catfish - muke

walks in new york

luke

nev and max called to say they'd arrive back at the apartment sooner than expected which meant amanda was really amanda and it was easy to prove it or amanda was catfishing me. thinking of either outcome made me a bundle of nerves, i desperately wanted it to be amanda, but i knew girls like her were too good to be true, so i was conflicted in whether i thought she was real or not. the duo wouldn't be back for another 30 minutes at the most, i pulled my coat on, one of the remaining camera men following suit and trailing after me to the entrance/exit of the apartment building.

we were greeted with the bustling streets of lunch time in new york, business men speed walking with coffee cups in their hand and a cell phone in the other, teens wandering around slowly, debating on where to eat for lunch, tourists stumbling around, being pushed around with the crowds of people, shoppers who were leisurely strolling, much to everyone else's annoyance, new york is a busy city and it being lunch time, made everyone more irritable, they just wanted to sit in a sushi place or mcdonalds, eat their lunch quickly before getting back to their job or education, and rich women without jobs taking up the area of side walk that had been cleared of the snow so they wouldn't get their precious jimmy choo shoes dirty caused everyone else to wish death upon the stupid egotistical women.

i decided it would be best to try and stay away from conflict with rich blonde women and stressed business men by walking on the snowy side of the path, i knew i'd be sprayed with slush from vehicles but it was better than having coffee thrown on myself and overly priced handbags being swung at me. the camera man followed me as best as he could, i was walking a bit too fast but i didn't care, i needed to get out of the stuffy apartment before i exploded and had a mental breakdown.

“are you nervous?” the balding camera man asked me curiously

“i don't wanna be, but i am, whoever amanda is has a hold on my heart and it sucks” i sighed, not wanting to have admitted that but it was too late to not say it

“would you have eventually told them you weren't this liam guy?” he questioned

i thought about his statement, would i have told them? “probably now” i answered honestly.

he left the conversation at that and i went back to walking too quickly and being sprayed with slush from the road. i had been watching my feet the whole time i was walking, watching the slushy snow soak my battered black vans which did need replacing but i couldn't bare to let go of them, i didn't know why, i just couldn't.

all it took was one scream from a fan to send a crowd of 50 girls and a few guys in my direction, all of them freaking out and asking for my picture and asking me to sign their album or whatever they had with them. even though there was only 50 of them it still felt like chaos, the camera man had been pushed out of the way by the fans and was filming the fiasco. i just needed to take pictures with all of them and look happy, which wasn't very hard. due to being so wrapped up in my thoughts i hadn't realised the group were now forming a line along the side of the side walk and a tallish boy was standing at the front, it didn't take me long to realise who it was and my face lit up immediately.

“mikey!” i chuckled at the older boy “you dyed your hair again dude”

“the blue went weird” he giggled

“stop bleaching it or you want have any left mike” i warned playfully, putting on a semi-serious face before laughing slightly “what're you doing here mate?”

“school trip” he shrugged “it sucked so i went for starbucks then i heard 'ohmygod its luke' and saw you”

“what's this, the 50th time we've met?” i asked

“60th actually lukey” he smiled, looking down

“only ten off, damnit” i pouted.

he pulled his iphone 6+ out of his denim jackets pocket and opened the camera up. he held his phone up, i smiled into the camera lens and he kissed my cheek, a light blush covering my cheeks.

“dm it to me” i told him

“of course babe” he winked at me before he walked towards the starbucks at the end of the street.

i took pictures with the other fans without a hitch, once i had finished i turned to the camera man and made sure he was okay, which he was. we both walked back to the apartment, walking at an appropriate speed so we wouldn't piss anyone off. the journey back felt shorter which was odd because i had been walking faster than most new yorkers did, i shrugged it off as we walked into the apartment to be greeted with nev and max, who looked at me like i was a lost puppy. i gulped nervously knowing where this was headed.