International

Chapter 3

I woke up at 7 and got ready for my shift at the cafe at 8. Luckily that was the only thing I had to do today. The studio didn't need me today and I don't teach yoga on Tuesdays. I wore some purple flowy shorts and a white halter top with elephants and a black bralette underneath.
I worked until 1 when Joe texted me with the address of the house he was renting for the week with a few of his friends.
I walked up to the big house and pressed the buzzer.
Joe's voice came over the intercom. "Rachel?" He asked.
I clicked the reply button "yah."
I heard a buzz that unlocked the gate.
I stepped through the fenced archway and I saw Joe standing outside the house with black skinny jeans and a white t-shirt.
"Hey." He said while giving me a quick hug.
"Hey."
He ushered me in. It seems as though no one else was there.
"My mates went out to get food. But let me give you a quick tour."
We went through the house room by room. I loved looking through luxury houses so it was actually enjoyable for me. He lead me into the master bedroom.
"The person in the house with the most subscribers gets the master bedroom so it's mine right now." Joe said while walking into the large and bright room with a sliding glass door out to huge pool on one side.
"So who else is staying here right now?" I asked.
"Casper Lee and Oli White. They're youtubers as well." He gave an explanation even though I didn't need one.
"Oh I know who they are. I'm subscribed to both of them." I said while still gazing at the room picking up some decorating ideas for my apartment.
"You watch a lot of YouTube don't you?" He asked me jokingly.
"Oh well back when I was at a super low point in my life YouTube was all I had. Ooo is that a jacuzzi?" I darted away from the subject I always avoided talking about.
"What do you mean YouTube was all you had?" He asked. I didn't want to look at him but I could hear the worry in his voice.
"I just wasn't always as happy as I am now. That's all." I didn't want to tell him about the scars on my arms or on my legs. I almost never talked about it. I went to therapy for sophomore year of high school for it. Mila and June knew but they knew that talking about it made me feel worse.
"Ok." He took the hint that I didn't want to talk about it and he walked over to me looking out the screen door.
I suddenly felt his arms wrap around my waist. He squeezed me really tight then let go.
"Want to watch some Netflix? He offered while sitting criss cross applesauce on his bed.
"Sure sounds good." I said following his lead.
We ended up watching Friends which was one of my favorite shows.
Just as we were starting to inch closer we heard yelling through the house. It sounded like that would be Caspar and Oli. Before I knew it, a tall blonde guy with a cheeky smile ripped open the door. I placed him as Caspar. A slightly shorter guy with brown hair and a defined jaw stood behind him. I placed him as Oli.
"Hey Jo- oh hello." He said upon noticing Joe was not alone. I could hear the South African in his voice. "Joe is this the girl you told us about?" He said. I looked over to my right to see Joe buried his face in his hands obviously embarrassed. It was flattering.
Caspar came through the door way with Oli right behind him and walked over to the bed we were sitting on. I took the cue and stood up to shake their hand.
Caspar outstretched his hand for me to shake.
"Hi I'm Caspar." He said as I was shaking his hand.
"Oh I know I watch your videos. I'm Rachel." I said probably wishing I hadn't said that.
He looked happy to see that I was a subscriber.
"Joe you picked a good one." Caspar said while patting my shoulder and looking over at Joe. I decided to introduce myself to Oli.
"Hi I watch your videos too. It's nice to meet you Oli. I'm Rachel." I outstretched my hand and he shook it with a smile on his face.
"Oh thank you. It's so nice to meet you." He replied.
"Well we're gonna go. You two have a nice afternoon." Caspar said as he turned around and closed the door behind him.
I turned back around to Joe who still had his face in his hands.
I sat back down on the bed, directly across from him.
He looked up at me. "I'm sorry about them."
"No I'm fine. It was really cool to meet them." I said while now face to face with him.
We stared at each other for a minute. He looked at my lips and I looked at his. We both knew what was next. He leaned in and so did I. Our lips met in the middle. It strongly resembled the kiss from 16 candles. We kept moving our mouths in perfect harmony. He placed his hand on the small of my back and shifted me to a lying down position on his bed. He was now on top of me with his left hand running up and down my leg. My hands tangled through his hair and around his neck.
He stopped completely in his tracks for second. I knew exactly why. He had his hand exactly where the scars on my legs were. They were on my upper thigh and even after a few years they never went away. They were 7 distinct marks that I was never able to hide. Whenever people asked I always told them it was a bike accident or a cat but Joe wasn't dumb and knew he could piece it together.
He recoiled his hand and sat back up and we were now sitting in the same position before the kiss was initiated.
"So that's what you meant. That's why YouTube means so much to you." He looked hurt.
"Yah. Just I had a lot of shitty people in my life so I thought hurting myself would make it better. It didn't of course. Then I really started watching YouTube and since then it's just been a way to make me not feel alone." I did my best to explain it.
"Wow. That's. Wow." I could see how speechless he was.
He looked back into my eyes after a while avoiding it. I felt nothing but nerves in my stomach. He gently took his hand on the back of my neck and pulled me in for a kiss.
"I understand." He said with simple sympathetic eyes.
