VIRAL | JSCHLATT (stopped)

Five

  "That's a certified bruh moment right there," Will plops another piece of caramel popcorn in his mouth, laying on the right side of my bed and watching the program playing in front of him.

  "I know, but what I don't know is how to interpret it," I puff out and unconsciously pout, rubbing my eyes. I've been editing the video for about an hour, just how long Wilbur has been present in my hotel room, and I keep replaying the parts where Schlatt and I made eye contact for a little too long. "Am I obsessed with the idea of him liking me?"

  "I can't tell you much about that guy's behavior around girls - I mean, don't you remember Minx? - but he doesn't seem to think of you as just any other creator. He probably sees you more as an individual than a piggy bank, really," Wilbur pours the contents of the bag into his mouth and shrugs at the TV, and glances my way. I've been staring at the loop of the time I placed the apron around his neck for a few seconds now, and Wilbur places his hand on top of the screen and shuts my laptop. "You're obsessed."

  "Knew it," I grumble quietly, and sink into the bed from my sitting position, crossing my arms. I place the laptop on charge on the bedside cabinet beside me, knowing the edited version of the video isn't due until two days from now, but the idea of a picture-perfect relationship with Jschlatt sounds so good right now. He's the only thing that's motivating me not to ditch PAX East this minute.

  "As long as you're both happy," Wilbur adds.

  "That links to absolutely nothing to what you previously said." I nag at him. "You're terrible."

  "It links to absolutely everything," He smiles and takes a sip of the rum & Coke that I didn't finish earlier that's been standing on the other side of my bed for ages. That explains his strangely distant commentary..

  Soon after Wilbur leaves I decide to stream a little, simply chatting and playing with random music software and sounds I have downloaded onto my computer. I'm playing a few chords, trying to establish a sweet-sounding progression, and the chat bar on the side starts moving immensely fast. My song-writing process was interrupted, and though I couldn't read much, I could still see only one keyword being repeated over and over again. The fans were talking about Schlatt, and my eyes got so lost in the numerous times his name flashed on my screen that I was too dazed to notice his real username pop up on screen.

I'm just here to pitch in ideas
  He comments and people freak out after seeing his official Twitch name pop up. I laugh at the reaction of the fans.

  "Yes, hello Jschlatt." I lean more towards the screen and shine my teeth at the camera.

how's the flour situation going then

  "Shut up," I snort at his comment and blush slightly, remembering the video from earlier. "It's going great, thanks."

  Chat explodes once more, trying to decode the meaning behind our little exchange, and continuously send in more hearts and emotes to symbolise the shipping.

  I talked more to the people that weren't too distracted by the male presence, and began to jot down silly ideas for songs and melodies that I soon played on the keyboard on screen. "What word or lyric ideas have you lot got, huh?" I ask the audience.

  Tens, probably hundreds of responses flood the screen as I struggle to keep up, but as before, my eyes focus on a few particular responses.

slip up
rum & coke
viral

  "Those are terrible, Schlatt," I laugh as he proceeds to spam with other words relating to today. Unwillingly, my mind is brought back to this afternoon, and the reminiscent of his cologne-stained shirt replays, as does the falling and the blushing. When stared at one another a little too long, when he let me break the physical contact barrier, and when he shared his favorite tunes with me - all those actions seem so miniscule and insignificant but in my mind they were like beaming shards of light rays, blinding my sight from seeing the bigger picture. Did he truly like me? Is it too soon? How can I know? Should I tell-

heavenly
charming
Schlatt coin

  He proceeds to spam words into my chat, which makes me soon burst into a small laugh when a moderator reminds him not to trash my chat. He simply put a frowny face as a response to that, and soon after, not much more was heard from him.

  Thinking he left my stream I was finally able to free my mind and begin working on a little song. I improvised the melody and most of the chords, showing my general process on how I work on songs without an instrument, and explaining some things as I go.

  After about fifteen minutes, I hum the verse and pre-chorus of the song that chat and I created, making sure to incorporate the words 'heavenly' and 'viral' into the lyrics. My heart fluttered just a little bit at the thought of Schlatt having something to do with this song, and decided to cut the stream short before getting to the chorus, just in case my mind gets too hazy and I get lost in the little wonderland I have created in my head through the words. I may include some words I don't need to be known.

  "If you guys liked this, do make sure to let me know - I don't know if this kinda stuff bores you or not," I give a disclaimer and remind those that are at PAX that tomorrow is the last day and where I would be hanging around for the majority of the time. I say my good-byes and log off, lying on the bed. I stare at the ceiling - was that too much? Too obvious? Too-

  My thoughts get interrupted by a ding.

1 Direct Message from: Jschlatt
Turns out my ideas weren't too terrible, were they?