Obliterated Beginnings

• 09 •

The ping of a notification came in again and to make matters worse, he texted me. It came in as more of a message request since I wasn't following him back yet, but I had already clicked on it. He sent a hey with a smiley face. Not the emoji, the emoticon.

The good thing about message requests was that even when you clicked on it, it didn't show the sender that the message had been read until I accepted the message request. So I didn't. I hurriedly placed the phone down on my dresser so as not to do anything stupid, but it slipped out of my sweaty palms and I struggled to catch it before it hit the floor.

I blew out a relieved breath when I caught it, clutching it to my chest and saying a quick prayer to the heavens that nothing had happened to my still brand new phone.

My mouth dropped when I turned the phone around. I was video calling him! I quickly ended the video call and cringed hard when I thought about his reaction to the call. And not only had I accidentally video called him, I had also sent him a slew of utter rubbish.

I squeezed my eyes shut, my head falling back with a thud on my bed rest.

What have I done?

I turned my WiFi off altogether, making sure to exit the app itself, before keeping my phone. I tried not to think about the mess I had put myself in. Axel would probably figure out that the messages and call had been a mistake. Surely, he would. But that would only make it so much more worse because I hadn't followed him back.

First day using the app and I had gotten myself in more mess than I did in a week in real life. Did I need any other indication that the social media life wasn't for me?

Apparently, I did, because when I turned my WiFi back on —I couldn't not check—, I saw a message from Axel and as I was reading it, another one popped in.

Video calling me after liking my six months old picture?
Do I have a stalker on my hands, Miss Otasowie?

I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me. He couldn't have acted like he hadn't seen it, could he?

I thought about the best way to reply. I couldn't ignore him anymore since it was quite obvious I was seeing his messages, so I went with;

I accidentally liked your picture. The video call was a mistake too.

It showed seen almost immediately, like he had been waiting for me to text back and I briefly wondered if I should turn my WiFi off again now that I had acknowledged him, but he had already started typing and some part of me —okay, a huge part of me— wanted to see what he had to say, so I waited.

So you were stalking me.

Just let it go, you annoying human!

I wasn't. A lot of people from school were being suggested to me. You were too.

I didn't peg you as the social media type.

I felt oddly insulted by his statement. What did he mean?

I created an account today.

He went silent after that. The message was seen, but he wasn't typing back. Had he grown bored with the conversation? Good for me anyway. I didn't have to speak to him unnecessarily. Besides, I had already explained my liking his picture and video calling him. He could choose to believe or not, it was up to him.