As the next couple of days wound on, I thought a lot about that. Letting things lie was going to be very difficult when my mind kept floating back to how intense our connection was, how incredible he made me feel. How, aside from apparently being a bit of a goof when it came to interacting with women he was sleeping with, he was perfect.
These circular arguments I would have with myself kept popping up all week as I tried to do whatever I could to distract myself from them. I could be watching TV, and it would happen or be reading a website and my mind would wander to him. Certainly, every time I lay down in bed, I would envision him there with me. I could still see him there, how much space he took up in the bed with me. His head on my pillow while I rode him.
It was all still so fresh.
I was dedicated to giving Gerry time to figure himself out, and in the meantime focus on my own stuff. I could be happy with the memory of the afternoon we spent together without going overboard. My body still tingled when I let myself think about it too long, and on more than one occasion, I filled a warm tub and let my fingers wander while the memory played like a reel in my mind. My sister might have been getting suspicious of the number of baths I was taking, but I wrote it off as my stump healing up.
My stump was the subject of most of my attention as I tried to move on without him. I was working out every day, strengthening my body as best I could while trying not to overwork myself. My channel was doing extremely well, continuing to add subscribers with little slowdown. It was damn near viral at this point, which was simultaneously exciting and terrifying. Once it went viral, I had to keep up with the content and the quality with no falling off. To fall off would risk it all.
I was tooling around the house, bouncing around in a bit of cabin fever, when my phone rang.
I didn’t get too many phone calls. It was odd. Most people connected with me through a messenger app or through emails or comments on the videos. I barely ever actually spoke to someone that wasn’t a video call that when my phone started ringing, I immediately assumed it was some spam robo-call.
When I picked it up out of curiosity, I noticed that the name that popped up was a company whose name I recognized from commercials and other vlogs.
“Hello?” I asked.
“Malia Killen?” a lady’s voice asked on the other end.
“This is she.”
“Hi, Malia, it’s so good to get a hold of you. My name is Sasha Sodusheski from Relentless brand. How are you today?” she said, her voice chipper.
“I’m fine. What can I do for you?”
“Great,” she said. “Well, are you familiar with our brand?”
“Yes,” I said. It wasn’t a lie either. Their name brand was everywhere in the amputee subculture.
“Great. So, you know that we support a wide range of athletes with unique physical challenges that are inspiring to our customer base through sponsorships. I am sure you have seen some pop up online.”
“I have.” Something was building, and I felt butterflies in my stomach.
“Well, we here at Relentless have a proposition for you, Malia,” she said. “We are looking to expand beyond traditional athletes and into the world of amateur athletes and those who work in the industry as trainers, coaches, and personalities. We have seen some of your videos where you spoke about how you were pursuing a career as a sideline reporter for the NFL. Is that still true?”
“It is,” I said, barely able to keep my breath.
“Well, we think that is an incredible goal that you will no doubt achieve,” she continued. “You have an amazing personality, and your videos have improved in quality so much that we assume you must be spending a tremendous amount of time and energy to record and produce them. It shows a standard of excellence that we at Relentless admire and wish to align with.
“So, all that being said, would you be interested in a partnership with our brand? We are prepared to offer a monetary price for you if you will do some product placement and advertisements for our products while also retaining those products, free of use. Is that something you would be interested in?”
“Absolutely, that sounds amazing,” I said, incapable of not grinning like an idiot. I was actually glad it wasn’t a video call so Sasha wouldn’t be able to see how goofy I looked at the moment.
“Great, well, we will email you a contract and some other details. If you would like some time to look it over, that’s fine. If you could just contact us in the next three business days, that would be perfect, but if you need longer, please just use this number to call and talk to me. I can answer any questions you may have.”