Page 47 of The Ex Puck Bunny
My gig as the social media manager and Ice Kitty for the Lions paid well and I had a following on the side, whichafforded me influencer status. Granted, it was in my own little sphere of the internet, but it paid the bills and then some.
Then everything happened with Trey and it all came crashing down.
What Grady said about expectations comes to mind. I hate to say it, but he was right. The conflict inside of me comes from the tension between what I expected from life and what I got.
Bunny makes a little noise and turns over.
Yeah, what I got was pretty good.
But still, I’m in the basement. Working multiple jobs. Raising a child by myself.
That was not the life plan.
My phone, slack in my hand, vibrates. I’ve gleaned that about seven karaoke videos are going around, all shot from different angles of Grady and me singing. They’re making the social media rounds with people re-sharing them and tagging me.
I wasn’t anticipating making a big comeback to the online space and if I had, it certainly wouldn’t have looked like this.
I watch it again and there’s no denying that Grady and I were having fun, albeit in our own rosy-colored, rainbow, unicorn little world up there on the stage.
From an optics standpoint, Trey Dillard’s ex smiling at his former best friend likethatisn’t a good look. Not that it’s common knowledge that Trey and Grady were buddies. But they are opponents which comes with its own issues.
Already, in the comments, there is speculation about whether I’m doing all of this for attention.
When I woke up this morning, I did not tell myself that I wanted to sing karaoke, no less with Grady. If someone had predicted that would be part of my future, I’d have laughed in their face.
In the video from the Fish Bowl, I am laughing . . . andsmiling, which was part of the bet. By the time the second refrain of ABBA’s hit rolled around, I’d let go and was having a great time. Grady and I even somehow synced up some moves with our arms during a few of the lyrics.
Yes, I’m contributing to the view count by watching the video over and over.
There’s a moment when he smiles at me, eyes sparkling. I pause the video and study his expression. It’s like a snapshot from my parents’ wedding album. Every year, on their anniversary, they look through it together. If Mom lags on putting it away, I flip through.
They were soyoung. I mean practically babies. Younger than me and Grady when they got hitched.
The classic high school sweetheart story.
They’ve both said, “Sometimes you just know.”
I bring the photograph to mind as clearly as I can. I’ve never been super romantic. I like flowers and chocolates, attention and affection as much as the next gal, but what I really always wanted was for a guy to gaze at me the way Dad looked at his bride on their wedding day. It’s pure adoration and practically jumps off the page.
None of the boyfriends I had in high school or college came close.
Certainly not Trey.
Maybe until now.
I turn my phone off, but it nudges me again with a notification. I should change the settings. The vibration is pretty steady which means something is blowing up, so I check one more time.
Then I’m going to sleep.
Promise.
It’s official. Grady and my karaoke performance has goneviral. People are doing “reaction” videos and are already setting or remixing ABBA’s “Take a Chance on Me” to reels.
I glean that its popularity isn’t because we’re especially great singers, though we do harmonize. Nor is it because it features an NHL player, though that helps. A few haters comment about me and others are “happy” to see that I’m “back.”
I was a major brat in high school and some corners of the internet are as cliquey and two-faced as the likes of Sophia, me, and our crew were back in the day. But Grady was the one who was supposed to have the “Comeback Campaign” though I still don’t quite know why.
Overall, the commentary given is about the “look” Grady and I share. They say it’s a whole lotta eye flirting, the look of love. People are calling it the lovey-dovey look, though I don’t think that’ll catch on. It’s too clumsy to say. Then again, it works fine as a trending hashtag.
