The Lift

5

David gestured for them to leave and suggested that they go back to her hotel. Preston nodded swiftly, trying to remember the state of her suite. Had she put away all her laundry and gear in a somewhat organized fashion?

The drive back ended up being filled with conversations about music. David started explaining the outro music and Preston jumped at the chance to suggest the song for Friday's video. David was excited that she was so excited. She ultimately settled on "Mr. Blue Sky."

The walk from the car to the hotel felt excruciatingly long, at least for Preston. It wasn't often she brought men back to her hotel rooms (or ever). It made her laugh inside to think that the only thing they were going to do was watch YouTube videos. It was such a "Preston thing" and her friends wouldn't believe it.

When they got to the room, David looked at Preston with such excitement in his eyes. Preston looked back at him confused.

"What, you've never been in a hotel room before?" Preston teased him.

David waved his hand as if to brush her off. "That's the thing: I've been in a lot of hotel rooms and this one is dope."

David walked around, checking all the rooms before finally sitting down on the couch. He patted the seat next to him, looking expectantly at Preston. She sat down with her backpack and took out her laptop, thankful she had a room with a living space so that they wouldn't have to sit on the bed together.

Preston went straight to YouTube, also thankful she had various Google accounts so none of her recommendations would give her away as someone who had watched his videos or any of his friends' videos.

It felt very dramatic to type his name into the search bar. She knew David was watching her closely, obviously gauging her reaction to the results. Preston didn't know exactly how many subscribers he had, but she knew it was more than followers he had on Instagram. She tried to keep her face neutral as his channel page loaded, and she let herself smile when she saw the video that auto-played on the page.

She then looked at David, still smiling. "So give me the David Dobrik channel crash course," she said. She was eager to see what sort of videos he personally thought she needed to see. And she wondered how often he sat down with people to personally show them his vlogs.

David too was trying to keep his face neutral. He hadn't been able to read anything into Preston's initial reaction, which he was taking as a good sign. At her request, he took the laptop and scrolled through his video list and finally settled on the video of them pranking Brandon that the San Andreas Fault had opened.

Preston sat back as the video began and couldn't help but smile huge. She knew this video well and absolutely loved that she got the chance to watch it with the creator. David saw her smiling huge and couldn't help but smile himself.

They watched video after video, stopping every now and then to just chat about how certain things were set up or who came up with certain bits. After plenty of prodding from David, Preston eventually admitted that Jason was her favorite. His improv couldn't be matched.

Then Preston noticed the time, 11:42, and quickly got up. "Oh shit."

"What's up? Is something wrong?" David asked as he got up too.

"Oh, no, not really. It's just late and I've got an early call time tomorrow to shoot sunrise stuff," Preston said through a yawn.

"Gotcha, yeah, I'll head out," David said, going for the door.

She followed after him and they paused awkwardly in the doorway as he opened it to leave. David didn't know what to do so he just looked at her for a moment before looking down at his feet.

"Tonight was nice," he said.

"It was," Preston agreed.

David didn't know what else to say or do, so he looked up at her quickly, said, "Okay, bye," and turned down the hall to the elevator without looking back.

Was he supposed to hug her? Make future plans? Give her a high five? When David got in the elevator he put his head back against the wall, letting out a sigh. He took off his hat and ran his fingers through his hair. It really was a nice night and he hoped to do it again.

Once the elevator doors closed, Preston closed her room door and practically burst out into laughter. He was such a nervous, scared boy when things got slightly serious. Still feeling emboldened by the evening, Preston texted him.

P: We'll work on your goodbyes.

David got the text right when he got into the car. He audibly groaned while reading it, feeling even more embarrassed.

D: Edited me is a little more smooth, I know.

P: Oh, much more.

D: Speaking of edited me, will you do me a favor and not watch more of my videos until I get a chance to show you more? And maybe don't watch anyone else's? I know that's probably ridiculous, but I'm trying to handle this responsibly. I don't really want you to know the online asshole version of me until you knew the regular asshole me.

P: On my honor I will not watch more of your videos or anyone else's.

D: Good luck at your shoot tomorrow. I promise not to creep on the GoPro Instagram account anymore. Or your photography account. I am going to follow you though.

P: I expected as much. Good luck with editing tomorrow. And drive safe.

At that, David pulled out of the hotel lot and drove home. After getting ready for bed, he fulfilled on his promise of following Preston's professional account and scrolled through her photos again before falling asleep. He loved that she captured people and places way different from his own.

And then they didn't talk to each other for almost 3 days.