Ray opened his mouth, ready to let the words fly off the tip of his tongue.
But his voice caught in his throat.
His brain, already scrambled from the sudden upgrade, started screaming at him.
'Viral. I'm already fucking viral. If I lose my shit right here, go off on this girl, and someone records it… that's gonna be bad. Real bad. It'll blow up again. This time not as "the man who can feel weird vibes," but as some asshole dude screaming at a girl in front of his apartment door. My rep's fucked. Streaming's dead. Everyone's gonna judge the shit out of me forever.'
Ray clenched his jaw so hard his teeth ground together. His right hand, already balled into a tight fist, slowly loosened. His fingers were shaking. Anger, sadness, and straight-up confusion slammed into each other inside his skull like waves crashing. His head felt like it was burning up, like some wires were short-circuiting in his brain.
