Signed, KB722

Epilogue

How on Earth I ended up on Mornings with Mona is a miracle in itself. After finally revealing to the guys that I, Penelope Juliette Dennis, am the person behind KoalaBear722 and the thousands of email back and forth, they revealed it to the whole world. Basically, their sixty million followers on Instagram all found out the next morning when they posted a picture of me with the five of them and the caption "The wait is over. Here's the amazing girl behind KoalaBear722". From there, it spread from Instagram to Facebook to Twitter, and by noon that next day, Mona Eschling, the host of Mornings with Mona, wanted me to come on the show when the guys came back from tour at the end of March.

And, today is that day. I'm currently standing backstage with the guys, listening to them compare Nacho Cheese Doritos and Chili Cheese Fritos. Loudly, I might add. We're lucky our body mics aren't on yet, because this is a really stupid argument.

"Come on, you can't tell me Nacho Cheese Doritos taste better than Chili Cheese Fritos." Alex, if I wasn't your girlfriend, I'd wring your neck. Then again, I might anyways. We've been dating since the wedding and it's mostly been great. Sometimes, though, there are moments like this when I just want to slap some sense into all his bandmates. We've been doing the long distance thing since they left, texting and calling whenever we were both available.

"All of you need to shut up before we go on stage, understood?" I bark at all of them and they instantly shut up. Their silent nods are more than enough to tell me they're intimidated into silence. I have a lot of dirt on all of them, so making me angry or upset is not a wise decision.

"All of you head out when the light turns green." A stage manager whispers, pointing to the red light just above the doorway to the stage. Miraculously, the guys all stay quiet until the light turns green. I feel like I should be at least a little nervous, but this is the fourth talk show I've done on this topic, so it's nothing new anymore.

"And here are our six amazing guests, please give it up for Silent Heart and Penny Dennis!" The live audience is more than loud enough to shake the building as the six of us wave towards the crowd and the cameras. Man, there are a lot of people in the audience, but it's no more than the other ones I've been on.

"So, I have to admit, I don't know a lot of the story behind all of this. How exactly did this all happen?" Mona asks, sitting across from the six of us who are spread across two couches.

"I think Penny's the best to explain this." Thanks for throwing me under the bus, Huntley.

"It all started almost seven years ago. I was absolutely obsessed with their covers on YouTube and commented on each song as I watched them. Somehow, by a miracle, I managed to be the first to comment on their first original song. 'Blacklight' was what it was originally called, but it changed a bit after they got signed and ended up being 'Midnight Dancing'." Some of the crowd cheers when they hear that name. It's the first single they ever formally released with Shining Star. "The original version was better, in my opinion. Anyways, after I commented, they somehow tracked my email down on YouTube, emailing me only maybe an hour after I posted the comment. And the rest is history."

"Full disclaimer, she commented on every song we posted. And Hunter over here actually made us check." Are you still salty about that seven years later, Rich?

"I'd say that is a lot of commitment. Penny, a lot of people have been asking if you're dating anyone." That would be because Nat has threatened the other three hosts not to ask that question. To save it for this talk show, actually. She figured Alex and I should reveal we're dating together, instead of when he's halfway across the country.

"Much to everyone's surprise, including my own, I'm dating one of the four guys that is not married." Because it's pretty damn obvious I'm not dating Trev.