Thank You For Being A Friend

Of course, I had immediately screenshotted and printed a copy of the email Facebook had sent me logging the IP and time stamp of the password change.  It showed that it had been done through my personal email account, but that password hadn't been altered.  Did you guys know that Gmail logs the most recent access to your email account, showing the IP address of your most recent log-ins with the time and date?  I saved a screenshot of that, too, noting that the IP that had changed my Facebook password had also accessed my Gmail account.  I also printed a hard copy. I have to say I was surprised when I saw multiple logs in my Gmail with that same IP address.  Obviously whoever had done this had had access to my email for a little while, yet hadn't done anything until now.

I quickly changed my email and Facebook passwords, ending all other log-in sessions as I did so.  It may sound stupid, but I felt violated.  I have years worth of saved communications on both my Facebook and email accounts.  I'm like a pack rat when it comes to my messages, I never delete them, I just create archived folders to store them in.  Knowing that I was still on the clock and therefore needed to be working, I logged out of my personal accounts and pushed the worry aside for the rest of the day.

When I got home from work, I signed in to my email and Facebook account using my new passwords.  I scoured through everything, hoping to find what may be amiss.  Nothing appeared to be missing or noticeably changed in my email.  I found no record of any emails sent from my account, but if theperson were smart, they may have deleted anything they sent.  Still, the person who'd done this had full access to all of my contacts via Gmail, which I have synced with my phone (thank God, that had made it incredibly easy to import all of my contacts when Michael had destroyed my old phone).  This person could easily have saved that information, now knowing the phone numbers of those nearest and dearest to me.  I felt so frustrated and helpless, not knowing what they'd seen or saved or destroyed.

I turned my attention to my Facebook account.  Now that I was home and on my own time, I made it a point to go through and update all of my security settings.  I'd previously had a bit of information visible to Public and mutual friends (friend of a friend? I'm not sure how to describe it).  The friend-of-friend option had been what allowed Manda to see a few pictures I'd shared.  I updated all of my settings, making every single thing viewable to Friends Only with a select few items visible to Me Only.  I also enabled SMS notifications for log-ins and changed the settings so I'd be notified via text immediately if someone logged in to my account from an unfamiliar browser.  I double-checked that no other sessions were active and deleted all "approved" browsers, meaning even when I logged in at work, I'd have to manually accept that browser.

It was tiring, really, going through all of this.  I chastised myself for not being more aware of my social media and email accounts.  I hadn't taken the time to enable security measures to keep my accounts thoroughly protected.  I also updated my security questions and enabled text confirmation for log-ins to my email account. I was confident now that if anyone tried to access my accounts, unless they physically had my phone in hand, their attempts would be thwarted.  At the very least, I'd be notified immediately of any suspicious activity.




My head was pounding and I was so over all of this shit.  I texted Eric to let him know I wasn't up for getting together that night.  We'd made tentative plans earlier in the day for him to stay the night, but I just wasn't in the mood for company.  He called me back almost immediately after I texted him.

"Hey, babe.  You're not canceling on me because of last night, are you?" his tone was concerned with a tinge of annoyance.  His annoyance annoyed me.

"No," I sighed, "this has nothing to do with yesterday.  I've just had a really draining day and I'm not feeling great.  I'm sorry."

"You sure?  I bet I could make you feel better," Eric dropped his voice, clearly hinting at something.  Despite myself, I smiled.  I'm sure he could hear the smile in my voice.

"I'm sure you could, but I just want to relax and go to bed.  I'm really not in the mood for company.  I'll talk to you tomorrow and we can make plans, okay?"

He sighed, silent for a moment.

"Yeah, that's fine.  Feel better.  Goodnight, kitten."

"Goodnight, sleep well."

I hung up the phone and sprawled out on the couch.  I couldn't be sure if the email/Facebook hacking was related to Michael, and it had been eating away at me.  Until I figured out who it was, I was unsure if I should contact Officer Reilly.  Instead, I decided to send an email to Rebecca.  I grabbed my phone and opened my Gmail app.  I let her know that my accounts had been accessed by an unknown person but I had documented their IP address and had a short record of their access to my account.  I offered to send her the screenshots if needed, in case it turned out to be Michael, and asked her if there were any other steps I could take.  After I hit send, it dawned on me that all of my correspondences with Rebecca were saved in my email.  If Michael had gone through my account, he'd now be fully aware of my contact with a lawyer and everything we had discussed.

"I'm such a fucking idiot," I whispered to nobody but myself.  This could throw a real wrench into everything.  Tears welled up in my eyes, spilling over and dragging trails of mascara down my cheeks.  Didn't I have enough on my damn plate to worry about?  I cried, alone in my apartment, childishly wishing my mama could be there to comfort me.  I knew she would already be asleep, living on the east coast meant it was an hour later there.  Besides, calling and waking her up for something that wasn't an emergency would be stupid.  I needed a hug, desperately, and I was regretting telling Eric not to come over.  I picked up my phone to call him, then felt guilty.  I felt like I'd be burdening him with drama that isn't his to worry about.  I know last night he had said he wants to be there for me.  I decided calling him while bawling my eyes out might freak him out, so I sent a text instead, simply saying I'd changed my mind and could use some company if he wanted to come by.

An hour passed with no response from Eric.  This set me off into a fresh fit of tears.  It now felt like he'd been lying about why he was so jealous of Rob.  If he truly wanted to be the one I turn to when I need to be comforted and coddled, he would have at least had the dignity to text or call me back, even just to say no, he wasn't coming.  With shaking hands, I dialed Kate's cell.  She didn't answer, but called back five minutes later.

"Baby, what's wrong? You're crying," she cooed.  Loud music thumped in the background.

"I'm just having a shit day and need someone," I wailed.

"Did something happen?  I'm at the club, but if you need me, I'll leave now and be there within an hour."

"Nothing major, just some stupid things.  You don't need to leave the club, we can talk tomorrow, it's fine.  I'll text you the gist of it when we hang up, I know you're probably busy," I sniffled, feeling guilty for bugging her at work.  She doesn't have a set schedule at the club so I'm never sure when she's there.

"I'm serious, if you need me, I'll come home now."

"It's fine, I promise.  I'll see you tomorrow."

We hung up and I sat in silence.  I didn't even bother with music or the tv.  It was so sweet of Kate to offer to rush home for me.  Who needed Eric when I had a BFF like Kate?  Against my better judgement, knowing the late hour, I picked up my phone and texted Rob, asking he could come over.

Not even five minutes later, he was at my door.  I threw myself into his arms, crying against his shirt. He rubbed my back in small circles, softly asking what had happened.  Through tears, I blurted out everything.  The Facebook issue, the compromised email, how far away I was from my mom, how Eric had been acting,  how stressed i was about the baby coming soon, all of it.  My words were a sobbing rush but with each sentence, I felt lighter, less tense.

I leaned against Rob's shoulder, his arm draped around my own shoulders.  God bless him, he never interrupted.  He just let me bawl and spill my guts, saying soothing things where appropriate.  I felt so drained, emotionally and physically.  I felt my eyelids growing heavy as I mumbled.  I drifted off to sleep, my arms locked around Rob's torso.

I was surprised to wake up the next morning, still curled up against Rob on my couch.

**Come back on Thursday for a bonus post!  I'd meant to write one last week but neglected to announce or schedule it.  Let me know in the comments what you all think of the hacking fiasco, Eric blowing off Emma and her night with Rob, along with any other thoughts or criticism you may have..  Thanks for reading!**