Behind The Camera

Chapter Six

"Alright messiest night you've ever had?" Harry asked me as we as we walked along the streets eating kebabs.

"Oh god... Well... I was 19 and had just gotten dumped by my high school boyfriend of four years. My best friend convinced me to come to this party with her, keep in mind I hadn't gone to many parties because of him."

"Wanker." Harry interjected, making me laugh.

"So I get to this party and I'm drinking whiskey and coke and she's making the drinks for me, so they're way too strong. I played every single drinking game that I could until I ended up passing out on some random trampoline down the road from the party."

Harry is bent over laughing at this point and it feels good to know that I can make him laugh like this.

"Thankfully drunk me picked a house where nobody was home so I didn't have to deal with the awkwardness of that in the morning. But my phone had died while I was sleeping and when I went back to the house the next morning the parents were kicking everybody out."

I took a break from storytelling and had a big bite of my kebab, really enjoying every ingredient hitting my taste buds.

"You know most girls wouldn't eat like that in front of a bloke." Harry pointed out and I took another big bite just to spite him before sticking my tongue out at him. He just laughed and took an even bigger bite of his kebab.

"Anyway so I had to walk home from this house, which was at least 5kms from my parents place and almost the entire way I'm taking breaks to throw up in the gutter, compose myself and then keep walking... It was a shambles." I say hiding my face in my hands.

"The walk of shame times ten." Harry added and I could only nod and shake the memory from my head.

We were walking along next to the Thames and it was such a calm and peaceful night that it almost looked pretty with all of the lights reflecting on it.

"Can I ask you something?" I said looking over at him strolling along next to me. He looked so good and it took everything in me not to jump his bones right then and there.

"Fire away!" He said and looked back at me.

"What is your life like? I mean, do you get many nights like this? Do you get to be... normal?" I asked and he sighed before answering.

"Yes and no. Life is never really normal anymore, just when I feel like it is I'll get a fan come up and ask for a picture and I'll get reminded that this is my life."

I tried to imagine the fame and the responsibilities that come with it and I knew I could never really understand.

"But it's not that bad, I've still had tonight for example, only four people came up to me throughout the pub crawl and nobody has come up to us while we've been walking."

"It might help that it's 2am." I added with a giggle.

He smiled.

"It's different though, I'm not sure how else to describe it. I'm kind of used to it now but sometimes I wish I could just live a day without being recognized."

He looked almost sad as he said this and I could see him shake the deep thoughts away, too much to think about on a night that had been a lot of fun.

"Well it's 2am and I'd place a solid tenner on the fact that nobody is going to recognize you now so let's do something completely normal." I said and walked over to the nearby stand of Boris Bikes.

We hired some bikes and rode along the Thames together, a bit unsteady from all of the alcohol but having a good time nonetheless.

Harry was trying to do a wheelie and failing miserably.

"I swear I can do one, just wait, just wait!" He said as he tried again and almost ended up tipping the bike over. He didn't try again after that.

Soon we reached my street which conveniently had a bike stand at the end of it and we placed our bikes back, both a little bit sweaty from the ride.

Harry gave me a piggyback to my door because I complained that my feet were hurting as soon as I got off the bike.

It was nice to have an excuse to put my arms around him and to feel him carry me with ease. I rested my head against the back of his as we walked and tried to take in how incredible the night had been.

I didn't really know what was happening between us and I didn't want to overthink things but I couldn't help it. Here I was getting a piggyback from a famous YouTuber, who seemed to genuinely want to spend time with me. I wondered if he could feel the butterflies in my stomach as we reached my front door.

He placed me down and I hesitated before reaching into my pocket for my keys.

"Thank you for tonight, I truly had an incredible time." I said as I slowly opened up my front door and stepped backwards inside.

"The pleasure's all mine." He replied as he stepped closer to me. The awkward demeanor back in full force.

I couldn't stop myself as I went on my tiptoes and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Goodnight Harry." I said as I pulled away and I knew that I was blushing, but I was glad to see that he had a bit of red on his cheeks too.

"Goodnight Hailey." He said with a small smile as he let me close the door on him.