Rio uploaded his honest, confessional video to Onlyfans on Saturday night before joining Jay in bed. He checked that the upload was successful, then quietly shut his laptop down.
"Well, it's done," he said, slipping under the bed covers. "It's posted."
Jay knew what he meant.
"It's out there now. Out in the world of zeroes and ones." Rio paused, contemplating what he'd just done. It was life-changing in every sense of the word, and potentially career-destroying, too. He felt like a reptile shedding old skin. He listened to the sirens in the distance; they never went away. There was too much crime and too many emergencies, but not enough people to respond. "Like, even if I changed my mind right now and deleted my post, someone would've already seen it. Someone, somewhere, has already watched my post and knows what I said. Maybe someone has even downloaded a copy. And if logged back on and deleted it now, I'd look like a fuckin' coward."
Jay rolled over. "I don't think you're a coward," he said, placing a reassuring hand on Rio's chest. "Actually, I think you're extremely fucking brave. I mean, you're asking people to view you differently to how they've viewed you in the past, which is hard enough for anyone in your position. But in your case, it's also tied up with your career, and I know how hard you've worked recently to resurrect it." He felt Rio's chest rise and fall underneath the weight of his hand.
"Yeah," Rio agreed. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see how people react tomorrow. I'm tryin' hard not to think about it anymore tonight." He spooned Jay from behind.
"I love you, Rio, whatever happens."
"I love you too."
"I'll get you a job at the library if I need to."
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that."
Jay reminisced. "Hey, you remember the time you came in to join the library and you asked me, very fucking loudly I might add, where the hardcore porn section was?"
Rio laughed. "Yeah, bruh, I do. That was funny. I'm just glad I didn't kill that old lady."
"She was deaf as a fucking post. I heard she made a recovery, but she didn't hear any of your complaint that the library didn't store porn mags on its shelves. She passed out because she came across a racy paragraph in the Barbara Cartland novel she was reading."
"Fuck around and find out," said Rio. "That Cartland skank had a dirty fuckin' mind."
Jay laughed hard. He went to sleep with a gigantic grin on his face.
*
Jay woke alone on Sunday morning -- the other side of the bed was vacant.
Rio was already up; he woke with the sun. He poured himself a coffee and logged on, steeling himself for the worst of all possible worlds. He began scrolling through the comments to last night's post. While there were a few nasty and ignorant comments, most of the feedback from his followers was either neutral or positive. A few people offered praise for the guts he showed in owning his truth, even though he feared for his career in doing so.
Jay padded out to the living room where Rio was sitting with his laptop. "How did it go?"
Rio peered at Jay over the top of his reading glasses. "I'm feeling very relieved, bro."
Jay sat next to him and gave him a big hug. "I mean, I've got a few less followers this morning than I had last night," Rio continued, "but most of the comments are good."
So some people had unsubscribed. "Show me?" Jay asked. Rio turned the laptop screen in Jay's direction.
Jay began scrolling down through Rio's feed. Some of the negative comments were downright nasty and offensive, but Jay felt way more upset about them than Rio did. He kept his thoughts quiet. This morning was about Rio, and not himself.
Rio pointed at the screen. "Look at this comment, Jay. That's a word I never thought I'd ever be called."
Jay knew the pain that six-letter word beginning with the letter F could bring. He'd been on the receiving end of it a few times himself. "I know."
"You know what? Fuck 'em," Rio decided. "If people like that have unfollowed me because of what I said, I'm glad they've gone. I don't want people like that as my fans."
He quietly closed his laptop and made breakfast for Jay and himself. Poached eggs on rye toast, with wilted spinach, hash browns and an abundance of coffee.
They thought no more of it until Rio's cellphone rang in the middle of the afternoon. He was sitting outside, enjoying a cup of herbal tea, but not doing anything in particular. He picked up his vibrating handset, but he didn't recognise the caller's number.
"Hey, Jay," he hollered, "what does it mean when you get a call from a number with a plus sign in front of it?"
Rather than shouting back, Jay stepped outside to join Rio. "It means it's an international call. Someone's calling you from overseas."
Rio's phone stopped vibrating -- the caller had given up.
"Who the fuck could be calling me from overseas? I don't even think I know anyone from out of the country."
Jay shrugged his shoulders. "Don't ask me."
"Must be a wrong number," Rio concluded. "Someone's doin' an international buttdial. They're gonna get a surprise when their next bill arrives."
A few seconds later, Rio's phone sprang to life again, buzzing loudly. He looked at the screen. "I think it's the same number, Jay. There's a plus sign on my screen, followed by 61. So if the plus sign means international, what does 61 mean?"
"Wait a second." Jay unlocked his own phone and googled international dialling codes. "So, 61 is the international dialling code for Australia. Someone's calling you from down under."
Rio looked perplexed. "Who the fuck do I know from Australia?"
His phone rang again. Same number. This time, out of sheer curiosity, he answered. The line wasn't very clear, but he heard a distant female voice.
"Uhh ... yeah ... g'day. Am I speaking with Rio?"
"Yeah, I'm Rio. What can I do for you?"
"My name's Sandy. I'm calling from Australia. I'm a journalist from the Sydney Evening Garbage. I believe we've met before. In Fiji. You might remember me."
Rio put his handset on mute for a second. "Fuck. Jay, it's that fuckin' Australian whore with those terrible plastic titties who hounded us on vacation. Remember?" Jay nodded, and Rio returned his attention to the call. "Yeah, I remember you. But how'd you get my fuckin' number, bitch? My digits are private."
