Another of my stories to add to the Alternatives series, this one based on 'Rose'.
Nothing
"Thanks."
"For what?"
"Exactly!"
As he watched Rose running towards the TARDIS, a huge grin on her face the likes of which he had never seen before, he couldn't help but feel cheated. He was sure it would probably still be there as the TARDIS started its engine and disappeared from sight.
Exactly.
That last word she had said to him echoed around his head in a repeated chant until he got back to the Powell Estate. He went to his own flat and not the Tyler residence. He couldn't tell Jackie what had just happened. For one thing, he doubted she'd believe him. For another, she would doubt that Rose would dump him as she had just done.
If what she had done was dump him.
He didn't think Rose was interested in that Doctor like that, but you never know with Rose. As soon as something better walked along, she had to have it.
And what ride could be better than a space time machine.
His little bug had no way of competing with that!
Whether or not they were still dating was beyond the point though, and he supposed he'd find out soon enough anyway. What the point was is that she had just made him feel like nothing. Like he was some sort of thing to keep at her side until she was bored and he was easy to discard.
Exactly. That one word had said it all.
Well, he'd show her! The first thing he would do was find out as much as possible about this Doctor bloke. At least when they come back, if they come back that is, he'd be ready.
This nothing would prove to be something.
He was fed up of being her doormat and now was the time to change all that.
Rose was, after all, not the entirety of his world. He still had football and his computer and his job at the local garage. He had his car, which was better than quite a lot of the other people in the Estate.
He had his life. Something he had almost lost. And she hadn't cared about that. Oh, sure, she made an effort to look like she had, but he knew her too well. He'd been looking after himself for years, but with her around, you wouldn't think so.
Everything was about her. She never listened, butting in if you had something important to say. She never cared about his past, or that his mother was not mentally stable. She had laughed when his grandmother had hit him and called him stupid. Every time it had happened.
Well, this time he'd have the laugh. He'd prove to everyone that he wasn't stupid. He'd show them that his world didn't revolve around his (ex?) girlfriend.
Because regardless of what Rose may think, the universe does not revolve around her.
If he was nothing, he didn't know what word to use for what Rose was. Because what word stated something worse than nothing?
The absolute worst thing was, he loved her.