- angel's pov -
with my elbows propped on my knees, i buried my face into my palms before feeling george lean downward to place a kiss on the top of my head. "i'll fix this, my love. i promise," my boyfriend mumbled from above me. his voice was soft and hushed, filled with worry and endearment.
as i continued to hold my face within my hands, i wanted to reply back to him with understanding. my mind began to race as i contemplated all the words i wanted to say to my boyfriend. i wanted to tell george that i trusted him, that i knew everything would be okay as long as he was beside me. i wanted to proclaim my gratitude toward my boyfriend for being a constant shoulder to cry on; literally and figuratively. i wanted to voice how much his patience meant to me, as he did nothing but compose himself in order to keep me sane. i wanted to tell him anything and everything, but no words would come out of my mouth; i was in pure shock.
even though i could not utter a reply back, i felt george's hand caress the back of my head. my entire body grew warm to his touch as my boyfriend graciously ran his fingers through my hair. i loved it when he did this. his soft touch was like an act of safety, love, compassion, and security all in one. george's small gesture calmed me down immediately. it was almost as if he knew what i wanted to say through my silence, as his tender touch was an action of understanding.
as i heard george's footsteps escape the lounge, i felt someone fill in the empty couch cushion beside me. "angel..." kate began.
i didn't even want to speak anymore. the amount of sobs that left my body this afternoon had me feeling numb all over. as i inhaled a sniffle, i swiped my irritated nose with my wrist, causing my nostrils to burn. i did not look into my best friend's eyes, because i knew that if i did, i would bawl even more. i just stared downward toward the carpeted floor of the sitting lounge, analyzing the way my bare feet spread against the fluffy carpet. as i dug my toes into the rug, i let out an airy sigh.
i also heard kate exhale a sigh beside me. "you don't have to talk to me, angel. i just need to know that you're okay," my best friend consoled as she rested her palm on my knee.
"i don't... know," i muttered softy, as i was still in shock from the tweets i had just read.
"you know what? join me in the kitchen," my best friend proposed as she stood up from the couch.
"kate, i don't really want to-" i foretold before i slouched even further into the couch.
"nu uh. look at me," the black haired girl reprimanded as she stood upright.
i slowly rose my head to lock eyes with my best friend. i stared into her hazel eyes before lamenting, "what?"
"join me in the kitchen i said," kate persisted as she stuck her hand out to me.
i knew that my best friend's serious tone was filled with nothing but good intentions, so i decided to follow her instructions. as i placed my hands against the armchair, i felt my palms sink into the couch cushion before i stood up. as i straightened my knees and fixed my posture, i turned my head toward the black haired girl and grabbed her hand in my own. instantaneously, kate abruptly took a tight grip of my hand and yanked my arm.
"hey!" i yelped as my best friend nearly tugged my hand out of my arm socket.
as kate guided me out of the sitting room and into the kitchen, she chided, "don't be such a baby. c'mon!"
i let out another sigh of defeat while kate and i sauntered into the kitchen. as my bare feet stepped over the cold kitchen tile, i felt a shudder run down my spine. after kate finally let go of me from her tight grip, i quickly looked over my shoulder to see that my best friend had pulled out a barstool for me. as kate motioned for me to sit down, i allowed my shoulders to sulk before taking the seat in front of me.
"alright. if the problem you have cannot be said through words, let it speak through food," kate quipped as she skipped to the refrigerator.
"what?" i inquired with my eyebrows furrowed. i propped my elbow on the kitchen counter before sinking my cheek into my palm.
"let it speak through food," my best friend repeated in a sing-song attitude.
"no. i heard what you said, but-" i began before i watched kate place a cup and saucer in front of me.
i cocked my head to the side as i observed what my best friend had just placed on the kitchen counter. as i recognized that kate had made me a cup of tea, she turned back around to face me while holding the milk. i watched my best friend pour the perfect amount of milk into my tea, staring in admoration as the white liquid as it flowed out of the carton. i knew that a small gesture of pouring a cup of tea meant nothing to kate; but little did she know, that this small deed meant the word to me.
