“That was hardly a tizzy. It was the truth spewing out of me. This idea is stupid. I don’t know how to help Shorty.” I said her name with a mild amount of disdain.
“Well, you better figure it out because you’re having your first meeting tomorrow.” He handed me a piece of paper with a name and number.
“Who is Shiloh?” I read off the card.
“Shawty.” He laughed, and I rolled my eyes.
“Of course it is. What time are you picking me up?” Matrix usually accompanied me and shot footage from the side, so we had different angles when putting the videos together for the viewers.
“You’re on your own, Yoda.” He winked, and irritation crept inside me.
“What? You can’t leave me to do this myself.” One, I didn’t have the first clue who this woman was, and I didn’t want to become a statistic. And two, I didn’t know my ass from a hole in the ground when it came to matchmaking. What was I supposed to even do?
“Sorry, Caz. It’s out of my control. Shiloh asked that it be one-on-one.”
“You know she’s probably going to kill me, right?” I knew that escalated quickly, but I hoped to scare him into coming.
“Good luck to her. If falling off a ten-foot roof didn’t kill you, I doubt a girl named ‘Shorty’ can.” A boisterous laugh escaped his lips, and it annoyed me how lax he was about the situation.
“Must you remind me of my near-death experience?” Why did drunk me have such loose lips? And horrible depth perception. “Regardless, mine was an accident, which I was lucky to survive. If she pulls a gun and shoots me, there’s no chance of me coming back from that. Unless I’m a ghost, which I would haunt your ass for being an ass.”
With an annoyed expression, he rolled his eyes. “Will you give it a rest? You’re meeting at a coffee shop off Main. Do you think she would do anything with that many witnesses?” he questioned skeptically—but even if the chance was slim, it was never zero.
“Whatever. My blood will be on your hands.” I eyed him back, but he didn’t seem fazed.
“Okay. If that happens, I will give a nice speech at your funeral.” His left dimple popped behind his beard, and he thought he was funny.
“For real, Matt.” I hardly called him by his real name, but he knew when I did, it was time to get serious. “Am I just supposed to find out who she likes and then talk her up? I don’t know the first thing about straight relationships.” I gagged a little at the thought.
“Let’s be honest. You don’t know the first thing about any kind of relationship.”
I wanted to argue, but I couldn’t. After Davia left me with nothing but debt, I retreated into self-protection mode, which bordered on hermit territory. But no one knew that besides Matt because, on the outside, I was still living my best life. According to my viewers, I did something new and exciting each week. To the rest of the world, I was fearless, but I was a chicken shit in disguise.
“You’re right. So I shouldn’t be doing this.” If I was going to be incompetent, at least it should be a useful quality to get me out of stuff.
“Sorry, kid. It doesn’t work that way. This girl wants your help, and your fans want you to help. Therefore, the studio says, you’re helping.”
I sighed and knew this wasn’t up for debate. “Fine, but never call me kid again.” The fact that he was three months younger than me made it all the more irritating.
He held his hands up in surrender. “You got it. But you better be on your best behavior tomorrow. Even though I won’t be there to supervise, we will still have eyes and ears on you.”
“Good, so when they cart me off in a body bag, you’ll have a front-row seat.” I left him with that morbid thought and headed out of the studio.
I knew he wouldn’t have a comeback for that, and I couldn’t resist getting one more jab in. Since I had no control over what would happen, I could at least control my actions, and being snarky made me feel better. That was probably a character flaw I should work on, but it was my only defense mechanism for now.
Chapter 2Shiloh
“What did I miss?” I questioned as I entered my cousin Sonya’s living room.
Her long legs were sprawled across her roommate Devon's, who was also sitting on the couch. The two cackled like hyenas, which usually meant they were up to no good or high… or both. But I wasn’t asking.
“Shy! What are you doing here?” Sonya seemed shocked to see me, even though it was Saturday afternoon, and we had spent this time together every week since we were teenagers.
“Was I not supposed to come today?” She and Devon sometimes liked to do their own thing without me, but I figured she would have told me beforehand.
They had been joined at the hip since high school, which was over a decade ago, but some things never changed. Even though I had grown, they seemed to stay the same.
Regardless, Sonya was my best friend-ish, but I wasn’t hers. I tried to find other people to hang out with, but Shy wasn’t just a nickname—it described my personality. Meeting new people was painful for me, and I tended to stick to what I knew, which was these two perpetual teenagers.
“No. Of course, you were supposed to come. I didn’t realize the time.” She dropped her feet to the floor and pulled my arm. “Sit,” she insisted, and I plopped in between them.
“Is everything okay? You’re acting funny.” My eyes scanned them both, trying to figure out who would crack first, but they both gave me blank stares.
I wasn’t sure if they were acting or if they had genuinely forgotten what they had been laughing about.
“Are you hungry?” Devon asked, and Sonya seemed to jump on that bandwagon.
“Starving!” She reached for a bag of cheesy puffs on the coffee table and tossed a handful in her mouth. That probably meant she was high, but I tried not to let my annoyance show.
Sonya and Devon loved to partake in “medicinal” drugs. They claimed it helped with their anxiety, but I wasn’t sure what they had to be anxious over. Neither of them had a stressful job. Sonya played video games for a living, and I didn’t know what Devon did. I was pretty sure she worked, but I couldn’t guarantee that. Besides, it didn’t matter because they never took anything seriously.
On the other hand, I was a ball of nerves all the time and could benefit from extra help. However, weed was not the “medication” of choice for me. I had taken one of Sonya’s edibles one time, and my paranoia had me convinced that a zombie apocalypse was plausible and that we needed to have a plan of defense. Granted, we were watching The Walking Dead at the time, but still. I was worse off after taking it than I was before, so never again.
I stared at Sonya, trying to solve the puzzle of her. She was a beautiful, tall, curvy blonde who could turn a lot of heads if she wanted to. But she didn’t seem to care, and when she was at home, she was a total slob.
I watched as she wiped artificial orange dust on her sweats before passing the bag to Devon.
Devon and Sonya could have passed for sisters. Devon had long blondish hair and was also about 5’10”. To say I was jealous of them was probably an understatement. I had short, dull brown hair and was lucky to be 5’1” in shoes. They were both living on their own planet, and I wondered if that was by choice or design.
