Shark Reef
Along with Amanda and Joel, we met up with Bebopvox, Jeb, and Lydia for breakfast. It was an amazing experience, being able to spend time with all these people face to face. Being on Youtube can be somewhat lonely, and even in a tight community like minecraft has, you don't tend to interact with people. Yes, you can watch their videos, but it's a whole different feeling actually talking to them and having a two way conversation.
Lydia was as nice as Amanda is, and Jeb was as awkward as a video game developer who didn't know a lot of English would be expected to be. Though, once he started talking about coding and his plans for his panel tomorrow, he came out of his shell. Bebop was also very excited and full of energy, and was as I remember him.
Amanda, on the other hand, seemed completely overwhelmed with the amount of people all talking and laughing around her. She hid it well, laughing and adding input when necessary, but I admittedly looked at her more than I should have and noticed how much she brushed her hair back and looked down in to her lap. She also barely ate, only nibbling on fruit and pushing the rest around her plate. I should have asked her if she was feeling alright, but I thought against it. I hoped she would be alright on stage tomorrow.
Lydia must have noticed too, or she had something important about Minecon, because as we were leaving she pulled Amanda aside. Lydia seemed to be lecturing her about something, and Amanda just passively nodded her head the entire time.
"Everything okay?" Ross asked, beating me to it. He motioned to Lydia who was quickly disappearing into the crowd of Youtubers.
"Oh yeah," she said, dismissing it with her hand, "Let's go."
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"Watch me do some magic," Trott told the camera, "Daren Brown style." He walked across the projector, waving his arms and creating a water swirl effect around him. "I'm like an aquatic fish," he laughed. When he finished he said, "That was great content. That should be a single video on Youtube."
Amanda and Ross both put their camera away, laughing as they did so.
The queue was long but it moved quickly and soon the four of us were walking through a glass tunnel surrounded by water. It was quite the experience, seeing the fish swimming around the brightly colored coral and watching the sharks meandering over our heads. The water created a blue glow on the four of us, yet Amanda looked even more beautiful because of it. Her face was lit up with joy, smiling at the tropical sea creatures that surrounded us.
"It's so beautiful," she said with a hint of awe.
"Yeah. It is," I said, not talking about the aquarium. She looked so over joyed, her eyes following the sharks and fish that swam by. I thanked god that I had invited her to come with us.
We heard Tott's hysterical laughter coming from further down the tunnel. Him and Ross were standing in front of a sting ray.
"Look at his face," Trott gasped as we walking over to them, "Oh my god." Ross just has a smirk on his face.
The sting ray's underside was exposed, and its mouth and nostrils looked like a fleshy, awkward face. "My god Trott," I sighed, trying not to smile, "You're hopeless mate."
By this time Amanda was giggling hysterically, and the laughs increased in pitch and tone as the sting ray began opening and closing its mouth against the glass. Soon we were all hysterical, fueled by the fact that it wasn't all that funny.
Amanda flipped out the view screen of her camera, zooming in on the the awkward fish. Behind her, Trott began saying 'hey' with his high pitched voice in time with the opening mouth. Amanda couldn't even keep the camera straight she was laughing so hard.
"We are making complete tits of ourselves," Ross said, looking around at the few people in the tunnel who were all giving us concerned looks. He walked away and Trott followed him, both still grinning. Amanda and I were about to follow them when she stopped and gasped.
She grabbed my wrist, "Look Smith!" she exclaimed, "It's the sea turtle!" she smiled up at me, elated at seeing the giant turtle that the shark reef was famous for owning. Suddenly a scared look flashed across her face and she blushed the deepest shade of red I'd seen yet. She looked down at her hand around my wrist, back up at me, and then quickly dropped it, placing he hand on her hip and turning away, embarrassed.
I had yet to react to her touch, and my hand fell limply by my side. I could tell how embarrassed she was because she ran a hand through her hair, letting it fall and create a wall to separate us.
I wouldn't exactly call myself a 'lady killer', but normally I was pretty chill around women. I would never get nervous, and I could make a girl swoon if I tried, but Amanda was completely different. Everything I'd ever learned about girls left my mind, and I was left stumbling through my own thoughts trying to react to what just happened.
I was panicking internally, and as time ticked by painfully awkward, thoughts raced through my mind so fast that all they accomplished was the confuse me and make me even more nervous. It was was getting late and I knew I had...