"you remembered," i gushed as i diverted my eyes away from the tea cup and onto my best friend.
"of course i remembered. your mom would always make us tea whenever we were stressed before exams, or stressed over boys, or just stressed in general," my best friend enunciated with a chuckle. "even if she's not here, i have to upkeep the tradition," kate alluded.
i felt my heart grow warm to her act of consideration. "thank you, kate," i mumbled before picking up the tea cup and saucer with both of my hands.
as i brought the lip of the cup toward my mouth, i watched kate reach over the kitchen counter to grab purple wrappers. i could recognize those gleaming cadbury chocolate wrappers from a mile away. "anything for you. now, share a chocolate bar with me." my best friend blustered.
i observed kate as she snapped the chocolate in half within its wrapper. she knew me so well, as chocolate was the perfect way to get me talking. "it was so dumb, kate. the way they approached us," i articulated as i stared into my half drunken tea cup.
"yeah? why so?" my best friend casually chimed as she unwrapped the chocolate bar.
"george and i were just observing the floras of the garden and next thing i know these two girls are essentially sprinting up to us. before i could even ask them what they wanted, they just barged in and asked for a picture. i didn't mind it at first," i conversed before taking a small, brown square of chocolate and plopping it into my mouth.
as i felt the silky sweet melt against my tongue, i continued. "they asked for a picture, yeah? so i of course took it. then, one of the two girls looks me up and down and asks, 'are you george's sister?'" i elaborated as i felt my eyebrows raise.
i heard my best friend let out a cackle to my story as she brought her palm over her mouth, covering her guffawing. as i felt my lips curl into a smile, i began to giggle and tilt my head back out of amusement as well. it felt nice to smile as kate and i shared a few moments of laughter whilst we continued snacking on cadbury chocolates.
"so before i could even say no, the other teenager, whose name is julie, chimes in. she starts cutting george and i off when we try to explain that i am his girlfriend. next thing i knew, she spits out, 'she doesn't deserve you' to george," i proffered as i resumed chewing my sweets. i watched kate's eyes widen to my words. "uh huh! and get this, the other girl, emiline, all of a sudden proclaims that i'm a quote on quote... a clout chaser. i'm not even kidding. she said that verbatim," i extolled.
"a clout chaser?" kate inquired as she raised a brow.
"a clout chaser, kate," i spat before rolling my eyes. i grabbed another small square of cadbury before elaborating. "she essentially said that i used george for fame or money or whatever. something related to clout on the internet," i explained before feeling my teeth bite down on another chocolate square.
"seriously? what did she do... pull those assumptions out of her arse? that's insane. the amount of audacity those two girls had to perform a stunt like that is outrageous," kate confided whilst she crossed her arms over her chest.
"isn't it? and the fact that they took the time to tweet absolute lies was like the cherry on top," i wailed as i threw my arms up into the air.
"that's messed up," my best friend retorted.
"it's kind of crazy though. the fact that this is my life now," i emphasized.
once that sentence slipped out of my mouth, i felt my tongue burn from my words. this is my life now... i would have to deal with invasive, insolent fans on the daily. emiline and julie probably weren't even the worst of them all. in fact, a feeling in my gut was telling me that the two teenage girls were just a warmup for the mere, unfortunate future ahead of me. i realized no matter what information i put out about myself, i would always been know as the clout chaser that is just using george. no matter how much i could deny the fact, my image in the public eye would oppose my true values. i felt my heart sink to my stomach from the thought, i'm just the stupid clout chaser that is using george.
i think kate found out that my sudden silence wasn't anything good. from my peripheral vision, i saw that my best friend stared at me with widened eyes as my mind began to race. before i could drown myself with my thoughts, kate reached over the kitchen counter and squeezed her hand against mine.
