“So, you’re onlynotdrinking so you can post pictures of yourself and hashtag it because it gives you more content and likes. And you are doing it because your ex-boyfriend thought it would be a good idea?” he asked, looking appalled.
“Yes,” I said.
“You know how ridiculous that sounds, right?”
“What? No. It’s not, it’s—”
“Ridiculous,” he cut me off.
“Hey, our followers really went up when we started the challenge.” I pointed a finger at him.
“So you make actual life decisions about important things, based on whether or not it makes good content and gets you more followers?”
“Um . . .” I thought for a while. When he put it like that, I mean, I admit, it didn’t sound great. “Sort of,” I said, backtracking.
He nodded slowly. As if taking in every single word I was saying. And thinking about them too.
“What?” I asked, feeling uncomfortable under his prying eyes.
“What brought you here? You mentioned the break-up and someone else being better for your ex’s personal brand or something?”
I sighed loudly.
“Sorry, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. You sort of implied that you did want to talk about it the other night though, when you started talking about it.”
I nodded. “My ex broke up with me for someone who has more followers than I do. And then because of that, and some things I might have done and said online that sort of went viral, I kind of lost all my followers, so . . .”
“You’re running and hiding from it all in a town without internet?” he asked.
“I’m not running and hiding.” I put my hands on my hips in a defensive pose.
He rolled his eyes. “You’re not the only person who’s come here with this idea of having some great social media detox.”
“Really?”
“A while ago some guy came here because he did something online that went viral for all the wrong reasons. He lasted about ten minutes before he left. Before that a group of girls came here too—they also left quite quickly. You’re the only one who’s lasted this long.”
“Against my will. And I’m still leaving as soon as possible,” I reminded him. “As soon as it’s safe to travel with Harun, I’m out of here.”
“So, you taking Harun with you?” he asked with a smile.
“Well, what am I supposed to do with him? He’s kind of my dog now and . . .”
“You love him.”
I sighed again. “Also against my will.”
“I wonder where he came from?” Mark pondered. “What his story is? Where he lived before? If he ever lived with anyone, or whether he’s just a traveler.”
“A traveler,” I echoed.
“Yeah, maybe he moves around, going from person to person, maybe he’s had tens of different families, but only for a while.”
“Maybe.” I considered this; there was something about it that rang true. For some reason, I couldn’t imagine him staying in one place for long. A thought tugged at me and made my stomach tighten. I hoped he wasn’t going to leave me as soon as he was better! The thought made me uneasy.
‘Don’t worry.” Mark put his hand on my shoulder. “He’s clearly not going anywhere! Looks like he’s never had it so good before.”
I forced a smile. I seriously hoped not.
