Switchin' to Nikki's POV! The chapter title formats have abruptly changed to reflect this

Nikki glanced down at her phone. It was a DM from Colton Keese.

hey would you be interested in a collab? Your video with Preston did really well and my people tell me i need to appeal to women more if i want to get on Trending. You could give me a makeover

She scowled. This guy was obviously motivated by money and fame and didn't actually care about women or trans people. Especially after their interaction last week, there was no way she wanted to deal with him.

She deleted the conversation. No reason to do anything but ignore it.  A moment later she got a message from Preston.

hey really exciting news, colton asked me if i wanted to join team keese! i could get like legit famous!

Pres, don't be an ass, she typed before deleting it in favor of Are you sure you'd be comfortable working with Colton?

yeah wdym? 

Nikki sighed. Preston was just so slow sometimes.

I mean... will you be willing to come out as trans around him? He's not exactly accepting of trans women

She saw typing for a moment, before Preston said, 

well i guess i'd have to talk to him about it if i wanted to present like a girl…

She waited several seconds for Preston's next response.

Ok i just asked him and he said it might be a problem for some advertisers, or get videos marked as not appropriate for kids.

Preston, I've seen how much happier you are as a girl. Are you really willing to pretend to be a guy just for views?

... I've been presenting as a guy for most of my life, so i don't have to change anything, right? i can just put trans stuff off for a few years, save up money

Pres, I'm not willing to see you do this to yourself. It's... painful for me to watch you deny yourself happiness. I'm not sure I could be in a relationship with you like that.

whoa wait

relationship?

Nikki paused. Her eyes flickered across the room to her makeup table. Preston's chair was still set up there, from the night before. Slowly, she typed out:

Yes?

Preston didn't reply. With a sense of dread creeping over, Nikki tried to resist the urge to explain herself. She wasn't the one who needed to explain herself! Preston had kissed her!

A few more seconds passed. Nikki bit her lip. Maybe she had been too harsh.

When you kissed me, I thought that meant you wanted to pursue something together. I don't mean that I think I'm entitled to be in a relationship with you just because we kissed, obviously. It's just that it was a really nice moment, and we've been spending a lot of time together recently, and I had kind of assumed that meant you were interested in a relationship.

Nikki took a deep breath. Okay. That was enough. She had expressed her thoughts without being pushy.

...some of it did sound like she was trying to guilt trip Preston though....

If you don't feel the same way, that’s fine. I know that you're going through a lot right now. I'm glad that I got to be a part of it, but I recognize that it's your own journey. If you'd prefer to just be friends, I understand.

She wiped a bead of sweat from her brow.

Also, I totally get that coming to this new realization about your gender might also have prompted you to rethink your sexuality, and I don’t want to put any pressure on you to be any particular way.

Nikki stopped and looked at the wall of text she had just posted. She groaned and fell back onto her bed.

just kiss me again you stupid fuck 

she typed out.

She stared at the message for a moment, thumb hovering over the send button, then sighed and deleted it.

Just do whatever you're comfortable with right now, and it'll be okay.

Preston finally replied

thanks nikki