"OHMYGOD!" I gasp, grabbing Jules hand and pulling her across the table towards me. "Look in that corner and tell me who you see!" Jules takes a moment before looking around the club and into the far corner. She whips her head back towards me, "There's no fucking way, dude!" She bubbles, leaning towards me before pulling me to the dance floor. She turns to me and nods, I remember this signal. She explained it to me before we left the hotel. We start to dance together, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, inching closer to the corner we were looking at. When we get just close enough she lightly trips me and I fall into someone. That wasn't part of the plan!
"I'm so sorry! Let me grab some napkins!" I say apologetically, grabbing napkins off the table and dabbing them on the man's shirt. "Don't worry about it, it's okay! Accidents happen, are you alright?" He asks touching my right shoulder lightly. I slowly look to his face, his hazel eyes gazing down at me. My heart rate starts to pick up again as I struggle to find words. "There you are Y/N! What happened to you?" Jules says from behind me, walking up like she hadn't done that on purpose. She was a great actress. "I fell into- I'm sorry I didn't get your name, I'm Y/N!" I start, offering the man a handshake, I know who he is but if I say that then he'll know most of this was intentional. He chuckles and takes my hand, "I'm Ethan, and you're Y/N. It's nice to know the name of the girl who just dumped her drink on my shirt." He laughs. God he's gorgeous, I'd be surprised if he was single. "I'm Jules!" Jules interjects, shoving her hand towards Ethan. I look at everyone at the table behind him. Sat at that very table was Mark, Amy, Seán, Evelien, Bob, Wade, and Tyler. I quickly look back at Ethan. "Can I buy you a drink or something? I feel so bad!" I ask, giving him slight puppy dog eyes. I hope this works as well as it does when Jules does it! "Sure, let's go!" Ethan responds, throwing his arm around my shoulders and ushering me to the counter. Jules stays behind and starts talking to everyone at the table. I wish I were as outgoing as her..
"Y/N?" Ethan says, snapping my attention back to him. "Yes?" I say, trying to act like I wasn't mortified. "Did you do that on purpose?" He asks slyly, smirking a little and looking in my eyes. "Of course not! I was just dancing with my friend and I tripped, must be these boots.." I respond, casting my eyes down to my shoes nervously. I slowly look back up to Ethan, he's looking away now, like something's bothering him. "Are you sure you're okay? I'm really sorry about your shirt-" I start but Ethan cuts me off. "Yeah, no. I'm fine.. This just isn't really my scene, or Marks either. Everybody just wanted to get out and have fun before PAX tomorrow but I'm ready to leave.." He vents, I relate to him all too well. If it weren't for Jules I wouldn't be here either. "Do you.. Do you wanna take a walk with me? I'm kind of tired of being here too and it'd be nice to get some fresh air." I offer, smiling at Ethan lightly. "No, that's okay. I'd better not leave the group." He smiles at me sweetly and takes his drink off of the counter. I pay the bartender and head over to Jules. "Jules can we go now? I've embarrassed myself enough for the evening." I beg. "Hang with us!" Mark demands, waving his arm to everyone at the table. "Are you sure? I wouldn't want to bother you guys!" I start nervously, looking at everyone at the table for confirmation. "Aaaah, c'mon! It'll be fun, plus it's the least you could do after giving Ethan a free bath!" Seán laughs throwing a napkin at Ethan. "Okay, sure!" I agree excitedly, Jules is enthralled with Tyler, she's always had a thing for guys a little older than her.
"Sooo," Mark starts, "tell us about yourself, Y/N!" He finishes, grinning widely. "Okay, well-" I tell them about my job and my YouTube and all about my first trip to PAX as a creator instead of a fan, they all congratulate me and look me up on their phones. "Oh-oh! I've seen you before!" Tyler exclaims, "I love to watch your behind the scenes videos! They're so interesting and they show what really happens at photo shoots! I love seeing that side of media!" I stare at Tyler for a moment, surprised that one of my idols knows me. That's so exciting! "Wow really? Thank you! I love to show how I do my job, maybe one of these days I'll do a behind the scenes of my YouTube! It's so stressful editing everything yourself.." I respond gratefully. "You mean you don't have an editor?" Mark asks shocked. "Nope! I do it all myself. I already had an idea for editing and stuff because of my job, I just apply it to YouTube instead." I say nonchalantly, "However, it would be nice to have that weight taken off." I finish. Ethan looks at me and chuckles lightly. "What, Ethan?" I say, confused as to why he's laughing. His cheeks are rosy, probably from drinking. "Oh, nothing.. It's just cute to see you talk about your life. You seem passionate." He says, his eyes widening when he realizes what he's just said. I stare at him, mouth agape. A heat rises in my cheeks as I look down to the floor. "Oh, well- uh- thank you, Ethan." I say shyly. Why must I be so awkward? If I knew how to talk to people instead of a camera, this would be so much easier. I snap back to attention when I feel a nudge on my arm, it's Jules. "Hmm?" I stare at her emptily, "You good?" She says curiously. "What- Oh, yeah. I'm fine. I'm just tired. I think jet lag has finally caught up to me. It was nice to meet all of you guys but I'm gonna head back to my hotel. Hopefully I'll get to see y'all's panel tomorrow!" I say, hurriedly getting up from the booth and pulling Jules with me.
"Wait, Y/N!" Ethan yells from behind me. I turn around, curious. "Yeah, what's up?" I ask, he hands me a piece of paper and winks at me. "See you tomorrow, Y/N." He walks back to his table, looking back and waving at me with the rest of the group. I smile and wave back, walking out the door and up the sidewalk to the hotel. Jules links arms with me, giggling. "Oooooh, Y/N got a crush!" She coos at me, singsongy. "Oh shut up!" I roll my eyes and chuckle at her.
She wasn't technically wrong but I barely knew the guy! I'm not going to be stupid and rush into anything headlong. I had to take this slow, what if he didn't even like me? Why would I put myself through that? Only time will tell, but there was absolutely something about him. I just couldn't figure it out yet..
YOU ARE READING
Out of Focus
FanfictionY/N is her own person really. She loves photography. She hardly went to parties or on dates or anything that wasn't home and school. She is very ambitious and career driven. She works for a magazine as a photographer, which her parents don't necessa...
