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“That’s what Robert is now? Part of your love life?”
I nodded.
“I like that.” She jerked her head in the direction of the store's back office. “Now, can we please go check your phone?”
I smiled at my friend and laughed once, shaking my head. “Yes. Let’s do it.”
We stored the Windex back in the cabinet underneath the cash wrap desk, tossed the paper towels in the trash, and made our way to the small office. I took the phone off the wireless charger, and we walked back into the main section of The Green Frog. We were slow, but it was still early, and if anyone came by, I didn’t want to miss them. Morgan and I sat in the two club chairs next to it, chairs that made up a small place where shoppers could rest and read books before making their selections.
“Well?” she asked as I unlocked the phone. “What’s on there?”
“Like, fifty new text messages. And a full voicemail inbox.”
She raised her eyebrows. “That’s a lot.”
“It is, considering I checked the phone, like, five minutes before you showed up,” I admitted.
My friend laughed. “Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me.”
I thumbed through the messages, the volume of which was severely slowing the capacity of my phone. It was hard to read them all: solicitations for management, texts from people claiming to be agents, messages from random journalists, and more than one from someone who claimed to want to sleep with me or ask me out on a date. Most came from numbers I didn’t recognize.How in the world had they managed to get my phone number so quickly?
My social media accounts were even worse—my direct messages were full of comments and weigh-ins on the video, as well as inane questions and solicitations.
“Now I understand why celebrities turn off the direct messaging on their accounts,” I muttered to Morgan after reading several messages targeting me for my weight and my overall looks. It never ceased to amaze me how people on the internet assume they can bring up someone’s appearance to them as if they had a say in that person’s existence. “I’m totally going to have to do it too.”
“Lots of trolls out there.”
I looked up from the device. “Millions.”
“Anything promising in the froth?”
I scrolled some more. “There’s an offer fromDaily Mail.”
Morgan rubbed her hands together. “Okay, that sounds legit.Daily Mailhas a big reach.”
Skeptical, I locked the phone and placed it in my lap. “They’re a tabloid.”
“That everyone reads.”
“Yeah, but—”
“Think about how much one article with them could do for you. I mean, people would be coming to The Green Frog all the time, and that would mean more money, and it wouldn’t matter that we didn’t win the float competition.”
I slumped. “I’m sorry we didn’t. You worked so hard, and I still can’t believe the judges didn’t see it.”
She put her arm around my shoulders. “I’m not that upset about it.”
“You’re a good friend, Morgan. I don’t deserve you.”
“Now it seems like the competition doesn’t matter anymore. After all, everyone is talking about that kiss. That’s the one thing that’s got potential. This is like lightning in a bottle.”
Morgan’s eyes were bright and wide. I stared at my friend. Was she right? More than that, could I handle it?
