I'm So Much Cooler Online

“Well this is weird.”

Dree snorted, shaking her head. “Everything is weird to you, what’d you break this time?”

Sarah glared at her camera, then went back to reading over her screen. “Some person named Liam added me on Google+. You’re literally the only one I talk to on here, what’s going on?” Squinting her eyes a bit, the name on her screen didn’t change any. The words “LIAM P.” were right there next to the little red number, begging her response. There wasn’t a profile picture to match the name, so she had no guesses.

“Didn’t you put your e-mail address on Tumblr? Maybe someone actually wants to join us this time.” Dree answered, shrugging slightly.

Sarah thought about it for a bit, then just clicked ‘add to circles’. “Why not? It’s not like we’re ever on here, anyway.”

“True that. Aside from when we do videochat... that’s probably all anyone uses Google+ for anyway. If they use it.”

“My thoughts exactly.” Leaning back in her chair, she laughed lightly. “Though I’m not sure how well he’ll fit in with our conversation.”

Dree laughed as well, shaking her head. “Poor boy doesn’t know what he’s getting himself into. Everything tonight is cute boys.”

“Apparently we shouldn’t watch X-Men before talking to each other.” Hearing a small blip, Sarah looked towards the bottom of her screen to see a small black box pop up next to Dree’s video feed. “Here’s our new friend, hopefully he can hold his own.”

“Hey, it’s alright. Jennifer Lawrence and January Jones are beautiful ladies.” Dree supplied. “I would love to be them.”

“Rose Byrne, too. Okay kid, we got you as long as you know your X-Men.”

As the black box at the bottom cleared out into an image, however, it was clear their conversation about actresses was over. The boy behind the camera had short, light brown hair, delicate facial features, and a sweet smile. “Erm...” He looked a bit confused, looking between the two repeated. “I think I’m in the wrong place.”

The thick accent tipped Sarah off instantly, and she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to laugh or cry. “I definitely think you are. How did you even find me on here?”

“I had this contest for a video chat with some people on twitter, but... your name is kind of common.” He looked genuinely concerned about the mix-up. “This- I’m really sorry. I just interrupted your conversation and-”

“Calm down, we’re not mad or anything if that’s what you think. We actually invited people to add us in an attempt to socialize with people other than each other and thought you were gonna join our conversation, so it’s not a big deal.” Dree interrupted him before he could freak out any more than he already was. “You’re too nice for your own good, it’s fine.”

“Yes, well. It’s manners, you know?” Sarah laughed aloud, covering her face with her hands, and he raised an eyebrow. “Are you laughing at me?”

“Yes. Yes I am. You’re so adorable.”

“You can’t just tell a guy he looks adorable, Sarah. They don’t like that word.” Dree chided, the three of them laughing at this.

“Adorable is kind of a strange word to describe a guy.” Liam agreed. “I prefer rugged and handsome.”

“Yeah, no.” Dree shook her head and pointed toward her camera. “You, sir, are sweet and cute, but things like rugged are not acceptable answers.”

“I am offended!” Liam protested, jaw dropping in horror. “I am an adult man, I can be rugged!” Looking down at his watch, he sighed and turned back to them. “I should probably find that girl I meant to speak to, but you guys are pretty awesome. Maybe we’ll talk some other time?”

“Yeah, sure. Good luck finding them!” Dree answered, waving to him and giving him a smile. He waved back, then the screen went white as he disappeared from the conversation.

“Did that just happen?” Sarah asked, asking for reassurance as they both stared at the screen blankly.

Dree nodded her head slowly, eyes still wide as they gave themselves a moment to process what just happened. Neither was going to react while he was there, but now that he was gone...

“Liam Payne was just in our fucking videochat!” Dree shouted, falling off of her bed and muffling a scream with her pillow.

Sarah brought her feet up and wrapped her arms around her knees, taking a deep breath. “Holy shit. Ho-ly shit. How is this our lives!?”

