9 Social Media

Mark

"Uh oh, that was fast," Jamie grunted as he peered at his phone. I eyed him sideways and he passed it to me as his eyes looked at the road in front of him. Soon as I took his phone from him, he put his hand on the gear shift and drove out of the parking space. As we cruised out of the parking lot, Geends and various other fans were littered on the sidewalk, screaming and waving at us tirelessly, even if it was already almost 1am.

The phone was open to a social media video, a fan account, I guess. We had a lot of those, and the user's profile photo was of LJ making a derp face. Jamie, Steven and Burt had social media accounts, though Burt never updated his; LJ basically stayed away from social media except to update the official Boy Next Door account sometimes (to Jamie's frustration) and said he never reads comments. I only look at social media by looking through Jamie's account.

It was a close up fan video of ... Kate ... smiling and waving at the crowd, her mouth moving as if singing along to the Popvaganza ending song, and breaking into wide smiles again. She was so radiant, I swear her smile was lighting up the entire stadium on its own. She then looked to the left and smiled even wider, giggled even, and looked at the crowd again. The camera zoomed out and there was Rob of Code Red grinning at her and saying something to her, probably bullshit.

Shit, it's on social media. Why is it on our fan acc...

The camera zooms out again and there I am, stepping in to stand beside Rob, and looking at them with interest. I am smiling, but I do not look amused.

Oh shit. Shit shit shit.

"Shit!" I exclaimed to Jamie aloud.

"You're so dead," Jamie chuckled.

My phone vibrates in my pocket and I take it out. Ned is calling. I chuck the phone to the back seat. "Holy shit!"

"Come on, it's not so bad," Jamie laughed. "Everyone will forget it by Sunday."

"I don't care about that," I whined. "Kate will see it."

"Don't girls like that sort of thing, though?"

"I don't know what girls like," I groaned and sank into the car seat as far as physics would let me. "But Kate will get in trouble and she's already not talking to me, so now she's definitely not going to talk to me some more." I peered at Jamie's phone and pressed Play Again.

"The grammar nazi in me is vibrating but I'll let you off because you're about to trend in ten seconds," Jamie said in his annoying matter-of-fact tone. He stopped the car. "Quick, go get our beers."

I lifted my head and looked out the window. We were in front of a convenience store. "I can't go out in public, I'm about to trend in ten seconds."

"So, you only have ten seconds to get our beers. Nine."

"Rock paper scissors," I said, holding out a fist, as he threw a mask and a cap at me. "Is this mine?"

"LJ's, I think. Eight."

"You suck," I growled, as I unbuckled my seatbelt and hastily got out the car, pulling the cap on, the mask dangling from my thumb.

—

Ages ago, when they first started asking us who our ideal type was, I would always describe Kate. But without making it obvious that it was Kate. Just enough for Kate to know that it was her.

Goddess Athena debuted the same year we did, and they were all these really gorgeous model types with long legs. So I never say that my ideal type had long legs, because that was the same as saying my ideal type is in Goddess Athena.

I often say my ideal type has long hair, because that's how I can recognize Kate from far away. Her hair was thick and slightly wavy, and looked beautiful when it bounced as she danced. I'm very specific about why I like her hair, but I only say, "My ideal type has long hair" in interviews. So it could be about anyone. Even when Goddess Athena had a band makeover and they all cut their hair above their shoulders, I still would say my ideal type had long hair. I cried that day I saw her with that stupid bob and prayed for her hair to grow faster, but my ideal type was still the same.

I never say that my ideal type dances well, because that's just a dead giveaway, isn't it. She's not the lead dancer of Goddess Athena, but everyone knows that besides looking like a goddess, dancing is why she's there.

"I don't mind older girls, more mature girls," I would say. "Long haired, mature girls. That's my ideal type."

I never say that my ideal type had a nasty temper or a dry sense of humor or was so easy to make fun of or had a competitive streak when it comes to revenge. I miss being on my guard when I know Kate was planning to get revenge on me for a prank I did. I miss that satisfaction on her face when her revenge prank was a success, how she would dance around happily while gloating.

I miss her.

I never say that my ideal type is assertive, because Kate is not shy, or that she knows what she wants, and oh boy does she know what she wants, I discovered this about her the minute she grabbed the waistband of my jeans the first time in the dorm, pulled me towards her and kissed me hard, her tongue expertly pressing on my lower lip so that I would let her in, her hands expertly undoing the buttons on my fly and sliding into my briefs.

When she stopped talking to me, I would still say my ideal type had long hair. Then she started going out with that basketball player and it just became a tiring question and I would join in the other guys' game of best answer to Who is your ideal type?

"My ideal type can ouido Rachmaninoff's Paganini Rhapsody after listening to it once," Burt had once said. After he said this, Geends all over the world suddenly started listening to Rachmaninoff and took piano lessons.

"My ideal type likes to take naps," Jamie had once said. "She has to be good at self-care." Jamie was just describing himself.

"My ideal type is you know that dangerous kind of girl," LJ had once said, "who looks really sweet in public but she has whips and handcuffs..."

"And let's stop there," Steve had grabbed LJ's head and pinned it under the crook of his arm because at the time, Steve was sleeping with someone who had just tied him to the bed.

Once, Kate did a 1-on-1 interview to promote a movie she made, and the MC asked her who was her ideal type. She said, "My ideal type is strong, I want to feel like he can protect me and take care of me." Then the MC reminded her that she said in a previous interview that she likes younger guys. And she said, "I've dated a younger guy who acted like he was older than me and pampered me. Maybe that's why I said I'm okay with younger guys."

That day, I walked so tall as if I were the strongest younger guy in the world.