c h a p t e r   o n e

"the playful conversation starts
counter all your quick remarks
like passing notes in secrecy
and it was enchanting to meet you."

enchanted by taylor swift
↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺

messages with
maximus & ally

ally
max
don't be mad at me
but i just remembered that
i promised elliot i'd help him
paint his new home studio 
tmrw
so i can't come on the pod
but i swear i'll find a
replacement
i live with two other famous
people and one interesting
gay bartender 
i'm so sorry

maximus
alice calm down
it's fine
but yeah, a replacement
would be great if you can 
find one

ally
i'll ask lindsey when she
gets back
if she says no, i'll make 
paisley go

maximus
thank you
i'm sad i don't get to see
you tho
lunch sometime?

ally
definitely

alicemurphy posted a story!

ALICE GRINNED WHEN SHE HEARD THE DOOR OPEN. Her best friend had been on a trip to Spain for the past week, and she had really missed her. However, that had not stopped her from forgetting to pick her up from the airport. To make up for it, she decided to make them some dinner. 

The two lived with two other girls, Natalie Kinney and Paisley Minter. Paisley was an American singer-songwriter and cousin of the Simon Minter, and Natalie was a bartender and the only UK native. The four of them plus Elliot, another singer-songwriter, and Emi, a girl that worked with Natalie, made up their little group. 

Natalie was leaning over the stove, trying to snag some food before it was ready. "Hi!" Alice exclaimed, looking up from the stove for a second when Lindsey walked in before turning back to slap Natalie's hand away from the food. "How was Spain?"

The Harris girl smiled at her as she collapsed across the three barstools at the counter, happy that someone noticed she was gone after they forgot to pick her up at the airport. "Amazing. I went on this hot air balloon over Segovia, and it was fucking beautiful."

"Ooh, where are the pictures?" Natalie asked, climbing over the island and sitting on top of it as Lindsey pulled them up and handed her the phone. Paisley entered the room then and stood beside her to look over her shoulder.

"So, Lindsey," Alice started as she turned off the stove and turned around, and the brunette looked up at her suspiciously. She knew when the Murphy girl wanted something, and she was giving her the biggest puppy dog eyes. "Can I ask you a favor?"

Lindsey was nervous as she just replied, "Oh, no."

"It's nothing bad, I promise," the blonde assured her. "Max asked me to go on his podcast the other day, and I said yes, but I've just realized that I can't go because Elliot needs me to help him paint his new home studio, and I told them I'd get a replacement, so I was wondering if you wanted to go on instead of me. It's tomorrow."

"That was such a run-on sentence, but sure," the Harris woman told her with a shrug. Alice was always the one to correct them on their grammar, even when they were talking out loud, so she thought she'd give her a taste of her own medicine.

Paisley scoffed at her, "Stop being grammar police, you nerd. That's Ally's job."

"Thank you," Alice responded to Lindsey, coming over and kissing her on the head before heading back to the stove to finish dinner. "Now, to celebrate Lindsey coming home, does anyone wanna go out tonight?"

Paisley perked up at that, like she just remembered something that she had forgotten about. "Simon and Tobi invited me to this party Freezy's throwing to meet some of their friends, said I could bring whoever I wanted."

"I'm down," Lindsey replied. She was never one to turn down the party, despite the fact that she was exhausted from the flight and everything.

"I'll call Elliot," Natalie told them, already pulling out her phone. As she began typing, she questioned, "Can Emi come too? She's done with all her finals for the year, and I'm trying to get her to have some fun."

Paisley shrugged. "The more, the merrier."

❂

ALICE WAS INCREDIBLY DRUNK ALREADY. She had been hanging out with Paisley for most of the time because she was extremely overwhelmed by the amount of famous people in the room with her at that moment. Six out of the seven Sidemen and a multitude of famous YouTubers were just roaming around.

"I'm gonna get us another drink," she announced to Paisley before moving toward the makeshift bar in the kitchen of the flat. There was a guy there who hadn't been there before, making drinks for people and handing them out.

He glanced up as she approached and smiled at her. He had a really cute smile, and he looked oddly familiar. "What can I get you?"

"Surprise me, and make two of them," she responded, having a seat across from him at the bar. He seemed a little surprised about her accent, but he quickly shook it off. She was tired, despite this entire thing being her idea, and she needed the alcohol to ease the pain in her feet.

He got to work on whatever he was making, looking up at her every so often. "I feel like I've seen you before, but I can't remember where."

