Follow Me Back (complete first draft of the published book)

Chapter 4: Weather Patterns

Chapter 4: Weather Patterns

Eric shifted his weight against the cold hard surface of the toilet seat, eyeing the unsent tweet on his phone:

Attention fans. You don't love me. You don't even know me. I'll never, ever love you back. So put down the phone, go outside, and get a life

Just make believe, that tweet. Pure fantasy. What was he even thinking, writing out those words? He knew exactly what would happen if his finger slipped and hit the Tweet button. His manager's voice, telling him to do the follow spree, still rang in his ears:

"If you don't do it, the label's going to take your twitter account away from you and let some publicist over there run it. Then you won't have any control at all."

Who knew what kind of idiotic crap they might decide to tweet if that happened. He shuddered, just thinking of it. He couldn't let that happen. It was bad enough that the publicists scripted all his interviews, but at least he got the final say over what words actually, physically passed through his lips. With twitter, whoever had access to the Tweet button held the puppet strings. They could put any words they wanted in his mouth, and 14 million followers would have no idea it hadn't really come from him.

He couldn't risk it. He couldn't risk alienating the fans either, for that matter. He only needed one nutcase out there to flip out and come after him with a butcher knife. How many of them were hovering on the brink, just waiting to be pushed over the edge?

A shiver ran down the length of his spine at the thought. He tilted back his head and ran his hand up and down the length of his throat, rough with stubble. Had Dorian seen it coming, Eric wondered. Or had that girl surprised him from behind?

No, he could never tell his followers what he really thought of them. Way too dangerous. In fact, he should probably tweet the exact opposite right now, just to be on the safe side - something to soothe the raging disappointment for all the ones he'd just passed over.

He hastily tapped out a new message and hit tweet.

***

Tessa's finger hovered over the Tweet button, re-reading her unsent reply:

@EricThorn FOLLOW ME! I LOVE YOU! I'm so upset I missed this! Grrrr :(

She was just about to send it when another notification flashed onto her screen:

New tweet from Eric Thorn (@EricThorn)

Follow spree complete. Don't be upset if I missed you. I love each and every one of you more than you could ever know.

She couldn't help but sigh as she read the words, soothing her disappointment like a. . . Like a healing balm on a nasty burn after falling asleep in the sun. . . .

Tessa chuckled softly to herself. She really was obsessed with him, wasn't she? Sometimes it seemed like every thought that passed through her head had something to do with Eric Thorn. That whole metaphor came from his latest single, of course. He'd called it Aloe Vera.

Come on and soothe this sunburn.

Baby take away my pain.

The light, it lured me under

On a perfect sunny day.

Supposedly, he'd written it while vacationing in Cozumel at some fabulous beach resort. And then he'd made the same self-deprecating joke about it, over and over and over, on all the late night talkshow interviews afterward.

"Yes, Jimmy. I wrote a love song to my skincare regimen. I'm working on another one about my aftershave now. Not that I'm obsessed with my looks or anything. . . ."