David was looking through the designs his fans had sent in. He could not believe how good some of them were, he wished he could choose more than just one.
Finally, he had to settle on a simple white design with a few different references to his vlogs and partner logos on it. He submitted it through his personal email, telling the NASCAR representative to talk about the design only with him. He wanted to keep it a secret so he could surprise Natalie with it.
He went to his phones camera and pressed record. "Hey guys, I just finished picking out the design I'm going to be using for the race I was taking about! I'm not gonna reveal it because it's a surprise. Tune in to FS1 on race day to watch, bye!"
He finished the recording and posted it to Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat.
The front door was opened soon after, and all his friends poured in. He had forgotten that they were having a small get together that day.
His flight to North Carolina was next week; his race was in the next two weeks, so they were all spending time together beforehand.
Zane, Jeff, Jason, Heath, Todd, Ilya, Carly, Corinna, Erin, and Natalie were all going. Natalie and Jason were David's guests and the others had bought themselves tickets to go see the race. They were all excited.
____________
Nothing much happened the rest of the week and soon, David, along with everyone else, found themselves running through the airport, trying to catch their flight.
They managed to get to their gate just in time, and soon settled themselves in for the roughly four hour flight.
"You excited?" Natalie asked as the plane took off. David smiled at her. "Yeah, I'm pumped. I've never done something like this before. You always liked this kind of stuff right?"
Natalie shrugged. "I mean yeah I guess. I have a few NASCAR shirts and I follow a few drivers on insta and twitter but it's not like I watch it regularly."
David nodded. "Yeah sure, I get it."
Natalie shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Hey, wanna turn the row into a bed like we did last time? I'm kinda tired." David chuckled. "Yeah sure."
Because no one had taken the seats behind them, David and Natalie could put their own seats very far back without worrying about disturbing others. They spread blankets and mini pillows that they had brought in their carry-ons all over the seat and laid themselves on top of it. There wasn't that much room, so Natalie had to somewhat cuddle into David. He didn't mind. She was his best friend and they did this all the time.
He thought he saw Todd looking at them from across his row and the aisle, but he ignored it. Todd knew they did this, and besides, they were broken up.
Natalie's hair was in David's face, the smell of her vanilla shampoo calming him. He quickly fell asleep.
____________
David groaned as he felt himself being shaken. "Mom not yet, I don't want to go to school today..." Natalie's sudden laughter quickly woke him up fully, and he finally opened his eyes.
Natalie had woken up and somehow managed to lift him off of her seat so she could sit on it, and prop his head on her shoulder, all without waking him.
David finally sat up straighter and turned to look at the stewardess shaking him. She had an amused expression on her face as well. "Sir, we are about to land at our destination, can you please put your seat fully upright?"
David nodded and quickly complied. The stewardess smiled and nodded at him. "Thank you."
He felt Natalie nudge him slightly and he turned to look at her. She indicated to her jacket and chuckled as David's face turned slightly red. He had drooled on her shoulder while he was asleep.
"Sorry," he muttered.
Natalie shook he head, still laughing. "Don't worry about it, it's fine. I already got my revenge anyway."
David looked at her worryingly. "What? What do you mean?"
Jason leaned over across the aisle. "She took a video of you on Instagram and posted it to her story." Natalie laughed even harder as David groaned and put his face in his hands.
Finally, the plane touched down.
"Ladies and gentleman, welcome to Charlotte, North Carolina. We hope you enjoy your stay and thank you for flying with us."
The group soon made their way to the hotel and, after resting for the rest of the day, went to grab something to eat.
____________
Dinner was rather uneventful and the next day, David, Jason, and Natalie took a big van to the racetrack.
The van pulled into the parking lot of a massive building, a sign reading "Charlotte Motor Speedway" towered over them.
The van drove into an access road and through a gate, before crossing onto the track. It was huge. The straightaway was very long and the turns looked to be almost vertical, they were so high.
The van stopped in front of a massive group of cars draped in sheets, tons of people were already around. David quickly realized that most of them were other youtubers and their invited friends and family, while others were what looked to be NASCAR officials and event organizers.
All three got out and met with the others.
Before they could start talking, they, along with everyone else, were led to one of the covered cars. Everyone was recording.
One of the event organizers got a microphone, and after giving the go ahead, all the youtubers pulled the tarps off, revealing their cars to their fans.
Gasps and cheers were heard all around as everyone got a good look at their cars. "Hahaha! Oh my God I love it!" Natalie gushed. "This is so COOL!"
The design David had chosen had the number 42, a reference to the length of his vlogs.
Logos of David's sponsors, partnerships, and other social medias were all over the car as well. David's name and merch line were painted on the top of the car, and on both sides, were the names of everyone else in the Vlogsquad.
The words "NATALIE!" were painted on the back sides of the car, just above the tires. The reference was clear.
"Is this why you didn't let me see the design?" Natalie asked him.
David nodded. "Yup, I wanted to surprise you."
Natalie eagerly gave her phone to Jason so he could take a picture of her with the car, happily posing next to where her name was written.
"David Dobrik! What's up bro!" David turned to see a massive muscular body approaching him. He grabbed David's hand and pulled him in into a quick bro hug.
It was KSI.
David didn't know KSI that well, but he was aware of him.
"Hey," David said. "I didn't know foreign youtubers were going to be here, thank God I'm not the only one anymore."
JJ gave his signature belly laugh. "Yeah man, I also got the call. Free trip to America and drive a fast car with other youtubers? I'd be insane to say no."
As they continued to chat, JJ suddenly looked behind David and straightened slightly, his rather unique facial expression quickly giving away his annoyance. "Oh... sick."
David blinked. "What, what is it?"
KSI sighed. "The dumb and dumber of YouTube are walking up here.
David turned around. "The dumb and dumber of—"
It was the Paul brothers.
"Oh..."
"DAVID, JJ, what is UP guys!" Logan gave each of them bro hugs that they both halfheartedly returned. Jake did the same. Unlike his brother, Jake also bro hugged Jason, but stopped in his tracks when he got to Natalie.
"Wow, Natalie! Cool to finally meet you in person, I didn't know you were coming." He shook her hand.
Jake didn't even try to hide the fact that he was checking her out. It was hot in North Carolina, and Natalie was wearing black shorts and a white sleeveless top. His eyes roamed up and down her body hungrily, clearly liking what he saw.
Natalie squeezed Jake's hand tight enough to cause him pain. "My eyes are up here Mr. Paul." She growled out.
Jake quickly but coolly tore his hand out of Natalie's grip, grimacing at the pain.
He chuckled nervously before nodding to the others, moving to go join his brother, who was, again, squaring up with KSI; the banter between the two before and after their fight, never seemed to end.
David glared at the youngest Paul, before looking to Natalie, who just smiled at him.
"Well, this just got a little more interesting."
David laughed.
"Yup! For sure."