CHAPTER THIRTEEN #2
Bee laughed and tapped the button to stop recording. She trimmed the silence from the beginning and cut the few seconds after her last laugh, but Grandma’s comments stayed exactly where they were. Once Bee watched the edited video without finding anything else to change, she posted it.
The first comments appeared while she was returning the ticket to the counter. Bee opened them and smiled. The same viewers who had celebrated the blue flowers were already asking about the doughnuts and the lottery ticket.
@emilyr22: The doughnuts for Grandma ??
@kaylaxo: Did we win the Powerball or not?
@nattie22: I need somebody to bring me Hot Cheetos at midnight.
@blaire54: Grandma saying he brought the right kind took me out.
Bee liked each comment before scrolling farther. Her thumb stopped when the next message appeared. The smile left her face before she reached the end of it.
@saralee: Making a man drive around after midnight because you wanted snacks isn’t cute.
Bee frowned. Wes had already been headed to the gas station, and she had said so in the video. The next comment ignored that part too.
@marissa.kay: He has to work. Why would you ask him to go to the store that late?
Two more comments appeared beneath it while Bee stared at the screen. The facts of the night disappeared beneath the version strangers had invented. By the time she reached the last line, her irritation was no longer small.
@jennamarie22: I like Bee, but this is spoiled.
@ashleyb97: A grown man shouldn’t have to leave his house because his girlfriend wants chips.
“He was already going,” Bee said to the phone.
Grandma looked over from the table. “What happened?”
Bee set the phone beside the Powerball ticket. “Apparently, I’m spoiled.”
Grandma raised an eyebrow. “What did you do?”
“I asked Wes for Hot Cheetos,” Bee replied.
Grandma looked toward the open bag. “Did he get them?”
“Yes,” Bee said.
“Did he complain?” Grandma asked.
Bee shook her head. “No.”
Grandma reached for her coffee. “Then I don’t understand the problem.”
“Neither do I,” Bee replied.
Grandma nodded toward the phone. “People enjoy making problems where there aren’t any.”
Bee turned the screen face down. Grandma was right, but the comments still irritated her. Wes had already been on his way to the gas station, and he had agreed to bring two things without a complaint.
Another notification appeared before Bee finished her coffee. Wes had posted a new video. She opened it and found him sitting in his truck with a grin.
“Okay, this one’s for the boys,” Wes said.
Bee smiled at the screen. Wes settled against his seat before continuing. The grin on his face told her he had already planned exactly what he wanted to say.
“If your woman asks you to make a snack run, go get the chips,” Wes said. “Get the candy too. It’s not that serious.”
Bee laughed because he sounded completely sincere. Wes lifted one finger toward the camera as though he were about to deliver the most important part.
“Most importantly, don’t forget the peace offering for Grandma,” Wes continued. “Trust me. You want Grandma on your side.”
Bee covered her mouth while the video ended. Wes had turned the entire night into advice for other men, complete with a lesson about doughnuts. She opened the comments while his face remained frozen on the screen.
The first messages appeared beneath his video almost at once. Bee read each one, still smiling at how seriously strangers had taken his advice. None of them questioned why he had gone out so late.
@jake89: THIS MAN GETS IT.
@kevinm14: Taking notes, bro.
@kaylaxo: Wes is teaching them ??
@jennamarie22: This is actually so sweet.
Bee stopped when another familiar username appeared. She had seen it beneath her own video less than an hour earlier. The comment beside it couldn’t have sounded more different.
@marissa.kay: This is the kind of man every woman deserves.
She returned to her own video and found the earlier comment from the same account. The accusation was still there, only a few swipes from the top. Bee read it again to make sure she had not misunderstood.
@marissa.kay: He has to work. Why would you ask him to go to the store that late?
Bee read both comments before going back to Wes’s video. A few messages lower, another familiar username praised him. This time Bee recognized the name before she read the words beside it.
@saralee: See, THIS is how a man should treat his woman.
She opened her own comment section again. The same account had criticized her for accepting the exact treatment it now praised Wes for giving. Only a few taps separated one comment from the other.
@saralee: Making a man drive around after midnight because you wanted snacks isn’t cute.
Bee stared at the screen. “That makes no sense.”
Grandma looked over from the table. “What doesn’t?”
Bee carried the phone to Grandma and moved between the two sets of comments. Grandma read each one, then went back and checked the usernames. Her mouth tightened before she handed the phone back.
“Some people just like being difficult,” Grandma said.
Bee sat down again. “They really do.”
She reopened Wes’s video and scrolled past a row of tagged usernames. Two more comments appeared beneath them, both praising choices his viewers had criticized her for accepting. Bee slowed enough to read each one.
@laurenm18: Sending this to my boyfriend.
@meganrose: The doughnuts were the smartest part ??
Bee scrolled upward until Wes’s face reappeared on the screen. The same thing had happened after their date: criticism beneath her video and praise beneath his. Now the pattern had repeated over a bag of chips and a candy bar.
Bee looked at his face frozen on the screen. None of it was his fault. Wes had gone because she asked, and his video made it clear he did not think she had done anything wrong.
“He just went because I asked,” Bee said.
Grandma watched her without interrupting. Bee placed the phone beside the lottery ticket and looked at the ticket, the open chips, and the last doughnut in the box. Wes had brought all three into the kitchen during the same visit.
Nothing about the snack run had changed between the videos. Bee had asked, and Wes had gone because he wanted to. The only difference was who stood in front of the camera and told the story.
Grandma lifted her coffee. “You’re thinking too much.”
Bee looked up. “Maybe.”
“Then eat your Hot Cheetos,” Grandma said.
Bee reached for the bag. “That’s good advice.”
The spice hit her tongue while she closed both videos. Bee took another Cheetos and reached for a third. She refused to let strangers ruin the snacks too.
Later, Bee sat on her bed with the Powerball ticket on the nightstand. She opened Wes’s video again and listened to him tell other men to buy the chips. His grin still made her smile.
Another comment appeared while she watched. Bee recognized the username before she finished reading the message. Her smile disappeared as the words settled beneath Wes’s video.
@saralee: I wish my man was more like Wes.
Bee stared at the comment before opening her own video. The same account had criticized her for asking Wes to make the trip. Now that same person wanted what Bee had.
Her irritation returned sharper than before. This was not the first time strangers had praised Wes for the same thing they used against her. Bee did not blame him, but the pattern was clear: strangers could look at the same happy moment and use it to judge her.
She locked the phone and set it beside the Powerball ticket. The dark screen caught her reflection until she turned it face down. The room went still, but her mind kept placing the two comments beside each other.