Anonymous

I really don’t believe you. I’m actually fighting with myself over blocking and reporting you.

Oh, shit. Okay. Not what I wanted. Not at all, actually.

Ugh, why had I deluded myself into thinking that it was going to be like a romantic comedy? That after my conscience got the better of me, and I finally told her who I really was, that she was going to fall into my arms, and we could ride off into the sunset together?

After all, she didn’t have the beginning of romantic feelings bubbling up in her stomach for me. Not that I wanted to admit that I had those feelings. But still. She thought I was some twenty-year-old girl. There was no way she’d start to develop feelings for someone with that description.

And now she thought I was some kind of crazy person posing as Louis Tomlinson. But I was Louis Tomlinson.

I calmed myself down a little bit and fired a message back at her.

i can prove it. do you have a skype?

Less than two minutes later, I got a reply.

Yeah. It’s JessieBell19. But if you ask me to show my boobs, we’re done, and you’re getting reported.

I chuckled a little as I logged into my own Skype and typed in her name to call her. She answered on the third ring.

And there she was, the girl from the picture. Her hair was a little messed up, since she’d probably just woken up, as it was only nine thirty in the morning back in England. But her eyes were bright, despite the uncertain and frightened look on her face, and she looked beautiful.

“Holy shit,” she gasped immediately, completely shocked. “It’s actually fucking you. I can’t believe this.” She leaned closer to the camera, narrowing her eyes. “Unless this is some kind of technological trick. Is it?”

“No,” I replied. “Definitely not. I don’t know how to do fancy stuff with computers. It’s me.”

“Is it really him?” a distant voice came from the background.

“I dunno,” Jess responded, her voice much louder than the other. “I think so. But how can I be sure?” She turned back to me, her eyes boring through mine. “Tell me something about yourself. And not the fucking carrots thing. I swear to God, if I hear one more person make an asinine carrot joke, I’m going to go postal.”

I snickered. “You and me both, love.” I thought for a second. “I don’t even know what you know about me. Should I just list off facts? How would that even prove anything? If I was good at posing as someone else, I would have done my research.”

“Hmmm. Good point,” she allowed.

There was some mumbling in the background, but I couldn’t pick out much more than the very pronounced, “wankers” at the end. My eyes widened, kind of surprised that they used that language so casually.

“Good idea, Elena,” Jess praised. “Go get one of the other boys. Prove to me that it’s really you.”

Aw, shit. That would ruin the whole point. I was locked in my bedroom of the hotel suite, alone, just so that they wouldn’t know that I was finally initiating real, true contact with her. Bringing in one of the other boys to talk to her would get rid of all my secrecy.

But I knew it was either I show her someone else, or I got blocked and deleted from the website, and all the strides I made would be for nothing.

“Just a tick,” I sighed as I got to my feet and walked away, ignoring the whispers in the background.

I went out into the living room to find all the boys doing their own things. For a second, I debated with myself over who would give me the least shit about what I was doing.

And my eyes landed on Liam. I hoped I was right.

“Hey, Liam,” I voiced. “Can I talk to you for a second? Like…privately?”

Liam’s thick eyebrows drew together in concern as he got to his feet. “Of course, mate.”

I led the way into my room, and he shut the door behind him. “Okay,” I started in a soft voice, hoping my laptop’s microphone wasn’t sensitive enough to pick it up. “I need you to be understanding about this. I told the girl who writes that story that I’m me, and she wants proof that I’m not a creep. She told me the only way to do that is to show her another member of the group.”

He stared at me. “She’s just playing you, mate. She probably just wants to meet someone else in the band so that she can brag to her friends that she has. I don’t think she’s unlike a lot of our other fans.”

“She is though,” I insisted in a hurried whisper. “Can you just show your face and wave? That’s it. Then you can leave. She won’t have to meet you.”

“That’s kind of meeting me,” he mumbled. “But fine. If she’s that important to you.”

The two of us walked back into the zone of the camera. Jess was still looking over the screen, probably at the other girl that was with her.

“Jess,” I started, pulling Liam down next to me. “Here. It’s Liam. Now do you believe me?”

Liam smiled and waved. “Hi.”

Although I could tell that she was trying to keep a straight face, I could see the flicker in her eyes. “Alright, fine. I believe you. You can let Liam go now. He looks like he’s being tortured.”

Liam snickered as he got to his feet and started to walk away. Sassy, he mouthed as he made his way out the door.

Great.

No longer knowing what to say, Jess and I just stared at each other through the computer. God, what had I been thinking? This was incredibly uncomfortable.

“Okay, this is weird,” Jess said aloud, simply saying what we were both thinking. “And some things just really don’t add up for me. Do you mind me asking some questions? Do you have time?”

“Loads,” I replied. “Today’s a day off. And I think questions will make this less awkward. So shoot.”

But instead of saying anything, she put her hand over the camera and whispered something to her friend, who muttered something back.

“I’m waiting!” I sing-songed, trying to lighten the mood.

“Sorry,” Jess responded, her face slightly flushed. “I was trying to figure out the best way to ask you this. But I figure point-blank is probably the best method.”

“Probably,” I agreed.

“Why the fuck did you make an account on a writing website aimed at teenage girls? And why did you tell me who you really are? What makes you think that I’m not going to run to the tabloids and blab on you?”