Dust to Dust (A UK Youtuber Story)

Chapter 3 - Opening Up

Mara had a wonderful evening with Stephen. He made her laugh a great deal and she felt completely at ease with him. Stephen told her the ins and outs of the YouTube world, about Will and all the other people she had encountered. She found it oddly fascinating. She was mildly aware of people gaining a living through YouTube but she had never really understood and she was incredibly surprised by the influence and reach people on the platform had. Stephen showed her a few of his videos and she couldn't help but guffaw profusely at every one.

"So I take it you like my videos then?" said Stephen smirking.

"Yeah! The main thing I really want to do is meet Max!" said Mara jokingly

Stephen frowned.

"I'm fucking joking Stephen!" said Mara laughing

"I thought you were a comedian? Can't you take a joke?" she added slyly.

Stephen smiled and let out a laugh. He was impressed by Mara's moxie and her down to earth personality. She struck him as very much a caring person who was willing to have a laugh, yet retained her seriousness and maturity at the right moment, understandable for someone who was a police officer. He'd only known her for a few hours but it was safe to say that she captivated him and he was eager to get to know her more.

"So what made you want to become a police officer?" queried Stephen, an expression of intrigue on his face.

"Well, it wasn't exactly my first thought to become a policewoman. I always wanted to be a teacher growing up, for some reason! I always felt it would be a job I'd be good at and I'd enjoy it but things got in the way." Mara trailed off, looking almost as if she entered a dazed state. Stephen noticed this and wanted her to feel comfortable and tried to encourage her to open up to him.

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened? You don't have to if you don't want to of course"

Mara sighed.

"It's ok Stephen, it's not like I have anything to be ashamed of." she replied endearingly.

Mara took a breath and let the words flow.

"So everything was great until I went to university. I had a great, supportive family, life was good but then in the second year of my degree, shit hit the fan. My mum became very sick, she had cancer and my dad couldn't deal with the stress of looking after her so he just got up and left, just fucking left her. To some extent I understand that he would have being going through a terrible time but giving up on my mum is unjustifiable. I don't speak to him anymore unsurprisingly. I have two younger siblings, a brother Max who's now 19 and sister Poppy who's 17. I'm the oldest, I'm 25 now so back then I was Max's age when this started to happen 6 years ago  and I couldn't just leave my siblings to look after her, they weren't old enough. The majority of my other relatives couldn't help because they lived either in other parts of the UK or abroad. So I dropped out. I gave up my degree to look after her." Mara said all this slowly and methodically, choosing her words with sadness evident in her eyes.

Stephen was amazed by this. He put his hand on hers which she felt was a slightly forward but she accepted the gesture and he asked "how's everyone now?"

"My mum is in remission, thank god. She's found someone new, a very nice guy who clearly cares about her. Max is at uni enjoying himself doing law and Poppy is preparing to go to uni and she's on course to do well, so everything's almost returned to how it used to be." replied Mara with a small smile.

Stephen smiled, "that's great, I'm very happy that everyone's in a good place." he said warmly.

Mara could tell he really cared.

"How long did you have to look after your family for?" asked Stephen.

"About 2 and half years. Once she found Martin, her new man, everything started to improve, he really saved us, he brought us back together again. I went back to uni, got my degree, did my master's the year after, all in criminology. I thought the best use with it was to go into the police. I was thinking about teaching but after a while my heart didn't really lie there. It was a tough period in my life, but it's over now."

"I'm amazed by your perseverance and commitment, you're a a very strong person Mara, I admire you a great deal." replied Stephen in a warmhearted manner.

"I appreciate that Stephen." said Mara.

Despite this, Stephen sensed there was more to this. he could see Mara still wasn't completely OK.

"Are you alright though Mara? How are you feeling about everything now?"

"Well I don't speak to my dad which obviously hurts because we had a great relationship. He's not a bad person but what he did was unforgivable. I'm also not where I want to be in life to be honest. I do like my job, it's stressful and tiring but it's rewarding, but I have ambition Stephen, I want more from my life I want to really climb up the ranks, do something where I can reach my full potential, I have aspirations." she replied chirpily.

"I understand Mara, we all have aspirations. I have many too" said Stephen

"Like?"

" I want to become a proper professional comedian in addition to being on YouTube."

"Well I reckon you've got a good chance of that Ste mate, you're far funnier than most of the shite you get on TV!" exclaimed Mara laughing.

Stephen laughed, "I really appreciate that."

"Well I really appreciate your company tonight. It's been a pleasure to get to know you and thank you for inviting me out. For a comedian you're a very good listener and obviously a good person, so thank you, it's been a long time since I've been able to open up like that and I needed to." said Mara.

"Thanks for talking to me. I've had a great night! You're great company."

Both of them left the pub and said their goodbyes.

"So do you... want to do this again some time?" Asked Stephen cautiously.

"I'd like that very much" said Mara smiling.

Their numbers were exchanged.

A/N: Hey guys, so that's part 3, hope it was enjoyable! - Riak64 :)