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“This is insane,”Mike said, slouching in the chair. “It’s been hours.”
Adam leaned closer to the laptop screen, his fingers smoothing over the touchpad as he fiddled with the audio. “We have to figure it out. It takes time.”
Behind them, Jimmy bounced on an exercise ball. “Using a YouTube video to tell us how to make a YouTube video, how existential.”
Adam and Jimmy had come over to help him film and edit what Mike was hoping to be the first video on his YouTube channel. That was Laney’s brainchild. They’d been texting quite often lately, and after he’d mentioned Emily’s idea about helping her nephew, Laney suggested he start a channel. She explained how he could eventually make money through it, and it sounded like a good idea. The problem was, now he had to make the videos. Not knowing where to start, he asked his brothers for help.
So far, it’d been a lot of work for a five-minute introduction video. Jimmy did multiple takes of Mike introducing himself and talking a little bit about his injury, but Jimmy would say something like, “Do it again and less frowny this time.”
Since Adam was the computer whiz, he was the one who volunteered to figure out how to edit the video, saying, “How hard could it be?” But Mike knew that eventually he’d have to learn to do this all on his own, and he already dreaded it.
“If this takes off, we get a cut, right?” Jimmy asked.
Mike ignored him, absently checking his cell phone. It’d been a week and a half since Samantha ran out of the house like her pants were on fire, and since then, she’d texted twice, checking in, though he didn’t know what to say, if anything at all.
She’d made her position perfectly clear. She didn’t want what they had to be “real.”
It didn’t matter what he felt or what heknewshe felt. She didn’t want it anymore.
“Okay, I think we’re good,” Adam said, leaning back away from the computer and hitting play on the video one more time.
Jimmy pointed at the screen. “Spectacular cinematography. Look at that light on your face.”
Mike didn’t think it looked special in any way, especially in the lighting.
“Great job, Jim. Thanks for your help,” Jimmy said in a stage whisper, feeding his brother lines.
“Great job, Jim,” Mike repeated, monotone. “Thanks for your help.”
“What do we think? Ready to go live?” Adam peered over at Mike for the go-ahead, and he waved his hand.
“Yeah, let’s do it.”
Adam hit the button before standing up, stretching his back. “Congratulations, you are now a YouTuber.”
Mike grunted.
“What’s with you, man?” Jimmy flicked a resistance band at Mike. “You’ve been in a bad mood all week.”
“It’s nothing.”
Adam pointedly let out a low whistle as Jimmy pointed his index finger at Mike. “But there is something.”
Mike rubbed at the back of his neck, stupidly leaving his cell phone undefended, and Jimmy snatched it up.
His lip curled. “Samantha?”
Mike didn’t bother getting up to take his phone back—there was no use since Jimmy had already seen it—but he didn’t answer either.
His brother scrolled for a moment before tossing it back in Mike’s lap, and Adam spun around, interested now. “Samantha Kohler? You have something going on with Sammy?”
With his elbows on his knees, Mike mumbled his response into his hands.
“Didn’t catch that one,” Jimmy said.
He sat up, eyeing his younger brother’s shit-eating grin. “I said I don’t know.”
