Leila's POV
We'd been sitting in detective Brams' office for over an hour and he still hadn't come to talk to us. I hated this 'hurry up and wait' shit.
It was silent between the four of us once more.
Cat was looking at her fingernails, Dan was chewing on the pen he had stolen from the front desk where we had signed in to the station, Phil was tapping his foot against the floor, staring at the clock on the wall as it ticked away slow minutes - and I was watching the office door for any hint or sign that someone was about to come through it and talk to us.
The reality of what had happened was sinking in again as the normalcy we had shared at the zoo started to slip away.
I'm pretty sure all of us were ready to find out who was behind the break-ins and further, the motive behind them. I mean... why would anyone risk getting thrown in jail to destroy someone's personal belongings. Even without that consequence, what would make someone want to go to those lengths?
What did they get out of it? What had we done to make them want to do it in the first place?
Of course I was upset about the things that all of us had lost but I was very grateful that none of us were there when it happened. It was obvious that this person had quite a few chemical imbalances to break in in the first place; what would they have done to us had we been at home?
A part of me thought that, perhaps it wouldn't even had happened had we not left London. That thought made me feel horrible, because I was the one who was behind all of us going to New York. But then again, what if whoever did had different motives than just breaking in? What if they had intended to kill all of us?
I couldn't let that thought linger. I was already terrified of the scary side of the Phandom. If I kept thinking like that, I would end up having even more night terrors about them.
The sound of the door opening made me gasp and jump in my seat a bit, but no one seemed to have noticed because all eyes were on Detective Brams and Detective Curtis who were walking in, each of them carrying a couple of cups of coffee.
"We're sorry we kept you waiting," Detective Curtis spoke up after he kicked the door shut. "We were questioning the suspect," he told us as he and Detective Brams started handing each of us a cup.
"It took a little longer than usual because she's a juvenile," Detective Brams rolled his eyes. "We had to wait for her parents to come in."
Woah, woah, woah. A juvenile?
A fucking child did this?! I mean, okay, I would probably still consider myself to be a child too. I still watched cartoons and used my fingers to count things... But I was at least legal. I didn't need my parents to sign papers for me.
All of our eyes were huge as we looked between each other and back at the detectives. It was obvious that I wasn't the only person who was completely shocked by this statement.
Should I have been?
Probably not. But for some reason, I was completely baffled.
"A juvenile? You mean a twelve year old broke in to our apartments?" Dan asked sounding as shocked as he looked.
The detectives looked at eachother then looked back at Dan. "Not exactly," Detective Curtis shook his head. "The suspect confessed to creating the website but denies any allegations that she was the person who broke into your homes."
"Of course, this is still under investigation, but she claims that she has an alibi, as do her parents. They're in the process of getting more people in to prove that there was no way she could have done it," Detective Brams added.
"What about the photographs she posted on tumblr?" I spoke up. "She obviously followed us around and knew where we lived and even our schedules... Isn't that enough proof?"
"She denies those allegations as well. She says that she was paid by an anonymous source to post everything that was posted and took no part in the act of taking the photographs or breaking into the apartments," he sighed. "We will have her laptop soon to go through everything to see if there's a way to track the anonymous person but it seems that whoever it is was rather clever about covering his or her tracks."
"What the actual fuck?" Cat sighed as she leaned back in her chair and shook her head. "This is insane."
"Why on earth would anyone pay another person to post things about us? We're Youtubers, not the bloody royal family," Phil spoke up sounding as baffled as we all were.
"It's bizarre, I know," the Detective replied. "There's another thing," he cleared his throat, "she would like to speak with all of you."
"Why?" Cat asked. "I'm not sure that I want to speak with anyone who would throw someone's personal life across the internet for a few bucks."
"That's what I told her," Detective Brams mumbled under his breath before taking a sip of his coffee.
Detective Curtis sighed, "She was sounded very remorseful when speaking to us. That's another reason it took quite a bit, she wouldn't stop crying. She was sobbing, saying she had betrayed her family?" he laughed, shrugging. "We told her that we don't usually let suspects speak to anyone until there is some kind of hearing. Normally they wouldn't want to anyways. But it's up to you guys."
"I don't blame you if you don't want to," Brams cleared his throat. "I'd leave her to feel like shit."
Detective Curtis rolled his eyes at his partner. "Look, there's no pressure, but you might be able to get more detail out of her than we could. We don't really understand this whole internet culture thing... We had never even heard of this tumblr thing until we met your lot."
I don't know exactly what made me do it. Maybe it was the thought of finally finding out who was behind all of this. But I cleared my throat.
"I'll talk to her," I said, breaking the silence that had surrounded us. I could feel Cat, Dan, and Phil looking at me but I was focused on Detective Curtis. "She's restrained though, right?"
"Are you sure?" Phil asked, reaching over to pick my hand up. "Do you want me to come with you?"
I shifted my eyes over at him and nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure.. and you don't have to if you don't want to come," I told him.
"She's not restrained," Brams spoke up. "But we'll be on the other side of the wall, so if-"
"Please come," I said to Phil, interrupting the detective.
I felt like I had just signed up to walk into a lion's den.
But Phil knew stuff about lions.
Oh what the hell am I even talking about? I really needed sleep.
Phil squeezed my hand and moved to stand up and I followed his lead.
"Do either of you want to come?" Detective Curtis asked, looking between Cat and Dan.