“I don’t know!” Dree’s head popped up beside her bed, and her eyes were still wide with shock. “What do we even do? Did you take a screenshot? No one will ever believe us!”

“I don’t... ugh, how do we go on from this?”

“Magic. That’s the only way.”

{&}

A few hours later, Dree let out a large yawn, and Sarah had to poke fun at her.

“If you’re so sleepy, you should get to bed!” She teased. Dree rolled her eyes, but nodded at the same time.

“You’re right, I have work early tomorrow as per usual.” Waving a bit, she stuck her tongue out at her friend. “Me leaving does not mean you can sit up doing nothing until five in the morning, ya hear?”

“I would never.” Sarah gasped and gave her a horrified look. “How dare you think so lowly of me?”

“Because you do it literally every time I leave?”

“This is true.” She shrugged. “Well, sleep well kiddo. I’ll text you tomorrow?”

“Sounds good, goodnight!” After waving one last time, Dree’s feed vanished from the chat, leaving her to a blank white screen. Just as she was about to exit out of it herself, a black box popped up at the bottom again, fading into a very colorful feed.

“Liam? What... what are you doing?” Sarah asked as she gazed upon the boy where he sat in a very green area wearing a bright red jumper and a green hat. “You look like Christmas, what happened to you?”

“Well, first of all, if I dress weird in public, no one figures out that it’s me because they all think I’m odd and stay away. Secondly, as much as I love our fans, it’s sometimes hard to deal with them. I needed some sane conversation.” He explained, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “So converse with me!”

“Fans? What do you mean?” She tried to keep the smirk off her face, but it was easily fighting its way there because she had the worst poker face.

“Shut up, you and your friend had that look in your eye when I was here the first time, don’t go there with me.”

“Okay, fine, you win. So you turned to Google+ instead of hanging out with the boys?”

“Like I said, I wanted sane conversation.” He repeated, raising his eyebrow and giving her a look. “Where’s your friend, by the way?”

“She had to get to sleep, she’s got work in the morning. She’s going to be so mad she missed you. Speaking of, why are you up so early?” She did a quick calculation in her head and realized it was about eight in the morning there, then grimaced. “Seriously, early. I know you’re daddy direction and everything, but come on.”

“Time zone difference, had to be up early. Besides, it has to be early there too, it’s all awful dark. Well, awful late, I suppose.” A strange sound came from Liam’s end of the video, and he jostled the computer a bit before coming back on screen. “Sorry, thought someone saw me.”

“Why are you outside at eight in the morning?”

“It’s beautiful out, stop judging. You should give me her twitter handle so I can tweet her something ridiculous.” Liam gave her a devious grin, and Sarah couldn’t help but laugh.

“You’re awful, I like you. It’s andie with an IE, and then gomez.” She watched as Liam typed for a few minutes on his computer, then went to twitter herself when his smile grew.

real_liam_payne: wow @andiegomez is such a lamer for leaving me :(((

“Oh, she’ll be delighted by that. Your wording is going to set people off, though.”

Liam groaned, then shrugged his shoulders. “Whatever. Too tired to care.”

“You should go to bed, then!” Sarah insisted. She paused for a moment, then added “We should probably both go to bed, actually. I’ve been awake far too long.”

“True. I’ll come back when Andrea’s on again.” Liam laughed. His nose scrunched up a little as the sides of his smile crept up towards his eyes, and she knew she was wearing a really stupid look on her face as she watched, but there was nothing cuter than Liam. “What’s wrong with you?”

“You’re just... you’re so goddamn cute!”

“Yeah, you need sleep. Maybe I’ll be friends with Andrea instead, she seems much more sane.”

“You are clearly mistaken.” She assured him with a smile. “But I’m gonna head out. Talk to you later?”

“Sure, I’ll probably see you around soon.” Liam nodded to her and gave her a little wave. “Goodnight!”

“Night.” Clicking the X in the corner of the screen, she sat in silence for a few moments until she was sure her camera wasn’t picking up feed anymore, then slapped her hands to her face. She had to be dreaming.