Chapter 5

Gray's POV

"So, after one month, your subscribers increased by 25K. That's a huge accomplishment dude. You have 130,000 now." Riggs' eyes focus at the YouTube Creator website on my laptop.

"The views are also increasing." Chance raises his voice in surprise.

We're in the basement which is now my bedroom, slash office, slash studio room.

"Still a long way to go." I lay down on my bed, trying to relax. After editing too many videos, my back hurt. "The viewers only watch the videos for barely two minutes. We need to increase the watch time."

"How can we achieve that? You're very consistent. You publish three 15-minute videos per week." Chance is sitting across from Riggs, cleaning the lens of my DSLR camera.

"I don't know. My head hurts from thinking of what video content to do next."

"Viewers are not buying the ASMR, makeovers, games and pranks anymore. They want new stuff. You need to find a new niche, dude." Riggs suggests.

"I have an idea," Chance eyes lit up, "maybe you should concentrate on vlogging. Viewers are curious, they want to see where you live, what your life is, and know the people you hang out with. Let's show them the city of Baltimore."

"We can't do that right now, we're still under lockdown. Besides, Julia only goes to the gym at the corner, and Brooke, she never goes out of the house. I can't make her."

Riggs let out a frustrated groan. "Why can't you just do it yourself, dude. You don't need to include your sisters in your videos. You're wasting money on those two abusive brats."

Riggs being an only child can't relate to having siblings. Sometimes in my videos, I get a knock on the head by Brooke, a pinch or a punch by Julia. It's a normal thing for us siblings. I annoy them all the time, and their way of coming back at me is by getting physical.

"Five dollars per hour for each one of them. I think that's too much when they're not doing much in the video." Chance shakes his head.

"Not for Brooke. She's not asking for anything in return. That's why I can't demand more of her time. When she says she's tired, she has to go back to her room. I can't force her to stay."

"Julia is kinda expensive. She's acting like a famous Hollywood celebrity. Asking for Starbucks coffee, Krispy Kreme donuts and Chipotle salad." Riggs chuckles nastily. "She even asks Chance to give her a back massage. What the fuck is wrong with her? How can she get tired when she's always sitting in the video?"

"It's not a problem, bro." Chance assures Riggs.

It's not a problem for me either. Chance is a nice harmless guy. He gets along well with my sisters and I can trust him 100% with them.

While Riggs often shows his dislike of Julia. I don't know why they just don't get along. They hate each other's guts.

"Typical Julia. She enjoys giving us a hard time." I chuckle, looking at Riggs.

"She's sadistic, loud and noisy." Riggs murmurs. "She's influenced by Roxanne."

Roxanne.

The mere mention of her name makes my tired sleepy cells come alive.

"Right Gray?" Riggs turns to me.

"You're talking about the young Roxanne. I'm sure she mellows down now that she's older."

I agree Roxanne has an enormous influence on Julia, for getting rid of the latter's inferiority complex.

Me and my siblings used to be so timid, shy and had a very low self-esteem. We all struggled to get friends at school and we had a hard time communicating with others. The divorce of our parents played a big factor in losing our confidence. We felt very unhappy, unwanted and abandoned.

But Julia changed when she met Roxanne. She became tougher, stronger and not afraid of facing people anymore. She talks and smiles a lot now.

"I have a suggestion. Let's follow your everyday routine." Chance interrupts my thoughts.

"No way. I'm a boring person. I do the same stuff every day. Reading books, playing the guitar, editing videos, and doing workout. My fifty things about me video only got ten thousand views. Have you read the comments? They're only making fun of me."

Riggs laughs, "We should make you look interesting, dude."

"My head hurts thinking of how to market myself. Maybe do a near death challenge, spend the night in the cemetery alone, eat worms, or get bald. That video about my ideal girl was a wrong move. It drops my analytics. I'm thinking of deleting it now."

"But your subscribers are growing." Riggs says, making me feel better.

