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Graham sighed. “I have missed you. I was staying away from you. I figured you’d moved on.” His gaze flicked toward Oz again before landing on me. “But I lied when I said I hoped that was the case. I also wanted you to find me.”
This wasn’t an apology, and it wasn’t tugging at all on that spark of hope that I had about anything to do with Graham. At least swooning chibi-Luna was still half asleep.
Why was I talking to Graham at all? I’d barely started things with Oz. Who was also right that I was still thinking about Graham. Damn my optimism that I wouldn’t have to give either up. “I don’t know what you expect me to say.”
“When your pet bear said the things he did, he hit every doubt I’d had when I was your teacher,” Graham said. “Touched on very fucking reason I kept my distance.”
“This is crappy apology.” I could swoon and daydream from now until eternity, but refused to imagine an I’m sorry when there wasn’t one.
Graham frowned. “I promise I’m getting there. Cole’s accusation reminded me of all the reasons I kept my distance, yes. But when the news hit last night, I couldn’t stop worrying about you. Which meant I was thinking about you, about what originally happened, and about all the reasons it was hard for me to not tell you I was attracted to you. I’m sorry for what I said the other day. I shouldn’t have put this on you. I do miss you, and I never should’ve used you as an excuse.”
Graham rested a hand on my face and tilted his head.
He was going to kiss me. My pulse roared so loudly in my ears I couldn’t hear anything else.
I placed my hand on his chest and stepped to arm’s length, breaking his touch. Did I want the kiss? Unfortunately, yes. Did I also kind of want to see what Oz would do? Deck Graham, tell him to stick around and watch while Oz fucked me, or walk out the door without a word?
That last one terrified me. “Thank you for the apology.” I kept my voice cool. “Was there something else?” I moved my hand from Graham to the door, ready shut him out.
“I know how to make this right. How to fix the bad press that story is going to generate.”
“How?” Oz asked.
“This has been blowing up all night in the tech and education communities. I’ve been looking for my own name, and worried you were at home, falling into a panic spiral. I’m glad you were distracted.” Graham’s voice tilted at an odd timbre.
Oz made a low, frustrated growling sound I felt in the soles of my feet. “Do you ever offer a tl;dr version?” He asked.
“Context is important,” Graham said. “Fine. This isn’t going away. If it does, it could come back any time, as last night proved, and the only way to prevent that from being an ongoing threat is to deal with it. The world needs to see the real Luna. The kind of infamy you have, your last notable hack defines you. Ten years ago, you brought the world to its knees, and five years ago you saved it. The internet needs to remember the latter.”
That was idealistic, even for me. “I didn’t actually save the world.”
“Schools and colleges versus government contractors? To most people, that’s saving the world.” Graham made it sound simple.
Oz stepped up next to me and settled his hand at the small of my back. “What you’re talking about would have to be big, and even then, there’s no guarantee it’s going to overwrite what’s already out there.”
“Luna knows people who will help this go viral. Ramsey Miller. Sadie Sews. Grayso—”
“I don’t know them.” Okay, I knew Ramsey, but I’d met Sadie once. She definitely wasn’t on the list of people I felt comfortable asking for favors.
“How do you know that, Graham?” Oz asked. “How long have you been watching Luna?”
“Violet is surrounded by people who live public lives. If Violet knows them, Luna knows them.”
I noticed Graham didn’t answer the second question. Did he avoid it on purpose?
“It may not work, but you know how the saying goes—the odds are better than if we don’t try.” Graham’s tone was one of conviction. “The news hit last night, and while it won’t vanish quickly it will fade. We don’t have to shout louder right this second. As the original story gets softer, over the next week or so, we come in with something stronger.”
“And you have the knowledge to make this happen.” Oz’s tone was flat with disbelief. “Luna can go to Sadie herself. To Grayson. To Ramsey.”
The people around Violet really did lead public lives. I’d never thought of that before. But Graham was the right person to help with Graham’s idea. Go figure. “It’s not just about tossing the information out there and crossing our fingers,” I said. “Going viral isn’t a science, but there are reproducible elements that increase the odds.”
“I never cease to be amazed at how much knowledge you retain.” Graham smiled broadly.
Which didn’t make me swoon at all. There may have been a rush of heat to my face, but that didn’t mean I was enjoying any part of this conversation or wishing in any way that I’d taken more of Graham’s other courses.
“Graham teaches how information travels, both behind the scenes and right in front of our faces.” I hadn’t taken the more advanced courses on The Psychology of Social Media, but I was in as many Gen Ed ones as I was allowed to cram into my schedule without disrupting my Pre Reqs. “One of his final projects”—for the course I couldn’t get into—“was to create a piece of media and make it go viral.”
Number of views were part of the grade, but just as important was how each element was utilized.
