**Amanda--moments before the video chat**

Amanda stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror as she applied the last coat of lip gloss. Her heart thumped heavily in her chest. She wondered if she might've acquired a cardiac problem. "Please don't mess this up," she whispered to herself.

Returning to the kitchen table, Amanda flipped her laptop open and loaded up Facebook Messenger. Minimizing the window so it fit in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen, she sent a group message to her Wattpad friends.

[Amanda: Ready?]

[Jeannie: Get that live stream going!]

[Geri: Ready!]

[Geri: We're here for you!]

[Jeannie: I might be more nervous than you are!]

"I doubt that," she whispered

Amanda snapped her Android phone into the tripod situated behind her chair just outside the laptop's camera view. After activating the live stream program on her phone, she waved into the camera. "Can you see me? Hear me?" She rushed back to her laptop to see the responses in the Messenger feed.

[Geri: Loud and clear]

[Geri: I've even got a good view of what's on the laptop]

[Jeannie: *squealing*]

[Jeannie: Seriously living vicariously through you tonight!]

[Amanda: Where's M?]

[Geri: One last round with T]

Amanda looked over her shoulder and gave her Android two thumbs up, then she held a thumb to her ear and pinky to her lips like a phone. "Should I call? Now?"

[Geri: Yes]

[Jeannie: DO IT!]

Amanda's hands shook uncontrollably has she held them over her keyboard. She logged into the Google Hangouts program and hovered over the call button. She glanced up at the clock--6:58 pm. A dizziness invaded her head as though there wasn't enough oxygen in the room. Luckily, a bubble popped up in her Messenger feed to distract her.

[Mona: Oil changed]

[Mona: I'm ready to ride]

Looking over her shoulder, Amanda yelled, "You can't make me laugh, Mona! I've probably been red flagged by Wattpad after that drunk support ticket--I need to appear--civilized."

[Mona: boring]

Taking a deep breath, Amanda clicked the button to connect herself to Wattpad Headquarters. After ringing a couple times, a male voice answered.

"Amanda?"

"Yes! That's me. I'm Amanda."

"Hi. I'm Ian. I'm one of the engineers here at Wattpad."

I love the sound of his voice, Amanda thought to herself. And I love the sound of his face--the sight--the look of his face. Those glasses!

"Nice to meet you, Ian."

"Thank you for doing this."

"Thank you for staying late to fix my thing. My--."

[Mona: Your box]

[Geri: Don't say box]

"My box."

[Jeannie: OMG! Pivot!]

[Jeannie: Pivot the convo!]

[Geri: Say "My computer box"]

"My computer box."

[Geri: "Thank you for fixing the bug in my computer box"]

"Thank you for staying late to fix the bug in the computer box--or whatever it's called. I'm not too skilled in tech vocab--or tech knowledge"

"Not a problem," Ian said with a grin. He paused for a moment. "Before we begin, I'm required to tell you we record these chats, both to ensure quality and for research purposes."

[Jeannie: He has a cute smile.]

Forgetting she was on camera, Amanda directed two thumbs up and grin at Jeannie's text message at the bottom of the laptop screen.

"So you're cool with that?" Ian asked.

Amanda's eyes snapped back towards the camera. "Yes! That's fine."

[Geri: Straighten up]

[Geri: Shoulders back]

[Geri: Look confident. Feel confident.]

Amanda followed Geri's instructions and fixed her posture. Her self-esteem needed a personal coach. Amanda was nervous on so many levels about this interview, she'd take any advice she could to suppress her negative self-talk and anxiety.

Ian glanced down at something before he asked, "It looks like you're having some sort of issue with the mature setting on one of your stories."

[Mona: Chest out!]

Without second guessing the instructions on her screen, Amanda pushed her boobs outwards towards the laptop's camera.

[Jeannie: Abort!]

[Geri: Down girl!]

Ian's eyes widened as he stumbled through his words. "Is that correct?"

[Mona: tit-trance]

[Geri: Exhale]

[Mona: Where did you get the magic bra?]

[Geri: In through the nose, out through the mouth. Exhale!]

[Jeannie: Bring the girls back]

[Jeannie: Little more...]

[Jeannie: Stop!]

[Jeannie: Lock those ladies down!]

Amanda felt the heat of humiliation rise from her solar plexus to the surface of her skin, sweat forming on her forehead. She quickly glanced at Ian's image on her laptop. I'm freaking him out, Amanda thought to herself. I'm making myself look stupid! I can't do this! I'm going to make a fool of myself--again! Out of desperation, she quickly typed a message to her friends.

[Amanda: A little tequila?]

[Amanda: just to calm myself down?]

[Geri: NO!!!!]

[Mona: Yes!]

[Jeannie: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO]

[Geri: M--get another oil change from T!]

[Mona: Thomas? Pfft! I like this video game]

[Mona: I want to make her score for me]

Amanda stared in the laptop's camera like a helpless puppy, scared to do anything in fear of tainting her image with Wattpad staff--even more. "I'm really nervous," she confessed on the verge of tears. "I'm sorry. I don't do video chat very often."

