Eleanor Bourne was someone many young girls looked up to, craving to be just like Elle. Whether it was because of how Elle would portray herself on Instagram or it was her gaming channel where she was able to be fully herself and show her happy personality. Elle didn't know which had a stronger influence on these girls, but she was just happy to have a positive impact on so many people. Although, so many of these girls would never understand what it was like to actually be in Elle's shoes and how much strength it takes.
Sure, Elle got many products for free, discounts on trips, and a supportive fanbase that loved everything she did, but it came with a lot of disadvantages. Everywhere Elle went for an event, somebody seemed to recognize her, there was really never a night on the town where she could choose to be lowkey. Young girls, women her age, men her age, and younger as well would all crowd her space begging for a picture so they could later share with their mates. The men had become somewhat of an issue. Elle's fanbase first grew on Youtube, sharing her calming gaming content with other women who enjoyed similar things, but once she had become consistent on Instagram, men popularized her for just her looks. While it wasn't necessarily a bad thing to be considered pretty, and she appreciated it a lot, it seemed like that's all some people knew her for. Elle wished for a chance to show all those people her personality as well, so that's what she could be recognized for, but nobody on the silly picture app would have cared.
Eleanor wasn't one of those girls who got popular online in her early teens, it had taken her until the age of twenty-four to finally gather a good enough following to support herself fully. Her parents had been insanely supportive throughout everything and allowed her to stay at home, working full time at a cafe as well as posting on social media to be able to save up for her first apartment. Once she had finally gathered all the money she needed and felt comfortable with her income from social media, Elle decided to move straight into London, branching out many opportunities for herself as an influencer. Being able to quit her barista job was one of the best things she could do for her own mental health. Elle loved her coworkers and interacting with sweet customers, but there were many times when fans would find out where she worked and bother her trying to talk without buying a drink or anything. Times like this would always make her manager upset, putting Elle's job at risk, knowing that Elle was a risk to the cafe's calming and quiet aesthetic.
After moving to London, there were still not many new influencer 'friends' Elle had made. Everyone she had met was a friend of one night for a quick Instagram post together and that was it. That hadn't been Elle's plan at all, she would meet people, hit it off, post photos together, then attempt to still be in contact and friends. The others must not care as much as Eleanor did, because they would tend to ignore her texts after, like they didn't care to have a relationship at all. Elle's one true mate she has had for a few years is Tobi Brown. They became mates online in 2019 when Elle was very focused on her youtube channel but also trying to start somewhat of a singing career. Tobi helped her try and get a start with it and get in contact with producers to bring some of her lyrics to life with her own voice. Sadly, the vision didn't pan out for Elle and she gave up on her dream of becoming a singer, never even posting a single one of the songs to the internet, just keeping the recordings she had for herself. Even with this failure under her belt, Tobi didn't just leave her behind as a friend, he saw how kind of a person Elle was and how dedicated she was to her youtube even while working a full-time job, and couldn't let such a strong-minded person like that out of his circle. While they were great mates, they didn't tend to go out with each other in public too much. Although, one random Saturday in 2022 when Tobi finally invited Elle for a night in London, he introduced her to Talia Mar.
Talia and Elle had many conversations about music, with Elle describing how she looked up to Talia so much and was so proud of her success. This made Talia fangirl a little bit since she had known who Elle was for a good amount of time, but neither of them knew how fond they were of the other. They partied the night away having a few drinks, Talia even introducing Elle to her friend Freya. Of course, Elle knew who they both were, everyone who was obsessed with media knew who the Sidemen were and knew their girlfriends as well, although Elle followed the girls more on things like Instagram while she followed Tobi's mates on Youtube and Twitter more. She was always interested as to why Tobi had never introduced her to more of the Sidemen ever. She had just assumed that Tobi figured they wouldn't really have anything in common.
Talia walked quickly from the bathroom in the club over towards Elle with a big smile on her face
"Elleee! OH MY GOD! I totally have a way that we can make you more friends!"
Eleanor had a curious look on her face, having no idea what Talia could possibly be talking about
"What!? How are you going to help me?". Elle said with a giggle after, confused about what Talia had in mind.
"The boysss! They need help... A new cameraman-, WOMAN!" Talia said as she shook Elle's shoulders.
"One of their guys just had to quit. It's the perfect opportunity!"
"Oh, I don't know Talia. That seems like a lot of responsibility!" Elle told her as the music seemed to get louder, or either Elle was just completely lost with no thoughts in her brain currently, making everything outside her head seem louder.
"Hold on! I'm gonna go get Simon! We need to talk about this RIGHT NOW!!" Talia said loudly as she excitedly started to look around frantically to find her boyfriend.
"I think you're a little drunk Talia I don't know !" Elle tried to tell Talia, but she had already run off in a direction where her boyfriend Simon might be. Elle was freaking out, she was totally going to embarrass herself in front of one of the most popular youtubers. Being drunk absolutely did not help the situation whatsoever, and made Elle completely start freaking out more than she should have. Heading for the exit of the club, before she could make it, she felt a hand grabbing her arm. Turning around quickly to look, it was Talia, with Simon following her closely behind looking confused.