"You know, I was just thinking that about you," she told him. He really did look familiar, and if he was at that party, she was bound to have seen him somewhere in some post at some time. But it was more than that. After a minute, he handed her a cup and gestured for her to try it. She cautiously took a sip and made a face as soon as it touched her lips. "Holy shit, that's strong. What is that?"

"A triple vodka lemonade. My specialty," he responded, and she chuckled before taking another sip. She knew that future her would regret her decisions, but how could she not drink it when a face like that was watching her?

"It's quite the speciality..."

Realizing that she didn't know his name and that she was asking for it, he reached forward and offered his hand, introducing himself, "Arthur."

"Alice," she replied, taking his hand and shaking it. His palms were sweaty, but she barely even noticed. Her eyes were just fixed on his, and vice versa.

Once they released hands, she leaned back in the chair, drinking her drink as he passed her Paisley's, but she made no movement to leave. She was quite comfortable where she was. He leaned his elbows on the counter and questioned, "Did you know that vodka was once used as currency?"

"I did know that. Did you know that Australia is wider than the moon?" she countered.

His smile widened, and he seemed really excited about finding someone that could match his random facts. He leaned farther forward, getting more invested in the conversation. "Really? Well, snails have teeth."

"The phrase 'the whole nine yards' comes from World War I. The ammo belts for British machine guns were nine yards long, so when the enemy were attacking, they would yell, 'Give em the whole nine yards!'" she informed him, her fingers tapping on the cup in her hands.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "I actually didn't know that one."

"Glad to know I've wowed you," she giggled in excitement, and the sound made him really happy. This was one of the first times someone hadn't told her to just shut up when she began spewing facts. Most of her friends tried to hear her out, but they got sick of it after a while.

She looked up, and she could tell that he was going to say something. But he was hesitant. He finally started speaking, but he was stumbling over his words. "This is gonna sound odd and completely out of the blue, and you can totally shut it down—"

"Dude, spit it out," she interrupted him. She was the queen of nervous rambling, and she knew that sometimes she just needed someone to tell her to just get to the point.

"I've got an extra ticket to the Natural History Museum for tomorrow because my friend canceled on me," he started, and a smile began to spread across her face. She loved museums. "And you seem like you maybe might be interested in that sort of—"

She cut him off again before the poor guy had a stroke, and she told him, "I'll come with you, if that's what you're asking. I've actually been meaning to go, but I haven't had a lot of time." With moving in and everything, she hadn't been able to get out much. How Lindsey had gone on three trips already, she had no clue.

He beamed at her response, immediately pulling out his phone and handing it to her. "Could I get your Instagram, or something? Just to let you know what time and figure out where to pick you up or whatever."

"How about my number?" she asked with raised eyebrows.

"Even better," he answered, and he was struggling to hide his excitement. He had been really nervous that he was just gonna have to go to the museum alone. Of course, he would've done it, but it was nowhere near as fun as going with someone else, especially one that shares the passion. When she handed his phone back to him, he asked, "Do you know anyone here?"

She nodded, unsure of where to begin. She was weirdly interconnected with a lot of people there. She decided to start with the reason they were at the party. "Uh, yeah. I'm a YouTuber, and my roommate's cousin is Simon Minter."

"Wow, so you're really connected," he said, eyes widening in shock. He had expected her to say something like 'my friend's boyfriend's brother' or something, but when she said that, he was surprised that he didn't know who she was.

"You could say that. My best friend's pretty close with Chip and Freezy," she added, knowing that that might mean something to him. "I'm also friends with Max Belegde and George Clarke." 

Max and George weren't there, so she was questioning whether to include them. But his eyes lit up at that. "Oh, my God. George is one of my best friends." 

"Really?" she exclaimed, and he nodded. She wasn't as close with George as she was with Max, but she had hung out with him quite a few times. "It's crazy that we haven't met until now, then." 

"Yeah, crazy," he agreed. All of a sudden, they were interrupted by Elliot running up to her and grabbing her shoulders. 

"Natalie threw up," he informed her, and she groaned. Only the Kinney girl would throw up at a party like that. Normally, it wouldn't be such a big deal, but Elliot looked nervous. 

Arthur's eyes shot open at that. "Hello?"

She turned back to Arthur with a sigh, and he was still perplexed about what was just said in front of him. "I'm so sorry. I have to go help my friends. Text me?"

"Yeah," he confirmed with a nod, and he watched her go with a smile on his face. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE

ayyyy they met!! this party was very important for a lot of the books in this group of books, so go check out SO IT GOES (willne) and WHAT A SHAME (harry lewis) for the other perspectives on it! go check those out as well as MESS IT UP (george clarke).