Made a new friend with good taste. @JamesOliver don’t forget to tell @LilNeb that he’s amazing and I love him.
#IslandXperience #IslandX #bloodymarybloodymary
He posted it, and it’s still there,James thought. Before he could fully wrap his mind around the implications, the notifications began rolling in.
Corinneborinne: @JamesOliver lucky!
F477down: @JamesOliver what’s happening?
Ohyikessarah: @JamesOliver I’m so jealous!
“Oh! My! God!” Allen yelled emphatically and kicked his feet.
“What?” one of the girls asked. James thought her name was Amber. Allen turned his phone screen to her.
“Oh my god!” she screamed.
“Holy shit!” someone else yelled, eyes wide.
Allen turned to James and showed him the phone, almost conspiratorially even though everyone else already knew what it said. Allen pointed to a comment below the picture.
LilNeb: You’re amazing and I love you. @JamesOliver looking forward to you showing me how to have good taste
All the anxiety that James felt melted away. He hadn’t even needed to post anything this time. He hadn’t told a rumor or a lie on the internet. He told people in real life and they did all the work to make it happen.
“There,” James said, patting Allen on the back. “You got to tell him yourself.”
“My whole life is made!” Allen shouted. The group kept repeating how lucky he was and how jealous they were. James stood, feeling like he was walking on a cloud, and told the group he really needed to get ready.
The walk back to James’ dorm forced him to pass by the villas and luxury tents. Although they numbered considerably fewer now, a creeping jealousy tightened the muscles in his neck and jaw as people lounged on porches and in hammocks.
I should have at least a tent, not a dorm room. I’ve worked harder than everyone here, and I’m still being forced to work even now.
Even as he thought it, a competing idea struck him so aggressively it was as though someone else said it in his head.
What’s stopping me from having a tent, myself?
He pulled out his phone and started a livestream.
“Just thought I’d give you all an update before I get to work today. I’m headed back to my tent to prepare for today’s interviews and I’m feeling pretty blessed and wanted to let you all know I have a really good feeling about tonight.”
Hearts and smiley faces ran thick as a river along the side of the video. James answered some of the questions people asked and then waved to sign off and saved the video for later viewing. He stood in the middle of the island’s high-end tent city and looked around himself as though lost. With Allen and his friends, the changes happened almost as soon as he spoke of them, would it be the same now?
He opened his email to find the original welcome letter assigning him a dorm room and, sure enough, the wording now referred to a tent instead of a room. However, he also found new emails from unfamiliar accounts. He stooped into the shade of the closest tent to block the sun from the dark screen of his phone and realized all of the emails came from online publications.
James laughed out loud. “This day just keeps getting better and better.”
He found the right tent and tapped his wristband against the lock on the door flap. All his belongings were right where he’d left them in the dorm that morning, transposed to similar places in the tent. James fell backward onto one of the beds and laced his fingers behind his head. All his dreams were coming true—a thought that forced him to sit up and pinch the skin of his inner wrist.
And the emails! Reopening his inbox, he saw at least twelve messages, all confirming upcoming interviews for the day. Most interesting were the emails telling him that various banking deposits were successful. A quick web search revealed these were payments from different websites and periodicals, like Buzzfeed and Pitchfork, the exact companies he told Allen and his friends that he’d written for in the past.
James verified the deposit amounts in his bank account and found all of them to be real. It felt like a key turning slowly in a lock until all of the pins fell into place and gave way to a protected treasure with ease. James knew without a doubt that these strange events weren’t limited to his time on the island. This was his life now. The opportunity presented itself and he’d taken it without question, and the rewards were innumerable.
Everything was perfect, except for one nagging detail.
On Instagram, he posted a smoldering selfie and gave it the caption:
Island life is always better with that special someone.
