Spaceking

Chapter 19: More Than 5 Million People That Absolutely Love You

"Are you completely sure I should do this?" Dan frowned, thumb hovering above his phone. I nudged him, nodding. "They already found me anyway, so it's best you let them know who I am."
It was tweeted. I was now, officially, the surprise guest from the vlog.

Saw all these links to a certain twitter account.. To make sure, this is the right one! @dragonegg_Jo

It wasn't anything special, but soon, the retweeting began. And the questions. At the same time, my phone started vibrating with tweet and follow notifications. I gazed up at Dan. "I'll take a look at them, okay?" I turned away and took place on the, now empty, sofa. Phil, Jolene and Lisa were out to get food.
I opened my twitter app, taking a deep breath. Looking thoughtfully, Dan took place in the armchair in front of me. I didn't like that. I kind of wanted him to sit next to me. But I kept my mouth closed.

97 new followers. In what? Like ten seconds?
@danhowellisthebae named you in a tweet.
@imnotthekhaleesi named you in a tweet.
@cloe3638 named you in a tweet.

There were a couple of those. I started reading.

*************************************

I thought I was going to be done in an hour or so, but the questions just kept coming.
Are you a couple?
Are you a youtubster?
Why are you truing to get in his pants?
Just fuck off.

They went on and on, and I wanted to answer them all. I got all of my sass out. The rest had come home now. They were surprised to see us like this, both tapping extremely fast on our phone instead of talking like they expected. But Dan explained quickly and went back to tapping. Phil had sighed and came over to me. "Jo, come on. Eat." He took my hand, pulling me of the sofa and to the table. On the table were lots of bags with a printed logo on it. It was fish and chips.
Locking my phone and leaving it on the sofa so i couldn't feel it vibrating, I chose the grey seat. Dan followed quickly, sitting two chairs away from me, on an orange one. Jolene was inbetween us.
"Are you alright?" She asked me, pulling me in a side hug. I smiled, hugging her back. "Yes. They are being very civilized, just asking the normal questions. I have only had ten bitchy ones," I said, moving to take one if the bags. I heard Dan grumbling something, but as soon he opened his own bag, a smile came on his face. He stood up. "Jo, help me with the drinks?" He nodded to the kitchen. I smiled, leaving my seat. "What do you want to drink?" He asked Phil.
"Wat willen jullie?" (A/N: whatdo you want?) I turned to my friends. And while they answered, we had a short conversation in Dutch.
"Zeker dat alles oke is?" (A/N: you sure everything is okay?)
"Ja hoor, echt. Ze zijn aardig, heel weinig haters." (A/N: yes really. They're very nice, only a few haters.)

Dan pulled on my hand, and I followed him to the kitchen. "Careful, there's a door," he mumbled as he opened the glass door.
He opened cabinets and got out glasses and the drinks we needed, and I poured them out.
"Jo, you're lying about the haters, arent' you?" He turned to me. I frowned. "I'm not, really," I said, walking up to him to grab his arms. He looked defeated, unhappy. And I couldn't bear it. He shook his head. "I got a lot of them, Joanna. They're all very mean." I shook my head too. "They are scared to do it in my face, so they turn to you. I can show you my phone later on, so you can see for yourself. I don't have many haters." "But you do have some."
I sighed. "You have some too. But you also have more than 5 million people who absolutely love you."
He laid a hand on my cheek, a motion that surprised me. Without thinking, I leant against it. His smile was the sweetest thing. "Don't take this wrong," he breathed, "but you don't have those 5 million people."
"I don't," I nodded. "But I have a couple, thanks to you. And I have my friends. And I have you. You'll help me get through this, no?"
He sighed. "Of course I will."
"That's all that matters."
I picked up some of the glasses and left the kitchen.

*************************************

"..alright?" I was on Dan's bed, staring at my phone, scrolling through my feed. My head snapped up. Phil was standing in the doorway. He smiled widely, before coming to me and sitting down next to me. "I take that as a no then," he said. "What?" I frowned. Apparently he had said something to me. "I asked if everything was okay."
His smile was so friendly, so true, that my careful builded facade cracked a bit. My underlip trembled, and a soft sob left my mouth. Phil immediately reached out to me, pulling me closer to him. I wrapped my arms around him, burying my head in his shoulder. He sussed me. "Cry for a bit Jo, you need it," he whispered to me, taking a lock of hair between his fingers.
Sobs kept coming, each one a bit louder and more painful. I tried explaining to him inbetween my short ragged breaths.
"They're not nice Philly," I whispered. "Some of them are, but most are just," sob, "plain mean."
"I know girl, I know," he rubbed my head. "It's not easy at all."
"And I know I-" sob, "I asked for it, I wanted him to do it, but-"
I didn't finish my sentence. What I wanted to say was something like: I wanted him to tweet it, because being hated for loving someone is better than being hated for trying to love someone in secret. Because if Dan had never tweeted that, fans would still be looking for me and had probably found me by now. They would be more furious, because they would be proud they had found me while I was hiding. So this was better. Way.
Phil let me cry. And after I had calmed down, he cleaned me up, no questions asked. I guess he knew exactly what I had meant. He hugged me tight. "Are you going to tell him?"
I shook my head, eyes big. "It would hurt him so badly," I said, and Phil nodded. He also knew exactly how hid best friend would react.
From there, my thoughts jumped to my best friends. I grinned widely, and I saw suspicion on his face. How had I gone from sad to this in a second? He felt he was in trouble. Damn right.
"Soo," I trailed off. "What are you going to do to win Jolene's heart?" He flushed red immediately. "Is it that obvious?" He asked, panicking. I nodded, smiling. "At least, for me, Lisa and Dan it is. Jolene has no idea."
He let out a breath, relieved.
"And she likes you too," I patted him on the shoulder. "Make it happen, before we go home." I turned to leave the room. When I was pulling the door open, Phil turned around. "Same goes for you and Dan, Joanna."
I froze, blushing heavily. But I didn't turn around. Grinning, I pulled the door open and left, acting like I didn't hear anything.