"How are you doing today?"
It seemed surreal. She had won in a giveaway of members, and she had won.. a one hour Skype call with her idol, Boyinaband.
"I'm doing good! What about you?"
She wasn't self-confident in the slightest, although people kept telling her she looked good. So she just wanted to turn the topic away from her as quickly as possible.
"Same here. Just glad I got this giveaway sorted out now, didn't think it would be this complicated, haha", he said, and he sounded very friendly and seemed so nice and approachable... making it seem even less realistic that this was happening.
"Do you have any questions for me?", He asked after I left him in awkward silence for a moment.
"Uhh, no, to be honest.. I wasn't expecting to win this at all, with so many other participants being around..", I responded truthfully. "Then why did you pledge for entry to the giveaway?", He asked. "Just to support you - I wanted to give you a little more money, and when I could, you had this giveaway goal already started."
"Why do you feel like I'm worth supporting?"
His voice had shifted to a more serious tone, now sounding genuinely interested in what she, she of all people, had to say.
"Simple. You are the creator on YouTube I enjoy watching the most - just to keep you able to do what you do."
At that moment, he turned on his facecam. I could see he was blushing a little. "How about you show me your face as well? I felt like keeping it hidden was ridiculous, considering you know what I look like after all", he giggled.
Oh no, here goes.. I can't turn down his request... "Give me a second, it's too dark in here", I lied. He said: " okay, I can wait", while smiling into the camera.
I went to the bathroom and brushed my hair, cleaned my glasses and made sure I didn't have anything stuck between my teeth before moving the laptop onto my desk and turning on the lamp.
I then sat down on my chair, took a breathe, and turned on the camera. "I'm back", I said, my voice nervously trembling a little.
"You look gorgeous", he said, and he seemed stunned about it.
"What?" I asked immediately. "You're really pretty!" He repeated himself.
"Th-thank you.." I stuttered.
"No, really! I bet you get told that all the time. Sorry, but I felt like stating the obvious", he said then, answering to the lack of blushing in my face.
"Funny you would say that, since you have girls fangirling over you all the time", I responded, regaining some confidence and to make the situation less awkward. "Are you a fangirl then?" He asked, to which I said, "sort of, I guess, I mean, I'm usually one of the first people who watch your new content - but I'd never assume I know you, like a fangirl would."
"What exactly do you mean by that?"
"Oh, you know. YouTubers act out a role while filming their content, it's not like meeting them personally. The way they act in their videos might be very different to the kind of person they are in real life, no matter the illusion of authenticity in their content."
He tilted his head a little. "You've put a lot of thought into that, haven't you?"
"I had a discussion with some fangirls just randomly assuming things about people from what they said in their videos, and I got a bit offended. So yeah, I guess you could say that. I just feel like if you don't get to know somebody one on one, you shouldn't think you know them at all."
"Well, here's your chance to get to know me one on one", he said, smiling at me. I nervously looked at the timer, and we had already been talking for 15 minutes. 45 minutes don't seem like much, but maybe I could still put them to good use?
"Well, I really don't know what to ask. I know about some stuff that makes you who you are from your videos, like where you went to school and how you got into music, so asking about that doesn't make much sense to me", I said, thinking about what I could ask him. "I see. Maybe you could ask me about my favourite colour or something? Those things tell you a lot about a person without being too personal."
"Hmm. What's your favorite band at the moment or rather, which band do you listen to the most recently?"
We talked for 2 more hours, alternatingly asking questions and responding, until he said: "you know, I feel like we should talk some more when we both have the time, but I really got to sleep now. See ya, maybe?", He winked at me.
I said: "sure, I'd love that! You're such a nice person." I waved and then, he hung up. This man, my idol, wants to talk to me even more?
I decided to go to sleep as well. It was late, but once I found myself in bed I just couldn't seem to get some sleep. My heart was pounding heavily in my chest. "He's really a nice guy. I'm really glad I won the giveaway, although I'm sure the other people would've probably deserved it as well." I thought about his smile, the answers he gave me, his eyes, voice..
