Once Dougie and Ely had been in love.
There was no doubt about it. They spent almost every waking moment with each, hardly able to leave each other's side for a minute. They often stayed together and no one else questioned it, because that would mean questioning true love.
And everyone was fine with that. Ely's friends thought that they were a cute couple and the rest of McFly were glad that Dougie had finally found someone.
But then, somehow, their once tightly interwoven bond fell apart. There was no set reason, no set trigger as it happened over a period of time, but it happened all the same. They argued. They ignored each other. They hurled insults at each other as Dougie started coming home later and later and Ely started spending more time with her friends.
"Dougie, is that you?" Ely asked. She had been sitting on the couch, staring blankly at the TV and unaware of the programme that was taking place. She had clutched a pillow to her body and kept an ear out for the familiar click of the door when Dougie came home.
There was no answer, but she turned around and saw Dougie standing in the doorway. His hair was tousled and his face looked tired and worn. Ely's heart immediately went out to him as he stood so forlornly there but then realised that it was one o'clock in the morning.
"Where have you been, Dougie?" She tried not to sound too angry, but she couldn't help her voice raising above the normal decibel level. She hurriedly got up from the sofa, flung the cushion down and walked over to where Dougie was leaning on the doorframe.
"Out."
That single-word answer set a fire going in Ely. She rarely got angry, but the fact that he thought he could get away with just saying that he was out made her very annoyed.
"Where, Dougie? Where? You're always out and I never know where you're going! And I feel so stupid, because I'm at home and you're out but it shouldn't be like that, because I'm your girlfriend and you shouldn't do that!" She was almost screaming by that point.
A deep, creased frown was set on Dougie's soft features. He groaned and clutched his head. "Can you not fucking shout, Ely," he asked, his voice at a low level. "I've got a headache."
"And you're not supposed to swear at your girlfriend, either!" she yelled. Part of her anger was that Dougie had been out. The other part was that he was calm and collected and hadn't even had the chance to try and lower is voice. But finally, she got a reaction.
"But, Ely! I just fucking did, and there's nothing you can do about it!" Dougie snarled at her, his face contorted with anger. You could tell that she had really got him.
"Yeah, but you could by taking me out once in a while! You're either holed up in your room or out, and I don't know what to do, anymore!" she shouted.
"I'm just busy, alright? I can't help it if I care about the success of my band!" he retorted, getting a little tired of this now. He didn't like arguments but it was hard to keep his voice down when he was being screamed at.
"So it's about the band?" she asked, standing back and putting her hands on her hips. "This is ridiculous."
"Yeah, so leave me alone."
"Dougie! We need to talk this through! This keeps happening and I don't like it. We need to do something about it!" Ely felt a little desperate now. She had no idea how to get Dougie to simply talk to her. They never had any quality anymore and she loved the feeling she used to get whenever she was around Dougie. She wanted their love to be rekindled.
"No, Ely! I've got to go to sleep because one o'clock in the fucking morning and I have a pounding headache! Why can't you just leave everything alone as it is? You're always messing around with matters that aren't in your own hands! God, you're always trying to patch something that isn't even broken and I'm so fucking tired of it! For God's sake, just leave everyone alone and go fuck with your own life!" he thundered. That shut Ely up. He turned around and started climbing the stairs angrily. His shoes made heavy thumps on the carpet and with each step, Ely flinched. She ran to the bottom of the stairs and looked up at Dougie's figure.
"Dougie, come on! You always walk away and stick your head in the sand whenever a problem comes up! Stop being so childish, Doug!" she shouted up the stairs. Dougie said nothing. He left her yell hanging in the air and then cut it off with the slam of his door, a sound that resounded throughout the whole house and, it felt like the whole of her body too.
~x~
This had been happening for some time. Both Ely and Dougie were getting tired of being at each other's throats all the time. Ely tried to talk to the rest of McFly to see whether there was anything bothering him but they gave very vague and unenthusiastic answers and Ely knew it was hopeless.
It would be wrong to say that both sides were not considering breaking off the relationship, but both knew that they did love each other, deep down and both didn't have the guts to actually do it.
~x~
It was Ely's birthday. And she was excited.