Sod this, I thought, taking her hand off her hip and interlacing her fingers in mine. I was surprised at how much of my hand eclipsed hers. She looked up and gave me a shy smile, not having to say anything. She seemed to relax in my grip and instinctively I did too, though my heart was still pounding hard enough that I was sure she could hear it.
We stood like that, hand in hand, watching the turtle swim over our heads. It seemed somewhat juvenile, holding hands, but it felt so right, so satisfying, that I didn't mind. The small gesture reflected her personality perfectly, so reserved and conservative, yet creating such a huge impact on me.
I wondered desperately what she was thinking. Was she freaking out as much as I was? What did this mean to her? Is this special to her or does she hold everyone's hand? She did seem pretty physical with Deadmau.
The biggest question burning in my mind: Has she held hands with Ross?
"Oi," we heard Trott said. " What you doing?" he asked, poking his head around the corner, 'We don't have all day."
Amanda had let go of my hand when she heard Trott's voice, but it was less frantic than the last time. It made me wonder if it meant anything at all to her. She turned and followed Trott, who was at the octopus tank. I walked behind Amanda, the heat of her hand still lingering on mine.
More octopus were congregating in the corner where we all stood, and Ross made the joke, "They're attracted to you because of you're outfit Amanda." He laughed, picking up one of the white tentacles that hung from her beanie.
"Oh," she said suddenly, taking out her camera and handing it to Ross, "Do you mind?" she asked.
"No, of course not," he said, taking the camera and pointing it at her, "Go."
She sat down on the ledge in front of the octopus, "This will be my last video," she explained, 'I have decided to join my true people." She laughed, no longer able to keep a straight face. "They have already accepted me as their queen," she added once she regained composure. She placed her hand on the glass opposite a tentacle.
We all started laughing, but stopped when her face suddenly grew serious again. She turned on the ledge, facing the octopus. "One of us, one of us," she whispered. She continued her chant, getting louder and leaning her face closer to the glass where an octopus sat.
She laughed, finishing her video. "What the hell am I doing?" she asked, smiling. Ross handed the camera back to her and she thanked him.
We continued on into a dark room where phosphorescent jellyfish and squids swam around in square tanks all around the room. I walked over to a tank of blue jellyfish, reading the sign next to it about the chemistry that causes them to glow.
I heard someone pad over next to me, and felt a small hand run down the inside of my wrist to intertwine it's fingers with mine. My heart skipped a beat as electricity ran up my arm. I was glad the darkness hid us from the others, as well as the blush that I could feel creeping up my neck and to my cheeks.
We weaved our way through the tanks, but I could barely focus on what we were looking at. All I could think about was the girl next to me, seemingly content and happy with holding my hand. I wondered absently if I should ask her out to dinner.
We found Ross and Trott near the exit of the dark room, and we let go of hands in a mutual agreement. When we showed up Trott gave me a weird look and pulled me aside to talk.
"What's going on?" he asked incredulously.
"What?" I asked plainly, playing dumb.
"Why are you spending so much time alone with Amanda?" he scolded, looking at the girl walking towards the exit next to Ross. She was excitedly explaining the reproductive systems of chickens (of all things) to him, and he just smiled at her in disbelief that she could be so happy at such a thing. I watched her as she walked; she seemed to bounce with every step, and her hips swayed in such a fashion that....
"I don't know what you're on about mate," I said, feeling sheepish that I zoned out right infront of him, "If it does happen it's because you two have buggered off somewhere ahead."
"This is our vacation together," he lectured. "It's a chance for us to all hang out together, as Hat Films, " he stressed.
"Trott, I've spent every second of the last three days with you two," I said, getting annoyed, " And I don't appreciate you accusing me of being a weak link."
Amanda looked back at us, waiting for me and Trott to catch up. "We'll talk later," he said before trotting over to Amanda and Ross.
I felt offended, but also embarrassed. Leave it to Smith to worry about girls more than his best friends. But then again, I didn't think I was spending too much time with her, and I couldn't anyway, if I wanted to keep my feelings a secret from the guys. What would Ross say if he knew I liked her and that she liked me back?... Did she like me back? I felt as if I were in primary school again, my biggest worry being a girl and whether my friends would approve. It was petty drama, and I felt somewhat ashamed of it.
We left the shark reef, walking over to the conference hall where the press event was going to be held.
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