Ashley had remembered the kiss as a short, one-time thing, but now she realized that it had been much longer... and a lot more intimate. Had they used tongue?

"That asshole. Oh, I'm going to fuck his career up."

"You might want to talk with Colby about it first," Jerry suggested, and she sighed.

Ashley went back to check on the comments of the newest video. Now, clicking on "latest", they were mostly filled with people calling her a slut and saying she was only using Colby. Of course, people were immediately spreading and sharing the news. Of course, they were immediately judging her.

"This is a fucking nightmare," she breathed. "Shit, what do I do? Can I just post the video about Derek? Oh, he's so fucked."

Her phone rang, and she almost dropped it. Colby's name was on the screen. Hesitating to pick the call up, she looked back at Jerry.

"Come on, pick it up. Not talking about won't make it better," he said. "I'm going to leave you to it. Come to me if you need anything. Like... advice. I don't know." With that, he left her room again.

"Hey Colby," she greeted him. "I suppose you're calling me because of the clip?"

"You saw it?" he asked. "Yeah. Listen, Ashley, I'm so fucking sorry. It was my idea and you're suffering under it. I never should have suggested it, but I was drunk, and I just wanted to-"

Ashley didn't let him finish. "Shut up, Colby. I said yes, I'm just as guilty. And let me tell you, Derek will be the only one to suffer under it. I didn't really want to post the video, but I'm so going to take revenge on him."

Colby sighed. "Yeah, but... It's so unfair. Why are people calling you names and not me? And the damage is done already, you won't be able to just ignore it."

"I'll work something out," she sighed. "Fuck sexism. Why do I get all the hate?"

"I have an idea," Colby said.

"Oof, flashbacks," Ashley chuckled, referring to the moment before they kissed. "Go on."

"Well, the people couldn't be angry at me for kissing my girlfriend, can they?" Colby said, making Ashley blush... hard.

"We've known each other for a little over a week," she stated the obvious. "We're not together."

"They don't have to know that," Colby replied.

"This is a horrible idea," Ashley said. "But whatever. Can't be worse than what's going on right now."

Her socials were blowing up with messages of people calling her names and trying to insult her. She swiped most of the messages away, trying to ignore them. Humanity sucked.

"So, you're saying yes?"

"What else should I do," she said, sighing dramatically. "Yes, I'll be your fake girlfriend, Colby."

"If we're lying already, we should probably say we've known each other for longer than a week. Or else they won't react much better."

"What about we met a few months before the collab and have been together for the past six days? Like, we decided to get together after the trip or something? People will call it quick, but it's better than this situation." Ashley put her phone on speaker and opened Instagram to think of a post.

"How are you going to say it?" she asked Colby.

"Just a pic of me with a disappointed face and the text, "hey, @DerektheBarren thank you for leaking my relationship." Do you want to repost it and then the video?"

"I'll do a picture of myself as well. Text: "yay, i'm not single. surprise? I have another surprise for you, @DerektheBarren. or should I say @Derektheasshole," and the video on the next post." Ashley was already ready to press post but wanted to wait for Colby's opinion.

"That's very... harsh," he said with a chuckle. "I think it's better if you take the asshole part out."

Ashley scoffed. "Fine. He deserves it, but you're probably right."

"Should we like post a picture with the two of us?" Colby suggested.

"I have no clue, I've never been in an official relationship on social media," she chuckled. "We should at one point. But not today. Today has been enough excitement for me. But hey, at least the video is getting more popularity."

She posted her story before going to Colby's and reposting it. He did the same, adding the text, "call this asshole out" to the video.

"People are going to love the drama," Ashley laughed, rubbing her eyes.

"And we're totally feeding into it," Colby replied. "I think, though, that we should shift the collab on Monday to a later date. Until the biggest wave has calmed down."

"Yeah, I think you're right. Maybe it's better if we both take a little break from social media. Honestly, I don't even want to put up with all the questions, I'll just do a few YouTube videos next week instead of streaming every second day."

"I'm seriously so sorry," Colby repeated. "I don't know what got into me at that party, it was so stupid..."

"Shut up," Ashley sighed. "It happened, and the only thing we can do is try to limit the damage."

"Yeah... well, I guess I better go tell Sam." He didn't hang up the phone though, and it was silent for a moment.

"Do you have to?"

"Excuse me?"

Ashley cursed herself for asking it. It was a stupid question. Of course, they would tell Sam and Jerry. Their best friends deserved the truth. But at the same time...

"No, I'm sorry, that was a stupid idea, ignore that," she quickly answered, her face heating up.

"I mean, are you going to tell Jerry?" Ashley stayed silent for a moment, biting her lower lip. That seemed to be enough for Colby to have an answer. He chuckled softly. "Then I guess we'll tell them the fake story?" She laughed as well, not knowing why that relieved her so much.

"Kind of exciting," she said. "But we need more details." Why would she make up a story and lie to Jerry? She had no clue. Maybe it was less embarrassing than telling him that she would have to lie to her fans because of a stupid mistake. But was lying to him worth it?

"So, Sam knows that we were talking for literal hours on the day after the trip. We could've just decided then."

"That's good," Ashley agreed, "but I asked you."

Colby sighed dramatically, and she could almost see the eye-roll. "Fine," he groaned. "You asked. But when did we meet?"

"Let's just say we started talking on social media for like a month before we decided to collab, that's easier," Ashley said. "What about though? If we want to go completely cliché, we could just make up a pick-up line."

Colby snorted. "Sure, let me just google for the corniest pick-up lines."

"No, please don't!" she exclaimed playfully. "We can do better than that, I know it! Wait, I have an idea. Let's feed into all the fantasies of your female fanbase." Ashley sat upright on her chair, her mind suddenly racing around an idea.

"Oh god, what are you planning," he chuckled. He heard the sound of her keyboard clicking on the other end of the line and frowned in confusion. "What are you doing?"

"Googling for fanfiction." Ashley suddenly gasped as she had an idea, not for their story though. She reached for the yellow post-it on her magnet wall which read, "MONDAY STREAM??" and wrote "read fanfic with them" under it, happy with herself. Then she turned back to her laptop, looking at the websites she had opened.

"Most of them are about meeting the OC or reader while exploring or during an investigation..." she complained. "I can't use that. The first one is not an option for obvious reasons, the second one is too true."

"Sorry, what? OC?"

"Original character or own character," Ashley explained absentmindedly, still scrolling through the stories. She made a mental note to read some of them so she could torture Sam and Colby with them later. "The character the author adds to a story, mostly shipped with one of the other characters."

"And in this case, that's me?"

"Yep."

"I feel weird knowing that you immediately found that shit," he chuckled. "Is there anything useful?"

Groaning, Ashley shut the tabs. "Nothing. Let's just say... You saw me in a shopping centre or something, and I don't know? I forgot my wallet and you paid for me because you are a gentleman. But I left before I could tell you my name or Insta or anything."

"Aw, sad," Colby said, already invested in the story. "And then?"

"Well, a few days later, you were scrolling on TikTok or YouTube and coincidentally saw one of my videos," Ashley determined.

"Alright, which one?" He had put the phone on speaker and was now looking up Ashley's account, scrolling through the videos.

"Let's do a dancing one. So that you can be flashed by my body and beauty," Ashley said sarcastically, and couldn't help but giggle a little. "This is so weird."

"It is," Colby agreed, "but I don't mind."

"Me neither," Ashley smiled.