Was that what everyone would think about me?
The question haunted me. More morosely than before, I scrolled back to the top of my DMs. A lot of the rando messages had jay or bird combinations. That was weird. I opened one of the messages at random.
Jaybird5: Your an ugly fame whore. Your gunna gets what is coming to you.
Wow. I…couldn’t wrap my head around what I’d read. Grammar and spelling aside, that was gross and threatening and just bizarre. I’d expected to have tons of people commenting on my appearance and unworthiness to date Roman Grier, but this? I felt dirty just reading it.
Were all the messages from strangers like that?
Blujay: Homewrecker. Victoria didn’t deserve this bullshit. I don’t know how you sleep at night. Your days are numbered trash.
Homewrecker? Whose home did I—
Then it clicked.
All the “jay” handles. Victoria. Homewrecker. Last I’d heard, Rome had been dating popstar Victoria Jay. And now I had a whole flock of Jaybirds, or whatever they were called, after me on social media because I was dating her ex.
When had they broken up?
This just all got a new dimension of complicated.
I turned my phone off with a groan. I definitely didn’t want to read the comments on any of my social media posts. Maybe I should delete my profile? Turn the comments off? What was the best move here?
Jeff came barreling into the room, making me jump and bobble my phone.
“Hey Sophia. Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
I clutched my phone and sent Jeff a strained smile. “No, my bad. I’m a little jumpy this morning.”
“Something going on I should know about?” He asked as he set down a brown grocery bag and turned to me.
I felt weird bringing up the Jaybirds’ messages with him. I didn’t know this guy at all. I’d talked to him maybe three times. It might be best to hash out the social media thing with Rome. Besides, it was a big headache I wasn’t ready for.
So instead, I threw Rome under the bus. Or his family more specifically.
“Nix showed up and there was a whole scene. It got pretty ugly.”
Jeff clicked his tongue. “Gotcha. You okay?”
“Yeah. I mean, I just watched the whole thing. It didn’t come to blows or anything. They yelled. Rome cursed. And then Nix peeled out.”
“How’d he get in?”
I shrugged. “They were both down here talking and eating breakfast when I came in. I don’t know.”
Jeff sighed. “I’ll call and make sure he’s taken off the security list. Might have to change the codes. I’ll talk to Rome about it and let you know if your code changes.”
I nodded, my eyes wide in surprise. It sounded like a lot for a family disagreement, but what did I know? There was clearly some ugly history there.
“Don’t let it get to you. Rome and Nix have a difficult past. We’re just lucky there wasn’t any bloodshed this time.”
My eyes widened even more.Bloodshed?
This time?
“Don’t worry about it.” Jeff shook his head like it was silly, then started unloading the groceries he’d brought. When I hadn’t moved on, he raised his eyebrows. “Was there something else you wanted to talk about?”
I again debated bringing up the Jaybirds but ultimately decided not to. I wanted to talk to Rome about it first. “I’m having some problems with the Wi-Fi. Can you walk me through a few things?”