Hi Hello

Her heart continued to hammer in her chest, but she smiled to the host. Emily couldn’t believe she was here. She was sitting in front of her favorite YouTuber and was a guest for her podcast. They were having a great conversation going talking about their heritage and sharing the love that they had for each other’s work.

“Ok!” The podcast host looked down at her tablet device. “Thanks for answering all my questions. Can’t wait to talk to after the podcast!”

“Are you taking me out on a date?” Emily teased.

“Oh yeah, girl! We’re def going on a date.”

“I hope your listeners get annoyed at how much we love each other.”

“Oh don’t worry! Well, let’s get to his listener’s question. @emilysfan890 asks what was your inspiration for your comic, Stardust Wishes.”

Emily’s eyes widened as a scream echoed in her brain. “Heh…” A meek smile rested on her lips. “Uh… I hate to say it, but the inspiration was a guy.”

“OoooOOoOoo, spill the t-e-a!”

…

It was 2009 when they first met.

Her heart stopped as the lock dropped open in her hands. An open locker just at the pull of the lock was absolutely a surprise! Whoever rolled their lock to their three numbered code, leaving just the last step to pull it, was probably a trusting, naive person or was lazy. Well, if it was already open, she could take a quick sneak peek.

She couldn’t really remember what was in the contents of the lockers — books probably. Emily does remember the joy bubbling in the depths of her stomach as her fingers graced the parchment of the moleskine she picked up. Her skin memorized the indents and grooves all the small paper forming words. Her eyes traveled across the page, consuming the sentences just like when she ate instant ramen as her first meal of the day around 7:00 pm. Emily was sucked into the world, which she was familiar with. After all it was the fanfiction that she religiously read every week. Emily even had a post it in her agenda to reminder to that it was released. She couldn’t believe that she went to high school with NinjaStars007.

What was she like? Could she be friends with her favorite fanfiction author? Judging by the fact that Emily was nose deep into a top locker, she had to be a senior or even a junior like her! Emily tilted her head as she continued to explore the locker. Maybe she could get a sneak peek at what NinjaStars007 had in store for the next chapter.

“HEY!” a booming voice jumped her.

Emily’s stomach leapt up to her chest, pushing her heart into overdrive. Her eyes widened so much it hurt and the bass of her heart boomed in her ears. Emily slowly turned to a boy walking down the hall towards the locker she stood at. Oh crap. She stared at the sweat dripping down his neck line and into the white t-shirt with their school mascot. Emily gulped as she realized that she was talking to Henry James, the star lacrosse player and most likely valedictorian of their school.

“Hi,” she gave him a shy whisper as he approached her. “H-he-hello.” There was a tingling and prickly feeling dancing over her ears and down the back of her neck.

This was the beginning of their long and complicated friendship.

…

“What did you think of the latest chapter?” Henry looked up from his chunky smart phone.

Emily beamed at him, stars in her eyes, as she turned to him. She was already hyped that they were on their way to an anime convention. They were both just waiting it out in Henry’s car before the doors of the convention center open. Unfortunately, Henry was dressed in his normal wear, adamantly refusing to have matching cosplay. That did stop Emily from dressing up as the main star of both his fanfiction and their favorite anime. Luckily, it was a pastel pink dress layered with a red leather jacket.

Emily gave Henry a shit eating grin. “Of course I did! Didn’t you see my text after I read it?”

Henry hid his smile. Of course he read the text, but it was always great to hear the validation out loud.

“Well, I was thinking,” Henry cleared his throat. “We could work on something together.”

She leaned towards him, crossing over the cup holder and holding his shoulder with her left hand. “Like a fancomic?!”

“That doesn’t sound bad does it?”

“It would be great! We should make it in an alternate universe! Like a high school au! No! What about a coffee shop au? But I don’t know anything about coffee. So maybe a flower shop one?! Your mom likes floral arrangements, right?”

Henry chuckled. “Calm down, Emily.” She stopped talking, but the glow in her eyes didn’t fade. “I wasn’t talking about a fancomic, but we could easily pull that off. I was thinking that we could do an original work.”

“Really?!” She could have jumped out of her seat, but she didn’t want to hit her head into his truck.

“Yeah! I’d write it and you’d draw it.” When he returned a smile, his eyes smiled too.

“Of course!” Emily cheered and pulled Henry into a hug. “I always wanted to collaborate with you since I read that first chapter of your fanfic.”

She felt his muscles tightened beneath him. It was an awkward hug. She was kneeling in her seat as the top half of her body leaned into him. Emily wrapped her arms tighter around his shoulders. Man, were they always this broad? Clover and honey tickled her nose as she pressed closer into him. His shoulders dropped into its natural state before he wrapped his arm around her waist. Henry pushed her into his chest as the other arm wrapped across her back.

“Great,” he whispered into her ear. “I’m looking forward to it.”

…

Wow. She hadn’t thought of Henry for a while, and he still made her feel all fuzzy and giggly. It was hard to believe that they lost contact with each other over the years, especially after they argued at a wedding three years ago. Emily continued answering the questions and wrapped up the interview. She realized that it was lunchtime, so Emily decided to go to banh mi shop across town before heading home.

As Emily got out of her car and slammed the door of her car, her eyes locked with dark amber eyes.

“Henry?” his name escaped her lips.

His eyes widened as he stepped out of the banh shop. He had a bag in hand, presumably it was his lunch. Oh crap. Emily felt her ears warming up again.

Henry came up to her giving her a quick, one-armed hug. She hoped he didn’t hear her heart racing a million miles per second. The same smell of clover and honey lingered on his skin.

“Hi, Emily.”

Her stomach did summersaults as he looked down at her. Emily had to run into him after she talked about him on the podcast. Henry also had to look a million times hotter. His dress shirt was rolled at the sleeves ending at his elbows and his tie was loose. He had tight fitting dress pants with cuffs exposing his polka dot socks and dress shoes. And his hair?! Killer. Henry wore his dark locks in a disheveled, but trying to impress hair. This is pretty f**ked up, universe.

“Hello?” Henry waved at her. “Earth to Emily.”

“Hey, Henry, how’ve you been?”

“Good. Good.” he nodded. They both took a quick look at his smart watch when it beeped.

She looked too. “Do you have somewhere to go, Mr. Lawyer?”

“Ah, no. It’s okay. It’s just a reminder to you know, eat lunch.”

Emily nodded. She wanted to say something, but a million things ran through her mind. Emily wanted to talk about their argument and Princess’s wedding, but that would be weird to talk about. She wanted to tell him that she just talked about when they first met in an interview. She also wanted to get his opinion of her comic. Most of all, she wanted to know how he was doing. Did he have a girlfriend? He probably did cuz he could never truly be alone. Was Henry’s choices in women much better now? Was he writing again?

“Are you grabbing lunch now?”

“Yeah, they have the best banh mis in town.”

“Do you want to grab lunch together?”

She smiled. “Yeah. That’d be great.”

“Great. Let me buy cuz I owe you one and I’ve been such an ass to you.”

“No, no! You don’t have to. I paid off all my loans and even bought a house, so you don’t have to worry about my wallet.”

His eyebrow rose. Henry sighed as memories rushed in.

“No, Emily,” He sighed. “I want this to be a date.”

“A date?”

“I hope that you’re not lying to your fans. You’ve been saying that your single in your Q&As.”

“I hope you’re single if you’re offering me a date.”

His jaw dropped. “I have changed since I last saw you. Give me the benefit of the doubt.”

Emily smiled. “Yeah, I’ve been waiting for you to ask me out.”