The Lift

15

David continued to keep his word in the following weeks. As far as any viewer knew, Preston was a temporary vlog guest. And though Preston hadn't been around for any of the conversations, David seemingly informed their friends not to press the issue of filming. Everyone was being ridiculously accommodating and she felt like she had to constantly convince herself to not feel totally guilty.

Preston took on a few more jobs in the LA area and was as busy as ever. Between shooting and climbing, little free time was left. But of course David made himself a constant presence in that free time. He became intimately familiar with her schedule, and Preston kind of loved how much attention he paid to her availability. She still definitely invited him to do things, but usually he didn't give her a chance to ask; he was always asking first.

When David and Preston weren't hanging out just the two of them, she made a concerted effort to truly make his friends her friends. Though usually they all spent time together, she tried to invite Scott and Todd climbing; she went to lunch with Kristen; she cooked dinner with Jason for his kids; she watched sports and played video games with Alex; she lounged with Zane and Heath.

Preston did miss out on a lot of big filming nights because of her job and her personal commitment to the climbing gym, though that was rather convenient for everyone's editing purposes. Because people were eager to spend time with her though, most Friday nights turned into party nights. Alcohol was involved to differing degrees, and David was happy to have someone else who didn't participate in drinking as heavily as some of his friends. Preston really did sequester herself in back rooms during a number of parties; her friends were conscientious vloggers while sober, but she didn't trust them on Instagram while drunk.

And none of them needed alcohol to get into trouble, including David. His own ideas often turned on him.

On such a Friday, David had invited everyone over for a movie night. Preston was really looking forward to a relaxing time, but she had to make it through a big shoot day. Of course, things went long and she ended up arriving later than everyone else. Though David knew it wasn't her fault, he still wanted to mess with her. Which was how he came up with the brilliant idea to scare her when she arrived.

David was texting her incessantly in the hour or so leading up to her arrival. Even though the footage wouldn't make the vlog, he wanted the scare recorded for his own memories. That meant making sure he was outside in time to greet her. David kept bugging her under the ruse of wanting to start the movie.

P: David Julian Dobrik. I will get there when I get there. I am 5 minutes away. If you text me one more time, I will turn around and see you next week.

David couldn't help but giggle and Alex gave him a funny look.

"I'm going to scare Preston when she gets here," David divulged.

"Oh, I've gotta see this," Alex said. "How about when she gets here you have me go to the door to meet her?"

"That's perfect," David agreed. "You can say you saw her walking up, and I'll just be hiding behind the garbage can." David was absolutely giddy.

He went outside to place his camera and got in position. Alex stood by the door. A couple minutes later lights came up the driveway. Alex came outside and waited for Preston on the front step.

She got out of her car, smiled huge, and greeted Alex warmly when she realized it was him.

"I'm so glad to see you instead of David," Preston said while giving him a fist bump. "He's been blowing up my phone all night."

"That asshole," Alex said.

And just as Preston laughed in agreement and was about to step onto the small porch, David jumped out behind Preston screaming. She didn't yell in response or even seem to be scared. She simply threw an elbow backward in surprise, making direct contact with David's face. He fell to the ground immediately. Alex tried to control his laughter while rushing to help his friend. Preston stood in shocked silence, then alternating between laughter and apologies.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck!" David kept repeating.

"David, I told you that would happen if you scared me," Preston said. "And now we have to go to the hospital."

"Worth it," he said behind his hands.

"Were you recording?!" Preston exclaimed. "No, don't answer that. Of course you were. David, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Worth it," David said again, trying to smile at Preston from the ground. His nose was bleeding pretty bad. "Guys, my face hurts."

"No shit, Sherlock," Alex said as he helped David up. "Preston, start taking him to the car. I'm going to grab a towel or something." He ran inside and Preston could hear him yell to everyone else that they were going to the hospital.

Preston put one arm around his waist and made him put one arm around her shoulder. "C'mon, dumbass," Preston said endearingly. David just whimpered in reply.

She rummaged in David's pocket for the car key and opened the car door for him. Alex came running out with a towel that he handed to David before helping Preston get him in the front seat. Preston then got in the back and Alex in the driver seat. And off they went.

David tried to keep talking, but most of his sentences were punctuated with sounds of pain, so Preston and Alex kept yelling at him to shut up. He finally obliged when they were almost to the hospital.

Alex dropped David and Preston at the ER entrance and went to park. Preston helped him to the desk and got his paperwork started. As was expected for a Friday night in LA, the ER was a busy place. It was going to be a long wait.

By the time Alex joined them, the bleeding seemed to have stopped, but David still couldn't talk without pain, which meant Preston and Alex obviously tried to make him laugh as much as possible. Smart as he was, Alex had grabbed David's camera before leaving the house. David was both excited and mortified at that. When he wasn't in control of the camera, he wasn't nearly as comfortable in front of it.

Eventually Alex got bored and hungry. He decided to find the cafeteria. Right after he was out of earshot, Preston turned to David.

"David, I'm really sorry," Preston said sincerely. "It doesn't make this any less funny, but I still feel bad. Though in fairness I'm pretty sure I did warn you this would happen!"

David moved to put his hand on her leg to comfort her but stopped halfway when he noticed all the blood on it. Instead he made an awkward waving gesture. She noticed him stop short and moved her hand to his leg instead. He looked down at his leg, hoping she would never move her hand.

They sat in comfortable, familiar silence after that. Preston drew small circles on his leg near his knee. David's body hummed in excitement. Suddenly she drew her hand away, and David looked up in surprise, noticing what she had noticed: Alex walking back with vending machine snacks to share.

Preston and Alex then launched into a discussion surrounding some sports thing David didn't care about. He tuned them out but enjoyed their animated bickering. He loved that Preston could keep up with Alex's sports knowledge and his general dismissiveness of other people. Preston knew how to put him in his place. David thought about getting out his phone, but he was too focused on keeping his head tilted up that he didn't dare. He was definitely getting anxious to see a doctor. He focused instead on Preston's voice and laugh.

He was so focused that he didn't even realize at first when Preston and Alex were helping him up.

"Dude, the nurse called your name," Alex said. "Get up so we can get the fuck out of here. We missed all of movie night because of you." David was so tired and physically hurt he couldn't even come up with anything to say back.

Preston rubbed his back quickly and said, "We'll be out here waiting. Call if you need us."

David nodded and walked to be examined. He had good friends.