of another brain freeze.
When the pain never comes, I smile and imagine Emerson opening my message.
Take that,fucker.
TWO
Emerson
