The Lift

2

Preston checked in at the desk and made her way to the elevators. Her lonely ride upwards lasted less than a minute before she was walking in the hall down to her room. She inserted the key and excitedly opened the door. One of the few perks of her job was the hotel accommodations.

Her suite was more apartment than hotel room, something she'd come to expect on her long trips. It included a separate kitchen and living room along with a large bedroom and luxurious bathroom. She dropped her duffel on the sofa and went to look out the large floor-to-ceiling windows.

She stood there for at least 2 minutes, trying to empty her mind of the stress from travel and her encounter with David Dobrik. Her phone vibrated in her pocket, and though it was just a calendar reminder to lift weights, there was also an Instagram notification from a friend that sparked her thought process.

Preston followed David on Instagram and Snapchat beyond subscribing to him on YouTube. She followed a handful of his friends. She was a pretty casual follower of all of them. And it's not like there would be any way for him to figure out she actually knew who he was. Beyond that, he had millions of followers, so it's not like he was going to take the time to find her account... Still, she wasn't taking any chances. Preston practically jumped on the bed and frantically started going to all of their pages, carefully clicking unfollow.

It's not like Preston was going to see him again. Definitely not. Probably not. Maybe not. Okay, who was she kidding... She was definitely going to see him again, especially if he had anything to say about it.

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David sped away from the hotel feeling pretty good about himself. He'd done a good deed and maybe even made a new friend. He regretted only a little bit that he didn't get any vlog footage of the whole situation. Well, he actually regretted it a lot. The whole experience was a clickbait gold mine. It was a Tuesday, after all, a filming day.

He rolled up to the house shared by Scotty, Kristen, Todd, and Jason, unsure if anyone would even be home. He was pretty sure Liza and Kristen were spending the day together and Scott and Todd were usually at the gym around this time.

That was fine by him, though. He needed some alone time to analyze his morning experience with Preston.

Once inside the house, he gave Link a few pats on the head before plopping down on the couch with a blanket. He took out his phone, half expecting there to be another message from Preston. When there wasn't, he had to admit to himself that he was hoping for more communication. And it didn't necessarily have to come through texts. Why not give her a follow and maybe send a few DMs? Except David knew only 2 things about her really: her name and her general occupation.

As a professional photographer she obviously had an online presence. But even with a slightly less common name like Preston, how was he going to find a website or Instagram account for her? That didn't deter him too much, though.

David took to Google like his life depended on it, getting virtually nowhere. He even tried going through GoPro's social media and websites to find clues. Eventually he was rewarded by finding a small photo of her listed on a page of GoPro collaborators, but even then all it said was "Preston: Photographer."

Little did David know that even just within the last 30 minutes Preston Wakefield had been following him on Instagram and other social media.

He let out an audible groan, having been searching for more than an hour and still having only found the small photo. Why was he so hell bent on finding her online? If David wanted to know something about her, he could just text her. But it felt so much safer to do some solitary sleuthing.