Late in the morning, she got a call from her friends and, later, she went out to lunch with them. They each gave her a present that she was perfectly happy and grateful with. She loved her friends. There was only one thing that niggled her throughout the whole lunch and through all the jokes and laughs, Ely felt that there was something wrong.
Dougie.
Ely hadn't seen him that morning. He had had his door shut in the morning so she assumed that he was sleeping. He had not looked like he had remembered her birthday and although she was happy with her friends, she was also a little disappointed.
As the door clicked shut and she leaned against it, she smiled at the memory of her friends. But she did a double-take of the house.
Almost littered over the floor were various paper arrows, pointing in different directions. Taped to the banister was a note. It read,
Follow the arrows. Start at the door.
It was typed so she couldn't tell who it was. A flare of excitement rose up inside her and she started to follow the arrows. She loved surprises and this was perfect.
The trail led her to the living room. There, sitting on the sofa were two CD's – a Green Day one and a Paramore one, the two that she had wanted. She almost screamed in delight. Wondering what else was in store, she followed the arrows up the stairs and into her bedroom. Once again, there was something sitting on her bed. As she got closer, she found that it was an envelope. She opened it hastily to find two tickets to a Katy Perry concert happening nearby. This time, she really did scream in delight. It took her a few moments to calm down and realise that there were more arrows.
And so, she followed them to find herself in the garden, staring at something that made her want to jump in joy and cry in sadness at the same time. A tent stood in front of her. It wasn't any old tent though. She and Dougie had bought it and had decorated it about nine months ago. They had slept in it for three nights. She ducked inside and saw that it was almost the same as it had been when it was first erected. Except for a small scrap of paper in the middle of the tent. She picked it up, her heart racing for no apparent reason, and read,
I hope you've liked your presents so far. Go to the place where we met.
This time, she was sure it was Dougie. Only he would know about the tent and the place where they had met. She didn't think long. She hurried out of the tent and out of the house, a little apprehensive of what was to come.
~x~
It didn't take her long to reach the place. It was situated in the park, where there was a bench overlooking a river. The waves of the river glinted and reflected in the sunlight and a small boat floated lazily by. And on that bench, sat a certain someone that sent Ely's heart racing once again, in spite of everything.
Quietly, she approached the bench and sat down. Dougie didn't move or even acknowledge her presence. A silence ensued and it choked Ely. She didn't like it. But then, she finally heard something.
"You came, huh?" Dougie asked. His voice was oddly croaky and he was nervous. He didn't know why, but talk to Ely made him feel fluttery inside, even if most of the time he had shouted at her.
"How could I not?" Ely replied, softly. Her voice was barely above a whisper.
He took a breath. "I want to say sorry."
"Dougie—" Ely started, but he cut her off.
"No, let me finish please. I'm sorry for going out all the time. I'm sorry for swearing at you. I'm sorry for not spending time with you. I'm sorry for putting other, trivial things in front of you, my girlfriend. I'm sorry for being such an ass when you deserved better. I don't even know why you're here, because I deserve to be executed right now for how I've treated you. I'm so sorry, Ely, for treating you so horribly and I want to start again." He looked to the side and was surprised by what he saw. Ely was curled up on the bench, her hands covering her face. Her body shook gently and he could tell that she was crying. "Ely?"
After a moment, she raised her head. Sure enough, he could see snail trails of tears down her cheeks. It was then that he really got to look at her properly, something he hadn't done for a long time. Her dark brown hair blew a little in the breeze that had picked up and her eyes glinted from the tears. She looked so beautiful.
"Dougie, I'm not sure whether we can fix this," she said shakily. It was hard to say that. It broke her heart into a million pieces but she couldn't lie, not now.
"But we can," he said eagerly. He slid a little closer and took her hand that was resting on the bench beside her. "I love you, and that's all that matters. We can pick up the pieces and re-stitch this back together again. I can't lose you again."
Her eyes widened in shock. Dougie had never ever said that he loved her. And now he said that so genuinely, she began to believe him. Slowly, he leaned forward and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.
"By the way," he said softly. "Happy birthday." He finally closed the gap, and kissed her.
A little OS made by my friend Fishy for my birthday :3
I really loved it and wanted to put it here in case my computer crashed or anything, just because I want to keep it forever 3
Hahaha, hope you like it, even though it's not written by me :)
Disclaimer ~ she doesn't know McFly and I don't know them either.
