Page 28 of Something to Prove

Walker covered his face, shoulders shaking with mirth. “No!”

“Bad shrimp, I guess.”

“I’m positively traumatized on your behalf,” he groaned.

“So was my date. She avoided me for the rest of high school.”

Walker pulled a face, perking up as he reached for the tablet on the side table. “I think we have a couple of questions for you from our viewers. Mind if we check in? ElinKansas wants to know if you have your sights set on the NHL, Michele from Sydney, Australia thinks you’re the bee’s knees. Question: Have you played injured? Jake from Montreal wants to know…”

We spent another ten minutes on audience questions, and by that time, I was so relaxed that I could almost have been convinced I’d spent an hour shooting the shit with an old friend.

I thanked Walker for having me on the show and smiled for the camera until he signed off with a perky, “And that’s what’s new in Smithton!”

I unfastened the mic attached to my shirt, handing it to Walker as I stood. “That wasn’t so bad.”

Walker beamed. “Are you joking? It was fantastic! We’re going viral…I can feel it.”

Robin pushed his glasses to the bridge of his nose and retrieved the tablet. “I agree. It appears that the audience was quite taken by your repartee. Comments are pouring in.”

Walker read over his friend’s shoulder. “Oh, geez. They really like you.”

I winked. “C’mon. Are you surprised?”

Walker rolled his eyes, but Robin spoke up first.

“Not at all. You’re a good-looking athlete with a certainsavoir faire. You’ve managed to charm the pants off the public. Literally.” Robin blanched as he read an incoming message. “ ‘I’ll buy you dinner and suck your—’ Oh, dear. I’d better edit some of these from the feed. I’ll turn off commenting in a couple of hours too. I have to prepare for class, so I’ll have to do that from home.”

“That’s okay. Shay will be in soon,” Walker replied.

“Excellent. Thank you for joining our humble program, Mr. Czerniak. It was a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Robin bowed at the waist as he backed out of the room.

I chuckled. “So…now what?”

“That’s it,” Walker replied, brushing his hands. “We’ll be at your game this weekend. Robin will grab some new footage, I’ll do a quick locker room interview, andvoila! Signed, sealed, delivered, and done. Today was the hard part, and it wentswimmingly. I can’t thank you enough for your participation. I’ll be sure to tag you on social media and cross-promote wherever possible. With any luck, this will elevate your public profile. I know you doubt me, but I bet you’ll have a few thousand more followers by tomorrow morning. Maybe even a hundred thousand!”

I didn’t want to burst his bubble and admit that it didn’t mean much to me.

“Cool. I noticed you didn’t ask a single bi question.”

“I didn’t want to rock the boat, and I told you I wouldn’t get weirdly personal.”

I inclined my head in thanks. “So what’s your next assignment?”

Walker sighed theatrically. “I’m going to learn how to make a milkshake at Bear Depot.”

“Dude. I want in on that.”

“Don’t be so sure. I did a burger segment last year, and it involved a lot of slaving over a hot grill in a cramped kitchen. Not all that fun.”

I leaned on the doorjamb and crossed my arms. “What’s the deal? You specialize in food, people, music, and…burgers?”

His mouth curled playfully. “And making beeswax candles, operating the clothesline at the dry cleaner, doling out frozen yogurt, watering gardens. The list is endless.”

“I bet. This is a pretty small town, though. You must have blown through every business on Main Street already.”

“Not even close, but creative thinking is important.” Walker perched on the edge of his desk, seemingly too caught up in a successful day at the office to send me on my way. “What’s New, Smithton?started as a school project. In the beginning, I interviewed teachers and teamed up with some friends from the drama department who did skits to act out our version of the news. I’ve done frontline stories, reporting the price increases atthe gas station and the market, interviewing cranky patrons who obligingly grumbled for the camera. On-the-scene interviews were popular, but I couldn’t do them all myself. I hired fellow students to chip in, and that was how the kiss-cam Valentine fiasco happened.”

“Right.”