Of everything that could have kept me up last night, the one thing I couldn’t stop thinking about was the server recognizing me. If she would have said she found me on Social Bunny, that would make more sense. But SimTube? I uploaded one video. How did anyone even know it existed? It wasn’t that great, and I probably didn’t even tag it appropriately. I was so curious about it; I got out of bed and went to the computer to find out what was going on. First, I checked my Social Bunny follower count. I had a few more, but nothing to note. Next, I checked the views on the video and WOW. I wouldn’t say it went viral, but the world had definitely found it. Some folks even left comments, though they were mostly women trying to slide into my DMs. Just for fun, I checked my bank balance. Would you believe I was §843 richer? From one video?? If I kept this up, we could make some real money moves!
I couldn’t stop checking the video views and glanced at it off and on all day, watching the number get bigger and bigger and reading the thirsty messages. I was still watching when I went outside to get the mail later and found Sophia standing on the sidewalk, watching the puppies. She looked bothered, and I feared she was still stuck on our conversation from last night despite saying everything was fine.
“What are you doing out here?” I asked.
“Making sure they don’t rip each other’s heads off.”
“Yeah… They’ve been playing non-stop all day. I don’t know how they still have the energy… Are you okay?”
She sighed.
“Not really.”
“What’s wrong? You’re not still thinking about last night, are you?”
“No, Luca! I told you it’s fine. Those voices I try to ignore are back, but it’s fine. I’m just tired…and frustrated, and I just want to jump into the shower and-“
“Say less.”
Later, I suggested we go out for dinner again. Sophia’s only caveat was that we went somewhere casual, so we went back to the restaurant from last night to stay close to home. We placed our orders, and before we got down to brass tax, I gave her a heads up that I’d invite Mama over the next day to meet the dogs. Next, I started uncovering what went on with Sophia.
“So, what’s happening at work?”
“I wish I knew. We’re still short staffed, and it doesn’t look like they’re even trying to hire anyone. I feel like they don’t care what they’re putting us through. And they don’t even pay us well! Even though I don’t deal with patients directly, apart from bringing them meals, I love knowing I’m helping someone. But I’m beginning to feel like it’s not worth the effort.”
That hurt my heart. She got up so early and worked herself to exhaustion only to get abused every day.
“Have you thought about quitting?”
She snorted.
“I think about quitting every day, Luca,” she said sarcastically.
“I’m serious though.”
She let out an exasperated sigh.
“Yeah, but…I can’t do that to you.”
“Do what?”
“Put that burden all on you!”
“Don’t worry about that. The rent is super cheap, and I’ve still got most of my mom’s money. We’ll be perfectly fine for a while.”
“But, Luca,” she whined. “That money is supposed to be for your studio. I don’t want to delay your dream and eat into your savings because I couldn’t hack it at work.”
I wanted to get technical and tell her I never said I allocated the money for the studio, and it wasn’t exactly my dream, but that was beside the point. It was my money, and I could do what I wanted with it. And currently, what I wanted was to support my partner.
“But you’re miserable. I don’t enjoy seeing you like this. I want you to be happy. And if taking a break and finding something else is the way to do it, the studio can wait. Besides, I think I stumbled upon another stream of revenue.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. Remember the server last night said she recognized me from SimTube? I thought it was strange because I’ve only done one video. But I checked, and it has thousands of views already! And I made §843 from it! Just think, if I kept this up, we’ll be set! You won’t have to work at all if you don’t want to.”
“Yeah, if we stay in Oasis Springs. But what if we get a bigger house in San Sequoia like you want? It’s hard to say everything will be fine when we know change is coming.”
She was right, and I was glad at least one of us was grounded enough to ask the hard questions. My confidence caused me to not worry about that kind of stuff and just go out and do it. Sophia would make sure I act with caution in the future, but I’ll always go after what I want.
“But still! That was a pretty crappy video. Once I get better, the checks will be bigger on top of everything I’m getting from classes. I’m telling you, Sophia, we’re gonna be okay. I have the whole rest of my life to open a yoga studio. You and your needs are my priority right now. Forget about the studio for now.”
“I’ll think about it.”
