"May I please borrow your phone?" I request politely.
"Why?"
"Just give it to me," I demand, narrowing my eyes at him. "I promise to stay away from all your nudes."
He shakes his head with a sigh of defeat leaving his lips but in the end, he resolves to lifting himself on the side and pulling his phone out from his back pocket. It's also an iPhone just like mine, only his is black… obviously and is probably better than mine in many ways since his parents are filthy rich… I think. They all look the same in the end.
He hands it to me after scanning his fingerprint on the button.
I quickly direct my gaze through his apps, sliding my finger over the screen and I'm flabbergasted to find that he has an Instagram account. Who would have known that the brooding, emotionless Dominic Lachowski has an interest in the social platforms on which teenagers dabble? One would think that he'd regard himself as too high and mighty to share anything about his life on social media. And here I was thinking that I'd have to make one for him.
I go through it and notice that the only thing he posts there are pictures of his cousin, the little, dirty-blonde haired boy and an adorable, ginger-brown kitten with the bluest eyes I've ever seen. As I'm scrolling through more pictures, at the very bottom is the only picture of himself in a black jacket. His head is bowed, but his eyes are still gazing at the camera and I can tell from the physical form of the person that it's him. Surprisingly, the picture got more than fifteen thousand likes for some weird reason.
I think it might have something to do with the caption: When the light fades away, I know to never crave the embrace of day because the shadows whispering to me keep me company and never coerce me to expose what lies within. Running from Landon, I have no problem embracing home, no matter how dark and lonely it may be.
Well, isn't he quite the Edgar Allan Poe?
"What are you doing?" he finally asks me, thinning his gaze onto me curiously.
"I'm going through your Instagram," I answer truthfully, wondering why he spelt London wrong. "You, surprisingly, have a lot of followers. How do you do it?"
He shrugs. "My dad is Ronan Lachowski."
I pause thoughtfully. "Yeah, that makes a lot of sense."
I mentally coo at another picture of the adorable kitten. Can I adopt it already? I'll hide it underneath my bed and lock my room so that Yang Jin doesn't go snooping into it. I know he does it since he did watch my vlogs. The only way he could have found them is if he went into my room. I'm surprised he doesn't hate me from all the entries where I was insultingly calling him the snitch of the family.
When I see another picture with the kitten sleeping peacefully on someone's lap, someone who's wearing black tracksuit trousers like Dominic normally does, I scowl in thought. Is the kitten his? I furrow my eyebrows and give him a sideways glance. He turns to look at me and catches the expression I'm wearing. His eyes ask me why I look so amused, but I shake my head.
"Tell me," he demands.
"Why do you post so many kitten pictures?"
"They get a lot of likes." He lifts his shoulders nonchalantly. Too nonchalantly.
"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure you're not after likes, right?"
He flickers his gaze towards me and then quickly redirects it back to the road. Now I'm curious.
"Are you?"
"No. He's cute. Why wouldn't I post pictures of him?"
"Is he yours?"
He immediately shakes his head. "Just… some celebrity kitten I follow."
"Who?"
"I think his name is… Keenan or Keanu, I don't know ."
"Yeah? Never heard of him."
"I don't know, something like that."
"Okay, well, you need to post more pictures of yourself," I tell him. "Not Keenan or Keanu. Jodie is actually not a cat person."
"She likes dogs?"
"Nope?"
"Then what is she?"
"An animal hater?" I lift my shoulder unknowingly. "Also, these pictures must not be in a gloomy light. In order to get her on board, we need her to see that you aren't the dark, moody, gothic gay she thinks you are. The only way we can do this is if you start following her and we get her to follow you back on Instagram. From there you need to post more pictures of yourself shirtless and stuff."
He throws a delirious look over at me through his peripheral vision. "What?"
"Yeah. If you do this, then she'll possibly stop assuming that you're gay. Also, stop it with the dark clothes. When you post these pictures, you'll be wearing something other than black or grey because Jodie is not into the devilish, loner look." I give him his phone back sombrely.
"This is bullshit," he whines monotonously, tossing his phone onto his lap.
"Yes, it is, but how far are you willing to go to be with her?"