Page 66 of The Déjà Glitch
Gemma realized as she tore at her friend’s arm that she could just as easily use her own phone to assess the damage. She only needed Lila’s to remove the damage once she knew what it was.
She climbed off her and sat back with a huff.
“Calm down, Gem,” Lila said as she smoothed her hair. “I didn’t do anything bad. I only edited a little snip of your conversation and put it on the internet, that’s all.” She innocently shrugged and Gemma scowled at her.
“That was aprivateconversation, Lila.” She openedInstagram and saw Lila’s post right at the top of her feed. A panicky rush felt like pins and needles sticking into every inch of her at the sight of herself and Jack standing amid the streetlamps. The video had been posted twenty minutes before and had over ten thousand views.
Gemma’s voice rose into a squeak. “You posted this while I was in the shower?”
Lila tsked and reached for Gemma’s phone. “Oh, relax. It’s no big deal. Look, I got the best part.” She poked the little square to unmute it, and Jack’s voice came from the phone’s small speaker.
“It’syou, Gemma.Youare the center of everything. My whole universe has shifted to revolve around you. I’m literally stuck on you and only you.”
The words put a hard lump in Gemma’s throat at the same time they filled her chest with warmth. Her eyes washed with mist. She’d heard Jack say the words to her face but hearing them again hit differently.
“See?” Lila said with a smile as she gently elbowed her in the ribs. “I figured since you can’t seem to see it on your own, maybe you’d be able to see it through the internet’s eyes. And look, everyone loves it.” She tapped the screen with a manicured finger to scroll the comments.
This is sooo sweet!
Omg. LOVE.
Do I recognize that guy from somewhere?
I was there! I saw them talking today!
Girl, marry him.
Find someone who looks at you like this guy looks at her.
My whole universe has shifted to revolve around this couple. Who are they?
Is this from a movie?
A soft smile broke out over Gemma’s face. She tried to chew it away while Lila sat beside her beaming, proud of her handiwork.
The truth was, what Jack had said was very sweet and sincere. But people commenting on the sound bite didn’t know the whole story. They didn’t know the whole helping of absurdity behind why he was claiming to be stuck on her and why she was the center of his universe. If Lila had posted the ten or so seconds before or after that brief pass in their conversation, the internet would have been campaigning to have Jack committed.
But she hadn’t. And that was the point.
Gemma watched the short snip again. The scene had been captured from Lila’s standing tripod at an angle over her shoulder. Gemma and Jack stood behind her in profile, with Jack’s face slightly more open to the camera. All Lila had to do was zoom in and increase the background volume to edit their conversation into the video’s main attraction. Gemma realized with a start that the whole scene had also been captured on Lila’s livestream. Who knew how many viewers had caught it in real time. That damage seemed lesser, given that the now fifteen-thousand-and-counting viewers who’d watched the video since it was posted had the option to watch it on repeat if they so desired.
She fought the discomfort of exposure and studied Jack’sface. Even with having seen it in person, she realized the pleading look was somehow more powerful on the small screen. Hereallybelieved what he was saying, that much was clear. A moment of hope sprang to life in her chest, the memory of their day together and encouraging thoughts about what it might lead to. But then she remembered the look that had crossed his face when she suggested he leave for Europe. How he appeared to take the option seriously—and heshouldtake it seriously, she thought. He had a literal way out that he hadn’t tried, and not taking it was even more irrational than spending another one hundred and forty-seven days looping through the same routine with her. Anyone could see that.
“Oh,” Lila suddenly said as she looked at her own phone. “It’s getting reposted.”
“What?”
Lila’s eyes widened, fanning her blackened lashes. “Oh, wow. Hello Happy just picked it up. They’ve got like three million followers.”
“What?”Gemma shrieked. Of course she followed Hello Happy; they posted a collection of the most joyous content the internet had to offer. She never in a million years thought she would have been featured in their feed.
“ ‘Cheering for this mystery couple in L.A.,’ ” Lila read from the post’s caption. “Oh! The Net’s Best reposted it too.” She looked at Gemma with a guilty grimace.
Embarrassment flared from Gemma’s head to her toes, but she saw right through Lila’s thinly veiled ploy. “Shut up,” she said with a knowing and playful glare. “This is exactly what you hoped for.”
Lila bit her lip, blushing slightly, and gave her aconfirmatory smile. “Of course, the thing that finally goes viral isn’t a video ofme, but I’ll take it.”
Gemma grumbled and stood up off the couch. “Ugh, Lila! I don’t want to be viral! I don’t want everyone to know our business! What am I going to do now?”