"Tell me a little bit more about the friends that you've made since moving here."
"Yeah, absolutely. I met Addison Rae, Josh Richards, and Tayler Holder when they came to visit Maryland with Bryce on a few different occasions, and we all reconnected when I moved here. I've also been spending a lot of time with the other boys in the house, Blake Gray and Jaden Hossler the most. We had dinner on the night that I moved in, and there, I met Avani, Amelie, Cynthia Parker, Dixie, Mads, and Nessa. We all spend a lot of time together. I also met quite a few members of the Hype House last week."
"You mentioned Nessa," Jennifer began. "Our researcher discovered that there was some drama that went on between the two of you not too long ago. Can you explain that to me?"
I could feel my face get hot. I felt like I was going to be sick. "That was all pushed way out of proportion. Social media makes things look crazy. You know how it is."
Jennifer looked disappointed in my answer. "That's a fair answer. What can you tell us about Josh Richards? I saw an interview with Bryce where he was asked if you two were official."
I sighed. "Josh and I are just close friends."
Jennifer switched the topic, asking me about my different social media accounts. Shortly after, the interview was over, but the pit in my stomach remained. I thanked her again before heading back to the dressing room where Josh was waiting for me.
"That was so awkward!" I said, flopping down into a chair.
Josh shook his head. "You're being dramatic. That went really well."
"She asked me about Nessa. And you."
"It's okay. You answered perfectly. Let's get you home, okay?" I resisted the urge to slip my hand into his as we walked out of the studio. When we got back in the car, Josh turned to look at me. "Hungry?"
"Starving," I answered. Jaden had made breakfast, but I hadn't actually eaten any of it.
We pulled into the McDonald's drive-through. "Hi, yeah, can I get a ten-piece McNuggets meal? Honey mustard, please. Sprite, please," he said, reciting my order. The fact that he even remembered gave me butterflies.
When we pulled up to the window, the cashier stopped in her tracks. "Josh Richards?" she asked.
He chuckled lightly. "That's me."
She leaned out of the window, spotting me in the passenger seat. "Oh my God. Bailey Hall. I'm a huge fan."
Josh faked a pout. "She likes you more than she likes me."
I laughed. "Can you blame her?"
The cashier laughed at both of us. "Your meal is on me. Go ahead to the next window."
Josh shook his head. "You don't have to do that for us. We're just regular people, too."
The cashier had a stern look on her face. "Sir, your meal has been taken care of. Please drive up to the next window."
Josh sighed. "Fine, but at least let me pay for the car behind us."
The cashier sighed and took his debit card.
When we drove up to the next window, the employee there had a similar reaction. "Josh Richards?"
"That's me."
"Can I get you anything else with your order? A few McChickens, some extra fries, anything?"
Josh shook his head. "No, thank you. You guys have been so kind to us already."
Finally, we got our order and headed back to the house. "Does that happen to you a lot?" I asked.
He shrugged. "Sometimes. It's nice, but it can also get kind of old. The fans sometimes forget that we're just like them."
"I've never had anyone recognize me in public before."
Josh looked shocked. "How? You're Bailey Hall."
"I am? Wow."
"You know what I mean. Not only are you insanely beautiful, but you're also related to Bryce. Your content is hilarious. I've seen your fans freak out over you in the comments."
It was my turn to shrug. "I think that they just remember that I'm just like them."
We walked into the house together. "We're home!" Josh yelled. Bryce came running.
"How did it go?" he asked, panting.
"It was pretty good," I answered. "She asked a question about Nessa that made me uncomfortable, and one about Josh, too, but I think it went pretty okay."
"It went great," Josh interjected. "Your sister is a freaking natural."
"What can I say?" Bryce replied. "I taught her well."
"Oh, hush. You didn't even prep me for my first interview."
"It's in our blood, baby," he joked.
I shook my head, shoving past him to sit in the kitchen. "My nuggets are getting cold."
"And he bought you lunch? What a gentleman."
"Shut up, Bryce," I said, dipping a nugget in my honey mustard. "You're gonna scare him off before we even get a chance to have anything."
Josh sat down next to me. "If you think that Bryce is gonna scare me off, you have another thing coming."
Addison walked into the kitchen. "Oh my gosh! How did it go?" I relayed the story to her quickly. "I'm sure it was great, girl. When are they putting it up?"
"It goes up tomorrow at noon."
"Um, we have to have a watch party. This is your first big interview since moving here. We have to watch it together."
Jaden entered the kitchen, rummaging through the fridge. "Watch what together?" he asked, taking a long sip of the protein shake that he had decided on.
"Bailey's interview! It comes out tomorrow at noon."
"Guys, we really don't have to do that. I don't want you to watch me talk about you guys while I'm sitting right next to you."
"Wait, you talked about us?" Bryce asked.
"Well, yeah. A lot of her early questions were about you, Bryce, so I couldn't exactly avoid talking about you," I said, shrugging.
"Wait, did you talk about me, too?" Jaden asked, sitting at the table with us.
I nodded. "Of course I did. You've become one of my best friends since I moved here."
