**Amanda**

With ten minutes to spare before the clocked showed 7, Amanda slid her key into the front door's lock and slowly pushed the entry barrier open. Winnie's face came into view the moment the door cracked. Reversing her morning acrobatics, Amanda stuck one foot in the door to keep Winnie inside while hopping on the other foot to get herself over the threshold.

"Stay, Winnie," she demanded. "Stay!"

With human inside and door secure, Amanda picked up her furry roommate and snuggled her under her chin. "Did you do the dishes while I was gone?" Amanda glanced at a sink piled high with dishes. "Nope. How about the laundry?" Glancing over at a basket overflowing with clothes, she sighed. "No laundry either, Win?"

Lifting Winnie above her head so the furball looked down into her eyes, Amanda said, "Freeloader! Do something while I'm gone besides eat, sleep and shit."

Kissing Winnie's forehead, Amanda put the feline on the ground and tossed her purse in a chair. She placed her keys with a Kate Spade and R2D2 keyrings on a hook and wandered into the kitchen. Opening her refrigerator, she saw nothing but empty shelves covered in dew. When the refrigerator was unable to produce something to eat for dinner, Amanda rummaged through her cupboards--which were equally as bare. "Why can't I adult?"

Grabbing a banana on the verge of being too brown, Amanda threw herself on her full-size bed and plugged in her phone. She sent a text to her group of Wattpad friends to inform them she was home.

[Amanda: Here! Sup, sistahs!]

The responses came back immediately.

[Jeannie: Every detail.]

[Jeannie: How did that bug report even happen?]

[Mona: I know how! Horney + tequila]

[Geri: I can't! Not tonight.]

[Geri: It's a Facebook group chat night.]

[Geri: Texting would be an assault on my thumbs!]

[Jeannie: Agree!]

[Jeannie: Loading up Messenger now.]

[Mona: Ooooooo! Mis Chicas! In living color!]

[Geri: Clothes, Mona! Have clothes on!]

Technology--it was both bridging and isolating. Amanda loved connecting with her friends from all over North and South America. What she didn't like was the physical detachment of it all. Isolated when she slept. Isolated behind the bullet proof glass at the bank. Isolated when she returned home to an empty condo at night--if you don't include Winnie. Nevertheless, the time Amanda spent face-to-face with other human beings sharing intentional and quality experiences dwindled. She dreamt about physical interactions in her sleep. She observed physical interactions through the glass at work. She wrote about physical interactions in her stories on her laptop at home. But for Amanda, the magic of human touch slowly became just as unreachable as the fairytales she read about on Wattpad.

Hugs, she thought. I wish someone would hold me in their arms and tell everything's happening exactly the way it was meant to happen.

Amanda rolled off her bed and walked to the kitchen to throw away her banana peel. Wiping away moisture welling up in her eyes with the back of her hand, she stared at a bin full of empty wine bottles and trash. Is this the life you wanted, she asked herself? You're a virtual human--pixels and text on an electronic device! What if you're supposed to be out doing something else instead of sitting alone writing stories in your free time? What if this virtual life is what you sacrificed a real life for?

"Uh!" Amanda moaned, furiously removing the onset of tears with the sleeve of her shirt. "First world problems. First world problems!"

Buzz, buzz

Amanda ran back to her bed and threw herself onto the mattress like a second-string stunt double. She opened her laptop and booted up Facebook while she checked her phone.

[Jeannie: Where are you?]

[Amanda: Facebook is loading!]

[Amanda: Got distracted by a banana.]

[Mona: I get distracted by--banana--hourly!]

[Mona: SkinFun with minions]

[Jeannie: Thanks for ruining Despicable Me, Mona]

Via the magic of technology, the four friends appeared on each other's laptops--live and in real-time. Meeting in person would always be the ultimate experience, but video group chats were a close second.

[Geri: "Before we start--." Holding up her hands to the camera, Geri said, "My thumbs thank you!"]

[Jeannie: "I like video chats better, anyway." Pulling her hair into a pony tail then tying it into a messy bun, Jeannie added, "Although, it means I have to make some grooming efforts. But I'd rather do a bit of grooming than type all night."]

[Mona: Pouting at the screen, Mona replied, "But video chat means I can't multitask and play with my minions. Unless if--."]

[Geri, Jeannie, Amanda: "NO!"]

[Amanda: "Why isn't Wattdrunk Fridays a video chat thing? If it was, maybe you could've stopped me from sending that bug report." Amanda felt her face heat up as she thought about the embarrassment that was on the horizon as she relived her drunken words with her friends.]

[Jeannie: "Wattdrunk Fridays will probably have to move to Facebook." Adjusting her oversized You're Killing Me Smalls t-shirt, Jeannie added, "Have you heard? The Pub isn't going to be hidden anymore!"]

Amanda smiled as her friends ranted amongst each other over the loss of their secret and sacred hideaway on Wattpad. Video chat almost felt real--like an in the flesh experience. Fueled by her desire to have a life with less virtual reality in it, Amanda could imagine her three friends gathered in her studio condo. Geri curled up in the overstuffed chair, Mona perched on the arm of the same chair and Jeannie lying on her stomach next to Amanda on the bed.

