‘It depends what you’re famous for,’ Cameron says. ‘Everyone thinks we’re the same, just because we’re twins. And maybe we used to be. But I don’t even know who he is any more. I might have called him my best friend once. But this place has changed him.’
‘Well,’ I say, ‘have you talked to him? Tried telling him all this?’
‘I’ve tried,’ he says with a shrug. ‘I just don’t want being a hot twin to define me. That’s all anyone thinks when they see our account. Oh my God, look how cute they are …’
‘People have said worse.’
‘I know …’ he says. ‘I’m not trying to play the victim or anything. I just want people to follow us because they care about what we say, not what we look like.’ He takes out his phone. ‘See these girls? They’re the same age as us and they have over a million followers!’
There’s a lesbian couple onscreen doing some dance challenge and kissing for the camera.
‘They’re from Woodside. That’s, like, three towns over from here.’
‘Are you sure? It looks like they’re in London.’
‘They’re visiting friends,’ Cameron says. ‘See.’
I spot a guy in football kit with CHENG written in bold letters along the back.
‘Oh, he’s cute,’ I say, pulling the phone right up to my face to get a closer look.
Maybe I shouldn’t be gushing over other boys in front of Cameron. But maybe it’s good he sees this side of me. Maybe I should play a little hard to get? That’s what you’re meant to do, right?
‘Yeah, he’s really cute,’ Cameron says, nodding. ‘I prefer his boyfriend, though.’ He points to an adorable floppy-haired boy in the background. He has painted nails, a crop top and a pair of shoes that can only be described as outrageous. ‘That boy is the fantasy.’
‘Really?’ I say. Is he now playing hard to get too?
‘He looks a bit like you, actually.’
‘Huh?’ I say. It catches me off guard. ‘Me?’
‘Yeah,’ he says. ‘You don’t see it? It’s something in the eyes, I think.’
I look closer at the video that’s now playing on a loop. He’s definitely attractive, it’s a compliment for sure, but I really don’t think I see the resemblance.
‘Anyway,’ Cameron says, bringing us back to the original point, ‘these girls use their platform to talk about things that matter. See, here’s a post on queer book bans.’
‘Then why don’t you do that? You can make whatever content you want.’
‘Because Ethan doesn’t wanna “make things political”,’ he says. ‘He just wants to wear matching outfits and take cute pictures. And the thing that bothers me most is that it works. It doesn’t matter that we don’t have anything to say as long as we look cute, right? They call us “influencers”, but what the fuck are we actually influencing?’
He taps into a web browser to show me the comments from one of the gossip blogs.