Jaden wrapped me in a side hug. "That's sweet, kiddo. I appreciate that."
There was a comfortable silence as we all sat together. Blake and Amelie came in, and Blake immediately had something to say.
"There's a party in here, and I wasn't even invited?"
"Oh, hush, Frosted Blakes. You're being ridiculous," Amelie said, hitting him playfully. "What are you guys talking about?"
"We were talking about Bailey's interview. It comes out tomorrow at noon, so we're all going to watch it together," Addison said, smiling across the table at me.
"It really isn't that big of a deal. I don't know why you guys are blowing this out of proportion," I replied, sticking a fry in my mouth.
"Probably because we're all really proud of you," Blake said, tousling my hair. "Didn't you see that interview that said that you're projected to pass Charli in popularity by the end of this year?"
I turned to look at him. "What the hell are you talking about? I only have fifteen million followers. It's October, and I'm expected to gain over seventy million followers in two months?
"It can happen. Noah shot up like ten million in like a week," Blake said, picking up an apple and inspecting it before taking a bite.
I sighed. "That's because everyone either wanted to be him or be with him."
Bryce and Jaden laughed. "That's crazy accurate though," Jaden said.
"What's crazy accurate?" Noah asked, sitting down at the table with us.
"Your follower count shot up really fast because everyone wanted to fuck you," Blake replied, not even bothering to sugarcoat it.
Noah chuckled. "I mean, you're not wrong. How did that come up though?"
"Blake said that some interview predicts that I'm going to have more followers than Charli by the end of the year," I said, shrugging.
Noah shrugged. "Anything is possible."
We sat and talked for a little while before everyone excused themselves, leaving Josh and me sitting at the table.
"I want to talk to you about something," Josh said, his face getting serious.
"Is everything okay?" I asked.
"Yeah. I just want to stop hiding from everyone. I want to be able to take you on dates and hold your hand. I want you to be able to wear my hoodies in public without you worrying about answering a billion questions. I know that I love you, Bailey, and I don't want to keep hiding from that."
"Josh," I started.
"I know that seems rushed, and I'm okay with waiting if that's what you really want to do, but I would prefer it if we didn't wait."
"I don't want to wait either, Josh. I do want to be careful though. I want us to watch how we interact in content and the things we do in public. I don't need any more drama right now. Between tiktokroom and Fletcher, I'm burnt out on the drama."
"I get it. Do you want to tell our friends, or do you want to wait?" he asked.
"I'm pretty sure that they know, Josh. I'm pretty sure that I've only slept in my own bed once in the last week, and that was literally last night."
"Okay, so don't go out of our way to tell them, but we can confirm if they ask?" I nodded.
"Hey, guys. We're having a movie night. Do you guys want to come with me to get snacks?" Jaden asked, popping his head in the doorway.
"Um, yes. Movie night snacks are my favorite thing," I said, standing up from the table. "You coming, Josh?"
He shook his head. "Nah, I'm gonna stay here. I'll see you when you get back."
Jaden and I sat in silence for a few moments as he pulled out of the driveway. "Okay, so we're pretending that you two aren't talking?" he asked, looking both ways before pulling out onto the street.
"What do you mean? Who are you talking about?" I found it ironic that I still thought that I could play dumb when the boys asked me questions that they obviously already knew the answer to.
"You and Josh. No one talks about it, but I'm pretty sure we all know."
I shrugged. "We're not denying it if anyone asks, but we're not offering up that information either."
We pulled into the Target parking lot. Jaden took the keys out of the ignition and turned to look at me. "I'm really excited for you. I know that you two have had a little bit of a bumpy ride the last week or so but I think that you guys have so much potential to be so, so happy."
We walked through the store in almost complete silence. "Are you guys gonna start going out in public alone together or?"
"We are going to, but we're gonna watch how we interact with one another until we're ready to come out with it. We don't want a Dixie and Noah type of thing."
Jaden nodded. "So you guys won't be getting a dog together like me and Mads?"
I laughed. "Absolutely not. I'm pretty sure that Buddy is enough work for Josh without adding in another dog."
We checked out and headed home. We walked into the door to Bryce and Blake questioning Josh in the kitchen. "Hey, hey, what is going on?" I asked, setting the bags down on the counter.
"Nothing, sis," Bryce replied, not breaking his stare to look up and look at me.
"Bryce," I warned.
"We're just figuring out his intentions with you, Bailey. Don't worry about it, please," Blake said.
"You guys, this is ridiculous. Stop it," I said, sitting down at the table with them. "You don't need to question Josh. His head's in the right place. We're gonna be just fine."
"We're a 'we?'" Josh asked, looking at me.
I nodded. "Yeah, we are."
The interrogation was forgotten as Josh stood up, moving around the table towards me. "I love you," he said, leaning over to kiss me.
"That's my sister, bro, and this is our fucking kitchen," Bryce said.
I laughed into Josh's kiss as I deepened it. Bryce's groans of disgust were full to the fire as I wrapped my legs around Josh's waist, letting him carry me up the stairs and into his room.