Alicekai'd 1.12: Personal

 

      Geoffrey leads me to his house and back to his back patio. That's probably a good idea: away from prying eyes. I explain to him why I'm upset, and he asks to see the videos.

     I want to die of embarrassment. "I was completely drunk." I hate this! I care about what Geoffrey thinks of me. I'd told him about what happened, but actually hearing it as it happened... That's different.

     "I see," he says when the damn thing gets too loud and I'd paused it. Then he clears his throat, rubs his hands on his shorts, and takes a deep breath.

     "I mean, it's not news to you, but now, EVERYONE knows. I'm a walking joke."

     "That's certainly not true." His voice sounds tight. That must've embarrassed him to hear that.

 

     "I'm sorry I played it for you. I just wanted you to know how bad it was."

     He pulls in and lets out a breath. "It's fine, but that does give me better insight into your problem."

     "Mark said he was going to try to have them taken down. Is that even possible?" If people really want to post stuff, they'll just keep posting it and posting it no matter how many times others try to take it down.

     "Yes, but it won't make a difference." He's right. People have probably downloaded it onto their phone. It'll never leave me alone.

     "What am I going to do, Geoffrey?"

 

     "At this point, there's not really much you CAN do. You just need to wait for it to blow over. People will get bored with it eventually and move on to the next ridiculous thing."

     I ponder something. "You can't get your work buddies to ban it or something?"

     He gives me a sad smile. "And doing that would surely make it ten times more appealing. It's... a strategy, actually. That's all I'll say." He clears his throat again. "Alice, if you would excuse me for a few minutes. I need to go do something."

     My shoulders droop. "Okay." I try not to pout too much as he walks back into the house.

     But when he leaves, I let the pouting take charge.

     This sucks. I go out with a soap star, get drunk, act foolish and idiotic, and public woohoo in a closet. I really acted like nothing bad would come of it.

     'The Britechester Hussy,' echoes in my mind. You know... he's right. I wipe away some tears, but more take their place.

     And where did Geoffrey go? He dashes off when I'm sitting here in a downward spiral. I feebly hope it's to contact his coworkers and have them work to eliminate the video from everywhere, just zap it out of people's minds so it's like they never saw it in the first place. If only.

     My stomach gurgles, and I decide to go inside. I remember the layout of this house, kind of, from the game. The kitchen is where it's supposed to be.

     I help myself to a bowl of applesauce, and a kid comes in and fixes himself a sandwich.

 

     "Hi," he says. "I'm Bruno. Who are you?" He chomps down on the ham and cheese.

     "My name is Alice."

     "Did Daddy adopt you too?"

     "No. I'm his friend."

     "Why are you sad?" Kids can be so direct.

     "Because people on the internet are mean."

     "People are mean, even in real life. Daddy says that's because they feel bad about themselves. Making fun of other people makes them feel better. Isn't that dumb?"

     I give a half-smile. "Yes. It really is."

     He nods and goes back to his sandwich.

     My phone beeps.

 

Hey sexy. Where you at? I've got something big and hard I wanna give you. 

     I have no idea who sent it. It's all I can do not to respond, demanding who they are.

     Then my phone beeps again. It's another lewd message. Then again. Again. All different numbers. Bruno looks up curiously. I turn off my phone.

     "I'll get your bowl," Bruno tells me, and he does before I can insist I do my own dishes.

 

     "Thank you." I wonder about him. Sim orphans just kind of appear out of the ether when you play the game. Does Bruno have memories? Are they fabricated? I'm so tired of this.

     He says he has homework to do then leaves to go upstairs. Geoffrey hasn't come back down, so I wander into the living room, grab a random book, and have a seat.

     Game books are so boring. No wonder my novel sold like mad. Tuh. Bad publicity will probably sell loads of my books. Well, not the children's book I wrote. The whole thing makes me sick. I'm an adult! So what if I woohoo? Stupid hypocrites.

     And where is Geoffrey? I slam my book closed and put it back on the shelf. Should I go look for him? That might be rude, but... Well, I need to talk to him.

     I go upstairs. "Geoff?"

     "In here," he replies to my left. I go into the room.

 

     "Sorry," he tells me, "I got wrapped up in this."

     "In blicblock?"

     His lips quirk. "No." He doesn't explain further.

     "Okay?" Oh. He must've closed, or minimized, what he was really doing before I opened the door.

     He puts the computer to sleep and gets up. "Exactly." He walks over to me then ushers me out of the room. "Let's go downstairs."

     "I'm sorry. I didn't want to intrude, I just..." Yeah. I can't explain myself.

     He smiles. "It's okay."

     We go have a seat on the sofa in the living room.

     I smirk. "So you're not going to tell me what you were really doing?"

     "I don't know what you mean. I was playing a video game." He grins.

     "Fine. I'll drop it." I sigh and think of something more serious. "I'm going to have to change my phone number."

     "It got leaked," he states instead of asks.

     "Yes." I take a breath. "That means anything could be out there, including my address."

 

     "In that case, don't go back to the dorms." He doesn't like that my info is out there. He's clenching and un-clenching his fists.

     "Then where do I go?" I ask then realize the answer before he says it.

     He shrugs. "Stay here."

     "Geoffrey..."

     "Seriously. Do. Malcolm's moved out. It's just me and Bruno in this big house." He watches me. "I have state-of-the-art security here, Alice."

     "But my things..."

     "What do you need?"

     "My clothes. My laptop. Um..." Is that really it?

     "Clothes we can get, buy some new ones. The laptop, however, well, if you want, we can get police escort for you in the building."

     "I don't think anything will happen to me. I'll just go get the stuff."

     He tenses. "Please don't." To my look, he replies, "We don't know that."
 

     He continues, "Alice, your personal information out there like that is a step too far. Going viral in a bad way is one thing, but someone putting that stuff out there shows malicious intent." He pauses. "Let us handle this."

     "Us?"

     "My accounting firm, of course."

     I give him a sideways look. "That's too much trouble. And a misuse of... something or other."

     "So what," he replies and smiles.

     He wants to get a government agency to help me move out of the dorms, for my safety. That means I'll owe them. Everything has a price.