"Oh perfect! You're already going outside! I was gonna say we should so we can hear each other better!" Talia said loudly as she dragged me and Simon both outside in her grip.
Eleanor sat in silence for the first few minutes while Talia rambled to Simon about how she had met Elle just an hour prior and through their mutual friend Tobi. She told Simon how much she and Elle had in common and how she completely would trust Elle with anything even though they have barely just met each other. Simon sat quietly as well and just listened to what his drunk girlfriend had to say about this random girl standing in front of him. Well, Eleanor wasn't completely random, he had seen some of her videos before and knew that Tobi was friends with her, but never knowing enough to claim he knew Elle.
"So... Let me get this right? You, Talia, want me to give Eleanor a job filming for the Sidemen?" Simon asked her once she had finished rambling and Elle still hadn't said a word in the presence of Simon.
"YESSSS! Come on she would be absolutely perfect! Wouldn't you Elle?! She needs real mates like us" Talia pleaded with Simon, getting a feeling that he might be thinking she is just drunk thinking.
"I promise you wouldn't regret it. I'm busy with my own stuff too, growing my channel, but I have enough free time to help you guys, it seems like a fun environment, and I already know Tobi." Elle told Simon in a soft voice, she was afraid of embarrassing herself and making it seem like she needed this opportunity. She didn't need it for the money or anything, but for the friendship opportunities, even with people like Talia. If the rest of everyone was anything as loyal as a mate as Tobi had been to her, it would be an amazing experience she wouldn't regret one bit.
"Look. Uhm... Put your number in my phone, and I'll give you my number... I'll talk to the rest of the boys about it." Simon said as he handed over his phone to Elle, waiting for her number to be put into his contacts.
"Thank you Simon." Elle said while smiling, the fact that he was even considering it meant the world to her right now. She assumed it was because his girlfriend was the one asking, but she didn't care at all, the opportunity was enough.
After exchanging information, Simon gave Talia a quick kiss and headed back inside the club.
"Thank you so much Talia! That was so sweet of you!" Elle told Talia as she began to tear up, thinking about how sweet it was of Talia to do something like this for someone she had just met.
"Of course love! Now go back in and have fun" Talia told Elle as she turned towards the door herself.
"I think I'm actually going to head back to my flat right now! My heart was beating so quick during that I would love to lay down right now" Elle told Talia, saying goodbye and watching Talia walk back into the club to go finish the night off with the rest of her mates. Elle pulled out her phone to text Tobi about how she had left early to go rest, she figured she didn't have to mention the Simon situation, either Simon himself or Talia would do it on their own.
Having ordered an Uber, Elle got in, ready to go back to her flat where she could post her club outfit pictures where she had a full face of makeup and amazing outfit and then lay down in her truly comfortable form of joggers and a bare face. In the Uber Elle opened up her Twitter, scrolling through mentions from fans as well as normal tweets, keeping up with what is going on in all the communities she has made herself a part of over the years. The car stopped as she reached the side of the road next to her building.
Elle spoke softly while getting out of the Uber "Thanks.."
She walked towards the front entrance of the building, the sidewalk being mostly empty except for a few random people walking on their own every now and then. Sometimes she really wished she had a roommate or something to go out with on nights like this, or someone to make sure she had made it home safe, but there were no girls she was close enough with to have that kind of relationship. After taking the elevator up to her floor, Elle walked into the door of her flat and grabbed a bag of crisps before heading into her bedroom for the rest of the night. Still on her phone, she read all the comments of her new post in her club outfit, everyone was hyping her up, making Elle feel decently confident in herself. Well, not everyone, there were a few people who would hate on her and call her a whore for not having every single inch of her body covered or saying Elle looked fat, but those people were trolls and she knew it, Elle didn't let silly stuff like that bother her, she had been through much worse at many points in her life.
Immediately after Eleanor had closed the app, she got a new notification. Figuring it would just be any normal like from one of her fellow influencers, she opened the notification up to see that no other than KSI, or JJ, had now followed her on Twitter. She now had two out of the full seven Sidemen following her on Twitter. Not that it was super important or that she was collecting them in any way, she was just shocked, never thinking she would get any more than just Tobi, especially the second being KSI was shocking to her. Elle thought about how Simon must have explained the recording situation to JJ as soon as he had gone back inside and immediately got embarrassed, she probably seemed so desperate to the both of them. She wasn't completely desperate, but Elle totally understands how it could've been perceived that way. Elle was staring at the follow from JJ so much that she hadn't noticed the DM that she had received during those few moments.
KSI: Recording ? Weird choice but alright
With absolutely no idea how to respond whatsoever, Elle just sat there in shock, she was confused if this was him making fun of her and saying no, or making fun of her and giving her a chance. She figured the following meant something good, but she couldn't help but be pessimistic.
KSI: We're filming on Monday. I'll have Simon send the address, try it out :)
Ellernour: Okay totally! Thanks!! :)
That was maybe the nerdiest response I could've sent, Elle thought to herself, but there was nothing better to do in that situation than just show her true and genuine interest in what was possible to come for her.