Preston was sitting at his computer, re-watching the other video. Nikki's video. He paused it and opened a new tab to look at Colton's.

After the weird incident at Jug's, Preston hadn't seen Colton or his entourage again. But apparently they’d gotten enough footage, because later that night Team Keese had posted a new video.

BOY IN THE GIRLS BATHROOM!? INSANE PRANK GONE WRONG (FT. PRESTONVLOGS)

It was a pretty funny video. Obviously it was funny, Preston thought as he watched listlessly. Guys dressed as girls were always funny. 

He scrolled down, looking through the comments. People loved it. The comments were full of crying emojis, and skull emojis, and fire emojis...

Preston paused the video and checked his phone. Marcus had sent a few more messages.

anyway congrats man. youre really blowing up. send me the other video and I'll check it out

a buddy of mine hooked me up with this camera op gig on a tv show, so I'm gonna be working in Atlanta for a couple months

I head out this friday, we should shoot something before I go.

Preston sat up. Crap. He finally had some heat and his camera guy was heading out of town.

yeah man, I'm im. let's film something on friday

sounds good. just so long as its not another girl prank haha

Preston stopped and stared at the message, and his freshly painted nails. After a moment he responded.

why not?

I mean its pretty played out, right? you did two in the past week. people are finally starting to watch your videos, if you keep doing the same thing over and over, they're gonna think its all you've got. and you don't wanna be dressing like a girl for the rest of your life lmao

Preston got up and started pacing. Marcus had a point. He didn't want people to think he was a one trick pony. There was no good reason to keep dressing up like a girl.

Preston stopped and realized he was standing in front of his mirror. He bit his lip. Video strategy aside, there was definitely no good reason for him to be dressed up like a girl right now.

He was, though. Nothing fancy, just a T shirt and shorts. Not all that different to his regular guy clothes. And yet...

He sent another message to Marcus.

but the girl videos are funny tho

tbh dude I never actually thought it was that funny. fr tho, come up with something good for Friday. if you get one more big video out quickly more people are gonna want to collab with you. then you p much made it

I'll think of something. seeya friday

sounds good man. I'll check out that video you sent. seeya

Preston put down his phone and went back to his computer. Colton Keese's video was still open, but he didn't feel like watching it anymore. He closed the tab, and came face to face with himself.

It was Nikki's video, still paused where he had left it. The moment right before the cut to him in full girl clothes and makeup.

For the hundredth time that day, Preston hit play and watched it happen. 

Nikki had edited it to achieve the most dramatic reveal possible. It was a hard cut from regular Preston to girl Preston.  One second he was just his normal, not funny self, and the next... bam! Full on girl!

Preston couldn't think of a more perfectly crafted comedic moment.

But for some reason, it didn't make him laugh. Instead it made him feel a weird, sick feeling in his stomach.

The video cut to Nikki, beaming up at him through the screen, and that made his stomach feel kinda weird too.

Since their conversation, Preston had watched a bunch more of Nikki's videos, and read a bunch of the comments, and he was starting to get a sinking suspicion that he knew what "trans" meant. But he was trying not to think about it.

You couldn't just, like, decide to be a girl instead of a boy. There's no way it was that easy, right? If that was just a thing you could do... why didn't everyone know about it? Why didn't everyone do it?

Preston shut his laptop and flopped down on his bed. He stared at the ceiling for a little bit before picking up his phone. 

hey, nikki. I think i get what being trans is but i wanted to ask... like, how did you know? That you were a girl 

He put his phone back down and returned to vacant staring until he heard a ding.

That's a big question. Obviously this varies by person so I can only talk about my personal experience. On some level, from a young age but worsening around adolescence, I had a general feeling of dissatisfaction and wrongness. I was always into certain "girly" things like makeup and for a while I thought maybe I was just a gay man, but that didn't feel quite right. I realized that wearing makeup was meaningful to me because it let me control how I looked, and that let me better reflect how I felt inside. Looking and dressing like a girl just felt better to me and made me happier. It wasn't a sudden thing, and for a while I engaged in what I thought of as crossdressing and drag, but I kept moving in the direction of what felt right and after a while I realized that the best way to label these feelings and my experience was to consider myself a transgender woman. 

Huh.  but like, how did you KNOW? I think.... I think I like looking like a girl? But does that mean anything? I don't know if i feel like a girl, you know?

I can't answer anything for you, but I think this is definitely worth exploring. If you ever need help with makeup or clothes or anything, just let me know and I'll do everything I can. I did kind of get the sense during our video that you liked how you looked post-video, but I didn't want to pry. But I'm really glad you feel comfortable opening up to me about this 

what if i do decide i like looking at a girl. do i just declare myself a girl? that seems... i dunno it seems insulting to women? To me? Like, they've probably had to put up with so much. I can't just appropriate their identity?

You either are a girl or you aren't, and that's not something that depends on any specific experiences or something that you should let others gatekeep. There's also other possibilities worth considering. You don't have to decide between being a boy and a girl. You can go back and forth, or be somewhere in between, or be neither. You don't ever have to pin things down with a label, as long as you know what makes you happy and you pursue that.

...ur really smart nikki. i think im gonna have to think about some stuff but thank u

Preston plugged his(?) phone in to charge, turned off the light, and lay back to try to sleep.