If Only

"Too Old for Some Things"

"And our next guest, known for her famous soup brand, oh wait, no, that's somebody else.. Kate Campbell!"

I couldn't believe all of this was happening so fast. Just a few months ago, I started making YouTube videos, and now I was on Ian Hedrick's gameshow.

I walked on stage from behind the curtain. There was only a few people watching, but it was really just meant for the YouTube audience when it was uploaded later. There was so many cameras and lights and crew members. I was kind of overwhelmed, I mean, I usually just filmed with my phone. I walked over to the empty player podium. My opponents were Markiplier and Reese from this channel with Ian. I couldn't believe I was in the same room as these people. They probably had no idea who I was. This was probably the first time they had even heard my name, which I don't blame them for. I was a small youtuber. I just didn't feel like I belonged there.

"Do you often get made fun of for the Campbell thing?" Ian asked me.

He had short brown hair with a little bit of a beard and had the lightest crystal blue eyes I had ever seen. He was much more handsome in person.

"Yeah, people come up to me on the street and ask if they can have free soup." I responded jokingly.

"And how do they know that's your last name?"

Crap. I didn't think that far ahead.

"Oh, I, uh, I actually wear a shirt that says 'My name is Kate Campbell' and it has a picture of a soup can at the bottom."

"Well," Ian chuckled, "I could see why people might get confused."

"Really? Could you explain that to me? I still don't get it. I mean," I looked at him for a few seconds, "it's a Progresso soup can on the shirt."

He and the others in the room laughed. I was glad I hadn't messed up at this point. Ian looked up at me with a smile on his face. I was surprised he was being so nice to me. Then, it took him a couple of seconds to realize what he was actually here to do.

"Right," he said, "would you guys like to hear the rules?"

"No!" I answered right as he finished his question.

"Okay, then," he went along with it, "let's gets started. The wheel of mischief and pyramid of dreams should be pretty self-explanatory, right?"

I fought back a smile. He looked at me for a few seconds with a slight smirk on his face. He was obviously making all that up.

"Okay, fine," he said as if he gave in, "there's also a pool of drowning soups where anyone with the last name of a famous soup brand gets disqualified immediately, but that's never really a problem, so that's why I skipped that part."

I rolled my eyes jokingly, trying not to laugh at the grin he only slightly attempted to hold back as he pretended to realize something.

"Oh, wait, Kate,"  he looked at an index card held tightly between his fingers and read off my name in full for the second time, "Kate Campbell.."

Something about my name coming from him made me shiver. Maybe it was the recognition from a talented man. Or maybe it was that it was said with a voice that echoed throughout my entire body. Or maybe it was that the sound came out of his perfectly-shaped lips.

"Looks like we're gonna have to drown you this game."

I chuckled under my breath. "As long as it's not split-pea, I'll accept my totally fair fate."

"Yeah, because it's your fault you're related to soup," Reese giggled.

"Hey," Mark added, "everyone knows you pick your parents."