TweetyGram

21 - #TheRulesOfTweetyGram

About ten minutes later, we stopped at a nearby park and took a seat at one of the picnic tables.

It was quiet and peaceful here. A few couples took a stroll by the lake while a few pet parents walked their dogs down the winding paths. The sun peeked through the tall trees as the sky began to darken into a beautiful pink-and-purple hue.

The view was breathtaking. It almost made me forget what we came here for.

As Jake took the paper bag out of his backpack, I cocked my head forward and drummed my fingers against the table.

"Here you go." He put a green-and-white burger box in front of me.

And then it clicked. Could it be?

Excitement rushed through me as I opened the box to see if I was right—and I was.

The box held a bubblegum-blue-and-pink burger with gooey marshmallow crème and caramel sauce oozing from between the thick fruit patties.

"Greedy's Sweety Fruity Burger! Thanks!" I picked the burger up and sank my teeth into it, expecting a delicious symphony of flavor that would send me straight to heaven.

But it did the exact opposite.

There was nothing sweet about the so-called Sweety Fruity Burger. The colorful buns were dense, the fruit patties were bitter, the marshmallow was bland, and the caramel sauce was burned.

"Something wrong?" Jake asked, munching his French fries.

"No, no." I shook my head and flashed a tight-lipped smile. "All's good."

The expensive burger tasted awful. But Jake had been kind enough to buy it for me, so I forced myself to eat it. I can't believe people actually pay fifteen bucks for this. Lovejoy's burgers taste a million times better than this weird—

"Come on," he insisted as I nibbled the burger. "Spill it out. What's wrong?"

I wanted to voice my thoughts, but I didn't want him to think I was being ungrateful. "Nothing."

More like everything. How the heck did this become viral on TweetyGram? Sure, it looks so good in pictures, but this has got to be the worst burger I've ever eaten! Greedy's owner must've made a deal with the devil because no person in their right mind would want to buy this—

"Oh, come on, Linds. You look like you're being forced to eat shit."

I almost choked on the burger, coughing and spluttering. Oops. I guess I need to hone my acting skills, huh?

Letting out a chuckle, he offered me a paper napkin and a can of orange soda.

I chugged down the soda and wiped my mouth with the napkin. "Alright, fine. I know you went through all that trouble to get this burger for me, and I really, really appreciate it. It's just. . . this isn't as delicious as it looks."

"I know."

I frowned. "You knew?"

"Most TweetyGrammable food doesn't taste good. Some even give you a stomach ache. Of course, there are always exceptions. Like Dessertholic's products." As I tried to process the new information, he added, "The first rule of TweetyGram? All that glitters is not gold. The second rule of TweetyGram? TweetyGram isn't reality."

Jake's words prompted me to wonder if the rules didn't just apply to food. What if the perfect TweetyGrammable life that Charity and Harriet portrayed on TweetyGram was nothing like it seemed? What if it was just smoke and mirrors, like Greedy's Sweety Fruity Burger?

As I pondered the questions, another popped into my mind.

"Then why did you buy me this crap?" I pointed at the half-eaten burger in the box.