"That'd be a bad idea for either of us," Cat spoke up quickly. "He has issues controlling his mouth and I'm known for having a bit of a temper."
Detective Brams laughed. "Good judgement call. I'd hate to have to arrest either of you after the shit you've had to deal with."
"You two sit tight. We'll be back soon," Detective Curtis told them before opening the door.
I glanced at Cat and Dan one last time before following the detectives out of the room with Phil following behind me.
We walked through several corridors and got onto an elevator and went up a couple of floors before we got to the room the girl was waiting inside.
I could see her through the two way mirror with her face buried against her hands and she looked like she was crying.
Or maybe she was laughing.
Laughing an evil laugh.
Because she was going throw a chair at one of our faces and then try to kill us.
Woah, Leila, calm down.
"Basically, what I suggest you guys do, is ask her the basic things that we asked.. Like how she met the anonymous source, if the source told her anything, things like that."
"Ms. Lloyd," Detective Brams said as he opened the door. "We've got two people who would like to speak with you," he told her as he stood to the side so Phil and I could walk in.
The girl looked up at us and I swear she couldn't have been any older than 16. She certainly didn't look like an insane person.
But looks could be deceiving.
She was sitting at a table with a cup of coffee in front of her. It looked so much like the stuff you see in cop shows when someone gets put in an interrogation room.
Phil and I sat across from her and then there was just silence. I don't think any of us really knew what to say.
Finally, she spoke up. "I'm so sorry," she said as she looked up from her coffee cup. "I know that probably doesn't mean much but I am. I never thought things would go this far."
"Why would you agree to do something like this?" Phil asked but it wasn't in a harsh tone or anything. Part of me very randomly wondered if he would be that calm if we ever had kids and they did something really stupid.
She sniffled. "They were paying me one hundred pounds per post," she replied. "That's a lot of money and I guess-" she paused, "I guess I didn't let myself think of how wrong it really was. I needed that money. I don't have the grades to get any help financially and my Mum will never have the money to pay for me to go to uni. I swear, I never would have done it if I knew that whoever it is would do something that crazy."
I pushed my hair behind my ear and tried my best to keep my poker face on. I don't know why, but I kind of felt bad for her. What she did was wrong, but she was young. I did a lot of stupid shit when I was her age.
I still do stupid shit.
Nothing like this. But still.
"I know you've been in here for hours being hounded for answers, but I want you to tell us what happened. Exactly what happened. Starting with how you even came in contact with this person. I think you owe us that much," I was surprised at how calm I was being.
She nodded and took a deep breath. "I got a random tumblr message a few weeks ago from this person. Their url was a bunch of jumbled letters and they had no picture. They'd reblogged a couple gifs of Dan and Phil and that was all that was on their blog They were asking if I watch Dan and Phil's videos. Seeing if I was a big fan or whatever. I didn't really think much of it. Then they asked if I would be willing to help them out. I asked with what and they said that they had a bunch of rare photos of you all that they wanted to post but they didn't really know how to work tumblr quite well. Looking back on it I guess I should've seen through that," she sighed. "I told them I would tell them how to do things on tumblr and they said they'd rather me do it for them and they'd pay me to run the blog. At that point I figured it was someone fucking with me and told them to fuck off but they said the could prove it. I gave them my email and they put one hundred pounds into my account just to prove they were serious." She picked up her cup of coffee and took a sip. I could see that her hand was shaking. "So, I figured it was legit at that point and seeing that money just made me think that I'd gotten very lucky and maybe this was my ticket to have the money I needed. They send me instructions on what they wanted the tumblr page's name to be. When I made it, the layout did not have the photo of the apartment in the background. Whoever got me to do all of this apparently edited that later on. I didn't mess with the layout at all after the first day. All I did was post pictures. Everyday after that there'd be pictures in my email for me to post and every time I did it, I'd get money put into my account." She stopped again and ran her fingers through her hair. "I got to a breaking point though. I didn't like posting the photos. They were an invasion of all of your privacy and I felt disgusting for doing what I was doing. So, when they sent me your addresses to post, I refused. They didn't say anything to me. They shut down the tumblr they were messaging me from and the next day I got on to see your addresses in the middle of the shitstorm as well as the photo of your apartments on the background of that page which they'd changed the login info on so I couldn't get in to delete anything. I don't know if they convinced someone else to do it or did it themselves. But I never got a name and the they sent me money from has been deleted."
I was baffled further by all of that.
Phil and I both just sort of stared at her as we processed that. I couldn't come up with something to say.
"Wow," Phil finally broke the silence. "That's all really...bizarre."
"You have to believe me. I-"
"I believe you," he interrupted her. "What you did wasn't right and I see that you know that. I just wish there was a way we could figure out who this person is and why they would go through so much trouble to do all of this."
"I've told them they can take my laptop and see if they can trace anything," she told him. "I'm willing to help however I can."
"Thank you," Phil offered a small smile.
"Is there anything else you two would like to ask?" Detective Brams spoke up.
"I would like to tell you both how sorry I am. I wish I could take it all back," Tia said, sounding like she was about to cry again. "Please tell Dan and Cat that too. I never meant to hurt any of you."
"I'll be sure to tell them," I told her. "
We all make mistakes," I smiled weakly. "Don't beat yourself up about it. You learned from this one and it will make you a better person for it."
At least we knew there would be one less person invading people's private lives now.
