CHAPTER FIVE
Wesley woke to the steady buzz of his phone vibrating against the wooden nightstand. The sound had been going long enough to pull him from sleep. He blinked at the ceiling for a moment before reaching for it.
Morning light stretched across the room as Wesley lifted the phone. The screen was crowded with more notifications than he had ever seen at once. Messages, tags, new followers, and comments kept appearing faster than he could make sense of them.
Wes sat up slowly. His long hair fell across his forehead as he stared at the numbers.
He brushed it back with one hand and opened the app.
Strangers were suddenly tagging him in dozens of posts, and he had no idea why.
Then he saw Bee’s name near the top of the notifications. His stomach tightened.
He opened her grocery-store video. Within seconds, Wes saw himself standing in the background near the refrigerated section.
He was barely visible, just a man in a dark grey hoodie looking down at a handwritten grocery list. Bee talked to the camera several feet away.
His hair had fallen across one side of his face, and he looked completely unaware that anyone was recording him.
Wes remembered the exact moment. He had been so focused on avoiding Bee that he had never considered the possibility that her camera might catch him anyway. While he was worrying about embarrassing himself in front of her, thousands of strangers had already seen him.
He scrolled down to the comments. His thumb slowed as he read.
@saralee: Hoodie guy is adorable. I’m actually blushing.
@kaitlynmarie: He looks so shy. I can’t handle this.
@ashleyb97: Girl, who is he? I’m losing it.
@jenniferlane: Hoodie guy, please reveal yourself. I’m begging.
@cassieann: He looks like he’d apologize even if you bumped into him.
@natalie_rose: Someone find his username. I need to know everything.
@emilyr22: He’s so cute. I’m actually kicking my feet.
@brianna.m: Hoodie guy is reading his list like he’s the sweetest man alive.
@laurenm23: I want to know if he’s single. Please, someone ask.
@maddielee: I’m already obsessed with hoodie guy.
Wes kept scrolling, more confused with every comment he read.
He was not used to strangers noticing him, much less talking about him this way.
A few comments pulled a reluctant smile from him.
Others made him want to lock his phone and forget the whole thing had happened.
More comments loaded beneath the first group.
@ashleynicole: He’s shy. I can tell. I love him already.
@kelseymarie: Hoodie guy is everything I needed today.
@emilyr22: Please tell me he’s single. I’m serious.
@taylorann: I called my cousin to ask if she knows him.
@haleyb14: Someone said they called his mom. I’m screaming.
@saralee: I called his mom. She said she thinks he’s single.
Wes stopped at the last comment and read it twice.
Any amusement he had left disappeared when he realized someone might have actually called his mother.
He scrolled farther down, hoping someone would admit it was a joke.
His mother answered almost every unfamiliar number because she assumed it might be a relative, a family friend, or somebody who needed something.
Wes could already picture her standing in the kitchen while a stranger asked whether her son was single.
“Please tell me you didn’t,” Wes muttered.
A soft knock sounded against his bedroom door before it opened slightly. His mother looked inside with the same expression she wore whenever she had already decided he knew exactly what she was about to ask.
“Are you awake?” his mother asked.
“Yeah,” Wes replied.
She opened the door farther and crossed her arms. “People are calling me.”
Wes rubbed a hand over his face. “I know.”
His mother frowned. “Do you?”
“I just found out,” Wes explained.
“A woman asked if you were married,” his mother said.
Wes looked at her. “What did you tell her?”
“That you’re not,” his mother replied.
“Mom,” Wes groaned.
His mother lifted one shoulder. “What? You’re not.”
Wes stared at her without answering. His mother remained in the doorway, apparently unbothered by the situation.
“Then another woman asked if you were seeing somebody,” his mother continued.
“What did you say?” Wes asked.
“I said I didn’t think so,” she replied.
“Mom,” Wes repeated.
“You don’t tell me anything,” his mother said. “What was I supposed to say?”
Wes dropped his head into his hands for a moment. He could hear the teasing in her voice now, which somehow made the whole situation worse.
“Why are women calling me about you?” his mother asked.
“Bee posted a video,” Wes replied.
His mother’s expression changed immediately. “Bee?”
Wes regretted saying her name the second he saw the interest on his mother’s face. He already knew she was going to remember far more than he wanted her to.
“I was in the background,” Wes explained. “For maybe three seconds.”
“And now women are calling me?” his mother asked.
“Apparently,” Wes replied.
