The following day the couple woke up with Ben's alarm while the boy started getting ready for the day; Mal went on to start their breakfast. When he was finally ready, Ben came into the kitchen and smiled at Mal, finishing making something on the stove. "So today you are going out with Jess, right?"
Mal turned and nodded, sharing that Jess had sent her a location and was meeting her there at noon to start their day out. "I'm nervous; going out with new people is always strange, especially if it's a follower. I feel like I'm at a disadvantage about the amount of information they have about me while I know nothing about them. Yesterday I was tempted to go through her IG to see some pictures to have an idea of what to expect; sure, I already had a quick look, but I wanted more information. Still, I find that creepy, so I didn't do it; hopefully, it is not a mistake."
"I understand, but if you feel uncomfortable, maybe you could reschedule so I can go with you. At least then you'll have me as a backpack in case you start to feel like she is not the right fit for you, we are all different, and it is ok if you don't always want to spend time with everyone you meet." Mal brought her plate, sat next to him, and thanked him for his suggestion, but it was too late to cancel. Maybe she could text a couple of people she knew now live here so they could have a possible out.
They talked a little more before Ben had to go, promising Mal to call her when he was ready to come home in case she wasn't at the apartment yet. After cleaning a little, Mal went on to get ready, took a video showing her OTD, and then made her way to the restaurant Jess had told her she would meet her. There she found Jess waiting for her; the girl stood to hug Mal and ask her how she liked being in Austin. After that, the conversation flowed easily, they ordered a couple of things to share, and both girls filmed them and took pictures for their social media while discussing how sometimes it was awkward to do that with other people that didn't share their content online.
"I've noticed that you don't post as much on IG as you used to do before; I guess Ben must find it weird that you take pics of the food and what you guys do," Jess said, giving the girl a knowing smile, and Mal felt annoyance overtaking her suddenly.
"No, I've been resting because of my arm. Ben is okay with me posting when we go out, but I rather focus on the moment." Jess nodded, but didn't seem to notice that annoyance in Mal's voice, and the conversation moved to other subjects such as the places she wanted to show Mal and how she was starting her journey as an influencer. After they finished eating Jess gave Mal a tour of some of the places she mentioned, and both girls filmed for their respective media enjoying their time together.
By the time Ben was free to look for Mal, the girls were going to a bar to meet a few of Jess's friends, so the boy decided to go straight to the apartment, not wanting to interrupt her outing. Deciding to make the best of it, the boy went to the apartment, changed into his workout clothes, and went into the gym of the building he had visited a couple of times. Once there, Ben lost track of time, the stress he felt during the day at work melting and making the boy feel better. Moving to Austin as the lead was a great opportunity that was proving to be challenging; the stress and self-doubt he felt daily made him wonder if it was worth it in the end.
He finished his routine and found himself still feeling like his mind needed to rest, so he decided to hop on a treadmill and run a little before returning to the apartment. At one point of his run he saw Mal waving at him from in front of his machine and smiling at the girl while starting to go easy on his run, getting ready to stop.
"Hey, how did your day go?" He said while getting off the machine and ensuring everything was clean for the next person. Mal stood next to him and took his hand when he finished smiling at the boy and telling him that it was fine, and then asked him how long he had been at the gym. Ben started to tell her about his day when he realized Mal was not looking at him but behind him, so he stopped talking and turned to see what was getting her attention. The moment he turned, he saw two girls looking his way, smiling, and then turned away when they saw them looking at them.
"Do you think they are followers?" Mal said no, and asked the boy if he was ready to go back to the apartment. "Sure, let's go. Did you eat with your friends or do you want me to order something? I thought that if you already ate, I would heat some leftovers from last night and have those."
"Yeah, I ate, don't worry. So I'll help you heat the food while you shower, and then we can watch something on tv before going to bed." Ben nodded, and they made their way to the apartment when he went straight to the shower; Mal was about to take the food out when her cellphone rang, announcing a call from Evie. The girls said hello, and Evie shared that she was making her way home after a long day at the office; they talked for a while, and Mal lost track of time.
Ben came out of the room to Mal sitting on a couch; the girl saw him and stood quickly, realizing that she never took the food out of the fridge. The boy told her not to worry and to continue talking and also said hi to Evie while making his way to the refrigerator. Ben opened the fridge, ready to take out some food, but the thought of heating the food and sitting to eat didn't sound appealing as the exercise exhaustion overcame him. Giving the containers a last look, Ben closed the door and opened a cabinet looking for a granola bar he remembered buying but didn't find it, so going back to the fridge, he took a slice of bread and ate it while pouring himself a glass of juice. Finally, he cleaned the glass, put it away, and made his way to the second bedroom, not wanting to disturb Mal, who had made her way there after he started moving things in the kitchen.