Detective Brams led us out of the interrogation room and back to the office where Cat and Dan were waiting for us. Phil and I explained what Tia had told us and they seemed just as mind boggled as we did, which wasn't surprising. I mean, Phil had a point - why would anyone care to go through so much trouble to leak photos of us? We weren't the royal family.
Detective Brams told us that they hadn't learned anything new from our little chat with the girl and then asked if any of it was significant to us. We all agreed pretty quickly that it wasn't. They told us that they would be in contact with us in the couple of days if anything turned up once they got a chance to look over her laptop. After that we were sent to have our prints checked to make sure that the ones they had found didn't belong to any of us.
Once that was finished, we were free to go.
8 months later
"Phil! Dan drew a penis on our marker board in the kitchen again!" I called out as I opened the door to grab a bottle of water. "It's extra detailed this time. Veins and everything."
"I actually drew that one," Phil said as he walked into the kitchen. "I told him his drawing skills were horrible and if he insisted on us having a penis on our fridge that it should look like an actual penis."
What the fuck is my life?
Perfection. That's what it is.
To say that we had all bounced back from the freak show at the beginning of the year would have been an understatement. Things were even better now than they were back then.
Thanks to Phil, of course.
We had settled into our new apartments about a month after being forced out of our old ones; and instead of being a few doors down from Cat and Dan we were literally across the hall from them.
We never found out who broke into our old places - but that entire situation was so far behind us that it seems like it never even happened.
The pictures that were destroyed had been replaced with new ones. The video that Phil had made me had also been replaced by one he made for me for Valentine's day. He calls it The real Valentine's day video. More memories shared between us, and Cat and Dan had been made.
"I have no words," I laughed as I twisted the cap off of my bottle of water. "Are you finished filming yet?" I asked before taking a sip of it and pushing myself onto the kitchen counter to sit down.
I was taking a much needed break from writing because my eyes had started crossing from the amount of hours I had been staring at my computer screen.
No, I still hadn't finished writing my second novel. But I was close.
I mean, a couple of pages left, close, but I just couldn't figure out how to end it.
"I'm waiting on Dan to get his lazy ass over here so we can finish it up," he replied as he stepped between my legs. "How is writing going?" he asked while he wrapped his arms around to my back and leaned forward to kiss my shoulder.
"Ughhhh," I groaned and threw my head back. "Horrible! I haven't even been writing. I've been staring at the document. Any typing you heard was me smashing the keyboard," I told him as I sat the bottle down beside me. "I just can't end it," I sighed.
He moved his hands up to my shoulders and began massaging them. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Ahhh. That," I moaned a little. I hadn't even realized how tense I was. I'm not sure if it was because of stress and frustration or the fact that I had been sitting in a chair in the same position for the better part of five hours.
"Maybe I should just give it a rest for a little while," I rested my head against the cabinet behind me. "And maybe put on actual clothes," I laughed as I looked down at myself. I was wearing yoga pants and a tank top, looking like I'd just come from the gym... only I don't even go to the gym. "Do you need help with anything?" I offered as I lifted my head up. I'd gotten kind of good at video editing over the last couple of months of living with Phil and hanging out with Dan.
"No. Unless you want to get naked and cover yourself in waffles because I'm hungry but would also like to have sex with you," he grinned as he leaned in and pressed his lips against mine.
Obviously Phil hadn't changed a bit.
Of course Dan picked that moment to knock on the door.
"To be continued," he winked at me and kissed my forehead before walking away to let Dan in. "Leila, Dan brought something for you!" I heard Phil call out a few seconds later.
I was hopping down from the counter to see what it was when Cat walked in. She was supposed to be working all day. "Don't get your hopes up. It's just me," she laughed. "I got off work early so I figured I'd come bug you while the boys do their thang."
"Oh thank God," I sighed. "I love both of them so much but they're no fun when they're working on their videos," I smiled at her as I grabbed my bottle of water.
"Like you're any fun when you're writing, Mrs. 'SHHHHHH," Dan called out from the living room.
Obviously Dan hadn't changed either.
I rolled my eyes but didn't even attempt to say anything back because he had a point. I shh'd people nonstop when I was trying to write.
"Did you have fun with One Direction?" I asked as we moved over to the dining room table to sit down. I closed my laptop and pushed it away from myself so I could actually focus on Cat and not stare at the screen hoping that the right words to finish my book would come to me.
"Oh my God," she started laughing as she sat down next to me. "Okay. So, I walk in and one of them turns around and looks at me all weird and goes, "Oh hey! You're Whiskers!"." She unlocked her phone and handed it to me to show me a photo of her with them. "They watch Dan and Phil's videos," she laughed. "It was so fucking weird but cool. Dan won't admit it but I think he's feeling quite flattered."
I looked down at the picture before handing the phone back to her. "I'm actually jealous. I want to meet One Direction... even though I only know that one song from like two years ago," I laughed. "Phil tries to act like he didn't fangirl when he met them but I know he did. They're so... dreamy," I fanned my face dramatically.
"Well, they know who you are too," she grinned at me. "They were talking about how funny they thought you and I were and said we should make videos like the boys do. They probably wanna do you. I'd totally tap that."
"I heard that!" Phil's voice came from down the hall and Cat rolled her eyes, laughing.
