Miming and dancing on camera, I filmed funny videos of myself to put on my TikTok account. I joined the social media app in July 2018, and so far, my followers had racked up to 9,000 people.
Uploading light-hearted, daily music videos was my new favourite hobby!
Then one day in August, I got a notification on my phone that someone had done a duet with my video.
Watching a handsome guy lip-syncing to Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You, I laughed.
Daniel Hank was charming and funny.
Following him back, I saw a message pop up on my TikTok inbox – it was Dan.
We quickly hit it off, and soon our conversation moved to Instagram.
What do you think of this video idea? Dan asked.
Brilliant! I replied. We were bouncing off each other and it felt so natural.
The only problem was that Dan lived in the UK, and I lived in Boston, America…
‘When are you coming here then?’ Dan asked the first time we video-called each other.
Chatting away, Dan had got me thinking – why not get a flight over?
I have always wanted to visit England, I thought.
On our second ever phone call, I was talking to Dan whilst booking flights from Boston to London, UK. ‘See you soon!’
I smiled excitedly. Showing Mum videos of Dan, she laughed.
‘He’s funny,’ she said, approvingly.
Within two weeks of meeting a boy, I had organized to fly halfway around the world and visit him – crazy!
Waiting at Heathrow Airport for Dan, I had butterflies in my stomach.
Dan felt so familiar, but he was also a stranger to me.
‘Hey!’ Dan said, walking towards me.
Hugging him, I felt so relieved – it wouldn’t be awkward after all.
Walking around the wintery streets of London, everything was magical.
Filming clips of our day to put online, we shared our memories with our followers on TikTok.
They had seen our first duet, after all.
‘This is Windsor Castle,’ Dan said, chatting away.
We had the best day being tourists, but Dan still hadn’t made a move on me.
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