Starting Out (Mikey Murphy Fan Fiction)

Chapter 2

"So where did you say we are meeting James?" Eliza questions as we get out of the car and start heading toward the register.

"Um, I texted him and said we would find him once we get our badges." I reply very anxiously. I don't do too well with nerves and social events because I have social anxiety and even taking the prescribed pills doesn't help much.

We wait in line for an hour or so to get our badges and grab our free bags of merchandise then head to the main expo hall.

"Ok so James will be outside of Hall C." I read off again from the text he sent me.

"Madi is that him?" Eliza says pointing to a very awkward slightly heavy set guy standing at the entrance.

"Yea I think that is him." I reply quietly approaching. He is not at all what I thought he would be like. Online he was always friendly and very open, this guy looks like he doesn't want to talk to anyone at all.

"Hi" I say once we get within a yard from each other. I don't know why but I can't make eye contact with him or shake his hand or move.
Not really to my surprise he doesn't really say anything but he sort of acknowledge Eliza and me.

"Ok so where do we want to go first?" I ask very awkwardly but mainly just look at Eliza the whole time.

"Uh let's check the schedule." She says pulling out her phone with the VidCon app noting how strange this is going. "We wanted to see the Opening ceremony but that isn't until 1:30."

"So we have like 3 hours to kill? Why don't we walk around?" I question but I don't even wait for a reply. I am already walking away trying to not look at James.

Eliza catches up to me very easily which might be surprising since she is a head shorter than me. I don't usually notice that I am 5'7" but sometimes it hits me that she is significantly shorter than I am.

As we all walk around Eliza and I stand next to one another and James walks like a foot behind us just following. I find it very unsettling and it makes me feel like I need to throw up.

After a long tortuous 2 hours and 26 minutes we finally head to the main stage to watch the opening ceremony. We get see the Green brothers, Rhett and Link, Tyler Oakley and Miranda Sings.

Eliza and I weren't feeling to great about the rest so we decided to leave and go find some other thing to do. Even though I asked James he had no input, just got up and followed us again.
As we walked to the Expo Hall we check our schedule and notice that our next event isn't  until 4. I am feeling extremely uncomfortable and even though she doesn't say anything, I know she is feeling it too. We decide on going to the People Magazine Stage to watch some interviews.

The interviews only are around 30 minutes long but each time James asks me who the person is and I explain each time even though it doesn't help at all. Eliza and I know each person to some extent and have at least seen one of everyone's video. Around 3:25 we get up to leave the interviews and head out to the AwesomenessTV festival to see Meghan Rienks.

"Eliza," I whisper to her as we are walking out, "Do you really want to see the movie or can we just leave after this?"

"Well I really want to see it, but I don't want to pay for it." Eliza argues.

"I will personally download the movie for us to watch, okay?"

After contemplating for a short while she nods her head in agreement. I text my parents saying that we are going to be heading home earlier than expected and Eliza does the same.

Once we get to the stage we wait for Meghan's appearance and sit through another host and someone singing. I am not complaining about the singer, he was amazing. Although we wanted to see Meghan and it was getting too hot to be outside so we decided to go back inside.

Right as we walked in I saw Mikey Murphy, Rebecca Black, and two other YouTubers having a panel interview. I point it to Eliza and she knows exactly what I mean. I may have a slight crush on Mikey. It's not even an infatuation of him, it is how I would like someone that goes to my school.

I take a short video of the panel for my video and I take some pictures. We stay for a while but know we have to get out of there because of how horrible the situation is.

I turn around and tell James that we are leaving and Eliza and I start walking out. James is still walking like a foot behind us as we walk to my car. I start having a panic attack and I just need to get out. He is still following us but I told him that we were going why can't he just go away. This is becoming the worst thing ever.

Eliza notices my panic and we just talk to each other and keep walking ignoring him. I am aware of how bad it is that we are doing this but the situation is so creepy. Final we round a corner and he goes the other way.

I don't notice until we are almost at the car. And once I do I finally relax and I feel like I can breath once again. "That was the worst experience in my life." I say unlocking the car and getting in.

"You can say that again." Eliza agrees and turns the music on. For the rest of the ride home we sit just blaring music.