"angel... are you okay?" my best friend consoled before slightly tightening her grip.
"i'm just the stupid clout chaser that's using george," i uttered under my breath. hearing the words escape my lips made me feel a lump arise in my throat, prohibiting me from saying anything more.
"what? angel... you know that it's not like that. don't let those dumb girls get into your head-" my best friend assured me before i felt myself choking on my own tears.
in an instant, just when i thought i couldn't, more tears streamed down my face. before i knew it, gut-wrenching sobs tore through my chest. as my vision became foggy from my own tears, in a blur, i saw kate reach over to me. i felt my face be buried kate's chest as she hushed me whilst stroking the back of my head. i couldn't take it anymore, so i closed my eyes and let the streams of tears roll.
"it's okay. let it all out, angel. i'm here," kate sympathized as she continued pat the back of my head.
as i continued sobbing into my best friend's torso, we both heard foreign footsteps approach the kitchen. i didn't care for who was in the room with us, i was too busy bawling my eyes out since today was too much to handle. "nick?" kate murmured.
i turned my head slowly off of kate's body to see the texan joining us at the kitchen counter. before i could even emit a greeting nick probed, "woah, angel. are you okay? do you need anything?" i shook my head in response as nick lightly patted my back for comfort. i felt bad for having the texan find at me at my worst, whilst tears were trickling down my cheeks and choking up sobs, but the aching feeling in my chest caused me to shake it off.
"she will be okay. she always gets through these types of things, right?" my best friend pondered with her hazel eyes fixated on me. i just shrugged my shoulders in silence before leaning over and pressing my cheek against kate's shoulder.
"you got it. i know you do! keep your head up, buttercup," nick bleated with a warm smile. i really wanted to smile back at him, thank him for his kind words, but my numb body indicated that i physically couldn't.
"exactly. what nick said," kate resounded as she continued rubbing the small of my back.
i watched the caramel haired texan lean against the edge of the kitchen counter with his eyebrows rasied. "uh... kate? can i talk to you for a second?" nick soothed.
"can't you see that i'm a little busy, babe?" kate whispered as she darted her eyes from nick and onto me.
"it will take one second. we will be right back. okay, angel?" nick enunciated. i simply nodded my head in response. i wanted time to be alone anyway.
"okay. don't move, alright? i'll be back," kate promulgates before she squeezed my hand goodbye.
i let out another airy sigh as i watched the couple join hands leave me in the kitchen alone. as i spun the barstool chair forward, i propped both my elbows against the granite countertop before resting my chin within my palms. whilst hearing mumbling the whispers between kate and nick in the other room, i tuned out their voices before taking a sharp inhale. i began to feel the tears well up against my undereyes again. with a grunt, i quickly closed my eyelids and swiped my eyes with my wrist to prevent anymore crying; i had enough. as i gradually fluttered my wet eyes back open, i saw kate's phone across the kitchen counter. i hesitated before grabbing it, but i knew that my best friend wouldn't care - we don't hide anything from each other anyway.
as i reached over the granite, i acquired kate's phone and unlocked it; our passcodes were each other's birthdays, so it was easy to unlock to begin with. once i typed in the passcode, i watched kate's apps fling onto the bright screen with a selfie of my best friend and nick as her homescreen. i smiled to the pair before i saw a familiar blue app on the bottom right corner. as the twitter icon and the dumb, little white bird was staring back at me, i let out a loud exhale before clicking it.
twitter
trending now!
gaming • trending
tommy
105k tweets
trending in the united states
tiktok
46.4k tweets
covid-19 • live
covid-19: news and updates for the uk
gaming • trending
#savegeorge
11.7k tweets
i felt my breath hitch as i read the last hashtag. for christs sake, the accusations being held over my head were trending. before i could fully react and take it all in, a foreign voice piped up.
