Lights, Camera, Action

Tired and Nervous

TWO - TIRED AND NERVOUS

MARK’S POV

Upload complete. Finally. It was midnight, and I was dead tired, but I had at least uploaded a couple videos for the day. At times, just getting one video done and posted could be a challenge, but it was so worth it, no matter how exhausted I was.

My name is Mark Fischbach, and I’ve been on Youtube for about two and a half years now. I never expected it to, but it has become my whole life. My channel has gotten pretty popular, and my name is out there now - most people know me as Markiplier. I’ve lived in Cincinnati for my whole life, until almost a year ago. I decided it was time to move to LA, so I could easily attend and be a part of all the opportunities that had been given to me. The longer I lived in California, the more things I got to be a part of. It was a lot of fun, being in Los Angeles, but I still traveled and had a million things going on at once, and there are only so many hours in a day. Today was one of those days when I barely got everything done in time, but I always made sure I had something for my fans to watch - I owed it to them.

Usually I stayed online for a bit before I went to bed. I would browse Tumblr or Twitter or Instagram, but not tonight. I felt like I could fall asleep at any moment. I headed into my bathroom and looked at my reflection before wetting my toothbrush and applying toothpaste to it. My hair, which was once a dark faux hawk, had grown out of its old style. Now it was long and somewhat wavy, and it basically did its own thing. I knew I should get a haircut, but I hadn’t really had time for that lately. My brown eyes were hidden behind my glasses, and it was difficult to keep them open. I should shave soon - my stubble was trying desperately to turn into a beard. But, the grooming would have to wait. I finished brushing my teeth and entered my bedroom, where I took off my shirt and plopped down onto my bed. I lazily pulled the blankets over me and fell asleep in just a couple minutes. Sleep was such a beautiful thing…

Buzzzzzz. Buzzzzz. The loud sound of my phone vibrating on my nightstand was a harsh wake up call. I blindly reached for it and didn’t even pay attention to who was calling before lazily answering it.

“Hello?”

As it turned out, it was Maker Studios. They wanted me to be in a horror short film, and I agreed, of course. I rarely ever turned down amazing opportunities like that, even when I was still half asleep. But, since I was awake, I knew I should stay up and start working on videos. 

I hopped in the shower before I did anything else. I let the water splash on my face to wake myself up, and then I washed my hair and body. I felt refreshed when I got out and dried off, but I still made sure I had my caffeine fix before I began a recording session.

By the time I was done recording and editing my videos, I saw that I had an email from a guy named Alex, who worked for Maker. He sent me details about the video I’d be in, including the script/rundown of how it would go. Apparently I was going to be playing a character named Jason, and Jason had a girlfriend named Skylar, which meant a kissing scene for me. That was new - I had never done one before. Other than the relationship, Skylar and I were apparently going to be in a sticky situation with a murderer, and that was where the horror came in. That, I could definitely do. I couldn’t help but wonder who was going to play my love interest, though. It supposedly was another Youtuber, but there were a million people it could be. I would just have to wait and see.

I went over the script throughout the week, in between recording videos both by myself and with my friend and fellow Youtuber, Matthias. I luckily got a chance to do a mass Drunk Minecraft recording session with my best friends, Bob and Wade, as well. That was a ton of fun. Not that doing videos with Matthias wasn’t, but I could see him in person whenever. Bob and Wade, on the other hand, didn’t live in LA. We could only travel to see each other so often, so Skype, texting, and online gaming was our best bet. Being able to record things with them meant the world to me, and Drunk Minecraft has always been a favorite series of mine. It’s random, chaotic, and slightly inappropriate, but completely worth it. The fans seem to like it too, which makes it even better.

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The week completely flew by, and before I knew it, it was Monday morning - the first day of filming. I made sure to shave and make myself look presentable before I left my apartment. I headed out to Maker Studios with a million thoughts on my mind. I still had a lot of unanswered questions about what exactly was going on and who would be there, and I was eager to find out.

I arrived right on time, and I was greeted by the Alex that I had talked to on the phone. 

“Hello, Mark. I’m Alex Rudinger, you’ll see me a lot on set,” he said, shaking my hand. He had short, blonde hair, green eyes, and big black glasses.

“Hi, nice to meet you,” I smiled.

“If you need a pick me up, there’s coffee and doughnuts on the table over there that you can help yourself to. We’ll get things rolling in a few minutes, but everyone has a little free time for right now,” he told me.

“Alright, thanks,” I replied, and he sped off. I headed for the coffee and doughnuts, but I scanned the room as I did so. Most of the people there were people who were working on the set, lights, and other random things. I was told that there would be other Youtubers here, so where were they?

I decided they probably were just running a little late, but then, as I sipped my coffee, I saw someone I recognized. Long, light brown hair, blue eyes, shorter than I expected, but it was definitely Alyssa Collins. I watched her channel with her friend Aubrey when I had spare time, along with Game Grumps and a few others, of course. I loved her videos, and to be completely honest, I had a bit of a crush on her. She was funny, gorgeous…wait. She wasn’t…no, she couldn’t be…

“Excuse me, do you know what role she’s playing?” I asked a random person walking by, pointing to her.

“Alyssa Collins? I believe…yes, she’s playing the role of Skylar,” the man answered, after glancing down at the script he was holding.

“Okay, thanks,” I said before he walked away. I was psyched that I was going to meet and star in a video with Alyssa, but at the same time, I was completely terrified. I was going to have to kiss her. To be more specific, I had to, “pick her up and kiss her passionately,” and that was supposed to go on throughout multiple rooms in the “house” that the video was to take place in.  I suddenly found myself checking my hair in my reflection on my phone, smoothing out my shirt, and worrying about whether or not I smelled good. I had a strange feeling in my stomach, too. Was I nervous? Oh god, this was not a good start. I decided to go back to drinking my coffee, but I wasn’t going to risk eating a doughnut in case my nerves really got bad. After another couple minutes, I was sent off to hair and makeup, and I didn’t have much more time to figure out how I was going to handle the situation before it all would actually happen. I was just going to have to wing it and hope for the best.

 I just couldn't upload the first chapter without also posting Mark's POV, apparently. I don't know, I guess I'm just really in the mood to work on this story, so hopefully you're enjoying it so far. Please vote if you are, and leave me some comments! Thanks for reading :)