We talked a little longer on his bed with Friends playing in the background. The thing about Joe was that he was completely his own person. The voices he made, the moments where he spoke in different accents, and just the little things that made Joe, Joe.
"So who is your favorite youtuber?" He asked me as I laid next to him with his arm around me. "Besides me of course." He said in a macho voice.
"Oh well if it's not you then god I don't know who it could possibly be." I said with the hugest amount of sarcasm possible. He shook me just a little which made me laugh. "Ok then it has to be Tyler Oakley. I watch all of his videos and listen to his podcasts."
"No way. I'm filming a video with him today. You have to come." He said while looking me straight in the eyes.
"No I couldn't impose."
"No trust me Tyler loves meeting new people. I'll just make a quick phone call" he said gliding his arm out from under me and getting up.
He picked up the phone and called.
"Hey Tyler what's up?. I'm good. Look I have a a friend here with me and I was wondering if I could bring her with me for our challenge video. Great. Okay cool see you in a few." He hung up the phone with a smile on his face.
"Good news. You're going to be in a Tyler Oakley video!"
I couldn't believe it. Tyler Oakley gives me life and now I not only got to meet him but got to be in a video of his.
"We're doing a challenge that needs two teams. He has Connor Franta but something came up with his friend Korey so he needs a replacement."
Keep your calm. Keep your calm. I didn't even want to say that I knew exactly who Korey was.
"We're doing a twist on the accent challenge with teams and a point system." Joe said.
"Sounds cool." Was what I said to cover the excitement that I was thinking and was trying not to say out loud.
We took my car and drove over to Tyler's house. I had a knot in my stomach. I was nervous but I knew I could handle this. I meet celebrities all the time. I've learned how to be calm and I've learned that they are real and down to earth people.
Joe knocked on the door. I resolved to keep my cool.
Tyler opened the door and I knew my cool facade was cracking.
"Hi!" He said in that loud, signature Tyler way that I recognized from the beginning of all his videos.
"Hey Tyler. This is Rachel." Joe said while pointing to me.
"Hi. I'm a big fan of yours I love your videos and your podcasts." The first rule of meeting someone that you are a fan of, is to compliment them on their work with out getting creepy.
"Aw thank you, you are my queen. It's so nice to meet you." He said pulling me into a hug. It felt weird to be taller than him.
"So shall we film?" Joes asked.
"Yes of course. Rachel let me introduce you to Connor." Tyler said while leading Joe and I in. I didn't need an introduction because I also watched Connor's videos.
"Hi nice to meet you. I'm Rachel." I said as Connor stood up from the couch in the living room we were just lead in to.
"Nice to meet you Rachel." He shook my hand and looked over to Joe "Joe she is on my team. Cool? Cool." I laughed and got flustered because Connor Franta wanted me on his team.
We filmed the video. Connor and I won because even though both Joe and I are good at accents, Tyler can't guess any for shit. It did take us forever to film because we were all laughing so hard.
Tyler did the outro "so that is it for this week I hope you all enjoyed. Joe where can they find you?"
"I am thatcherjoe on YouTube and Joe_Sugg everywhere else." Joe responded.
"Connor?" Tyler gave Connor a little slap on the cheek.
"I am Connorfranta on all my sites." Connor replied.
"And Rachel?" He asked me. I didn't even know he would ask me.
"I am racheljaii everywhere." I responded happily. I saw Joe making a mental note of what my Instagram was.
"Go follow them they are all amazing. If you liked this video like it and as always subscribe. Bye!" He said and ended the video.
Joe and I stayed a while longer to chat with Connor and Tyler. By 10 we decided to leave.
I drove Joe back to the house. I got out as he did to say goodbye. He gave me a quick peck on the lips.
"Goodnight." As he turned around I grabbed his arm. He turned back around to face me. I give him a deep kiss with my hands clasped together behind his neck. He pulled my hips into his.
I broke away. "Goodnight." And I walked over to the drivers side of my car.
"Ugh you're killing me." He said dramatically as he walked in the gate of his place. Before he closed the door and before I got in my car he shouted to me. "Tomorrow?"
"Yah" I responded. And I drove home with the biggest smile on my face.
As I got home I didn't see anyone but Jasper sitting in my apartment. This wasn't unusual. Jasper always came over to hang out with Juniper. He was watching the Avengers on our Tv.
"Hey Jasp." I said as I put my key on the key tree.
"Hey Rach." He said not taking his eyes off the screen. Jasper was a musician which was exactly June's type. He had short brown hair, lightly shaved on both sides with dark bushy eyebrows. He always seemed like the bad boy type but he was quite the opposite. We were good friends especially after him hanging around almost every other day since I moved in a year ago.
"Where's June?" I asked.
"She got tired so she's sleeping." He said still with his eyes not off the TV.
"Did she tell you about the part?"
"Yah she did. She also told me that you are going out with a Brit."
"We're not necessarily going out. He leaves in a week so it's casual." I said trying to believe the words that I was saying. He gave me an eye roll that Juniper would have given me if I was telling this to her right now.
I went straight to my room after giving him a little whack on the head.
I got a text from Joe as laid down on my bed.
I like kissing you~Joe
I replied.
Good thing the feeling is mutual~Rachel

How am I ever going to be able to leave on Saturday~Joe

I wish I knew~Rachel

I locked my phone and went to sleep.