Many Miles Apart

20. Alfie

"Zoe?", I asked. Her picture on the screen wasn't moving, but I could tell that she was there, just sat still and not replying.
I sighed, told her I would talk to her later, and ended the call knowing that when she was in this mood, I couldn't change her mind on anything.
Pulling out my phone, I sent her a quick text.
You know that I love you so much, and I'm free for a few hours, please call me when you feel like talking X

Around half an hour later (that I had spent editing a video), my phone buzzed with a reply.
I'm sorry, I'll call you tomorrow, I love you X
With a smile, I put my phone down and went back to my laptop.

"So this is your third meet up?" Eric questioned, even though we both knew that it was.
I nodded.
We were waiting outside the back of one of the shops in a massive mall, alone. It was quiet and dingy, everything concrete with big yellow lines pasted onto the floor, the space lit up with a few pale lightbulbs. The inaccessible parts of a place like this, the bits that weren't designed for the public to see clearly weren't as pretty as their grand interiors. It seemed like a good metaphor to me- nothing was as perfect as it seemed.
"And it's your biggest by far- eight hours and hundreds of people", he continued.
I gulped. I felt a pit of fear in my stomach, which was weird, as I'd done hundreds of meet and greets, and I'd loved every second of them.
"Your staying with me for the whole time right?", I asked, trying to conceal my nervousness.
Eric laughed, his deep throaty voice booming. "Wow, the brave British boy is scared of a few screaming girls?", he chuckled, hitting me on the arm again. That was a habit that he really was going to have to break if I was to head back to England with both arms.
"No", I said defensively, rubbing my shoulder, then quickly added with a smile, "And there are boys as well as girls"
"Right", he said, putting his arms behind his back straitening up as a cleaner walked past, pushing a trolley in front of her.
Once she'd rounded the corner, he relaxed, checking his watch.
"Your due to head in now Alfie", he said.
"Ok", I replied, his strong Floridian drawl making my accent seem really posh.
Pushing the door open, I walked through to the room in which I was meeting everyone. The queue went wild. Screaming came from every direction and as well as feeling like I wanted to hide away, I also realised how much I loved meeting people.

Viewer after viewer came up to me and gave me a massive hug, some screaming, some crying, all smiling. I was amazed at how many people there were over here that watched my videos. It was just overwhelming.

"Oh my god!" The last girl came through the gate, her hand clasped over her mouth, her eyes wide. She was visibly shaking, and she looked like she was about to pass out.
"Hi, what's your name?", I smiled. She didn't reply immediately, just stood there in shock.
"Lacey", she finally squeaked, taking her hand away from her mouth. She was dressed in a white t-shirt that read 'wassup guys' on it, paired with skinny jeans. On her long mousy hair sat a 'sorry about my hair' beanie- my beanie.
"I can't believe it's you", she whispered. I smiled and pulled her into a hug, feeling her small body shivering.
"So Lacey", I said once we'd let go. "You're the last person in this meet up, and I always vlog the last person, if that okay with you?"
Her grin was so wide that it took up half of her face, and tears were spilling out of her eyes.
I took that as a yes, and pulled out my camera.
"So, as you guys know, I always vlog the last person, so this is Lacey", I said the the device in my hand, pointing it at the girl next to me.
"How long have you been waiting?", I asked.
"Six hours", she replied, waving at the black box.
"Six hours!", I exclaimed. "That's insane, thank you so much for coming"
"Thanks for being here", she whispered. I smiled and pulled her into another hug, before switching of the camera.

As soon as I reached the hotel, I grabbed my phone and called Zoe.
The line rang for ages, as I sat on my sofa waiting. Just as I was about to end the call, the ringing stopped.
"Hello?", she said, making it seem like she didn't know who was on the phone, but I knew that she must have seen my caller ID.
"Zoe", I said, hoping that she'd be in a better mood.
"Hi Alfie, do you want to Skype?", she said, sounding shockingly normal. "You're on speaker and Nala is going crazy hearing your voice", she laughed. I exhaled, so relieved that she wasn't mad anymore.
"Yeah ok, call me", I said, grinning from ear to ear.
"Ok", she replied, hanging up.
The Skype call came through a few minutes later, and Zoe seemed so happy, almost as if yesterday had never happened. Neither of us mentioned it, and it never came up in conversation, so I just went with it.
Around an hour later, my phone started to ring. I answered it, to find that Nick wanted me to come and meet him now at the conference hall. He didn't explain why, just said that it was urgent.
I said goodbye to Zoe, feeling bad at the look on her face when I said that I was leaving. She just seemed almost rejected, and I realised that maybe yesterday was still hurting her more than she showed, but she said goodbye and ended the call with a smile on her face.

The taxi took me to where I was meeting Nick in less than ten minutes. It was a good job that I was in the middle of the city, as nothing was too far away.

"Hey Alfie, thanks for coming at such short notice", Nick said once I'd entered the room.
We took a seat at the round table in the centre of the room. This was a lot smaller than the main meeting rooms, with just one wooden desk and 5 chairs surrounding it.
"It's fine, I wasn't doing anything anyway", I said, feeling slightly guilty for ditching Zoe like that.
"Good", he put bluntly. "Anyway, I called you here because another opportunity has popped up. As part of this trip, you will be doing lots of workshops, and you've been invited to one over in New York. You'd miss next weeks schedule, but you haven't got anything on that can't be rearranged", he told me. "What d'ya say?"
"It sounds really good, yeah", I smiled, not even having to think about it. First Florida and now New York. this trip was getting bigger and better. I just wished that Zoe could be here to share it with me.
"Cool", he said, shaking my hand, as the door to the room opened, and the blonde woman from the meeting the other day walked in. She was dressed in a navy pencil skirt with a white blouse on, making her look like a businesswoman.
"Nick, someone said you wanted to see me?", she asked with a smile. She was talking to him, but was staring straight at me, which was slightly unnerving.
"Ah, yes", he said standing up. "Alfie, this is Rebecca, and she's going to be taking you to New York, as well as Eric, but you already know him. Rebecca will will show you around and making sure that everything goes right", he said.
I nodded. She was still staring at me, and I tried to ignore it, but it was difficult. I just smiled at her.
"Okay, so that's that then", Nick finished, as Rebecca walked over to shake my hand, her eye contact never faltering. Then she walked out of the room, and shut the door behind her. I was shocked at her abrupt entrance and exit, and the way that she hadn't stopped staring at me.
I shrugged, as Nick continued to talk.