The Lift

21

Preston and David fell back into their previous routine very quickly. David thought a lot about what Jason had said, and though deep down he knew it wasn't the time to share his feelings with Preston, he was going to do everything he could to make sure she knew that he wasn't going anywhere.

On Thursday evening David picked up Preston from the office she was working at. She dumped her backpack in the backseat and climbed in the front.

"Good news or bad news first?" Preston asked right as she got in the car before he could even greet her.

David turned down the music, a playlist of her favorites, looking at her suspiciously and frowning slightly as he started toward the freeway again. "Bad then good."

"I can't come to the party tomorrow night," Preston said in a rush, glancing at David hesitantly.

His face fell. Not taking his eyes off the road even though they were in standstill traffic, David processed what she had said. "What happened, Press?"

"We got invited to a big dinner and meeting for some gear companies," she explained.

"We?" David questioned.

"Oh, me and Graham," Preston said happily. "You've heard me talk about him. He got invited first and sort of made me his plus-one, but I had already been invited anyway. Doesn't really matter."

David nodded. He heard a lot about Graham but hadn't met him yet. But suddenly he wasn't a fan of Graham...

"It's a huge deal and an opportunity to make contacts for future shooting projects, which is sort of why we're being forced to go," Preston said. "I'm really sorry, David. Tomorrow is a big night for you and I wish I wasn't missing it. But that does lead me to some good news."

"Go on," David said expectantly, plenty ready to move the conversation forward.

Preston took a deep breath to compose herself. She was making a big choice here, one that would be hard to go back from. Once she told David this, leaving would only be harder.

This was a commitment to telling him the truth. (Would that be happening soon? She kept telling herself it would.) But when it came to David, Preston lost some of her rational thinking. And it truly was because of their unexpected friendship.

Yes, Preston technically knew more about his life than she ever let on, but it wasn't the hope of recognition or fame that kept her coming back to David. It was how much he looked out for those he cared about.

And sure, she had been and still was curious about him and his YouTube career; that's why she originally followed him online, even just casually. So once she learned just how dedicated he was to creating, that made her want to spend time with him too. Preston respected David.

The strength of their relationship routinely caught her off guard. In some ways it scared her. Though she quite liked being his friend, and she was pretty sure he felt the same.

So if they really were as good of friends as she thought, why couldn't she bring herself to have an honest conversation about their first meeting? Those were the questions she routinely asked herself and always left with unanswered.

"I'm getting an apartment," Preston simply said, waiting for his reaction.

It took David a few seconds to comprehend what she said. As it sunk in he started smiling wildly, though his face showed that he couldn't quite believe what he was hearing.

"Wait, you're getting an apartment here, right?" David said and stopped smiling. "This isn't some kind of prank where you're then going to tell me you're moving back to Colorado?"