"I wouldn't want to do any of them, though. Their fans are batshit crazy. So that's a deal breaker," I rolled my eyes. "Oh, did you see the save the date cards I e-mailed to you at around 4 this morning while I wasn't sleeping like a normal person?" I asked. "I know we have fifteen months until your wedding, but," I shrugged. "Mom told me that we needed to get all of this taken care of now."
"Yes I did!" she said excitedly then clapped her hands. "I was lying in bed checking my emails before I got up to get ready for work and I sort of squealed and woke Dan up," she laughed. "Oops. I got excited. Have you slept at all?"
"I fell asleep for a couple of hours earlier. Phil woke me up because I fell asleep right here," I laughed then shook my head. "Then he started filming so going back to sleep wasn't a real option," I rubbed my face before letting my hands fall onto my lap. "Can you tell I'm running off of fumes and coffee?"
"Awww, bless your heart," she reached over and pet my hand. "Well, do you think I could help at all? I can make you some coffee and cookies!"
"COOKIES!" Phil yelled.
"No, but cookies would be good," I yawned and nodded. "So would coffee," I looked at the table where my bottle of water was sitting. "I don't even know why I'm drinking this," I laughed. "I guess so I don't break my kidneys or something."
Break my kidneys?
What the fuck am I even talking about?
"Can you make Malteser cookies again, babe?" I heard Dan yell from wherever he and Phil were at.
She rolled her eyes but was grinning. "Yes, baby," she replied as she pushed back from the table. "Is it totally lame that I still wanna have little fangirl moments when he calls me babe or baby? I'm gonna marry the dude and I still get giddy over him. I'm thinking that's a very good thing though." She walked over to the coffee maker and turned around to look at me. "Which kinda Cat coffee is needed here? Like meth strength?" she laughed.
I smiled over at her and kind of got lost in a trail of thoughts about what she had just said.
It had almost been a year since we came to London, which meant that both of our one year anniversaries were coming up - and still yet a lot of this didn't seem real sometimes. You would think after a while you would get used to how much your life has changed. But it was like every day I would sit and think about all of it and find myself smiling like a fool over it.
Firstly, my dreams had come true, and so had my best friend's. She was an important photographer bringing in well over six figures every year and I was a published writer who had that much sitting in the bank.
It wasn't about the money, though, it certainly was a nice perk. Especially since we both had nothing this time last year and were busting our asses just to pay our rent.
And more importantly, and much less expected, we were both in love. Not only that, but who we ended up with were best friends! It couldn't have been more perfect.
Plus, Cat was engaged!
Cat was getting married in 13 months.
It was wild. All of this.
"Earth to Lele... Did you fall asleep with your eyes open again?" Cat laughed, shaking me out of the trance I'd fallen into.
"What?" I looked over at her. "Oh, no, sorry. I was having a moment," I laughed. "Meth with a side of Coke strength, please."
"Got ya," she laughed. "I'm gonna have to go break into the Malteser's drawer at the apartment real quick. That shouldn't take long to finish," she told me as she walked out of the kitchen.
"Baby! I need the key!" Cat yelled as she walked towards the hallway.
"Dammit, Catherine Radley!" Phil yelled back.
"Oops," she laughed. "I forgot y'all were filming."
I heard shuffling against the floor before I heard Dan speak. "Are you going to get the Maltesers?" he asked and I heard something jingling. I'm assuming it was their keys.
"No," I heard Cat reply. "I'm going to go meet up with my secret boyfriend for a quickie."
"Which is code for she's grabbing the double headed dildo and we're going to have sex on the couch," I informed him.
"Phil, I think we've got more important things to film right now than SAP," Dan responded.
Cat laughed. "Oh yeah. That'd get some views and yes I am going to go get the Maltesers. Try not to miss me too much."
"I'll do my best," he responded and I heard what I knew was him kissing her.
I smiled to myself again. They were so cute. Even after a year, they were acting like they'd just started dating. That's how into each other they still were.
It made me happy.
"Thanks. I have a lady boner now," I heard her say before the door closed. The apartment was already starting to smell like yummy coffee. She really must have made that shit really strong.
"Is the coffee ready?" Phil asked as he walked down the hallway. "Is that the meth strength kind?"
"Huh?" I looked up at him but about two seconds later I realized what he had said. "Oh yeah, it's Meth with a side of Coke," I grinned. "It smells so good. My best friend has some skills."
He walked over to me and ran his fingers through my hair as he bent down to kiss the tip of my nose. "I hope you attempt to take a nap at some point. I can tell you're exhausted."
I looked up at him and wrinkled my nose, still grinning at him. "I am, but I was thinking just then," I explained. "About how happy I am for Cat, and how cute she and Dan are," I nodded as I reached out for his hands. "And that it's almost been a year since we met and how insane all of this still is," I sighed happily. "And how, a year from now they'll be Mr. and Mrs. Howell. It's so crazy."
"It is very crazy," he nodded, smiling down at me. "It's insane to think of how much our lives have changed over the past year. It's been an amazing year though. That's for sure," he said before kissing my lips. "Maybe one day we'll be Mr. and Mrs. Lester," he winked at me before walking towards the kitchen.
"Maybe," I smiled, resting my cheek against my palm as I watched him grab a couple of cups from the cabinet. Nothing really made me happier than the possibility of that. Marrying him one day.
I wasn't in any kind of a hurry for it to happen, but if he asked, I would say yes.
