I'm reaaaally sorry this took soooo long. I almost forgot about it with the amount of schoolwork I've been doing in preparation for this year. Grrr.
So I finally churned this chapter out with some frenzied typing. Please enjoy :D
YOU KNOW BY NOW- I don't own McFly, and this disclaimer covers the rest of the story, 'kay?
I woke up the next morning in a much better mood. It might have had something to do with pissing Harry off in the near future, but it might have also been to do with the fact that we're FINALLY getting out of this room. It's hell.
Tom had since bought a new loofah, and he emerged out of the bathroom humming one of the Busted songs he helped write. I do admire him, he's so young but he's achieved so much. He's also really modest about it; you wouldn't catch him bragging in the pub to some blondes with big boobs. That's just not how he is.
"Danny my man, you ready to go house-hunting?" Tom said, whilst rubbing his hair with a small towel.
I grinned at him "well actually, we're not really hunting for houses 'cause we've found a couple…"
"You know what I mean. Now, move your arse or we're gonna be late."
I gave him an incredulous look. "HA! You can talk! You spend more time in the shower than my sister does!" (And that is freakin' AGES!)
"That's not the point, Daniel." Haha, he only uses my full name when he's really pissed off. "You are currently lying on the bed in your boxers, lining up M&Ms on your chest. At least I'm getting ready."
I would have liked to have gone over and punched him, but at that point I had fifty seven M&Ms carefully balanced on my chest in colour order, and I didn't want them to fall off. So instead I threw one of the sweets at the back of his head. When he turned round to swear at me, I pulled the most innocent face and said "Blue doesn't like you very much."
"Well 'Blue' isn't the one who's gonna get the smallest bedroom if he doesn't hurry up!"
I swear Tom thinks he's my mum or something. Seriously, how old does he think I am? Oh, wait. I did have sweets on my chest. I swept them off, and pulled on my jeans. Making my way into the bathroom, I asked Tom where we were going first.
Still facing the mirror, he began "well, it's only down the road actually…" but then he turned to face me and started giggling. The giggling turned into full on bursts of laughter and he had to hold the sink to stay standing up. I wasn't really sure what he was laughing at, because he was blocking the view of the mirror. "D-Danny, you have a rainbow chest!" He sniggered, and doubled over laughing once more.
I pushed him out of the way of the mirror, and all over my chest were little dots of sugary colourings. "Ahhh shit!" I shrieked, and tried to rub some of them off. "TOM! They don't come off!" He took one look at me, and collapsed into fits of laughter again.
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We pulled up to the first house in Tom's car. My face was literally glued to the window, as I gazed out at the house that might soon be ours. "Tom, it's huge!"
"Dan, how did you know?" He replied, with a grin. "Have you been looking?"
I was disgusted, but I couldn't help laughing. "Aha, you wish mate. I'm talking about the house."
"Well yeah, that's big as well. It's got four bedrooms, and two bathrooms. The living room's a decent size too." He replied, climbing out of the Punto and slamming the door behind him. "I tell you what," he said, "when we get paid I'm gonna buy a better car. This is a piece of crap."
I began walking towards the front door of the house. "At least you have a piece of crap!" I shouted over my shoulder, "I have at least another year until I can get a car."
Tom must have sensed my excitement at trying to get in the house as quickly as possible, because he quickly dampened my spirits by saying "Dan, you know we're only renting this house, right?"
"Yeah…" I said slowly, masking my disappointment with a convincing smirk. "I just wanna bagsy the biggest room before you do!" With that, I ran in the front door, thundered up the stairs and my nose came within two inches of an estate agent's clipboard.
I turned bright red, and the pretty brunette stuck out her hand confidently and said, "You must be Mr. Fletcher, here to look at the property?"
I shook her hand anyway, feeling it would be rude not to, but answered "no, actually. Sorry, I'm Tom's friend and I'm here to look at the house with him."
Thankfully, Tom appeared on the landing at that point and entertained the agent from then on. He made the appropriate comments in each room and asked questions that I wouldn't have even thought to ask. The house wasn't as nice as I'd originally thought; the living room was small and there was a lot of damp and old lady smell. I did find my ideal room, however. It was big enough to set up a mixing desk for any songs we wanted to record, and I could have a double bed. Of course, it was the biggest room but what surprised me was that Tom wanted what looked like the smallest room! Anyway, there was no doubt that this was the house for us, until we found ourselves more permanent accommodation in the future.
Leaving the house was quite sad because I'd already become attached to it, so when we were back in our hotel room, Tom suggested that we camp there overnight.
