Lights Out

nINETEEN

"So what's this surprise you have for me today?" I questioned, rolling over in Payton's arms. He laughed and bent his head forward to place a kiss on my forehead.

"You'll find out later," he told me, before rolling out of bed. "You want to match for VidCon today? We can be that couple."

I laughed as I looked up at him. "Sure," I shrugged my shoulders. We didn't really have a lot that would match so I wasn't too worried about how crazy it could get. I watched Payton as he scratched the top of his head as he looked between our suitcases. "Do you need some help?" I giggled, pulling the blankets up higher on my cool body. I was always so cold in the morning when I woke up.

"Nope, I got this, B!" he turned around and flashed me a smile before turning back around to bend down in front of the suitcases. He reached into mine first and pulled out a ripped up pair of jean shorts and a white bralette followed by a black zip up hoodie. He tossed me the clothes before bending back down to rummage through his own clothes. When he stood back up he was holding a pair of distressed jeans, a white t-shirt, and a black zip up hoodie that matched mine. "See! We're going to be the cutest couple there!" he laughed.

I stripped the shirt Payton had given me to wear the night before off and quickly pulled my bralette on. My face felt like it was on fire as I realized I had just be completely exposed in front of Payton. I had never gotten changed in front of a boy before. I grabbed my hoodie and pulled it on before slowly looking up at Payton. He was pretending to busy himself with the button on his jeans but I could see his cheeks looked as red as mine felt.

"You ready?" I asked, trying to break the awkward tension that had risen in the room. Payton nodded his head before opening up our bedroom door and walking out.

"Why is it so quiet yet?" he mumbled as we walked down the stairs into an empty living room and kitchen. I shrugged my shoulders as I walked into the kitchen and went to the fridge for a bottle of water.

"Oh crap, they moved our Q&A panel up an hour. We need to get an Uber there now or we'll end up being late," Payton said, grabbing his own bottle of water from the fridge. He clicked into the Uber app and ordered us one and we both went outside to wait for it.

"What if I suck?" I pouted, crossing my arms over my chest. Butterflies were swarming my stomach as I thought about sitting in front of a large crowd of supporters. Somehow I had gotten stuck on a panel with Payton, Chase and Jaden and I knew mostly everyone was going to be there for them.

"You aren't going to suck, Baker. Just pretend you're filming a YouTube video with a live audience," he shrugged and I rolled my eyes.

"So again I ask, what if I suck? A live audience, Pay, seriously not helping any!" I had filmed quite a few YouTube videos and I had even gone live on TikTok a lot, but the idea of having real people sitting in front of me made me want to throw up. I knew most of the girls would be judging me. She's ugly. She's not good enough for Payton. She's a slut with all of those boys. Why do they like her? I saw all of the comments on my Instagram, now I was going to see it front and center.

A black SUV pulled up to the curb in front of our house and Payton and I made our way down the front path and climbed into the car. Payton reassure our driver knew the address to the convention center and finally we were on our way.

Payton held my hand the entire way to VidCon. He knew I was nervous and I also think he was trying to make up for the way he acted yesterday. I knew that that was going to be a huge topic of discussion during our panel as well and I really wasn't looking forward to it.

As our Uber pulled up to the blocked off section for creators Payton and I thanked our driver and climbed out of the car. As soon as we were outside of the SUV Payton grabbed onto my hand and laced his fingers with mine. I could tell he was already trying to make up for the way he acted yesterday.