I would have said yes months ago, though, so of course I would say it now.
"Leila, stop giving Phil that creepy smile while he's not looking," Dan said out of no where and I glanced over my shoulder to see that he was filming me.
"Never," I laughed as I turned my attention back to Phil, watching him like a creepy person.
Dan sat down at the table with me and kept the camera on me. "How's the writing going? Are you ever going to tell us what your book is about?"
"When I'm done," I answered him without looking at him. "Although," I glanced over at him, "I think I should make you guys read it after all of the hard work I've put into it," I said jokingly.
"I've been dying to read it," Phil said in a dramatic voice. "She won't let me and it's driving me mad! Mad, I tell you! I'll have that whole thing read in a day."
"I think all of you will, honestly," I raised my eyebrows as I glanced from Phil over to Dan.
"Someone is cocky," Dan made a ridiculous duck face as he rolled his neck. "I probably won't even have to read it. I'm sure Cat will be giving me a play by play. Also, thanks for making her squeal this morning. I loved waking up to that."
"I'm not cocky," I commented. I just knew things about the book that they had no idea about. "And you're welcome," I smiled. "I'm very excited about your wedding. If it were possible, I think I may be more excited than Cat is. I love weddings. I can't wait until she goes dress shopping."
Dan smiled. He looked more excited than he would ever allow himself to own up to. He wasn't your manly-man, but he was still a man. I don't think any man would start freaking out like a woman over their wedding day. "She's been browsing around online," he told me as he sat his camera down and turned it off. "Said she's trying to get an idea of the kind of dress she wants."
"I'm so glad she didn't pick some awful colors for the wedding or something," Phil said as he walked into the room. He sat down a cup of coffee in front of me before sitting down. "Of course, it's Cat. I wasn't expecting her to choose like bubble gum pink and cotton candy blue," he laughed. "I look good in purple and black. Good choices."
I heard the front door open and close then Cat came walking back in, her arms full of things for baking. "I brought my dvd of Beetlejuice that came in today if y'all wanna watch it later," she said as she sat all of the stuff down in the kitchen.
"How could we not want to watch Beetlejuice?" Phil asked her, smiling.
"Temporary insanity," she shrugged, grinning. We all had mega boners for Tim Burton movies. "What have y'all been doing since i left?"
"Getting all jacked up on your coffee," I told her as I sat my coffee mug back down. I could already feel myself waking up. That's how strong that shit was. I'd never done Meth, but I'm guessing it was easily comparable to it. "And talking about your wedding. But what else is new?" I laughed.
We literally had not shut up about it since Dan had proposed.
Or, well, I hadn't at least.
"I was actually thinking it might be time to let everyone else know," Dan spoke up. "We gave the massive shit storm more than enough time to settle, and we haven't had anything bizarre happen since new years."
A really loud noise which obviously came from something hitting the floor sounded out from the kitchen and we all turned to see Cat standing there gawking at Dan. "Seriously?"
"Did you just drop your soul or something?" Phil laughed.
"If my soul is a baking pan, yes," she laughed as she walked into the dining room and over to Dan. "Are you sure you want to do that?"
Dan nodded at her, "So long as you want to. If you don't feel comfortable with it, that's fine too," he smiled. "I just figured we should, since we actually have a date set and we're starting on planning everything." He shrugged and reached out for her left hand. "Plus, I want more people to know."
She sighed. "Well, I have a problem with it." Phil and I looked at her like she was crazy. "I mean, it's going to be really hard for me to just announce to everyone that the man of my dreams wants to marry me." She started to grin towards the end of what she was saying.
"Such a troll," Phil laughed, shaking his head.
"I'm down for announcing it whenever though," she shrugged.
"How about now?" Dan kept his eyes on her as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. "I think a nice little tweet should do the trick."
He didn't wait for a reply from her before he started composing a tweet.
I picked up my phone and opened up the twitter app that I never used because I still didn't have a twitter account and started typing in Dan's name into the search bar to see what he had done.
Dan Howell (danisnotonfire) Catwhiskers are those wedding bells I smell? 15 months and you'll officially be a Howelling Cat! :)
Cat peeked over his shoulder to read the text and her girly giggle flew out of her mouth before she squealed and then flapped her arms a bit. It was a mini fangirl moment. "I feel an overwhelming need to scream," she laughed and then grabbed Dan's face, kissing him deeply and giving no fucks about Phil and I sitting there.
I looked at Phil and he was looking at me with his nose scrunched up like he was grossed out. "Maltesers cookies!" he slapped his hand against the table and Cat started laughing as she pulled away from Dan.
"Calm your tits, Philertons," she pointed at him. "I'll make Leila smack you."
I picked up my coffee cup again and started to take a drink just as both of them looked over at me. "Ahhh, this coffee is great," I deflected the subject of smacking Phil, and Phil probably expecting me to take up for him. "That was cute, by the way," I looked over at Dan. "I'm actually proud. If I had a twitter account I would RT the shit out of it."
Dan grinned over at me but didn't say anything at first, as his phone kept vibrating. I'm guessing he was getting loads of alerts on twitter.
"Thanks," he finally said, sitting his phone down. "Ugh, I don't even want to edit the SAP," he groaned, planting his face against the table. "So. Lazy."
I couldn't stop myself from laughing. "Dan, you never edit the SuperAmazingProject. Phil does."