"angel?" kate muttered as she walked into the kitchen with nick's arm around her shoulders.
i felt a singular tear roll down my check before i held my best friend's phone out to her. "look..." i lamented softly.
i watched kate and nick jog up to me at the kitchen counter before reading the thread of false, belittling tweets under the trending hashtag. "oh my god. hashtag save george is trending," kate mumbled under her breath.
"okay. that's it," nick proclaimed as he stepped away from the kitchen counter.
"what?" i queried in a hushed tone as i felt my bottom lip quiver.
"angel, let's go upstairs. i'll explain everything when we get there," kate instructed as she laid a soft pair eyes at me.
"why?" i inquired with an eyebrow raised as i felt a burning pain arise in my chest.
"just trust us, angel. c'mon," nick attested with a warm smile.
i let out a grunt before standing up from the barstool i was sitting in. as kate took my hand, the pair escorted me out of the kitchen and toward the staircase. once the three of us walked up the stairs, the couple led me to the door of george and i's bedroom. even though the door was closed, i could hear george talking to his stream. i couldn't clearly make out what he was saying, but the sound of his warbled, smooth voice made my heart flutter behind the doorway.
"what are we doing here? george is streaming," i whispered as i furrowed my eyebrows toward kate and nick.
"it's okay," kate interjected as she motioned for me to walk through the door.
i raised my eyebrows at my best friend before nick swiftly reached over me and gripped the doorknob in front of us; making the bedroom door fling open instantaneously. as i scanned the bedroom, i fixated my eyes on a familiar set of brown irises. the pair deep brown eyes weren't looking at me back, but i felt my heart melt as butterflies in my stomachs began to arise. then, i widened my eyes as i felt someone shove my back. as i felt my body propel forward to the sudden force, i quickly turned around to see who pushed me, but the door abruptly shut in front of my face.
- george's pov -
"alright, everyone. today will be an interesting stream since i will just be speedrunning... but with a catch," i began. "today i will be speedrunning with sapnap! i will be controlling the mouse whilst sapnap controls the keyboard," i announced as i shared my minecraft loading screen.
without hesitation, sapnap moved his desk chair closer to me. since sapnap was sitting at the desk with me, just out of frame for the camera, he just had to scooch his chair closer. "hey guys!" the texan beamed from beside me with a warm smile. he began to wave at the webcamera happily.
"i want to beat the game in less than an hour... at least once," i articulated toward sapnap as i clicked on the grey "create new world" box.
"you have not beat the game in so long," sapnap snickered from the beside me as he laid his fingers against my keyboard.
"imagine sucking at video games that much," dream ridiculed from the opposite corner.
i rolled my eyes in response to the two boys as i created a new world and began altering the game modes. once i changed the game mode to "easy," i heard a familiar robotic voice chime throughout the bedroom. "are you with dream and sapnap rn?" the first donation read.
i quickly looked over to my separate monitor before smiling to the camera and marvelling, "ashley, thank you for the dono! and yes we are! they both decided to surprise me in europe for christmas. so dream and sapnap will be staying here in the uk with me until new years!" i hollered. "okay, everyone say hi," i babbled as i turned my head away from the webcamera.
"hiii!" the texan proclaimed from beside me with a bright smile.
"and we also have dream," i avowed as i averted my eyes to the right side of the room.
i watched dream stand up from the ottoman he was previously sitting on before the flordian walked up to the side of my desk. "hi, everyone!" dream exclaimed as he waved nothing but his hand to the camera.
i watched my chat begin to freak out:
user20: no way you guys are with each other right now
user94: sapnap looks so cute aw
user15: dreams hand asdfhwf
user84: #savegeorge
user67: the dt meetup we didn't deserve<33
user83: where's dream's fingerless gloves?
as i read the most recent message in my chat, i let out a wholehearted laugh; which i haven't done all day. it felt nice to let go and portray a show in front of an audience, but the thought of angel was always kept in the front of my mind. "haha, no. chat, dream is not wearing his fingerless gloves right now... sadly," i revealed.