"People subscribed to my channel because they want to see more of Brooke and Julia. Those two talk nonsense that they don't need a script and viewers enjoy listening to them."

"If that's the case, then let's give what the viewers want. Let's do a vlog following Julia's daily routine." Chance suggests, but Riggs disagrees.

"Why her? Soon, she will steal your channel, dude."

"Let's just try it, Riggs. If it won't work, then we'll find something else. I ran out of ideas this time, my head hurts already."

"Then, let's do it!" Chance exclaims.

The following day, we filmed the video. We started at nine in the morning, by waking up Julia. She was so mad at me for not giving her a warning. I made her breakfast, her favorite grilled cheese sandwich and two fried eggs but it did not alter her mood. But when I reminded her of the money that she would get, she became very cooperative.

Later, we went to the gym.

"Aren't you done? I thought you're going to take a few shots only. I'm so embarrassed already, people are looking. They think I'm a celebrity." Julia complains while she continues lifting weights.

"You're feeling like a celebrity already. You're giving us a hard time." Riggs blurts at her.

"Shut up, Riggs. I'm not talking to you." Julia rolls her eyes.

"We still need more shots." Chance says, as he points the camera directly to her for close up.

"Not too close. The viewers can see my pores." She turns away, then waves at someone who just arrived."

It's Roxanne.

What the hell. My heart suddenly beats faster seeing her again. What is wrong with me? Did I drink too much coffee this morning?

She looks so trim and neat in her black sports bra and leggings suit. She's also wearing a black face mask. Riggs was right, she's smoking hot and gorgeous.

"There you are. What took you so long?" I hear Julia say behind me.

"I did an errand for granny. She was craving crab cakes and tacos." Roxanne greets us, "Hey guys. Still busy filming, huh?"

"We're almost done, actually." I answer, trying to keep my eyes focused on her eyes.

"So, you renewed your membership." Riggs' question makes my eyes grow big. He shouldn't have asked.

"Yeah." Roxanne nods slowly, giving Riggs a suspicious look. "How did you know?"

"I... I..." He shrugs his shoulders and Julia butts in.

"See what the pandemic does to some people? They're so bored that they snoop at other people's lives."

"What the heck. Are you insinuating that I was stalking her?"

"I did not say that, you did." Julia's one eyebrow raises wickedly.

"Will you two stop? Why can't you get along for once?" Chance scolds them, then turns to Roxanne. "Hi Rox. You look stunning."

"Thanks, Chance. I like your haircut, it suits you," Roxanne answers, and Chance touches his brown bowl cut hairstyle awkwardly. Then she turns to me "I'll stay at the other side, so I won't disturb you guys."

Before I can answer, Julia says. "See you later, bestie."

Roxanne turns to go, but on impulse, I call her.

"Wait, Roxanne."

"Yes, Gray?"

I blanked out.

I clear my throat and recover.
"This video is all about Julia. I wonder if you like to say hi to the viewers. I'm sure they're interested to know who her best friend is."

"Sure, no problem. Should I remove my mask?"

"It's really up to you. If you're comfortable."

"I'm comfortable." She removes her face mask and for the first time, I have a good look at her face again.

When was the last time we were standing so close, face to face like this? Seven years ago? We have hardly seen each other since I graduated high school and went to university.

Who's fault is that? Obviously mine.

Those years, I avoided seeing her again in every way, and she damn made it so difficult for me. Things became very awkward between us.

It started the night before I left for university. I was 19 and ready to explore the world.

I had mixed emotions. Excited and yet worried that I would leave my family. I'm the only guy in the family and they relied on me for many things. I spent the entire afternoon comforting Brooke, because she was crying. She said she would die without me in the house.

It was already midnight when I finished packing my things. I was getting ready to go to bed when I received a Messenger notification.

"Who the heck is this, it's late."

It surprised me to receive a message from Roxanne. Except for asking about Julia's whereabouts, Roxanne and I never exchanged messages.

I opened Messenger, and there I saw what she sent me.

A nude photo of her.