He was never bold, never popular, never remotely important. He spent most of his time daydreaming about the day everybody will discover his talent… or the moment a spaceship will finally land in his bedroom, the blue wooden door will open and a two-legged but still-not-ginger man will offer him a lift to the stars. He knew everything there was to know about both mythology and science fiction. He was the walking proof of the huge difference between "nerd" and "geek".

That evening he was uploading his new video – the one about the storm. It was a mess (because of the running and such), but he figured at least the topic was current and people would be intrigued. When shygirl18 added him as friend he didn't know what to think. He was used to girls not noticing him, or even staring at him as though he was mental. Sometimes he almost believed he was. Like today when he suggested that the naked man might be a werewolf. It all made perfect sense in his head but seeing the faces of the others, he wasn't so sure anymore.

Shygirl18 didn't wait for him to respond. She was writing to him in the chat. She seemed so eager to talk to him it would've made him suspicious if he wasn't so surprised.

'Oh, no! She is writing to me! A real girl is writing to me! And she likes my videos. What do I say?'

His fingers trembled as he forced himself to write before the moment had passed.

'Just write something, stupid! Don't think about it, you know how hopeless you are. Be brief and let her do the talking.'

It was a strategy that always worked. Let the others talk, you just sit there and observe. At the end of the day, you know everything there is to know about the person. So what do you do with that information? If nothing else, he could use it tonight when he went to bed…

'You are not having fantasies with this girl tonight! You're not a pervert, remember? '

'Oh, shut up,' something in his head kept telling him, 'you know you're not popular in real life, can't you at least in your dreams be somebody?'

Either way, she was here now, and she was interested in him. What's more, she was interested in his hobby. Simon slowly undid the top button of his shirt. Very hesitantly he wrote a short 'hi'. He was starting to regret it when he received her answer. 'Hi yourself' she wrote.

'This is going to be exciting,' he thought and nervously licked his lip.