“I am, thanks.” Her tone was light, but she understood what he meant. She was doing well, jumpiness over spotting a strange man right outside her door aside.
She traced her finger around the green ivy encircling the white plates. The plates and utensils were as old and worn as the countertops and equally sturdy. “So you own this house.”
“Yes.”
“Your grandfather doesn’t live here, though?”
“No, my grandfather has a bigger house, on the other end of the farm.”
“And the farm is...”
“Very large. Hundreds and hundreds of acres.”
“I definitely feel... far away from everyone.”
“In a bad way?”
“No. The internet, it has a way of making you feel like everyone in the world is in your living room. There’s no one here. I like it.” She smiled at him.
He polished off the last bite of his crepe. “Good. I’m glad you’re getting what you want.”
“Speaking of the internet though... Have you seen the hashtag yet? Are there any developments?”
He took a sip of his juice. “I checked. No one’s found out who you are.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“What else?”
“Isn’t that all you care about?”
She made a face. “You know I need more details.”
“Do you, though?”
If you look, then you can get on with the rest of your schedule. She pulled out her phone and opened the Twitter app. She clicked on the search button, but didn’t have to type in the CafeBae tag. It was still trending.
Her stomach sank. So much for someone or something else absorbing the internet’s attention.
She scrolled through, many of the tweets stuff she’d seen before. Becca the Witch’s original post had grown exponentially in likes and retweets. It took her a few minutes to discover what was responsible for the unflagging interest.
Ross.
His smile beamed out from his avatar, and he was as handsome as ever. His handle was RossAlwaysWins and she was glad, on the basis of that alone, that she hadn’t accepted his date invitation. The tweet after it cinched her certainty.
Haha, thought you were taking pictures. #CafeBae #itme
A layer of cold settled over her. This. Dick. “Did you see this? Ross, the guy I sat with, he revealed himself.” Her voice was dull. The sharp taste of fear came and went, but for the most part she was insulated by ice.
Jas’s growl would have surprised her if she weren’t so numb. It was so much louder and more ferocious than any grunt. “I did.”
“What the fuck?” She stared at Ross’s face, bewildered. “If he knew she was taking pictures, why didn’t he stop her?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he know this was going to happen?” Ross’s tweet had been retweeted almost as many times as the original, and the numbers climbed as she watched.
