Page 54 of Not Just Gal Pals

I watched her facial expression as she chewed on the pancake, her eyes widening and her lips pressing together. It was verging on comical. My mouth began to twitch.

Swallowing the mouthful with difficulty, she looked at me, horrified.

“Good lord, what have I done? They taste revolting.”

My lips twitched again as I tried to suppress my giggles. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s the thought that counts. Did you, um, possibly drop a whole tin of baking soda in the mixture by mistake?”

“Not a whole tin. I couldn’t find a teaspoon, so I just tipped some in. I must have misjudged it. And I did the same with the salt as well,” Blake said ruefully.

We locked eyes, Blake’s lips also twitched, and then I couldn’t hold in my giggles any longer. We both burst out laughing.

“All I can say is, I hope you’re more precise when administering medication, or I may need to report to you the authorities,” I said, still giggling.

“Why don’t we go to Novel Gossip for breakfast instead? And I’ll buy some pancake mix for the next time you come over, to avoid a repeat of this morning,” Blake said once we’d calmed down, a sheepish look on her face.

While my heart jumped at Blake’s assumption there’d be a next time, I made a mental note to take over pancake-making duties. Cooking appeared to be one of the few things Blake did not excel at. It was a miracle Amanda’s cake had turned out so well.

It suddenly dawned on me that I hadn’t looked at my phone since dinner last night, more than twelve hours ago, which had to be a world record for me. Anxiety spiked in my chest. As much as I didn’t feel like it, I should check how the content I’d post yesterday was performing and try to engage with some of my followers. Unfortunately, in my job, I couldn’t just switch off on the weekend.

“Novel Gossip sounds like a great idea. But do you mind if I check my phone for a few minutes before we head out?” Guilt that I was delaying our morning flooded over me, but I knew if I didn’t check, I’d be distracted throughout breakfast.

“Of course. I’ll go take a quick shower and change into something more presentable.”

Blake stood up and gave me a kiss, and I walked over to the couch where I’d left my phone charging last night.

As soon as I opened TikTok, I knew something was wrong. My inbox was full of new messages. And judging from the preview text I saw as I scrolled, my stomach sinking, they were from furious animal lovers.

Jen D

You should be banned from owning animals

Marylovesdogs43

Walter deserves better than you

User48372

I’m unfollowing you as soon as I finish writing this message

Some of the other messages were a lot more vicious. Panic rising in my chest, I tried to work out what had sparked this new wave of ire from my followers. I found the answer in the “activity” tab. Melanie93 had posted a video mentioning me ten hours ago. And the thumbnail of the video was a photo of me smiling, a big red circle with a diagonal line through it overlaid on top with the word CANCELED on top. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Slightly shaky, I hovered my finger over the thumbnail, took a deep breath, and clicked on it. It already had 7,000 likes.

The photo was there for a few seconds before an attractive brunette, presumably Melanie, started talking. “Y’all might remember Jenny Lynton was almost canceled last month after it was revealed one of her sponsors, Ruff Dog Food, had made a number of false claims to be environmentally sustainable when it was actually full of the rainforest-destroying palm oil, which can also be bad for dogs. Well, last night, another product Jenny has been recommending, Bark4Treats, was recalled by the FDA for potential salmonella contamination. Once might be a mistake . . . but twice? I know I don’t want to follow people who are making money off shady companies putting the health of our dogs, and our rainforests, at risk, so…” The photo of me with a red circle and Canceled overlaid on top reappeared.

Sick to my stomach, I stared at my phone blankly. Fuck.

I checked my follower numbers. They’d dropped by over a thousand since yesterday. Shit.

“What was that all about?” I startled at the sound of Blake’s voice, turning to find her standing at the door, brows furrowed, her hair wet, and a towel wrapped around her. She clearly wasn’t into long showers.

At the sight of Blake’s concerned face, tears welled in my eyes.

“Urgh, nothing.” I swallowed, digging my fingernails into the palm of my hand in an attempt to ward off the tears.

Blake walked over and sat down next to me on the couch. “It didn’t sound like nothing,” she said gently. “Do you want to talk about it?”

I made the mistake of looking deep into Blake’s soft brown eyes, and a tear escaped my eye and ran down my cheek. Get it together, Jenny.