He lifted his head up a little before actually sitting back up. "Oh yeah. Have fun with that, Phil."
"So when are we going dress shopping?" I looked into the kitchen where Cat was at, preparing to bake delicious cookies. "Should I try to find some stores for us to go visit?"
"Oh my vagina," she said in a dramatic voice. "Wedding gown shopping in London. My can is broken," she laughed. "I have looked around but nothing stuck out to me. I think we should go to a bunch of stores one day when we're both free so finding some stores will be good. I already know what I want your dress to look like though."
"Do I get to see the dress?" Phil asked sounding a little too excited about it.
"Psh!" Cat laughed. "Phil, you're my bff with a penis and I love you with all my heart but I know that if that one," she pointed towards Dan with a spoon, "starts bugging you about what my dress looks like then you'll eventually cave because Dan has the power to be an annoying little turd," she laughed. "And yes, that means I'm doing all that stupid shit where Dan can't see my dress until the wedding. I'll also be wearing something old, new, borrowed, and blue. All that jazz."
"He can't see you at all!" I squealed. "It's bad luck.. or something, for the groom to see the bride before she walks down the aisle on her wedding day."
Dan was still sitting there with a pouty face from where Cat had called him an annoying turd. "Don't tiptoe around my feelings then," he said, trying not to laugh and look as serious as possible, but he ended up grinning. "I think I can deal without seeing the dress," he shrugged. "Do I get to have a bachelor party?" he asked, perking up a bit.
I looked over at Cat again and laughed. "I'm totally planning your bachelorette party," I told her then furrowed my brows. "Wait... we don't have any friends that could come. Unless you invite some of the girls from People, or some of your friends from Louisiana."
"Or we could all fly down to New Orleans and have our parties there," Cat suggested with an evil grin. "Oh shit. That'd be so crazy," she laughed.
Phil gasped. "I want to go to New Orleans!" He turned to look at me and grabbed my hand. "Can we go to New Orleans? I want to go to New Orleans!"
"Oh God," I started laughing. "Do you remember the last time we went to New Orleans? Because I hardly do..." I shook my head, but not at Phil, just at the very vague memories I had of the last time we'd gone there. "It is the perfect place for getting way too drunk, which I suppose is the point of those kinds of parties, so I'm down."
"Yes!" Dan said sounding victorious. "My first thought was Vegas, but I've heard about New Orleans. That's where they have Mardi Gras at, right? Does that happen around the time we'll be going there?"
"That happens in February and we're getting married in November," Cat laughed. "Though that would kick ass. We could make two trips. I'm sure Mom and Dad wouldn't mind seeing us. You guys should see if PJ and Chris are down for it."
"Will we get to see where you used to live?" Phil asked.
"Phil's a creeper!" Cat yelled.
He laughed. "No I'm not! I just want to see. You guys were all about seeing where I lived."
"Yeah, cause it's creepy like the house from the Shining," Cat laughed.
I looked away from Cat and Phil's little.. whatever the hell, and over to Dan to see him opening my laptop. "NO!" I gasped and lunged at him. "What are you even doing?!" I said as I pulled it away from him. I'm not sure why I was freaking out so badly, because it was password protected.
"Woah," he held his hands up. "Calm the fuck down, yeah? I was going to check out airfare and hotel prices for Marde Gras," he told me before laughing.
I rolled my eyes and turned the computer around to face me so I could type in the password for him. I quickly went to Microsoft word and hit the save button at least five times before closing out of the document. "There," I turned it back around towards him. "Sorry, but I've got like half of my soul in that story. I can't let anything happen to it."
"Oh shit. Watch out. I know what Pholdy's last horcrux is. We can destroy it and make her mortal again," Dan said teasingly.
"How clever," I tried to sound annoyed but I ended up laughing because, almost a year later, his Pholedmort jokes were still funny. I sat back down and picked up my coffee mug again. "Are you making us dinner, too?" I asked Cat. "I want a burger. In-n-Out would be soooooo good right now," I sighed.
"All I do is slave around in this kitchen all damn day for you kids!" Cat yelled in an extremely southern sounding voice while flailing her arms above her head. "Damn youngins'."
"Did she just switch personalities?" Phil asked me, laughing.
"I became my Mom," she laughed. "When the hell are you two gonna get engaged? I mean, come on. Me and Dan are like way ahead of y'all." I looked over at Cat and she was grinning at me as she licked cookie dough off of a spoon.
Yes, it was as sexual looking as it sounds and she didn't mean to do it.
"Seriously," Dan said without looking up from my computer screen. "I expected you two to be engaged way before me and Cat."
Laughing, I shrugged and glanced over at Phil. "I don't know," I said, looking back at Cat. "I mean, I guess I could ask him to marry me... Get down on one knee and give him a giant piece of popcorn with a ring in the middle or something."
"He would probably think you're trying to give him a blow job," Dan laughed at himself. "Or get so excited over the massive piece of popcorn that he eats it whole, and then ends up finding the ring in his poop. Then he would be forever confused wondering how he ingested it."
"Hmm, that's lovely, Dan. Thank you for that," I shook my head.
"What the actual fuck, Dan?" Phil laughed shaking his head. "When I ask and I will," he said as he looked over at me. "It will be completely unexpected. Don't you all worry about it." He winked at me and Cat squealed like a fangirl.
"I ship you two so hard," she sighed happily.
I felt all nervous and excited and just - I needed a keyboard to smash.
