upload it with our voices, for goodness sakes. People are so hungry for gossip.
This isn’t fair, either, that she’s the object of everyone’s ire. Meanwhile I’m also in that video and people haven’t figured it out…so far. Do I dare look on social media?
I download Twitter, which I’ve refused to do for years.
I quickly make an account and find the hashtag, and who is retweeting and commenting on the video.
The comments are so horrible, stuff no one should ever say to another person. They’re either trash-talking Maya or wishing they could be the one doing her.
Where do people get off being so vile? There’s something about the impersonal nature of technology that lets people get off on it.
I start typing out a response to one anonymous account, but I realize this will only be a drop in an ocean of hate.
I call Maya again, and her phone goes straight to voicemail.
“Hey, Maya. It’s Grant. It’s an emergency, and I need to talk to you. I really do. So please, call me. I hope you’re okay. Call me.”
I wait for her to call.
But she never does.
There’s nothing more to say, or at least nothing that I can think of. So, I hang up.
I leave my room and walk into the suite where DJ is sitting on the couch.
“Yo, man, I was waiting for you. You ready to party tonight?” He looks closer. “You okay? You’re as white as a ghost.”
“Yeah,” I say. “All good. Let’s go out and get drunk.”
Whenever things are going right in your life, the universe is always there to give you a nice, humble smack in the face.
34
Maya
“This is your room,” Eliza says, flicking the lights on. “My last roommate left in a hurry to go to D.C. for a job, so she actually didn’t even get a chance to clean everything up.”
“Well, I left Green State in a hurry. So that’s both of us.”
“Why’d you leave?”
I sigh, on the one hand not wanting to talk at all about my accidental, viral career. On the other hand, Eliza seems about as unjudgmental as they come just by the looks of her tattooed persona and the general vibe I get from her.
“I didn’t have money so I tried to make money by throwing a porno on the interwebz. Now I’m a viral sensation.”
She raises an eyebrow at me. “You did a porn? Seriously?”
I nod. “Seriously.”
“Huh. Far out. Anyway, I have to run to work, so the place is yours. I can show you later there’s the space on the rooftop where maybe you can paint when the weather is nice.”
It’s not lost on me that she didn’t even flinch at the mention of my being in a porno. “Uh, that’s it? That’s all you’ve got to say about me being a viral adult video sensation?”
“Why, should I be freaked out or something? People have sex. There’s like a hundred million freaking pornos out there at this point.”
“I don’t know. People on campus were pretty ruthless.”
She frowns. “Are you a good person? Do you look out for your friends? Will you leave your dirty dishes for me?”
“Um…yes, yes, and no to the last.”
“Thank God. I almost strangled my last roommate. Anyway, that’s what I care about.”
“Wow. Well, thanks.”
With her hand on the doorknob, she turns back to me. “If people are bullying you, let me know. I know a guy.”
“You know…a guy?”
Eliza shrugs. “One of my ex-boyfriends. He’s a…let’s just say I’ve got some connections in Chicago. One of those guys who you wouldn’t want to run into in a dark alley. But he’s my guy, so it’s all good.”
“I don’t need a guy, but thank you.” Relief pours through me and I smile. “Eliza, I get a feeling that you and I are going to get along just fine.”
“I get that feeling too.”
She leaves, and a few minutes later, as I’m sitting on the porch, sipping a cider and contemplating my new future as a city resident as opposed to a Greene State student, my phone rings and it’s my brother Paul.
Oh, shit.
I have another swallow of cider, and pick up after a few rings.
His voice comes out a low growl. “Maya, who do you need me to kill?”
Welp. So much for needing that guy from Eliza. I forgot I have my own guy.
“Uh, hi, Paul, nice to talk to you, too. Been awhile.”
“I’m serious. My roommate saw the hashtag and put two and two together because he knows you go to Greene. I’m not watching it, obviously.