Once in the bedroom, he got in bed and let himself relax until he was finally asleep, enjoying the rest after a full day. Meanwhile, in the bedroom, Mal had finished telling Evie about her day with Jess and was now sharing her suspicions about the girls she saw checking Ben out in the gym. "I'm sure they were filming him when I made my way towards him, but I guess they stopped when they realized I could see them. I was tempted to say something, but I can't be entirely sure about it because maybe they were taking a selfie or something like that."
"Mal, you know people love to film other people in the gym. Sadly it's not that weird, just be careful if you see them and maybe tell him about your suspicions so he is aware of what could be happening." Mal agreed and said goodbye after talking for a couple of minutes. Without giving it a second thought, Mal opened her TikTok and checked her mentions, and suddenly she realized that most of them were from one particular video, and a specific one said Ben's name.
Mal clicked on the mention, and suddenly she watched Ben lifting weights with a text that read, "Reasons I go to the gym…Yes, he is back." Part of her felt vindicated; she had been right; they were filming Ben, and then she reread the text and realized that this couldn't be the boy's first video in this account. So she went looking at a couple of days before there were other videos; he was doing different exercises in, some which Mal assumed were from Ben's routines when going to the gym. The last one ended abruptly with him running, and Mal guessed that they stopped recording because they saw her walking directly towards Ben.
Several people were tagging her on the comments, and a couple was telling the girl whose account it was that the boy had a girlfriend and putting Mal's user name. When Mal tried to see how many videos there were, she couldn't see the account videos, and her mentions of them disappeared, making the girl laugh because it was apparent she was now blocked. Opening her second account, she searched for the user and followed her, sharing Ben's videos with Evie's second account and then texting her friend what she found out.
They texted, and Evie asked her if she would show the videos to Ben so the boy could be aware of what was happening. Mal stood and went to the kitchen to see what was going on with the boy and didn't see him there, so she decided to go to the second bedroom and saw him sleeping. She knew her conversations with Evie were long, but Mal was confused if he still had enough time to eat and fell asleep, so she went back to the refrigerator and saw the food there and felt awful.
Deciding to wake up extra early, Mal went into the main room to change and then made her way back to sleep with Ben. The following day she woke up earlier than usual and started filming her day from the moment she did her Monday skincare routine and then started making breakfast for them. Ben woke up to the smell of food, made a beeline to the kitchen, and noticed that Mal was talking to her camera and stopped, but she saw him and smiled at him and told him to come. Mal stopped filming and hugged the boy, apologizing for last night, but he quickly assured the girl he was tired because of the day and his workout.
"I should probably take a quick shower before eating this amazing breakfast." Ben smiled and gave her a quick kiss making his way to the bathroom while Mal continued to vlog until he made his way back. "You don't have to stop what you are doing when I'm here; we've already filmed together when you help me with the house."
Mal asked her if he was sure, and the boy answered by taking her camera and turning it on; he put it at an angle that would show both of them and then thanked her for breakfast. The girl smiled and leaned to kiss him; after that, they talked while eating until it was time for Ben to leave. Then she went down to the gym and saw one of the girls of the day before leaving it while talking on her phone, and Mal was tempted to say something but decided that it was best to tell Ben what happened before doing anything.
Some of her friends asked her out, and she went out and had a great time and then texted Ben asking him to pick him up after work so they could do something. It was Friday night, and she wanted to do something fun with him. They ended up going out with a group in his office, and when they asked her about what she did for a living, Mal was getting ready for them to look at her funny or make a weird comment, but they were all genuinely interested in her job. Soon Mal was explaining how she started and how her career grew to what it was now, also about her experiences that were possible due to the path she had chosen, and whenever someone else would ask her a question, Mal would share more about her life. By the night's end, Mal felt they were honestly impressed with what she had managed to create for herself.
When the couple said their goodbyes promising to go to a bbq the group was organizing for the following weekend, it was close to three in the morning. When the couple made it to the apartment, Mal was smiling at how amazing she felt about the night and how accepted she felt by the group.
Ben went to take a quick shower before changing while Mal recorded an audio for Evie sharing how great she felt with Ben's coworker's conversation and scheduled to be sent in a couple of hours, not wanting to wait so her friend could hear the smile on her voice. After Ben finished showering, it was Mal's turn to make sure to keep her hair dry and then got into bed with him, telling him what a great time she had that night.