Hold On to the Stars // A Daniel Howell Fanfic

Chapter 4

As we wander around the various stores of London, I use the opportunity to vlog, although Julia has to steer me around people as I'm not really paying attention. Even though I stopped watching Dan's videos, I kept uploading to my own channel, and it's actually gotten way bigger than I thought it would. Every time I see the 1.3 M next to my channel's name, Brookexrose, an image of a twelve-year-old Brooke hitting "upload" for her first time and hoping that she'd have maybe a hundred subscribers comes to mind. Now, as I talk into my phone's camera, I have to remind myself that my subscribers are actual people who are expecting me to upload, even if I did get asked on a date by Daniel Howell.

"What's up, my internet family! So as you can see, I'm not in Idaho anymore. No, this is not what downtown Boise looks like. A lot of you probably recognize where I am, though. That's right, I moved to London! So right now, I'm shopping with my friend Julia - say hi, Julia." I turn the camera to her and she waves. "Hey guys!" The camera goes back to me. "So right now, I'm getting stuff for my apartment, because however aesthetic an empty apartment may be, I actually do need some things to be able to live there." I go through what I have in the bags, and I keep filming as we walk into a store. 

I lower my voice a little, but keep talking. "Yeah, so I can't afford anything in here, because I spend all of my money on ridiculous clothes that I won't ever wear outside of my house. *clears throat* But that's okay, because Julia here is a responsible adult who saves her money." Julia laughs. "Very true, I'm skilled in the art of adulting." She turns around and stage-whispers, "LOL, not really." 

Julia and I walk around the store, picking up stuff that we most likely would never use in the entire course of our lives, and we're about to leave when I see a marquee hashtag sign. "Ohmygod Julia, I need that."

"Noooooooooooooo, Brooke," she whines, "I can't carry this much stuff." It's true, she is carrying the majority of the bags, but she's probably going to end up living with me anyways, so it's her stuff too. I run over to the display and pick it up, starting to film with my phone again. "Guys, guys, guys, look what I found. It combines an aesthetic feel, and the internet....which is basically my entire life, if you think about it. Oh god, this is what I've been reduced to."

After a lot of begging, Julia finally relents and we buy the sign (and about four more things I see on the way to check out), and we get out to the street again. "So," I say to the camera/Julia, "I think that about wraps it up. We're probably ready to head home." 

Julia nods. "Yeah, if I have to go into one more ridiculously expensive home decor store, I will actually kill someone. You know what, there is no way I'm going to carry all of these home, we're getting a cab, and you are paying for it, so help me God." We both laugh as she finds an empty cab, and we pile all the shopping bags in. 

We finally get home after dealing with the awful London traffic for about an hour, and drag everything up the four flights of stairs. Both Julia and I are far too lazy to actually take stuff out of the bags and put it where it goes, so a large pile of bags forms in the kitchen. 

"I'm seriously starving," I whine as Julia and I sit on my couch. "Do you know how to cook, because I don't." Julia gives me a look. "What is it?" 

She drops her head into her arms. "We were out the entire day and we didn't get groceries. We have no food." I grin. "That means we can go to a restaurant to get dinner, right?" Julia snorts. "Yeah, no. No way. We're going to Tesco, and we're getting enough groceries to last an entire two weeks, and we aren't leaving the house again until we run out of food."

I agree. "Yeah, this has been fun, but today I spent more time in public than I have in the last month altogether. Let's go. But first, I'm changing back into normal clothes." From the living room, Julia shouts, "Didn't see your boyfriend today?"

"Oh, shut up," I yell back.