Love, Comment, Subscribe by Cathy Yardley

CHAPTER 30

Lily spent the next few days at Tobin’s place. In Tobin’s bed, if she was being scrupulously honest. They still hadn’t progressed past dry humping, like they were teenagers, but it had gotten more intense with each passing day.

She knew that “taking it slow” probably had fallen by the wayside, and she wasn’t quite sure what was holding her back.

You just want to be sure.

During the day, they hung out. She filmed a makeup video on his setup, basically showing how to do makeup when you’re not at your own place and you only have a few days’ worth of clothes, and styled a “boyfriend” look out of his clothes. The resulting heat in his gaze made her actually shiver, which was ridiculous, but this was apparently her life now.

It wasn’t all sexual tension and clothed orgasms, though. They watched movies. Ate meals. Joked around. They’d spent some time apart, too—she’d gone out to lunch with Emily when he needed to do some kind of Twitch livestream, playing a video game. She’d spent time at Juanita’s coffee shop, which really did have phenomenal coffee. She’d even gone with him to spend time with the Nerd Herd again, buying a new bikini and hanging out in Hayden’s pool while Tobin splashed around . . . and, again, shot her some seriously heated looks.

Just being sure, she reminded herself. She knew she cared about him, that she liked him.

But did that mean they were ready for a relationship? There was a lot they’d need to decide, and she wanted to plan.

But how did you do that with a guy who seemed to just go with the flow? Could a relationship between the two of them work like that? They were going to head up to LA the next day, to get back to her place and film the final video in the series. She could see them cross-collaborating more in the future. She was close to the six-million-subscriber mark, and she knew she had Tobin’s help to thank for it. Their banter and interplay just somehow worked. She felt looser and funnier when she was on camera with him. He made things easier, and she felt more comfortable. She kind of wished they could still film together when the series was over.

Would he be open to that? She didn’t see why he wouldn’t be. It could only help both their careers, she thought. Who wouldn’t want that?

Her phone buzzed with a new text. She glanced at it, seeing it was Mikki. She opened it. It was a YouTube link, along with a note saying You need to watch this as well as a time stamp to look out for. Puzzled, she opened it.

It opened to a channel she didn’t check out often, called Dirt Tea. It was a gossip channel, one that usually focused on the drama that seemed to perennially pop up around the beauty community. You couldn’t have huge and often controversial personalities and not expect just a bit of drama.

She clicked to the section of the video that Mikki had mentioned, and the narrator’s voice cut in over a picture of her own face. Lily gaped.

What the hell?

“Lily Wang, also known as EverLily, has been around the beauty community for about eight years, only coming to prominence recently,” the narrator said. “Very recently, she started teaming up with the popular gamer Tobin Bui, a.k.a. GoofyBui.”

The video’s background shifted, showing her chasing him around and then whacking him with a pillow.

“They claim to have been friends for years, although this is unconfirmed,” the narrator said with a note of suspicion in her voice. “And their early enmity seems to have shifted from manufactured tension of one kind to tension of a completely different kind.”

Lily felt her stomach knot.

“Hey, Lils, what’s . . . ,” Tobin said, walking into the living room where she was sitting. She held up a hand, unable to look at him. She could sense him looking over her shoulder.

“According to a fellow beauty YouTuber, despite attending the same high school, Lily doesn’t really know Tobin and hasn’t been in contact with him for years. She’s just sleeping with him, and using him, in order to boost her own numbers. And according to anyone tracking her subscribers on Social Blade, it appears to be working.”

Lily let out a squeak of protest. “What the hell?” She glanced over her shoulder at Tobin, feeling completely at a loss, and saw him looking similarly gobsmacked. “I’m . . . what?”

“While Lily has not been particularly high profile, her reputation has been one of cultured, above-the-fray niceness,” the narrator continued implacably. “She hasn’t gotten into feuds with other YouTubers, and her content, while not necessarily original, has created a devoted following. How well will they take the news that she might be selling out . . . and sleeping around to get what she wants?”