"Back to this bug report," Geri insisted. "How? Just--how?"

"Tequila."

Mona threw both arms in the air. "I knew it! Mona knows!"

"But what was going through your head when you typed some of that--." Geri hesitated. "That--poetry?"

"Tequila."

"Have you heard anything else from Wattpad Headquarters--besides the email?" Jeannie asked. "Did they say anything about--your way with words?"

Geri snickered. Mona mumbled, "Did they ask if you were loco?"

Amanda rolled on her back and stared at the ceiling. "Oh my gawd! I'm so embarrassed! How am I supposed to face them tomorrow? Humiliating!"

"You're doing the video chat?" Geri asked.

"Yeah. Tomorrow--as soon as I get home."

"Wow." Jeannie looked at her watch. "That'll be about 10pm Toronto time. Someone at Wattpad is staying late."

"All I can say is--live feed." Geri paused, then added, "I want to see how this goes down with my own eyes."

"I can't have two video chats happening at the same time."

"Well--," Mona began, polishing her bright red nails on her bustier. "Technically you can."

Geri held up a hand to Mona. "I don't even wanna know why you know that."

Jeannie's eyes widened. "What if while you video chatted with Wattpad on your laptop, you could live stream it to us on your cell? Set your phone up on a tripod behind you? That way we could see and hear everything that's happening--both from you and on the laptop."

"And we could send you text feedback in messenger. If you had two screens open, you could read it on your laptop while you talk to headquarters." An evil grin took over Geri's face. "This could work."

"Who are you having the video chat with?" Jeannie asked.

"Some guy named Ian."

"Who is Ian?" Mona asked. "Never see that name--until I read the email."

"Maybe he's new," Jeannie suggested, pulling Amanda's laptop closer to do a little online stalking. "As an Ambassador, I recognize most of the staff but--." Ian's Wattpad profile popped up on the screen. Jeannie tilted her head to the side and furrowed her brows. "Oh, that's weird."

Geri and Mona congregated around Amanda's bed to look at the computer screen. The simple act of shoulders touching as they gathered gave Amanda a stronger sense of camaraderie. "He's one of the engineers," Jeannie said.

"Why's that weird?" Geri asked.

"I just didn't know the engineers were involved with customer service."

"He's cuuuuuuuuute!" Mona purred. "I'd let him service me."

The four ladies gathered tighter around the laptop. "Mona's right," Jeannie admitted. "I wonder how old he is and if he's single? Why don't these stupid profiles give us more information?"

"It's not a dating site," Amanda reminded, her insides suddenly swarming with butterflies. "I'm sure he's married or gay or something."

Geri gently nudged Amanda's shoulder with her fist. "But what if he isn't?"

"Have you already forgotten he read my bug report?"

Retreating back to their original posts letting quiet expressions of defeat slip from their lips, the Wattpad friends sat in silence for a moment or two.

"Clothes!" Mona shouted, causing everyone to jump. "Get up. Go to your closet. Bring all your push-up bras and cleavage shirts. We need to strategize." Amanda stared at Mona thinking she was kidding, but then the saucy Latina swirled her hands around madly in the air. "Go get your breast best. Now!"

Amanda scurried off the bed and rummaged through her closet hoping to find something that would satisfy Mona's sexy request. She wasn't confident she'd find anything that would please her sultry friend, but she made an attempt anyway. With arms full of this and that, Amanda rejoined her gal pals.

Amanda's Kate Spade necklace dangled off of Mona's ring finger--a simple chain with a small sphere pendant covered in tiny crystals. "You shall wear this," Mona said.

"Oh?"

"It's very sexy when a woman plays with an object close to her cleavage," Mona explained.

"Clearly you haven't seen my version of sexy before," Amanda said.

[Mona: "Show us! Hold up the bras."]

Amanda held up her unmentionables to the laptop's video camera so everyone could see.

[Mona: "Throw that one away right now!"]

Throwing the horrid boulder holder over her shoulder, Amanda held up a new contender in its place.

[Jeannie: "Oh--that's cute."]

[Mona: Making a noise one might make if they're not impressed, Mona said, "If that's all we have to work with--so be it."]

Before Amanda went to bed that night, her outfit for the Wattpad video chat had been selected and approved by her virtual besties. It hung on the cell phone tripod already set up for tomorrow's double feature. But there was a problem--Amanda couldn't fall asleep. Her mind was flooded beyond the simple worry of having to introduce herself as the idiot who sent a drunken support ticket.

Mona was right, Ian was handsome--in a non-traditional sort of way. And Amanda knew her personality and self-confidence disintegrated like a sandcastle under a huge wave when she was in the presence of a man she found appealing. She'd be starting tomorrow's Wattpad video chat several laps down. Down a few laps in self-respect. Down a few laps in self-esteem. Down a few laps in perceived maturity. Probably down a few laps in perceived mental stability as well.

Thankfully--Geri, Jeannie and Mona would be there to help coach her through the process.