- phil lester! -

"stop shuffling," carol reprimanded, motioning towards dan. "walk with confidence."

dan and i were at the first of what would be many training meetings. the newly scheduled meetings were scheduled for three times a week, and we'd been told they'd be used to get us prepared for things such as the upcoming awards show. i hadn't realized that part of the preparation would be perfecting the way we walk. 

carol was having us do laps up and down her office. she said it was important that we have a good red carpet walk, because apparently the way we walked now wasn't good enough.

after carol finished lecturing dan for having his hands in his pockets, she turned to me. "walk to the window and back," she said, waving me off.

i walked my normal walk, making sure to not make any of the mistakes dan made. but by the look on carol's face, i could tell she still wasn't pleased.

"don't look so excited," carol sneered.

i looked to the ground, upset and embarrassed for looking so happy for no reason. i turned to keep going, the bounce in my step gone. i don't know why i didn't say anything back. i should've, but it felt easier to just nod my head and go along with what carol said. 

"this is all wrong, all wrong," carol said, motioning me to stop. "i'm going to go get a coffee, and by the time i come back, those walks better be perfected." with that, carol left dan and i in stunned silence.

once the door slammed behind her, i looked up at dan. i was expecting him to say something, anything, if not at least apologize for getting us into this mess. he'd been standing in the corner of the room, not saying anything, while carol got mad at us for not putting our foot correctly in front of the other.

he looked just as scared as i probably did, if not more. all the anger i originally had, both towards him and carol, faded away when i saw how unhappy he was. he wasn't facing me, instead focused on the window. still, you could tell he didn't really want to be here. 

i wanted to say something to him. when i opened my mouth, no words came out. i don't know what i would have said, anyways. a few minutes of silence passed before dan turned to me. he looked apologetic, and his eyes immediately went to the floor when i made eye contact. "phil, i-i'm,"

he was cut off by carol coming back into the room. she looked at us kindly, her previous sharp eyes now gone, replaced with a caring look. "i apologize for getting so worked up earlier," she said gently. "there's just so much to do before the awards show, and i just want to make it perfect for you two."

she sounded sincere. at least, sincere enough for dan and i to continuously tell her that it was okay, as we all had bad days. while i plastered a fake smile on my face, i couldn't help but wonder if the rest of the meetings would be like this.

the rest of the training meeting passed well enough. carol decided to pull a projector down and show us how other celebrities walk on the red carpet. it was easier to understand, and i think my red carper walk may have gotten better after watching zendaya walk back and forth for an hour.

when the meeting finished, dan and i exited the building. we didn't really have anywhere else to go, so we just walked aimlessly. 

"well," i started, once the uktalent building was out of sight. "that was.. something."

dan nodded, his eyes trained on the sidewalk. "yeah."

i could tell he didn't really want to talk about it, so i didn't press the matter further. we would have to talk about it sometime, though. i made myself a reminder to bring it up eventually.

we didn't say anything else as we walked through downtown london. dan seemed lost in thought the entire time. i had a lot on my mind, too. i was still thinking about carol's sudden attitude change halfway through the meeting. it was really odd and unexpected. something seemed off about her, but i just hoped that i was only being paranoid.

when the silence became too much, i tried to bring up a different topic. "so i was thinking, for the next video on my channel we could take some more quizzes. like, what type of dog we are and stuff. you in?"

i looked at him, already knowing his answer. he laughed lightly before nodding. "yeah, definitely."

i tried to get dan talking again, because he always seemed in a better mood when he wasn't thinking too much. i couldn't let him start overthinking, because once he was gone, he'd get so deep in his thoughts that it would take hours to calm him down after.

he probably needed a distraction from everything that had happened today. i decided to keep talking, hoping to get our minds off uktalent and carol and red carpet walks. "what type of dog do you think you are? personally, i say i'm a corgi type of guy, but i wouldn't be surprised if i got a border collie." before i could stop myself, i began rambling about all different dog breeds. 

"oh please, phil. you and i both know you'd be a poodle," dan said, grinning.

i pushed him lightly. we bantered back and forth, only stopping to take a seat on the swings in a small playground we'd passed before.

by the time we'd finished swinging for a bit, dan seemed happier. we didn't have to go back to another meeting for a few days, so our life could go somewhat back to normal for a bit.

to be honest, i'd completely forgotten about uktalent while we were at the park.

until i saw the camera flash.

a/n: i'm literally the worst i'm so sorry for not updating and deleting this and juSt not doing anything with this book but it's baCk and i doubt anyone still wants to read it but i know where i want this book to go now and even if no one reads this (i wouldn't blame them) i'm gonna continue writing this for mE bc even i wanna know how this plays out

again i'm so sorry but it's summer i'm happy and this book will be cOnTinUeD.