Chapter 17: Barely-friends get handcuffed together for 24 hours

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Jackson agrees to do some secretive video that Amber and Amy are planning, and he hopes he won't end up regretting the decision.

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After running into Mark at the pantry, Jackson returns to his desk, quickly loading the files from his vlogging camera into the computer to email Mark. He’s been meaning to send the files since this morning, because he had to cut short recording yoga lessons with Jinyoung when his memory card ran out of space. If only I have more space on the memory card to film how fun the lessons before work had been, Jackson muses, as he hits send on the email he just typed out. Oh well, I guess I can always take more videos when I find Jinyoung for yoga next time. Jackson catches himself smiling from the reflection on his computer screen, and in the same reflection, he notices two figures behind him.

“Amber and Amy! Hi!” Spinning on his chair, Jackson turns to find the 2 ladies glancing at each other. Narrowing his eyes at them, he asks, “You weren’t trying to scare me or anything, right?”

“What? We weren’t! Of course not,” Amber’s voice sounds anything but convincing, and beside her, Amy rolls her eyes. Jackson just laughs.

“Anyway, Jacks, we came here to ask you about something,” Amy says, nudging Amber to continue.

“Ah yeah, right. We were thinking of making a Buzzfeed video that’s going to be super fun, and we’ll like you to join. But we can’t tell you what it’s about unless you agree to do it, because we’re trying to keep everything a secret for now.”

That sounds really shady, Jackson thinks, and he must be frowning at them, because Amber quickly adds, “Don’t think so much, it’ll be fun. Honest! Mark was the one who recommended you do this, and he was sure it’ll be an interesting video, if you would just agree to join us.”

Jackson stares at the 2 ladies, who are watching him with expectant faces. He chews on his lower lip for a while, before he asks, “It’s not going to be anything weird right?”

“No, of course not!” Amy reassures, with a pat on his shoulder. “Amber and I will be in the video as well! You won’t be doing anything we won’t do, so don’t worry!”

Jackson is still suspicious, and he’s considering whether to agree or not. Sure, Amber’s fun, but Amy’s sometimes crazy, and he’s not sure if agreeing without knowing more about this video they’re doing is a good decision. Then again, they did say Mark recommended him. And Mark seems like a nice guy, kind of responsible and serious, so he probably wouldn’t sign Jackson up for anything weird, right?

Looking at their eager faces, Jackson decides to take a chance and agree to do the video, hoping he won’t end up regretting it.

The next morning, Jackson wakes up to a text from Amber asking him to dress comfortably for the video which they will film today (the secretive video Amber and Amy are so tightlipped about), so he chooses a loose t-shirt and baggy pants that still look decent enough for work, wondering for the umpteen time since agreeing to do the secretive video yesterday what it’s actually about. Grabbing a flannel shirt, Jackson heads to work, remembering to buy a sandwich along the way for breakfast.

Nothing happens for most of the morning, and Jackson’s starting to wonder whether the video might be some sort of hidden camera prank. He ends up glancing left and right every so often as he tries to type an article, feeling paranoid. The glancing around is doing nothing for his concentration, and Jackson’s barely halfway through the article he’s working on, when Amber appears a little before lunch.

“Thank god,” Jackson mumbles, hoping Amber’s here for the video so he can finally stop lowkey freaking out at every little thing he thinks might be the start of a hidden camera prank. Saving his work, Jackson asks Amber to wait a moment while still facing his computer. Instead of waiting, she moves behind him, and all he sees is something coming towards his face before Jackson realizes that there’s now a blindfold over his eyes, courtesy of Amber.

“What? Why’s there a blindfold?” Jackson asks, hands reaching to pull it off, but Amber stops him.

“It’s for the video, you’ll understand why later.”

Jackson’s sitting at a chair, and there’s a table in front of him. There are most likely cameras rolling in front of him as well, he thinks, although he doesn’t know for sure, with the blindfolds still on. He had presumed from the route Amber had led him that they’re at one of the in-house studios. (Well, it is a Buzzfeed video, secretive or not, so it’ll make sense that they’re filming an intro here.)

Jackson’s holding the sides of the chair he’s seated on, hoping he doesn’t look too worried to the camera (what if this is one of those stick your arm in a mysterious box challenge, where they make you touch fish or something strange?), when he hears the door open, with the sound of high heels followed by sneakered footsteps making their way beside him.

“What’s this?”

“Just sit down, we’re filming the intro,” Amy’s voice is cheery when she replies, and Jackson thinks the first person who spoke might be JB. (Well, if it’s about touching strange objects in mysterious boxes, it’ll be funny to see JB lose his composure, Jackson thinks, grinning.) There’s a slight bump when JB hits the table, and Jackson holds back his laughter. Maybe he’ll be able to keep his identity from the guy for a while, Jackson thinks, and considers whether he can play a joke on the grumpy man in this interesting situation.

That thought is quickly interrupte