His mother stared at him for a moment before a smile began to form. Wes recognized it immediately and pointed at her.
“Don’t,” Wes warned.
“I didn’t say anything,” his mother replied.
“You’re smiling,” Wes pointed out.
“I smile,” she said.
“Not like that,” Wes replied.
Her smile widened. “You should tell them to stop calling me.”
“I’m going to,” Wes assured her.
“Good,” she said. “One woman sounded very serious.”
Wes groaned while his mother laughed and walked away, leaving the bedroom door open behind her. He waited until he heard her moving around the kitchen again before looking back at his phone.
The notifications were still coming. Wes stared at the camera icon for several seconds.
He could ignore the comments, but he could not ignore strangers calling his mother.
He had never made a video talking directly to people online before.
His account existed mostly because friends and relatives sent him things. Still, something had to be said.
Wes opened the camera and lifted the phone in front of him.
His face filled the screen. His hair was still messy from sleep.
For a second, he seriously considered closing the app.
Going back to bed seemed like the better choice.
He pushed his hair away from his face, took a slow breath, and started recording.
“Good morning,” Wes said. “I woke up to a lot of messages. I didn’t know I was in anyone’s video. I was just trying to get groceries for the house.”
Wes glanced down before looking back at the phone. “I heard some of you called my mom. Please don’t do that. She answers every call because she thinks it might be family, and she gets confused. People were asking if I’m single.”
Heat crept into his face again. He glanced away from the phone before forcing himself to continue.
“I am,” Wes admitted. “Please don’t call my mom to ask, though. She doesn’t know what TikTok is.”
From somewhere down the hallway, his mother called out, “I know what TikTok is.”
Wes closed his eyes before raising his voice. “You asked me yesterday if it was the dancing app.”
“It has dancing,” his mother called back.
Wes looked at the phone with a tired expression. “This is what I live with.”
His mother laughed from the kitchen. The interruption loosened some of his nerves.
“I’m not used to this,” Wes said. “I don’t really post videos, so I don’t know what I’m supposed to say. Thank you for being nice, though. I was literally checking my mom’s grocery list. I didn’t know anyone saw me.”
Wes stopped recording and watched the video once. He considered deleting it several times, but eventually he gave up and pressed post.
The upload finished almost immediately. His phone started buzzing again before he had time to set it down. Wes stared at the screen while the view count climbed faster than anything he had ever posted. Comments began appearing almost as quickly.
@saralee: He’s even cuter when he talks. I’m losing it. ??
@kaitlynmarie: His voice is so soft. I’m actually melting.
@ashleyb97: Hoodie guy is single. Everyone stay calm.
@jennamarie22: I’m not calm. He’s adorable.
@cassieann: He brushed his hair back. I felt that in my soul.
@natalie_rose: His mom answered the phone because she thought it was family. I’m crying.
@emilyr22: His eyes are so gentle. I’m actually emotional.
@brianna.m: Hoodie guy, please marry me. I’m joking, but also not really. ??
@laurenm23: He’s handsome in the softest way. I can’t handle this.
@maddielee: This man is going to break the internet.
Wes read several comments twice, still unsure what he was looking at. The video was supposed to stop people from calling his mother. Instead, the numbers on his screen kept climbing. Somehow, he had only given everyone more to talk about.
His mother appeared in the doorway again, this time holding her coffee. She looked from Wes to the phone buzzing continuously in his hand.
“Did you tell them to stop calling me?” his mother asked.
“Yes,” Wes replied.
“Good,” his mother said.
Wes looked at the screen again. “I think I accidentally made more of them follow me.”
His mother took a sip of coffee. “That sounds like your problem.”
Wes stared at her. “You’re very supportive.”
“I made you coffee,” she reminded him.
“That was before this happened,” Wes replied.
“It still counts,” his mother said.
Wes shook his head while his mother walked away again. Despite everything, a small smile pulled at the corner of his mouth.
He had never been the center of anything like this before. He was used to being the person standing somewhere in the background, listening while other people talked and going about his day without attracting much attention.
Now thousands of strangers knew him as Hoodie Guy. They knew he was single, knew he bought groceries for his mother, and apparently had very strong feelings about the way he brushed his hair out of his face.
Wes set the phone on the nightstand, but it continued vibrating against the wood. He stared at it for a moment before laughing quietly to himself. Yesterday, he had gone to the store hoping Bee would not notice him. Somehow, everyone else had.