"is dream's shoe game as bad in person?" another donation rang through the automatic robot voice.
"yes. it really is. he wears those dumb, black nikes everywhere," sapnap quipped while letting out a scoff.
as dream wheezed in the corner of the room, i clicked on a new world as sapnap and i's avatar spawned in the desert. once i started the timer and scanned my surroundings in minecraft, i realized that sapnap and i were lucky for this run.
"i see a desert temple!" i proclaimed as i waved my mouse ferociously so our character's head spun rapidly.
"i see it!" sapnap yelped as he began sprinting toward the beige, sand building.
"sapnap! you need to be more careful!" i boomed as sapnap nearly set off the pressure plate that rested at the bottom of the temple.
we began opening and taking the items in the chests to collect some string, emeralds, and a few iron ingots. "yeah, yeah whatever... gogy! oh! there's a god apple!" sapnap proclaimed as i took the enchanted golden apple out of its chest and laid it into our inventory.
"you both have no excuses to not beat the game now," dream deadpanned with his eyes fixated on my monitor.
"shut up. i need to find a lava pool," i bellowed as i observed our surroundings in f5 mode. sapnap and i had already made tools and gotten more iron from a village nearby, so we were ready to go to the nether.
"no. you're going the wrong way. go left, toward the positive coords," dream instructed.
as sapnap followed the flordian's instructions, he began sprinting our avatar to the left direction whilst i averted our attention to the left. when we both arrived at the lava pool, i began making our nether portal with a water bucket and a few blocks until a chime rang through my headset.
"gogy, blink twice if you need to be saved from that toxic girl. #savegeorge" the robotic voice rang as a donation.
"okay. chat, i need you to listen for a second," sapnap began in a serious tone as he lifted his fingers off my keyboard.
"it's okay, sap. i got it," i insisted before i paused the minecraft game and diverted my eyes on the webcamera. "so i saw the tweets that have been circulating recently, under the hashtag save george, and i just want to publicly state that none of the accusations are true. i did meet some fans today, and let's just say that they were not the most respectful when it came to my privacy and the privacy of my loved ones," i clarified.
before i could continue my ranting, i watched sapnap stand up from his desk chair as he abruptly left the bedroom. "yeah, guys. we want you all to know that we are regular people too. therefore, we want to make sure that when you meet your favorite content creators in person, remember to maintain your manners," dream added.
"exactly. um... to clear the air. the girl that i was found with was actually not toxic to start off with. so, please, please, please do not send her any hate as the accusations are false. plus, i am fully aware that many questions have been asked... as in if the girl i am associated with was the same girl that i have been positing on instagram. i want to state that... yes, it's the same girl. but, she's not just any girl," i began before i let out an airy exhale.
"you got it, george," dream whispered for motivation from my right side.
i closed my eyes for a second to take a breather before continuing. however, as i opened my eyes, i heard the bedroom door to my left shut abruptly, making me jolt in my seat. i quickly averted my attention to the door, where i saw angel standing in bedroom corner shyly. i felt my lips curl upward to the sight of her.
as my girlfriend and i locked eyes, i could feel my heart pick up its pace as the grin on my face grew wider. i folded my hands to motion toward angel to come closer to me. i watched my girlfriend hesitate at first, but she slowly began to saunter toward me.
once angel approached my desk, i swiftly snaked my arms around her waist and pulled her body downward. as my girlfriend plopped into my lap, i spun my desk chair forward to have us both facing the webcamera. from the corner of my eye, i saw angel and i's image on my second monitor as our faces were plastered on the screen. instantaneously, i turned my head to the side to stare into angel's eyes once again. my girlfriend looked confused, as she tilted her head to the side after seeing herself on camera. i gently tightened my grip around angel's waist before i let out a sigh of relief from behind her neck.
"speaking of which... alright, chat. everyone... meet angel, my girlfriend," i effused.