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“So, what’s your Twitter handle?” Hannah asked, taking a sip of her Diet Coke and tapping away at the screen of her phone.

“@AmyCtrl.” I replied. “It was assigned to me.” I added as I watched Hannah’s left eyebrow rise ever so slightly.

“Well, you now, officially, have one follower!” Hannah said, tossing her phone back into her purse and turning her attention to her plate full of French fries. “You may actually want to start following some people. The guys in the band might be a good place to start.”

“Mmmhmm” I mumbled, non-committal. I had no desire to tweet or to follow anyone else’s tweets. Who cared if Justin Timberlake had eggs for breakfast? This assignment was going to be the death of me. Not only was I going to be gone for a third of a year, but I had to document every “media worthy” moment of those four months in 140 characters or less. I took a large bite of my chicken wrap and looked up to see Hannah staring at me expectantly. I quickly surveyed her expression and immediately decided that this would not be a good time to bring up the fact that Eddie had also forced me to sign up for Instagram. Lord only knows what kind of pictures I was going to be expected to post. Eddie had, however, kindly informed me that I could link my Instagram account to both Twitter and Facebook. Great.

“I don’t understand how a twenty-nine year old woman can be so against social media.” Hannah laughed, flashing me her signature smile.

“I’m not against social media!” I retorted. “I just don’t like the idea of everyone knowing everything there is to know about me. I don’t see the point of posting pictures of my meals and checking in at The Gap. I also highly doubt that the band is going to appreciate me tweeting about their every move.”

“I’m sure they’re used to it.” Hannah replied. “They have been around for twenty years. They must have learned a thing or two about promotional marketing by now.”

“Well, they might be used to it, but I’m sure as hell not.” I grumbled. “I can’t believe that Eddie just up and quit! What was he thinking!?” I cried, completely changing the tone of the conversation.

“He was thinking that his wife just gave birth to their first child and that he wanted to spend time with his son.” Hannah said. “You can’t fault the guy for wanting to spend time with his baby. It would be impossible for him to be on the road for four months with a newborn at home.”

“All of the Backstreet Boys have kids, and they’re all going on tour.” I shot back.

“That’s different.” Hannah challenged. “They make millions of dollars and have wives and kids who are used to joining them on tour. Eddie is in a completely different situation. It makes sense for him to take a desk job back in California. You, on the other hand, are young and single. You need to start seeing this as an opportunity! Think about what this kind of assignment and exposure will do for your career. I know that some aspects of the job are going to suck shit, but this is your first real job. Most girls would kill to be in your position. Have some fun with it!”

“I suppose it is going to be four months of all expenses paid luxury travel, and I will get to go back home for a few nights.” I mused. I popped another fry in my mouth and washed it down with a sip of Ginger Ale. Hannah always had a knack for spinning things in a positive way. Perhaps that was why the two of us had become fast friends during my first few weeks at Ground(ctrl). Hannah was one of the only female members of the promotional marketing team assigned to Surgarland. Although the two of us had never worked in the same department, we had bonded during office-wide functions and company luncheons.

“I am going to miss you though.” Hannah added. “I don’t know what I’m going to do without you for such a long time.”

“Don’t worry. You can follow my tweets!” I joked. “It will be like you’re right there with me.” I quipped, signalling for the bill. My flight left at 9:00 the next morning and I still had an immense amount of packing to do.