"Don't be sorry," Ian encouraged. "I don't typically do the interacting with the community side of support tickets. It's probably my fault. I probably should've done something to make you feel more comfortable. Sorry about that."

Ian's compassionate comment sent a wave of comfort and relief through Amanda, easing her fears.

"No," Amanda insisted. "I'm sorry. There's a lot going through my head right now. But I'm ready. What did you ask me?"

[Mona: Submissive border disease]

[Geri: ????]

[Mona: Seattle/Toronto]

[Mona: Can/US border. The closer people live to it, the more sorrys they vomit]

[Mona: Zero-fux where I'm from!]

Ian glanced down at whatever was on his desk. "An issue with mature settings. Is that correct?"

[Geri: Sorry you feel that way, M]

[Jeannie: Sorry, M]

[Mona: 0-Fux]

"Yes," Amanda confirmed. "I wrote an innocent story about a snake and a caterpillar. Nothing in it would be offensive to anyone. But for some reason, it's marked as mature. It won't let me change it back, either."

"I'm going to open another window on my computer to take a quick look at what you're talking about," Ian explained.

Amanda squirmed in the uncomfortable silence. She glanced down at the messages from her friends, but only found support for Mona's queasiness towards excessive apologies. Amanda took this as a sign her friends were impressed with her performance so far and trusted her to go with her gut and flirt--Amanda freestyle. "I like snakes and caterpillars."

[Jeannie: What just happened?]

[Geri: Where are you going with this, A?]

[Jeannie: G--what's happening? I'm scared.]

Ian smiled, his focus still on something else as the sound of the keys on his keyboard clicked. "Do you have a preference? Snakes or caterpillars?"

[Mona: vote snakes]

[Mona: It's code for big dicks!]

Just as Amanda was about to answer, Winnie jumped onto her keyboard and sniffed near the location of the laptop's camera. "Winnie," Amanda scolded, lifting the furball away from the camera. "Sorry!"

[Mona: If I took a tequila shot every time these two said sorry--]

[Mona: I'd be dead]

Amanda added, "I know what you're thinking."

"What am I thinking?"

"Crazy cat lady."

"No," Ian replied. "I don't do stereotypes. They're usually not very accurate."

[Jeannie: Daaawh. I like him.]

[Geri: I second that.]

[Geri: Initial approval here]

"Agree!" Amanda giggled as she placed her chin on her hand. "If they were--you'd have Star Wars figurines on your desk. Because everyone knows computer programmers have Star Wars collections."

"Is that a computer programmer stereotype?"

[Mona: Yes it is]

The next thing she knew, Amanda watched an arm appear on the screen with a Boba Fett figurine between its fingers. As the hand rocked from side to side, it looked like the action figure danced to the beat of a poorly played drum.

[Geri: What's happening?]

[Geri: Is that someone else's arm?]

Amanda caught a laugh in her palm, then pointed at the screen. "Oh, hey! It's like the little girl that interrupted her dad in the BBC interview. You just need the baby walker to come scootin' in."

[Jeannie: that's what I was thinking!]

[Jeannie:

[Jeannie:

Another hand appeared on the monitor holding an Oreo--apparently to represent the baby in a walker. Ian appeared horrified as he watched the puppet performance unfold.

[Mona: I hope that hand feeds computer man the cookie]

[Mona: That would be sexy]

[Geri: How many people are there right now?]

Ian grabbed both the figurine and the Oreo and threw them over his shoulder. He took a deep breath and returned his attention to the camera. "If management reviews this tape, clearly our professionalism will pass with flying colors."

[Mona: Well--sexiness crash landed]

[Mona: Amanda--JT it]

[Jeannie: What?]

[Geri: ????]

[Mona: bring sexy back]

[Mona: play with your necklace]

Amanda twirled her necklace with her forefinger, wrapping the chain around her limb. "Well--if they ask me, I'd give you five stars. How refreshing to call into a help center and be entertained instead of irritated." As Amanda pulled her hand away, she discovered her finger was tangled in the necklace chain. She yanked her hand repeatedly to free her finger, but it only made the chain tighter.

[Geri: Don't pull. You'll make it worse.]

"Don't pull," Ian instructed through the computer. "It looks like you're cutting off circulation to your finger."

[Geri: If you won't listen to me, listen to him.]

"Why won't it--," Amanda mumbled. Grasping the chained finger with her other hand, she tried to slide the knot off. "I think the more I pull the tighter it gets."

Amanda looked directly into the camera, mirroring Ian. At the exact same time, both Amanda and Ian exclaimed, "Chinese handcuffs!"

[Jeannie: Jinx!]

[Mona: handcuffs]

[Mona: it finally got interesting]

Taking a breath between an episode of laughter, Amanda and Ian simultaneously shouted, "Jinx!"

(to be continued in the next chapter, VIDEO CHAT (Amanda's Perspective, Part 2)...)