"Are they your OTP?" Dan asked with a laugh.
"Yep," she giggled. "I need a Team Phileila shirt. They were my OTP before we even met y'all."
"What?" Phil asked her, shocked.
"Yeah, totally!" she said as she shut the oven. Ooo cookies would be coming soon. "I could just picture you two together," she shrugged. "Apparently I have a good eye for these things."
"Apparently," Phil said as he leaned over to kiss my cheek.
Damn it, Dan. Get the fuck off of my computer so I can smash the keyboard!
I had a big cheesy grin on my face and I'm sure they could all tell that I was trying my best not to let my internal fangirling become external.
"She's like Cupid," I finally calmed down enough to open my mouth without screaming. "And it's weird to look back on when you would shun me on Tumblr when I would send you a message or something," I laughed and rolled my eyes. "I would be like 'Cat, he HATES me! Everytime I say something he ignores it!" I said dramatically and made an ugly cry-grimace face. "Fangirl problems," I sighed.
"Oh God," Cat laughed as she walked back into the dining room. She sat down on Dan's lap instead of another chair and kissed the top of his head. "She really did do that," she told Phil. "I would try to help her come up with shit to send you so you would message her back but you were a snob."
"I was not!" he defended, laughing. "Awww, my sweetheart." He gave me his best pouty face as he leaned towards me. He pressed his lips against mine and smiled at me when he pulled back. "I hope that I make up for the unanswered tumblr messages now."
"Giving her the D more than makes up for it," Cat laughed.
"Another reminder of why you're going to be my wife," Dan said, grinning up at her.
"I don't know... That was pretty heartbreaking back then," I shook my head then grinned. "Just kidding. You made up for it a long time ago. It's almost like you never ignored me, now." I leaned forward and popped a kiss against his lips then stood up from my chair to go refill my coffee cup.
I heard my phone vibrating from the kitchen and stopped mid-pour so I could go check and see who or what it was. It's so weird. I hate talking to people but I am extremely obsessed with checking any kind of alert I get on my phone within the first three seconds of getting it.
I unlocked it as I walked back into the kitchen to see a text from Oliver telling me to check out the BBC Youtube channel whenever I got the chance.
I finished pouring my coffee and went to sit back down at the table with Phil, Cat, and Dan. "Are you done over there?" I asked before taking a sip of my coffee.
Dan looked over at me and rolled his eyes. "Calm down. We're almost done. We've found a hotel already, we're just looking for flight prices now," he said, already looking at the screen again. "And they're up. I say we go ahead and book everything. What do you think, babe?"
"I think we should but Mama and Daddy will refuse to let us stay at a hotel," she laughed. "They've got enough room for us to stay there. Trust me. We lived in an old plantation house."
"Even better," Dan said and then started typing.
Cat pulled her phone out of her pocket and held it over Dan's head as she looked up at it. The position they were in with him reaching around her to type and her holding her phone up was absolutely ridiculous looking.
"Oh shit," she laughed. "Tumblr has exploded, of course," she shook her head. "Can is real! No! No! Phan is dead?," she laughed, reading things out loud. "Some Phans are so hardcore they'll probably say Dan is marrying me as a cover up."
"I was thinking the same thing," I laughed. "I think that they learned their lesson though on going too crazy over the fact that you two are engaged."
There had been a few minor shit storms since the incident in January, but nothing too bad. I think the two month withdrawal period when Dan and Phil couldn't make videos because they had no equipment made a lot of people think twice about what they were doing or saying.
"I hope they did," Dan spoke up. "Not that I care, really."
He was so full of it. He tried to say that the things that people said about him and his relationship didn't bother him, but it was obvious to anyone who knew him that it did. "Also, we have our tickets reserved for New Orleans," he said proudly.
"Woo!" Phil raised his hands and did a little dance. Cat got up from Dan's lap and brought my laptop to me since Dan was done with it.
The scent of orgasmic cookies was taking over the entire apartment and Cat obviously noticed because she walked into the kitchen to check on them.
"We should probably go finish up," Phil sighed, sinking further down on his chair.
Dan groaned and did the same thing. "How about we eat some cookies first, yeah? Staring at the screen and typing in flight information has exhausted me. I need sugar and chocolate to energize me."
I was rolling my eyes as I opened up a new browser window. Those two were so lazy. I was too though.
I typed in BBC's youtube URL and glanced over at the kitchen to see that Cat was scooping the cookies off of the sheet. "Those are going to be so - AHHHH!" I squealed and slapped my hands against the table. I was looking back at my computer screen and could not believe my eyes.
Living Wilde (2014) - official trailer
"Oh my GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!" I screamed. I could see my reflection against the black video box and I noticed how big my eyes were.
I looked up to see that Phil and Dan looking at me like I was insane and I looked into the kitchen to see Cat looking at me like she was wondering what in the actual fuck just happened to me.
"The movie trailer is up!" I said excitedly, pointing at the screen with one hand and moving the other to my mouth, covering it up because I knew I was about to squeal again.
And I did.
Cat didn't even attempt to hide her squeal as she ran from the kitchen and over to me. She grabbed a chair and pulled it over so that she could sit next to me.
Phil was at my side just as quickly and Dan's tall, slow ass had managed to make it over as well.
"I think I'm gonna pee," Cat said as she grabbed my left hand.