“Are you kidding me?”Lily shrieked. “I can’t believe . . . who the . . . what is this shit?”

She looked over at Tobin. She wanted to punch someone. She wanted to puke. She wasn’t sure what to do.

Tobin, on the other hand, was grinning. “Aw, you tramp.”

She was in no mood for mocking. “You like the idea that I’m just having sex with you to build my business?” she said, her voice icy.

He held up his hands. “I’m laughing,” he corrected, looking in her eyes and ensuring that she understood his intent, “because that is so the opposite of who you are it’s ludicrous. Whoever gave that sound bite, anonymously, is not only full of shit; they don’t know you at all.”

She harrumphed. “Yeah, well, that’s not going to help me. You know how much viewership these gossip channels get. Look at Karmageddon 2.0. It was a nightmare. Channels bled subscribers and got demonetized and everything!”

Tobin walked around, then sat next to her on his love seat. The small sofa meant that he was pressed up against her side, and he put an arm around her shoulders, comforting her with a side squeeze. “You’re not going to lose subscribers,” he reassured her. “You’re going to be fine, okay? I promise.”

“What in the world makes you think that?” she countered, feeling panic hovering around the edges of her consciousness. “How can you be so confident?”

“Because there are always going to be shit stirrers,” he said. “And you have literally done nothing wrong.”

Her brain was in hyperdrive, and she got up, pacing. “We could post photos from our yearbook,” she said. “Or . . . ooh! The Nerd Herd photos. Stuff that shows we used to hang out! They’ll know I’m not just using you!”

“We could do that,” he said. “Probably want to ask the Herd if that’s okay, all things considered, though.”

She felt a slash of shame that she’d been so intent on clearing her name that she hadn’t thought of that first. “Of course—I wouldn’t want to use their photos if they’re not okay with it,” she said quickly. “But you know what I mean. Show them that I didn’t sleep with you to get you to help me, or boost my subscribers!”

He chuckled, and she glared at him.

“Sorry. It’s just ironic, since we haven’t slept together.”

“Yet,” she corrected absently. “But by tonight, that won’t even be true, so it doesn’t matter. I’m just worried that . . . eep!”

She was silenced when he got to his feet and swept her into a long, deep kiss.

“Tonight?” he finally asked, resting his forehead against hers.

“Did I say that?” She could barely keep a thought in her head.

“Lily, it doesn’t matter. That gossip channel doesn’t know a damned thing. People will believe what they want. And if it’s any comfort,” he added, “you’re obviously doing well. You’re threatening someone, if they decided to pull this crap on you.”

She sighed, biting the tip of her thumb. It was the only thing that prevented her from chewing her nails, a bad habit she hadn’t indulged in for years. “I guess you’re right.”

“Do you have any idea who it might be?”

She frowned. There was really only one YouTuber who had crossed her path lately who had a reputation for trying to salt her competitors with gossip. One who had specifically wanted to work with Tobin.

“Daisy Blackwell,” she said, feeling despondent. “If she has it in for me, then lots of people are going to think I’m using you. She’ll keep going unless we can prove otherwise.”

Tobin kissed her temple. “Don’t worry. We’ll . . .” Suddenly, she felt him stiffen . . . not in the fun way, though. More like he was startled. “I got it. I got it! I have the perfect idea for our last video!”

She blinked. That . . . was a curveball. “You do?”

“Yes. It’s not completely original—Superwoman did something similar—but I’ll bet we can pull it off and give a giant FU to Dirt Tea and Daisy, and whoever else wants to start shit with you,” he said, sounding excited. Like, Christmas-morning excited. “Good thing that new bikini you bought for Hayden’s pool party is strapless.”

“My bathing suit?” she repeated. “Tobin . . . what do you have in mind?”

“Just wait for it,” he said, his eyes gleaming. “This is gonna be epic.”