Love in the spotlight

Meeting

Esme sat down in the café after completing half of her shift, pulling out her phone with a sigh. Her coworker brought her a coffee, and she thanked them before looking at her phone again, her mood dropping further. Her YouTube channel seemed to be failing, despite her hard work. She admitted to herself that she only had 200 subscribers, but she was proud of that. Her editor had even thrown a small party for just the two of them to celebrate, trying to boost her confidence by reminding her that having a small audience was still an achievement. Nevertheless, Esme felt like she was failing.

Meanwhile, Juicy walked into the shop, texting Eddie. "Yeah, I'm getting our coffee now. Send me a list of what everyone wants." Eddie sent him the list, and Juicy walked to the counter, reading it off to the barista. He stepped aside to wait for his order and noticed the girl with a low mood. Curious, he walked over to her.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked.

Esme looked up, surprised. "Y-yeah, I'm okay...just a little defeated today."

Juicy nodded and sat down across from her. "What's got you feeling that way?"

She sighed. "I've been working my ass off on this YouTube channel, and it seems like it's just not working out." She glanced at her phone, now faced down on the table.

Juicy smiled a little. "It isn't easy, but you'll get there. I have a channel myself. It wasn't easy at first, but I made it. You'll get there too, don't worry."

Esme looked up, finally realizing who she was talking to. Her eyes widened. "Holy shit...you're Juicy! Here I am feeling all bad, and I've got a famous person at my job..."

He smiled. "Hey, no, it's okay. I asked because you seemed sad. I don't like seeing people sad."

She smiled a bit. "I shouldn't be complaining about my life to you anyway."

Juicy shook his head, still smiling. "No, no, you're welcome to talk to me. Here, let me give you my number." He wrote it down on a napkin for her before he got up, hearing his name called for his coffee order. He grabbed it and walked back to her. "Text me anytime. I hope I can talk to you again."

Esme smiled and watched him leave before getting back to work. When Juicy returned to his friends, Eddie was the first to ask, "Dude, why were you gone so long?"

Juicy chuckled and shrugged. "I don't know what you mean, man. I wasn't gone that long."

Narrator looked at him skeptically. "Dude, it normally takes you like five minutes. You were gone for like twenty."

Eddie nodded. "Yeah."

Juicy shrugged again. "I don't know, man, there was a long line. What, you think I was talking to a girl or something?" He chuckled.

Eddie looked at him. "Um, yeah...maybe."

Juicy shook his head. "No, no, Eddie, come on, man. We have a recording to do. I know we're doing a vlog-style video today."

As he said that, Josh came around the corner with the camera. "And there's Juicy, finally back from the coffee run. Think he found a girlfriend on his way out there, but no less, we got him back. Are we ready to go make chaos around Juicy's hometown?"

"Yeah, I guess," Mully said, sipping his coffee.

*time skip*

They were walking around when they passed the coffee shop where Juicy had met Esme. He saw her through the window, and Josh turned the camera around. "Juicy, why are you staring into the coffee shop?"

Juicy jumped and looked at the camera. "Oh, sorry, just saw some yummy food." He smiled.

"No, you were looking at that girl in there," Josh said, chuckling.

Juicy shook his head. "No way, what girl?"

Eddie giggled. "The brunette girl at the counter. I mean, come on, dude, be honest with us."

Juicy showed a visible blush and a small smile. "Okay, yeah, I'm looking at her. She's pretty...shy kinda."

Eddie smiled. "Alright, well, I wanna try their coffee. I haven't tried it yet."

He smirked, and Juicy shook his head. "Eddie, no, please don't."

Eddie chuckled. "You'll thank me later." He walked into the shop and up to the counter where Esme was. He looked at her name tag. "Hola, Esme," he said with a smile.

She looked up, keeping her surprise in check. "Hola, ¿cómo puedo ayudarle?" (Hello, how can I help you?)

Eddie looked surprised. "Wow...um, sorry." He placed his order and looked at her again. "Sorry to ask, but you seem pretty slow today."

She smiled lightly. "No, you're all good. Today is very slow, so ask away!"

He smiled back. "Do you know the guy Gage who walked in here earlier today?"

She nodded. "Yeah, Gage or Juicy. Yeah, I talked to him this morning. Why?"

He smiled again. "Well, I'm pretty sure he has a thing for you. So, what do you think of him?"

She blushed and looked at Eddie. "Well, I do think he's handsome. I watch him on YouTube and have a small, stupid crush on him."

Eddie smirked. "We're having a small party tonight. Why don't you join us?"

She looked at Eddie, surprised. "Really?"

He nodded and smiled. "Yeah, here, I'll leave you with my number, and I'll pick you up whenever you wanna join us. We're just vlogging today."

She nodded, handing him his coffee. "Well, I get off in an hour, so if y'all come back around this way, you can walk me home. I won't take long to get ready."

Eddie nodded and smiled. "Shoot me a text. I'm sure Juicy would love to see you again."

He left, walking back to the group, seeing Esme watching him. Juicy looked over, making eye contact with her, and smiled, waving as she waved back. Eddie chuckled. "Well, boys, we may have Juicy's little crush joining us soon."

Juicy looked at Eddie. "What?! Dude! You can't just pull her into this stuff."

Eddie chuckled. "I invited her, and she said she was down. So chill out."

After a bit of back-and-forth, they continued with their video and filming.