"Sarah I bought you something!" Dan yells, letting himself into my flat carrying a box wrapped in pink and white striped wrapping paper.
"Don't you ever knock?" Katie huffs.
"Hey, Sarah's the one who gave me a key! Get mad at her, not me!"
"Alright, you two, stop fighting. Hi babe!" I say, entering the living room where they were. I stand on my tiptoes to give Dan a quick kiss.
"Hi!" He hands me the present. "Open it!" I pull off the paper and open the box to reveal a black t-shirt with the words 'Dan Howell's Girlfriend' on it in white.
"What's this for?" I ask, giving him a confused look.
"The youtube gathering tomorrow! So everyone knows that you're mine!" He wraps his arms around me protectively.
"Aww, how sweet! But they already know, considering we did a few videos together." With a laugh he sits down on our couch and pulls me into his lap.
"I know, but these things can get pretty aggressive… I hope you're ready!"
"Please, I can handle it."
"If you say so…" I grin and bring our lips together in a passionate kiss.
"Ugh, I'm going to leave you two alone. Let me know when you're done, will you, so I can finish watching Tangled?" Katie says, and I hear her leave.
The next morning I wake up at six to pee and the nerves start to get to me. Sure, people had said nice things and were generally supportive of Dan and I's relationship (save for those hardcore 'Phan' shippers, but I usually ignored them), but what if they think that the real life me isn't good enough to Dan? His subscribers mean a lot to him, and I don't want to be the reason that they stop watching him. Instead of going back to my bed where Dan was (he had slept over. Again.) I head into the kitchen to make myself a cup of hot chocolate. When it's done, I lift myself onto the counter and pull my knees up to my chest.
Dan wanders in a half an hour later, in just a pair of sweatpants, looking tired.
"Hi," I say shyly, looking up at him.
"Hi," he says, walking up to me.
"Why are you up?"
"I got lonely. Why are you up?" I sigh and look down, not wanting to admit that I was scared for today.
"I'm nervous about meeting your subscribers." He chuckles and walks up in front of me, putting my legs down and wrapping his arms around me.
"Listen, they'll love you. Trust me. I can't guarantee that they won't be jealous, or try to get you to break up with me, or ask you strange questions, but the majority of them love you already! Everyone's been tweeting me how excited they are to meet you just as much as they are to meet me." He tips my chin up so our eyes are level.
"Really?" I bite my lip nervously .
"Really! And I promise, no matter what happens, I'll still love you, okay?"
"Okay." With a grin, he kisses me gently. He pulls away all too soon and scoops me into his arms.
"Let's go get some sleep. We still have a few hours until we have to leave." We cuddle up back in bed and I fall asleep less nervous than I was before.
"Sarah, wake up!" I'm awoken by Dan softly shaking me. I groan and bury my face in the covers. "Come on, we have to get up for the gathering!" I hiss at him, which makes him laugh. "Come on babe, please?" I pull the blanket down just a little bit so only my eyes are revealed. He pulls it off of me and starts mercilessly tickling me.
"St-o-op!" I shriek, flailing around wildly in his arms. "I'll get up!" He lets me go and I sprint for my closet so he doesn't grab me again. Before going to get breakfast, I pull on the t-shirt he gave me yesterday and a pair of high waisted denim shorts.
We eat quickly and arrive a little bit before noon. Phil, Chris and PJ meet us there and a crowd of people has already gathered. It's pretty overwhelming and I'm not sure what to do so I just move closer to Dan, who squeezes my hand and gives me a kiss on the cheek.
"You'll do fine, I promise," he whispers to me. I just nod and follow him to the little grassy area. It's comforting that they are behind a little gate thing and can't get to us until we're ready, but that moment comes way too soon and the mob of mostly teenage girls approaches us. I let out an involuntary squeal and Dan gives me a reassuring look.
My first interaction with a Phan was awesome. The girl is probably about twelve and she comes up to me right away.
"Hi! I'm Rose," she says enthusiastically.
"Hi! I'm Sarah," I say, just as enthusiastically. She smiles at me.
"I just wanna say that I think you're really pretty and nice and funny and that you and Dan are a really cute couple and you should get married!" This makes the rest of my nerves go away.
"Thank you so much, that means a lot to me! Would you mind if I gave you a hug?" She shakes her head and I pull her close for a huge bear hug. She asks for my autograph (the first one I've ever given, it's an intense moment) and then skips off on her merry little way.
I meet loads of nice people and it's going great, until one girl comes up to me with her posse of friends. She's about seventeen, a few inches taller than me, with loads of makeup on. I smile at her.
"Hi!" I say, and she looks really excited.
"Hi! Oh my god, I can't believe it's you! Dan Howell's girlfriend!" she gushes. I laugh.
"It's me!"
"Is he a good kisser? What's he like in bed? How big is his penis? Does he look good naked? Is he romantic?" I've gotten all these questions before, so I know how to answer them.
"He's an amazing kisser, he's absolutely mindblowing in bed, although he can get a bit rough and is a bit of a tease, big enough, yes, yes he does, and he's very romantic." She squeals.
"I just can't believe it's you!" Her friend has been videotaping this whole interaction, which I think is sweet. "Can I hug you?"
"Sure!" She wraps her arms around me tightly, and doesn't let go.
"GET HER!"
"What?" All of the sudden there are six girls all grabbing for my shirt, trying to pull it off. I desperately try to break free but it doesn't work. Someone scratches my cheek with a fake nail and I feel the blood drip down my face. I can barely register what's going on but eventually I escape and run for Dan, hiding behind him so that they have to face him first.
"Hi! What's going on, love?" He asks, turning around to face me. My shirt is torn in a few places, exposing bits of my stomach, my hair is messed up and there are a few cuts on my face and arms. "What happened?" My lip starts to quiver and I feel the tears well up behind my eyes.
"They… they tried to mug me! Or something, I don't know! One minute we were hugging, the next minute there were six people trying to steal my shirt!" I exclaim, wrapping my arms around him. He hugs me protectively, but looks behind him at my attackers, who were watching this exchange.
"I'll talk to them, don't worry!"
"No! Do it in a video or something so they don't like eat me or something!" He chuckles and uses the bottom of his t-shirt to wipe the blood off my face before pulling a band aid out of his pocket. "Why do you have band aids?"
"I always keep them on me, because you hurt yourself a lot."
"Oh." He puts it on my cheek and then kisses my gash.
"I'm really sorry that you got mugged." I look around at the people who were watching us, before looking back at him.
"It's okay, it's not your fault. I think they just wanted my shirt."
"The shirt that I bought you!"
"It's okay, really, Dan! I still love you!" He grins at me and lifts me up so I'm at eye level.
"I love you too!" I giggle and press my lips to his in a passionate kiss while wrapping my legs around his waist. Everyone watching whistles and claps but I ignore them, instead focusing on my wonderful boyfriend. Maybe these gatherings aren't so bad after all.