A spinning wheel and some awkward silence

It was one of those online streams where the chat had gone quiet. You know the kind. We were all just floating in our little video boxes, waiting for someone to say something.

The first spin is always the hardest

I pulled up the wheel on my screen, feeling a bit silly. I just said, "Alright, let's see what happens." I didn't really know what else to do.I clicked the spin button. We all watched it go around, this stupid digital wheel with silly dares on it. The silence felt even louder for a second.

When the laughter finally started

It landed on 'Tell a bad joke.' I groaned and told the first one that came to mind. It was truly, impressively awful.But someone in the call snorted. Then another person actually laughed. It wasn't a big laugh, but it was real. That was the whole point, I guess.The next spin was for someone else. The energy just shifted after that. We weren't just watching a stream anymore; we were in a thing together.

It wasn't about the game

Nobody really cared about the rules or who "won." The wheel was just an excuse, a little nudge to get us talking to each other again.

A shared, silly rhythm

We fell into a rhythm of spins and groans and little bursts of laughter. The awkwardness melted away, replaced by the simple fun of a shared, stupid moment.