Yes. 2 - growing up.

Chapter 24.

[Hey guys thank you soooo much for your questions and I will answer them all, I promise! I'm surprised the questions are less about Yes. and more about me. I guess you guys really do want to get to know me haha. Anyways, enjoy the chapter]

"Hurry up, would you? I don't want to be late." I groan to Trevor who has been taking so long to put his laptop in his backpack for us to leave for the airport.

"Calm down, let me just zip it up." He zips his backpack shut before slinging it over his shoulder and following me down the stairs and finally outside. Ricky had already helped us put our suitcases inside the trunk of his orange car that is still, surprisingly, able to be driven even though it's at least five years old.

Everyone is waiting in a group to say good bye and I feel a bit teary eyed. I don't want to leave California.

"Dylanator." Connor says my nickname before walking over to me and hugging me. I hug him back tightly. "Don't forget what you promised."

"I won't Con." We pull away and I'm able to say good bye to everyone else.

"Don't forget me and I'll send you the pictures of the bridesmaid dresses when I choose them, okay?" I nod before giving Andrea a hug. "Love you like a sister."

"You, too." We pull away and I walk over to Kian. "So, guess this is good bye." I give him and nod and he mimics my actions before we laugh and hug. Next was Sam.

"Hey." He shyly smiles at me.

"Look Sam, I know we haven't been able to talk but just to let you know, I forgive you. You don't have to act like this around me." His smile turns into a genuine one and we hug.

"I'm sorry and I missed you friend." I laugh into his shoulder before pulling away.

I turn to my best friend who has a pout on his lips and pretending to be less upset than he is. "Don't be like that." I give him a hug and he doesn't hesitate to wrap his arms around my waist in a tight hug. Tighter than Connors.

"I don't want you to leave." He says into my ear and I nuzzle my head into the crook of his neck.

"I don't either but hey, you're coming to my graduation and I'm moving here a week later." I remind him and I feel him smiling. "Bye best friend."

"Bye."

We pull away and me, Trevor and Ricky get into the car and he starts it so we can drive to the airport.

The past week has been quite fun. After the small pool party, we went to bed and we ended up filming a ton of videos for everyone's channels and I'm glad I could finally collab with the boys I haven't done a video with yet and it's "Dylan Week No. 2" on O2L and this week I made videos with everyone. Even Sam, who was still awkward around me.

I watch the road. The people passing and their different styles. Seeing what types of people are in Cali is interesting. You see all types of people, all types of personalities, all types of cultures. It makes me remember the times when I rode my penny board on the sidewalk when I would go to Starbucks with one of the boys.

What happened to that penny? I stopped riding it. I still have it, I just don't ride it. Why? Well that's easy. I grew up. What I mean by that is that I saw how childish I acted. All the merch I spent money on. All the hours I spent spamming people to follow me on Twitter. When I saw that, I stopped.

I keep the penny as a memory and in case I feel like riding but I haven't ridden since I was sixteen. I keep only merch that means the world to me. Like my Connor beanie, my Jc sweatshirt, and a couple clothes from Andrea's clothing line.

I only keep those.

 "You nervous?" I hear Trevor's voice muffled by the sounds of the cars passing by and I nod. "Don't be."

"How can I not be? You're going to meet my mom, Marie, Cameron, and we're going to be filming the video where we tell everyone about us. It's nerve wracking.

"Not to mention, what are people going to think when they see us together after you made that video? And how are people going to react? Are they going to smile? Shun us? I do-"

"Shun us? Come on Dylan even you know people won't do that. Sure, some people may think you, or me even, are making a mistake but I know we aren't. We want this and that's all that matters. So what if people don't approve of us? We don't need other people to be happy."

These are the times when I wonder where Trevor got so wise. He knows what to say, when to say it, and how to say it. He sounds like Connor.

"When did you get so. . . wise?" I ask him and he laughs. He snakes his arm around my waist as he contemplates his answer.

"After you left, I did some online research on how to be a better person, right?" I nod. "Then one day I stumbled upon this Chinese guy named Confucius. He was a wise man and I sort of learned from him."

"Quote him for me?"

"Okay let me think." He taps his chin trying to remember anything Confucius has said. "Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated."

"Very wise." I laugh a bit before actually thinking about the quote. Us as humans in this world really want one thing: attention. And to receive attention is really the simplest thing it's just that we make it hard.

We try too hard for something so simple that we sort of lose track of what was our original goal. I guess it's true when they say the simplest things in the life are the finest.

"It's my favorite quote of his. You know, Confucius was really a boy who, when he was fifteen, set his heart on learning and it worked out for him. He was considered the-"

I listened to this boy talk about Confucius all throughout our ride to the airport and still, he kept talking. I found it quite cute how passionate he was about the history and the writings of Confucius - even though his followers wrote down the quotes for him. It was amazing to see him passionate about something other than YouTube or singing.

When the car finally pulled to a stop, we all got out and pull our suitcases out of the trunk. After I slung my backpack over my shoulder I stopped in front of Ricky where he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me into a hug. I warp my arms around his neck and I feel myself sink.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For being patient with me." He laughs at our little inside joke before tightening his grip.

"Thank you for being quiet." We pull away and I nod.

"Thank you for telling me your secret." He hugs me again before he starts his goodbyes to Trevor.

What secret were we talking about? Well, Ricky is going to make a video tomorrow about taking a hiatus from YouTube for a month. He's not leaving O2L or anything like that. He's just going to take some time off so he can travel and mostly focus on himself. Kind of, when you say in spiritual terms, a cleanse.

And I support him.