Josh
29
MELANIE
NOW
Josh didn’t turn off his ringer last night and the annoying sound of a phone call wakes us up promptly at eight a.m. Sunday morning. I’m not thrilled since we were both out late last night—Josh playing at Fin’s and me closing down the bar. I’m off today, and my only plans are to sleep in and record “Every Song” with Josh.
Josh lets out a muffled groan, reaching behind him for his phone on the nightstand.
“Who is it?” I roll over to find him squinting at his screen.
“It’s Gary.” Josh frowns, tapping his screen. “Gary, it’s eight a.m., this better be good.”
“Oh, it’s good all right, Joshy,” Gary bellows through the phone. He’s so loud, if I didn’t know better, I’d say Josh had us on speaker.
“What is it?” Josh growls. There’s a hint of agitation in his voice telling me that maybe what Gary thinks is good, isn’t actually good.
“Are you sitting down?” Gary deflects.
“I’m in bed, Gary, so yes. Spit it out.”
“You. Are. Viral.” Gary enunciates and then pauses for effect.
At this, I sit up, a sense of panic building and heat racing through my veins. Viral? How would Josh be viral? I wrack my brain. Fin’s maybe? Maybe someone filmed him there.
“Viral?” Josh sits up too, gesturing for me to hand him my phone. “Viral where?”
“TikTok, of course, where else?” Gary scoffs, like it should be obvious.
TikTok.
I hand Josh my phone. He taps his screen to put Gary on speaker and opens TikTok on mine. He doesn’t even have to look for it. The color drains from my face and bile rises in my throat as I see it. The first video on my For You page isme. And Josh. Playing our song—our verypersonalsong for the world to see. I reach for my water bottle on my nightstand and take a long pull from it.
“Holy shit,” Josh mutters.
“Isn’t this great? When did you do this? Did you do it on purpose?” Gary is firing questions a mile a minute.
“No…” Josh shakes his head, blinking rapidly. “We didn’tdo iton purpose.”
“Well, you stepped in shit that’s for sure. Five million views overnight and people are going crazy for Josh and Melanie!” Gary is downright gleeful. My pulse skips. This is too much, too fast.
“How—how did this happen?” I squeak, my voice barely above a whisper. Just as I’m getting comfortable performing publicly, we go viral. Naturally.
“Apparently, the girl who posted it is some kind of lifestyle influencer? You made her whole bachelorette weekend.” Gary claps from the other end of the line. “Well done, my friends.”
“I’m going to be sick,” I mutter, falling back on the pillow.
“Josh, tell her how great this is,” Gary urges. “You two make a great team.”
Josh glances at me, patting my leg. “It’ll be okay,” he murmurs, and I’m not sure who he is trying to reassure, me or himself. “Gary, I’ll call you later,” he says, hanging up before Gary replies.
Josh turns to me, watching me carefully. “So…I’ve never been viral before.” He cracks a grin.
I cover my face with my forearm and moan. “I have neverwantedto be viral before.”
Josh lays down next to me, propping up on his elbow. “Come on, you mean to tell me my music-loving Mel wouldn’t have wanted the world to see and hear her back in 1999?” His lips twitch teasingly. “I don’t believe that for a second.”
