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Luckily the hotel where the boys were stranded had free wifi, which was something Rob was extremely grateful for. All of this traveling and sightseeing had drastically cut into his quality internet browsing time, and who knew if Bigfoot might have been found in the past week and he’d missed it?
As he happily skimmed through his favourite conspiracy sites, seeing no evidence that there had been an alien invasion during his time away, he glanced over at Jay, who was perched on the floor in front of the window overlooking the blowing snow. His legs were crossed, his fingers were cupped and he looked as if he was trying to reach nirvana but was frustratingly far away.
Rob knew that Jason had a lot on his mind, and had serious doubts that what he was doing was making that any better. So he decided to attempt some diversion.
“Yo, Jay!”
Jason’s head rolled around on his neck as he affixed his death stare on Rob.
“Has anyone ever told you not to interrupt someone in the middle of their meditation, Rob?” he grumbled. “Mark wouldn’t do that shit. Why didn’t I stay with him?”
“Don’t lie, Jay,” Rob said. “The only thing you’re meditating on is Howard, and that’s not exactly clearing your mind or making you serene.”
Jay’s glare momentarily became positively venomous but he couldn’t hold it at all. He knew that Rob was right.
“I’m giving us a project to do,” Rob said. “You’re the only one of us who hasn’t done a thing online. No official site, no Twitter, no blog. Mark doesn’t do much but that’s because he’s got a life. But you have no excuse.”
“That’s because the internet is crap on your ego,” Jason said. “I don’t want a million people a day telling me hello or begging me to impregnate them. And I definitely don’t want a million people a day telling me that Geri Halliwell was right and I can’t sing.”
Rob sighed.
“Like she’s one to talk,” he said. “She doesn’t have a bucket to hold a tune in. But no, you don’t have to go on Twitter. It’s not much fun when you’re a celebrity anyway. Or at least a celebrity with a press agent giving you shit if you call out a troll.”
Jason looked relieved.
“But you have a message to share,” Rob continued. “It’s really fucking cool. And I think people would care about it even if they didn’t know you’re Jason Fucking Orange. So why not go online with a fake name?”
“Wouldn’t that be inauthentic?” Jason inquired.
“Nope, because you would be sharing your real self,” Rob said. “Just not your real name and probably no pictures of yourself. You could post your philosophy.”
Jason’s eyes narrowed.
“Have you been talking to Howard?” he said.
Finally Jason gave in and let Rob surf over to a site called Tumblr, which he had to admit seemed very simple and unassuming. Basically once he was signed up he could start looking for blogs on any subject and follow them and then they would pop up into a dashboard, which was simple in blue and white and easy to scroll through.
Rob knew that Tumblr would be right up Jay’s alley because of all the social justice blogs, and suddenly he had to move Jason along as he became engrossed by all the horrible injustices in the world that he didn’t apparently know about until that very moment. He also had a hereto unknown affection for kitten/puppy photos. Rob showed him how to do his first reblog of a picture of a cat swallowing a dog’s nose.
After Jason discovered the Tumblr Glee fandom and started getting upset by leaked spoilers and bloggers who claimed Darren Criss was talentless, Rob decided it was time to move him along.
“Here Jay, let’s make your first post,” he said.
After he showed Jason how to make a text post, Rob went back to his own laptop to websurf for a few minutes. But he realized that 30 minutes had gone past and that Jason was still hunting and pecking furiously.
“Damn Jay, what are you doing, writing the Great American Novel over there?” he inquired.
“I just have something that I have to share,” Jason insisted.
Rob moved over behind Jason to read what he had written. It was a text post of a few thousand words, all about how the relationship of Kurt and Blaine was an important allegory to the timeless themes of love and death in classical literature.
“Oh God,” Rob groaned, rubbing his eyes. “I did not intend to turn you into a Glee blogger.”
“I do have something important to share,” Jason grinned. “But no, I am not going to just blog about Glee. I’m interested in sharing information about sustainable living and renewable energy. And I hope there are some blogs devoted to organic stuff.”
“There are a million,” Rob said. “It’s called hipster blogging.”
“So I’m a hipster blogger?” Jason asked.
“No, I think the Glee post would get you kicked outta the fold right at the beginning,” Rob replied. “And God help you if they found out what you do for a living.”
Jason looked sad.
“Forever alone,” he said.
Rob grinned and slung his arm around Jason’s shoulders.
“You’re never alone,” he said. “And I will be your first follower. Now gimme your phone. I need to set up something called Instagram for you.”