Charisse sits up taller. “It’s a great idea. And until you become the queen of attracting social-media followers, you have no say in my brilliance!”
“I’m insta-putty in your hands. Teach me, oh wise one.” I laugh as I mock bow at her greatness.
She holds up the phone and shows me TikTok, a platform I’m still trying to figure out how to make work for my career. The hard part is, it’s all videos, so I can’t just go in and post a photo in two seconds and move on. I have to plan and record things. It’s both fun and exhausting. Yet that’s the life of an author.
“Is this like the dance you made me do last week?” I ask, looking at the screen.
“It’s better. It’s called the Kissing Best Friend Challenge!” She is giddy with drunk excitement.
It sounds harmless enough, so I give it a watch. The first video is a girl walking up to a guy on the beach. His back is to her, and the caption reads, So, I wanted to try the Kissing Best Friend Challenge.
I look up at Charisse, wildly confused. “This is a make-out thing?”
“Just keep watching. Watch, like, ten,” she demands.
I look down at the screen just in time to see the girl tap the guy on the back. When he turns toward her, she stands on her toes and kisses him. She quickly backs away, laughing, but he’s not. He grabs her hand and pulls her back into a heated embrace. It’s so sweet.
I watch another. This one doesn’t go as well. The caption starts with the girl telling us that the guy next to her has been her best friend since she was nine. She leans over and kisses him, and then he palms her in the face, pushing her away with a laugh.
I scroll through more than ten, as these videos of friends crossing the line can be super addictive. Some of them totally get into it when the guy obviously feels the same way, yet a few of them aren’t into it. One says their friendship was ruined over it. That breaks my heart.
I’m a mix of emotions when the most recent video ends. The couple just laughs when it’s over, and then they go in for a hug. I like this one the best.
“I’m digging it, but how can I participate? I don’t have a best friend I’ve pined over for years.” I hand Charisse her phone back.
“No, you don’t, but …” Her lips grow into a shit-eating grin.
I turn to Melody, and she holds up a finger as she bounces Aubrey on her knee. “I told her it was a really bad idea.”
“How bad?”
Charisse bites her lower lip. “I was thinking you could film your version of the challenge with your naughty neighbor.”
A sharp laugh escapes my mouth. “Jake? Seriously?”
“See, I told you!” Melody yells out, and Aubrey hushes her mom. Melody kisses the little girl’s head.
“Oh, come on. It’s brilliant,” Charisse defends her suggestion. “Your posts with a picture of you outperform the others, and your videos are even better. You know this will get likes, comments, and shares like crazy. You have a few thousand fans on TikTok alone, and when we did that dance last week, you had a thousand shares. You can copy and paste it to all of your accounts. You don’t have to have just TikTok to enjoy it.”
I pick up my drink and think about it. My first thought: No. Fucking. Way.
I have no idea how Jake would react if I made out with him on a whim. We’re not friends like that.
Except for that one time I let him put his hands on me while he painted my body.
I still quiver at the thought.
“If I did it, I’d have to tell him first. He’d have to be one hundred percent game.”
“Hell no!” Charisse yells. “You do this once, and you do it the right way. That’s what makes these videos so appealing. The audience will know if he’s faking it.”
I pull on my lip as I think about what it would be like to kiss him. His lips alone were enough for me to use as inspiration when describing my new hero. They’re so full and luscious and—
Dear me, am I really considering this?
If I did it and he was horrified, I’d have the excuse of the video challenge to use as an explanation. He would understand, and I bet he’d be willing to play along a second time once I told him. Plus, it would be cool for my heroine to kiss the guy first. I could write it with firsthand knowledge, which would definitely make it more real.
“Come on. Don’t be such a wimp.” Charisse playfully nudges my leg. “You can tell him before you post it, but you can’t tell him before you film. It’d ruin the vibe. You know he’ll be okay with it though. Men love the attention.”
She’s right there. This man would love the attention, but I hate the idea of filming him like this without him knowing.
“You’re sure this is a good career move?” I take a sip and set my glass down, swirling the wine in my mouth before I swallow it. “I don’t think he’d get upset, like some of those guys in the videos did,” I say, more thinking out loud.
“See,” Charisse says to Melody. “I knew she’d at least think about it.”
“I mean, it’s a bad idea, but it’s not horrible. He’d totally understand that I did it for my followers. We’ve discussed how I have to keep up on all social-media platforms. And he’s offered to help.”
“You are just taking him up on his offer.” Charisse nods with a smile on her face and sways her head like she’s doing the Night at the Roxbury head dance.
“Do you have a twitch?” I look toward Melody to see if Charisse’s spasms are normal.
“Go. Now. Go do it,” Charisse says, nudging me
