Every couple of months, Zach’s mother would have a huge sale to try to move some inventory, and it was about that time again. So the shop was a little busier than usual. Zach had both Irene and Jack scheduled that day, and it was Jack’s shift now. They’d sold a lot of charm bracelets so far that day. A lot of charm bracelets.
It was necessary. The shop wasn’t doing well. It had always struggled, but things were even worse now. While they owned the building outright, the overhead on it was the highest it had ever been, and profits were at their lowest.
He didn’t expect to see any familiar faces today — jewelry stores didn’t have many regulars — so he did a double take when he saw Camila’s friends, Era and Ivy, walk through the door.
“Hi,” Era said, stepping right to him.
“Hey! Were you just in the neighborhood, or —”
“Oh, you know. Seth and I haven’t bought our wedding bands so I thought I’d browse.”
Ivy leaned up against the glass and whispered, “We’re just here to scope you out since you’re dating our friend.” She leaned back, and at her normal volume said, “Also, do you make any smartwatch bands? I’m bored with mine.”
Zach tried to ignore the middle of the three statements because it made his head swim. Were they dating? Or were they friends with benefits? What had Camila said about him? “Are you looking for white or yellow gold, or a different material?” he said to Era. Turning to Ivy, he added, “And yeah, we have a few watch bands in stock for the major brands, but you can also order something custom.”
The two women exchanged a look. “White gold, but I’m open to other options,” Era said.
“I’m thinking gold links with some kind of gemstone,” Ivy said. “Still sporty, though. But formal sporty.”
“You never know when you have to break into a run in a ballgown and zipline between skyscrapers,” Zach said.
“Hey! You’ve been watching my movies. I’m so flattered.”
Zach spent a few minutes helping them and answering the subtle questions meant to feel him out. There were a few blunt ones thrown in, like when Era tried on a band her engagement ring could slide into and asked him if he had ever been married. Ivy managed to ask him his thoughts on various types of pets (he was a dog person), what TV shows he watched (mostly comedies, especially if Taika Waititi was involved), and who he had voted for in the most recent presidential election (he answered this one right, too).
Once they were satisfied with their interrogation and Ivy placed a deposit for a rose gold watch band, the pair left. Zach thought of texting Camila about the encounter, but that could be part of the test.
“What was that all about?” Jack asked.
“Oh. The girl I’ve been talking to? Those are her best friends.”
“She’s got hot friends. The one who wasn’t shopping for a wedding band — she single?”
Zach shrugged. “I don’t know, man. But regardless, she’s gay.”
“Well, damn. So what’s your girl look like?”
Trying to ignore the tingles he got from thinking of Camila as “his girl,” he scrolled through his photos and showed Jack the one of her singing. “Her name is Camila,” he said. “We met at the booth during the arts festival.”
“Picking up dates at work, boss?” Jack asked.
Zach smirked. “You should talk. You flirt with my customers all the time.”
“Yeah, it’s called being an excellent salesman. Charisma converts.”
Rolling his eyes, Zach went to Camila’s TikTok. She had way more videos than he was expecting, but what caught him off guard was the video pinned to the top of her profile. It was one he’d taken, on the rage room date, and it had — he double checked — more than a million views.
He was too curious not to click, even if Jack was watching it over his shoulder. His heart fluttered remembering that day, seeing how cute she looked in her jumpsuit and goggles, how giddy she’d looked as she reduced their loot to rubble.
Camila had set the video to a dramatic classical music piece. The text at the top read “What not to say to someone struggling with their mental health.” As they smashed objects in slow motion, text appeared over each item right before impact, showing what to avoid saying and why such a comment is harmful. In just a minute, Camila managed to give information that was useful and compassionate, while being cute and funny and irreverent.
In one frame, Zach was whaling on a printer under the text “Time heals all wounds.” That was one he’d heard a lot since his mom died, and each time, it made him want to react as he was in the video.
“Damn, Zach. She’s hot and she would probably step on you if you asked nice. The dream.”
“Shut up,” Zach said, but filed away the idea for later examination. He scrolled through the hundreds of comments, many of them sharing personal stories or asking questions about mental health or finding a good therapist. Zach sent the video to Camila.
Zach
Camila
Zach
Camila
Zach
Camila
Zach
Camila
* * *
Talking to Zach about her surprise viral video gave Camila the incentive she needed. She opened her notes app and lost track of time typing out ideas. When she paused, she’d been scripting for an hour and had two videos mapped out plus ideas for a dozen more, including a recurring series called “Relationship Advice from a Divorced Therapist.”
At the bottom of the list, she’d written, “BPD series?” It was the one item with a question mark. Where would she even begin? How personal was she willing to get on the Internet, on a page that had her full name and credentials? Would talking about BPD in this format even be helpful to people?
Camila propped her phone on the ring light tripod she used for telehealth sessions and opened TikTok. She adjusted the ring light’s intensity and added a filter to smooth out her features, giving her face the promised Gentle Glow. The first video was a part two to the viral clip — Zach’s idea of what would be better things to say to someone struggling with their mental health. She knew she was smiling this big because she was still riding the high of him watching her. Knowing he’d watched her video, thought about her words, engaged with the comments, was far more satisfying than a flirty comment on a thirst trap would have been. She wasn’t doing anything provocative, but this still felt like a thirst trap, a performance meant to ensnare an audience of one. Talking to thousands of people was terrifying. Talking to just Zach? That was exhilarating.
After editing and captioning part two, Camila published it and started on part three. She wanted to highlight what a mental health emergency looks like and how to respond, then provide resources in the comments including information on mental health first aid certification.
The last video she recorded before running out of steam was the intro to the relationship advice series.
“I’m a therapist with BPD, and here’s something my therapist told me that helped me break out of toxic relationship patterns,” she said, feeling a little queasy disclosing her diagnosis. “Psst … resources for finding a therapist are in my bio, because social media can’t diagnose you and there’s no substitute for a therapist who knows your real situation.
“After I had spiraled over my shitty relationships for session after session, my therapist asked me, ‘What about this works for you?’ And it blew my head wide open. Because when I thought about it, as someone with abandonment issues, it made me feel amazing to be my absolute worst self with a partner, and have them be equally awful to me, and they still wouldn’t leave me. It was my subconscious way of testing a partner to see if they’d abandon me, and proving to myself that I was worthy of sticking around for. Once I recognized the need I was meeting with that pattern, I was able to start breaking it. So if you have a negative pattern, you might ask yourself, what need has this helped me fulfill? How has this helped me cope? And what are some better ways I can do that?”
She then hyperfocused on picking a background sound, at last settling on an Olivia Rodrigo breakup song. Which gave her another video idea — what to do and what not to do during a breakup.
Satisfied, she went back to her profile to share the link to the first video with Zach. She froze.
How did it already have a thousand views? It had been 15 minutes!
Camila sent Zach the link.
Camila
She clicked on the comments of the video. There were already dozens of them. And the very first one, 13 minutes ago, was from Zach.
Zach