Messages To Joe | J.S

{0029}

I was going to continue with just messages in this chapter but SOMEONE GUESSED IN THE COMMENTS AND I WANTED IT TO BE A SURPRISE 😂😂 also, ignore the years as I never really thought about it beforehand so yeah Joe's now 22 and Amber is 19 and I know not all these timings are accurate but yunno get used to it and also there won't me many messages for a while it'll be POV instead.
____________________________________
Sunday September 13th 2018:

3 years.

3 long years that I haven't spoken to Joe. Not because I didn't want to, but because I couldn't - at least I thought I couldn't - because whenever I texted him, I wouldn't receive a reply and I put it down to him getting a new number, but perhaps it was for another reason. Anyway, I made sure I kept following all his social media and he'd followed me back on them all too, a good sign.

At one point about a year back, some of his fans caught on to the fact that he'd liked my photo and the comments blew up with 'Joe liked !!' And 'omg I think they're dating' and a shit ton of ship names. But of course, like everything, it blew over with us both ignoring it. Once again, I tried everything to contact him (DM's, tweets etc) asking what his advice was, but of course, no reply.

But a lot of stuff happened through that time:

- he hit milestones like 1,2,3,4 and 5 million subscribes as well as a book and soon to be a film. The book, called USERNAME:EVIE, is the entire reason I'm deciding to think about Joe again because at 4:30pm today, I will be meeting Joe for real at his signing in the Emirates Stadium ! Of course, it's not ideal and he may not even remember me or even think I'm anyone special, but it'll be important to me.

"Are you ready, Amber?" Kim asked me, stepping out in a loud, red jacket topping a black t-shirt and leggings with high heels which made her even taller than Joe. Me, I'm 5'6 and a half so I'm okay but she's around 5'8-9 already without the shoes. After the argument blew over (just like Joe promised me it would) me and Kim made up. It took a while to get to where it is now, but it worked. I also passed my GCSE's with flying colours which I was so pleased with, even an A* in maths with Mr Ferris Wheel.

"Well, I'll never be ready, but let's go !" Kim 'introduced me' to Joe when she discovered his channel only a few months back, she's yet to know the Joe I spoke to a few years back was the same as the famous ThatcherJoe.

"I think I might cry," she laughed except I knew she wouldn't want to look bad in the photographs.

I was actually going to meet the little boy from Bath who I gathered feelings for...

- - -

"NEXT!" The large bodyguard called out. We were only a few away, maybe five but I got my camera open anyway and flattened my blonde hair so I would also look attractive in the photos.

"Your going first," I exclaimed but Kim didn't protest, she was happy to oblige.

My mind was racing. Is he going to recognise me from my photos? What if I don't even get to say anything? What if the photo gets blurred and I loose any memory of today? "NEXT!" It came again, both snapping me out of my daze and making me realise how short the meeting would be.

As the next girls went through, stayed for a couple seconds and coming out as though they'd just seen a ghost: pale, crying and shocked (in a good way, I guess) it was finally Kim's turn to meet Joe, and she was ready for it.

"I'm going to brag to everyone about this, they're going to think it's amazing !" Could you imagine if I had told Kim I knew this Joe all too well a few years back? I wonder how she'd react, she's most likely hate me for the rest of time but she'd put it all away because I knew someone famous.

"NEXT!" Kim walked through. It was laid out so a screen blocked the line from Joe, or even seeing him. Every now and then he'd shake a hand round or something, nothing more, nothing less. After around 15-20 seconds (I counted) it was my turn, I walked through faced with Joe's open arms which I practically jogged into.

"Amber...?" He whispered into my ear although Justin Bieber's 'Love Yourself' was blasting loud enough to drown even the screams. "I can't believe it ! If I'd had my way, we wouldn't have met like this. My gosh, why didn't you tell me you were coming? I could've arranged something afterwards !"

His smile was amazing, even more amazing in real life than through screens. "I wanted to surprise you, besides, I couldn't ever get a reply out of you !" And to this, he looked rather embarrassed. It didn't seem like we'd just met for the first time ever, we were like old friends catching up - I suppose that's exactly what we were, in a sense. I wasn't aware of the timing, but it seemed to be going so slowly.

"Amber I'm sorry, I have to move you along...please wait for me later, stay here somewhere nearby and I'll text you, I promise !" I hugged him again and I never wanted to let go, but I agreed and moved on, joining Kim who was fixing her hair even though there was no reason to.

"Omg, you were there for a long time !" too right, and it felt like forever in one and as much as I'd just agreed to meet Joe later, I still had Kim, should I tell her to just go home? It wasn't that it was far (because of course, we live in London) but she might find it both odd and rude, my only hope was that there was somewhere she needed to run off to.

"I know, it was so amazing, now I can say I've met a celebrity," and I'm going to meet him again later today, you just don't know about it. "So where do you want to go to next?" I asked as we wandered out of the stadium, passing those still waiting in line.

"Well, hold on," I stopped and turned myself around, only to see her precious pout for a selfie, God, I'm not really sure why we ever became friends again, perhaps simply over time, we certainly didn't bond over similar interests, aside from Joe, but I'm different ways. "Okay, well, I need to leave at 6 to get home to see my dad, he's coming home for the week and we want to give him this welcome, but we can go get Starbucks if you want to?" I agreed so we got the bus down to Oxford street and sat in the large coffee shop there.

"So, what's your favourite video of Joe?" Kim asked, sipping at her grande chai latte with extra chai like your common white girl or whatever that Instagram thing is. "Mine was the big mouth thing, it was hilarious !"

"Well," I began, thinking of my recent views and my perhaps not so recents, "I really loved dare Sugg," I smiled, taking a gulp from my own drink.

"What, dare Sugg 3 where Oli slaps him with a fish?"

"No, Dare Sugg, the original one," the only reason was because I'd given him some dare ideas and remembered the times we'd spoken about him filming and uploading it.

"Ugh, your so fetus," she snapped. Just a few seconds later, my phone buzzed, a message from Joe. "Who's that?" She asked, attempting to peer at the screen but I locked it just in time.

"It's Sam," oh yeah, me and Sam are on better terms. He even asked me out a couple times over the 2 years, but I declined, because I took everything Joe said to me before into account and realised he wasn't worth my sadness, and I knew there was someone else I liked more...

"Ugh, he's so stupid, I don't know why you talk to him," I ignored her, and I got some more messages through which I replied to, being totally unsociable, but I didn't care. "So, I should really be going, it's 5:30 and I don't want the bus services to mess up, bye !" I couldn't tell you the relief I felt when the little bell ringed and she was out of sight because now, I could go to meet Joe again. Like I did before, it didn't feel like he was famous and we'd just met for the first time in person, but we felt like best friends - at least I did anyway. I sent a final 'on my way' message and left the shop.