Page 114 of Unexpected Shot
“Right?” I exclaim. “Also, how am I supposed to know what I want to eat Thursday when I’m making dinner on Sunday.”
“Exactly. I want to meet the person who can eat the same thing five nights in a row.”
“Same, because I have a lot of questions for them.”
The two of us pause in our joint rant and share a smile. One that hits me in a way I was not prepared for. It’s… I can’t name it, but it feels…nice. Comforting. I’ve known for a long time that Beau and I have a lot in common—the top two things being our competitiveness and our stubbornness. But having the exact same opinion on leftovers and cooking? I don’t know, it just feels…normal. Friendly. Like we bonded in a way.
Before my brain can try to send me down a rabbit hole of why I like that feeling so much, I hear my cell phone start to vibrate on the kitchen counter.
“Who is it?” Beau asks.
I wipe my hands and look down to see Kat’s name flashing on the screen. “Hey, Kat. What’s up?”
“Hi, Shelby. Is Beau there?”
“Yeah,” I say, wondering what happened that she needs to talk to us both about. Are we in trouble? “He’s right here.”
“Great. Can you put him on speakerphone? I want to talk to both of you.”
I take the phone off my ear and muffle it before I set it down. “She wants to talk to both of us. What did you do?”
“What did I do?” he whisper-shouts back. “I didn’t do anything!”
“Well, one of us did something. Why else would our newly appointed PR person be calling us on a Monday?”
“You know I can hear you two,” Kat calls out. Embarrassed, I set the phone down and flip it to speaker. “But, don’t worry, you did nothing bad. In fact, you did the exact opposite.”
Beau and I each take seats at the kitchen island, the phone between us as Kat begins speaking.
“Beau, do you know what your live stream numbers were before Shelby came and crashed the video?”
My eyes go wide. I don’t know why I didn’t think about the video incident from earlier today.
“Um…a few thousand? I think it was averaging around five-k each time I checked.”
“Correct. And do you want to know how many people have now watched the clip of the video someone posted minutes after Shelby sank that putt?”
Oh my God. What have I done…
“Since neither of you are going to take a guess, I’ll tell you. The number is two point five million…and counting.”
My eyes nearly jump out of my head. “Two and a half million? That can’t be right. That was barely two hours ago.”
“The number's actually closer to three if you add in every social media channel. And probably gaining on ten now that other random accounts are posting it. But yes, the original video a fan posted seconds after you did it? Viral is an understatement, Shelby.”
I let my head fall to the island, smacking it against the granite as I curse myself for doing what I did. I was just annoyed. I had no desire to be on his channel. In fact, I insisted when this started that I was going to stay far away from it. And here I am, going viral—again—for something I had no intention of doing.
“Kat, I doubt you’re calling just to give us the numbers. I’m guessing there’s something else you want us to do now?”
“You’re a smart one, Beau, has anyone ever told you that?”
“Literally no one,” I groan out, making both Kat and Beau laugh.
“Sorry, Shelby, but Beau’s right. Numbers like this tell us one thing—you being on the channel with him is great for both of you. And it’s something you should do again.”
“No,” I say immediately. “I refuse to be on a bro golf channel.”
“But it wouldn’t be like that,” Kat says. “It’ll be the two of you. Plus, you’ve been hibernating for a week. I wanted to let you two have a chance to settle in, but sports gossip blogs are going to start asking questions soon if you aren’t seen out together in public. Let’s kill two birds with one stone.”
