He took her hand and kissed her knuckles. “I might not be your first, Mags. But I am your biggest.”
She looked at him impishly. “Fan, right?”
“Take it however you want,” he said smugly.
“Ugh. You’re the worst.”
He opened his mouth and then closed it again. “Huh. I was going to say I’m your worst, but that doesn’t work out as nicely as the other thing did.”
And then it was too late to say anything more because the screen on the porch came to life and someone handed them each fresh beers.
“We’re up,” Dean said, from behind the laptop.
The excitement around them was palpable. Silas was already ten shades of proud for Maggie bringing them all together like this, making it feel like they were all a part of something this big, this important.
Their little audience whistled and hummed along with the catchy musical opening and then cheered loudly when Maggie appeared on screen.
“I’m Maggie Nichols, and this is the Old Campbell Place.”
While everyone was riveted to the screen and Dean was glued to his phone and laptop, reading out live comments, Silas watched Maggie. She grinned bigger each time she introduced one of the contractors, every shot of crew members at work. She took pride in not just the physical work, but also in the way she told a story. The way she told their story. The way she drew people in and made them care.
“Hollywood’s gonna be busting down my door,” Marta predicted when she was shown in action with a wheelbarrow.
Elton let out a wolf whistle when Silas made his on-screen debut.
“And here come the comments,” Dean crowed. “‘If Maggie’s not dating him, I volunteer as tribute.’ ‘Hot landscaper guy can mow my lawn any day.’”
“It’s a good thing you’re not embarrassed by attention,” Maggie snickered.
“As long as I’ve got yours, Mags.”
His phone buzzed in the cupholder of his chair and kept right on buzzing.
“The fame circus awaits,” she teased.
On a sigh, he opened his messages.
Taylor: Who knew what a dreamy big brother I had? I still think of him as the guy farting on my pillow in junior high.
Michael: Maybe you could sell that story to the gossip blogs. He’s getting marriage proposals in the comments!
Niri: OMG! They’re shipping Maggie and Sy! #Milas
Michael: I was hoping they’d go with #Saggie
Taylor: Oh my. I might have to bleach my eyeballs after reading some of these comments. There are some thirsty ladies AND gentlemen watching!
Michael: chugging water GIF
Silas: I hate you all. Fortunately I’m too famous to talk to any of you losers anymore.
“Mags, what’s ‘shipping’？” he asked.
“It’s when fans push for two characters to hook up,” she whispered back.
That he could get behind. Maggie’s fans were clearly very intelligent people. “How about ‘thirsty’？”
She smirked. “In a nutshell? Horny.”
He liked the shipping better, Silas decided.
“I’m concerned my influence is going to corrupt you,” Maggie teased, producing her own phone.
“I’m yours to corrupt,” he promised.
“Keep your sexytime comments to yourself for a minute,” she said, opening her camera app. She stood and began to record their little viewing party. Silas made sure to wink at the camera when she pointed it in his direction.
“Holy shit!” Dean jumped out of his camp chair so fast that it toppled and collapsed. “What’s that number?” he demanded, shoving the phone in Cody’s face.
“Uh, 1,000,061?” Cody read.
“What?” Maggie asked shrilly.
Silas rescued her phone just before she was tackled to the ground and hugged by Dean and Cody. He hoped to God the video was still recording because this was a moment of magic.
“One million fucking subscribers!” Dean shrieked.
“You guys did it,” Cody said.
“We did it,” Maggie said, her voice muffled by the aggressive hugging.
Their live audience erupted, and Silas could feel the pride. Each feeling like they’d contributed to the success, each recognizing a personal stake in the game.
“I don’t know what one million subscribers means, but it sounds important,” Albert from Shitter’s Full Plumbing whooped, jumping on the growing pile of bodies.
Maggie managed to crawl her way out of the hug pyramid and make her way toward him, a smile wide and fierce lighting up her beautiful face. Silas tossed her phone aside a split second before she jumped into his arms. He swung her around, lifting her feet off the ground.