"I think I already did!" I flailed my arms out, accidentally knocking my elbow into Phil's side. "Sorry! I'm just so excited!" I apologized.
"Well come on, play the bloody thing already!" Dan laughed, but before I could do anything he reached over me and moved the mouse so that the video would start playing.
I squealed again because fancy movie music started playing and there was a huge flash across the screen that showed Ben Barnes standing there looking 50 shades of fucking gorgeous. My fangirling was intensified because it was MY movie that we was playing in. Or well, my book that was turned into a movie. I don't know, but it was a great feeling.
Oliver had done a fan-fucking-tastic job on it. I could tell that much just from the trailer. There were flashes of guys making out, which normally wouldn't have done anything for me but it was Ben Barnes playing Oscar Wilde and I ship it, okay?
It flowed really well. Perfectly depicting the transformation of a guy living a really crazy double life; or as crazy as it could get back then. I could see the rise and fall of Oscar Wilde's life and the trailer only lasted for two minutes!
I seriously didn't know how I was going to manage waiting to actually see all of it.
The best part of it though - or well, the coolest part for me, was at the end, where it said based on a novel by Leila Faust.
IT SAID MY NAME!
I squealed again. "OH MY GOD!" I was so excited that I grabbed the first person that I saw, wrapped my arms around them and kissed them.
I'm really glad that it was Cat and not Dan. Not that it was a sexy kiss or anything.
I do think kissing Cat was relevant though. She was the one who had been with me through the entire process of writing that book, and pumping me full of chocolate when no one bought it.
She threw her arms around me and hugged me super tight. It was almost painful. I could hear her sniffle in my ear right before she pulled back to look at me and tears were streaming down her face. "I'm having a proud Mama bear moment or something," she laughed as she wiped her face. "Oh my God. That was so amazing. I'm so proud of you!"
"It looks beyond amazing, sweetheart," Phil added before picking up my free hand and kissing the top of it since I was in Cat's bubble and he couldn't access my face yet. "Seeing your name at the end of it made it even better."
"The only thing that could have made that better was if it said Lady Pholdemort instead of Leila Faust," Dan laughed at himself. "But really, that looks awesome. I wish it were coming out sooner... and oh my God, we know a celebrity now."
"I can't believe we actually just watched it!" I pulled away from Cat because I wanted to flail my arms again but I didn't want to accidentally punch her. I let out another squeal and turned to my right, because it was Phil's turn to get attacked. I grabbed him and forced him into a bone crushing hug while repeatedly popping kisses against his lips and then his face.
Once I got attacking Phil out of my system, I squeezed him a little tighter and let go of him and moved to stand up.
"Your turn!" I told Dan and then threw my arms around him. I felt his back pop. That's how hard he was getting squeezed, because that's how excited I was.
I was quite violent when I got too happy.
"Jesus on a jetski," he laughed, hugging me back. "I think you've broken a rib or two."
"Sorry!" I laughed with him as a I let go of him and stepped back. "I'm just so - ahhh!" I squealed again, flailing my arms and kicking my legs.
"Flipping the fuck out over the fact that you just got to see parts of your book you worked your ass off on come to life?" Phil asked, grinning at me.
"I'm gonna explode before the damn movie comes out," Cat said as she got up and headed back into the kitchen to finish up the cookies.
"When does it even come out?" Dan asked, looking at me as he followed Cat into the kitchen.
"Uhh..." I stopped flailing and suddenly looked really confused. "I have no idea."
"Really? You don't even know when YOUR bloody movie is coming out?" Dan shook his head. "If I had one coming out I would know every single detail about it."
"I'm about to find out," I told him, picking up my phone. I noticed that my hands were shaking as I tried to type out a text to Oliver.
You big beautiful man! asdfghjkl! I cannot! The trailer was FLAWLESS! WHEN WILL I GET TO SEE THE REST OF YOUR MASTERPIECE?!
Cat carried the plate of cookies into the dining room and I reached out to grab one. Of course my mind was all hazy and I ended up knocking my cup of coffee over with my stupid elbow. I couldn't even get annoyed though.
"Oh shit!" I crammed the cookie into my mouth and jumped up to save my laptop from the coffee flood. I closed it and sat it down on one of the empty chairs before getting up to grab a rag out of the kitchen.
"She's so excited she's just flinging coffee all over the apartment," Phil joked before taking a bite of his cookie. "Oh muh goff," he mumbled through the bite while rolling his eyes back like he was in extreme pleasure.
"Obviously Phil likes the cookies," Cat laughed as she sat down on one of the chairs at the table. "Gah, I can't get over how good that trailer was. We have awesome lives, guys. For sure."
I walked back to the table and started wiping up the huge mess I'd made all over it. "I know," I said, still sounding very excited. "You're a bigshot photographer, my name is stamped at the end of a movie trailer, Dan is up for the hottest lad award, AGAIN, and Phil is-"
"The luckiest man on the planet," he interrupted me and I looked over to see him grinning at me. I wanted to lean over and start attacking his face with kisses again, because he was too cute to handle.
I went back into the kitchen and tossed the rag into the sink and came back to take a seat at the table with everyone else. I noticed that my phone was flashing and I unlocked it to see that I had a new message from Oliver.
"In the first couple of weeks in February," I announced, looking up from my phone.
"New Orleans and the movie premier in one month?" Phil spoke up. "It looks like that is going to be a very interesting month."