We're Not Related Anymore...

Social Media Stalking and Surprise Calls

Maddie: Present day

Life really is short. I'm still thinking about my dad's letter the next afternoon as I get my stuff ready for my late shift at the restaurant.

He wanted a relationship with me. The thought is both comforting and excruciating. On the one hand, I can go to sleep knowing my dad didn't die hating me. But he will never know I received his letter.

After I read the letter over ten times last night, I straightened it out and slid it into an old scrapbook I've had since I was a kid.

I go through it now in the light of day, looking fondly at the photos I have in there. There are several pictures of our family at the zoo. In one picture, I look near tears because of something my dad is telling me. Even though the picture was taken almost sixteen years ago, I still remember what he'd been telling me. You can't feed the monkeys peanuts, Madeline. Look, there's a sign that says just as much.

Shelia pauses on her way to the lounge to look at what I'm paging through. "Is that you?" she asks when she sees the picture. She doesn't wait for a response and bends down to get a closer view. "You were so cute. What happened?"

"You're so funny," I tell her in a mocking voice. I close the book and push it to the center of the dining room table. I pick up my phone, checking for messages. There's still no response from Jacob. I frown, thinking the words that have been in my mind since last night again and again.

Life's too short. It's too short to run away from problems and it's too late to hold onto grudges. I go out of my messaging app and find my recently downloaded Instagram icon. I click on it and tap on the search bar.

Jacob's Instagram page pops up and I click on it. I scroll through it, looking at all the pictures he's posted since I deleted my account three years ago.

There are pictures of him at bars, parks, and campus buildings. He's in group photos and in pictures with other girls. I stalk the girls I see he's posted. Most of them look like they're in relationships with other guys and that makes me feel more at ease. One of the girls, a tall brunette, however, seems to be single. I quickly click out of her page and go back to his profile, feeling my eyebrows scrunch together as I do.

"What are you looking at?" Lindsay asks, bounding into the room. She doesn't have a shift today and is rubbing it in both my and Shelia's faces. Lindsay comes behind me and snatches my phone right out of my hands. "Ooo, look who took my advice and is reaching out to her stepbrother," Lindsay says and starts scrolling through his posts. "I know you'd taken my words to heart when you didn't send me the link after I asked you to."

"What the hell is she talking about?" Shelia asks me, already dressed in the button-down black shirt and jeans that she wears for work.

"Did you know Maddie's stepbrother was super hot?" Lindsay asks before I can answer Shelia's question. She takes the phone over to our older roommate who peers at my screen with rapidly growing interest.

"So?" Shelia asks. She takes the phone from Lindsay and starts zooming in on something. "Are those real?"

"Ok, that's enough," I say standing up and leaning over the dining room table to snatch my phone back from the two of them. "It's wrong to objectify people you know." But I sneak a look at the picture they were observing and almost choke on my words.

The picture they've been zooming in on is one of Jacob standing shirtless by a bonfire. The flames cast a light on his abs that make them stand out even more. And even the arm that's holding a red beer cup is tensed deliciously. My conversational pause to check him out does not go unnoticed.