"…You know we can take sleeping bags and pizza and stuff. Then tomorrow, we can put our furniture in it." He suggested, whilst fiddling with one of his t-shirt buttons.
I had to admit, I found the idea quite exciting. "Yeah!" I shouted, and managed to flip Tom's lyric book onto the floor as I jumped up off my bed.
"NO!" Tom squealed "MY BABY!" He then combo-rolled off my bed, scooped up his book and cradled it in the crook of his arm. He breathed a sigh of relief, and checked the corners for any signs of damage. "DANNY! You fool. This is the key to our success! You must be more careful around this book." He tutted at me, and he distinctly reminded me of a sour-faced old lady I used to call Auntie Maureen. (She was of no relation to me, but my mum insisted I call her Auntie, as she had no family. I couldn't think why.)
I cocked my eyebrow at the hysteric blond, and started to pack my stuff to take to the house later that evening.
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It was coming up to midnight. Tom, Harry, Doug and I were sat in a circle, shrouded by our sleeping bags. I had since decided that Harry was an alright bloke, so we talked to each other, but still not in a 'buddy buddy' kinda way. I think he was still a bit cautious around me; after all, I didn't exactly welcome him with open arms.
We had just finished telling each other ghost stories (well, Dougie just listened) and so we were all feeling a little tense. Even though our stories were about 'raging pizza monsters' and 'the curse of the black guitar', we felt the need to sit as close together as possible and put our torches on high-beam. There was a lot of nervous giggling coming from Tom, and Harry decided to join in.
Then, Dougie spoke for what seemed like the first time that evening. "Come on guys, this is stupid. Are we just gonna sit here all night?"
I pushed the corner of my sleeping bag out of my face so that I could reply "eh, that was the idea. I mean, it's 'safety in numbers', right?"
Dougie rolled his eyes, and stood up a little shakily. He balanced one hand on his hip, and with the other, pointed directly between my eyes. "Daniel Jones, I challenge you… to a pillow fight."
I laughed and stood to face him, looking down into his eyes. I bent down and retrieved my crumpled pillow, never breaking the eye contact. Dougie did the same, and I said "Douglas Lee Poynter. I will accept your challenge, only if you address me by my full name."
"Well, I guess I'm screwed then," he said. But I didn't expect that smug look to appear on his face, smothering my confidence. I gripped my pillow tightly in my fist as he spoke. "Daniel Alan David Jones. I challenge you…" he stated, moving a step closer to me so that I could smell the shampoo he'd used this morning "…to a pillow fight." He finished.
I remained dazed by the lovely coconut smell of his hair, until I realised that he had actually known my full name. "Dude, how do you know my middle names? We've barely known each other two days!" I then whacked him round the face with my pillow, a couple of feathers drifting to the ground.
Dougie looked like a mad-man, his hair was out of place, and he had a shocked expression on his face. He'd apparently forgotten that it was he who'd challenged me in the first place. Pushing his hair back off his forehead, he answered with flushed crimson cheeks, "ahem. It's sewn into your boxers…" And he returned the favour by knocking me straight off my feet with his much firmer pillow.
From my face-down position on the carpet, I could hear Tom and Harry's laughter echo around the empty room. But I didn't mind, in fact I smiled to myself, remembering Doug's red face as he admitted to seeing the nametag my mum had sewn into my boxers before I'd left home. From above me, I heard "oof!" as a pillow connected with another unfortunate person.
Pretty soon the room was full of feathers, and the pillows had been abandoned in favour of play fighting. It was approaching four in the morning when we finally collapsed on the floor, absolutely exhausted from our second-wind.
"That… was awesome!" Tom panted, his chubby face glistening with sweat.
"Shut up and go to sleep, you poof." Harry whined, and smacked Tom on the chest whilst lying flat on the floor.
Dougie spat a feather out of his mouth, and it landed on my face. "EURGH!" I shouted, "Dougie spit, gross!"
Dougie turned his head and replied "get used to it Dan, you'll be seeing a LOT more of that." He grinned, and it made me feel dizzy. My face was already red from the fighting, so he didn't see me blush (thankfully).
I don't know why Dougie's smile has such a weird impact on me. I can talk to him perfectly normally, but when he does that grin of his it just makes me smile. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not gay. I think it's because he's cute like a girl, and he's just generally attractive. All guys go through this phase, don't they?
"Oi, you lovers over there. Shut it, I need some sleep before we do loads of lifting tomorrow" Tom snapped, the late night beginning to affect him at last.
Harry sniggered. "Yeah, and you know how much Tom hates any physical activity…"
"What are you suggesting Harry?"
"Mate, I was just joking. You know I love you." Harry replied, and gave the blond a massive smile.
Tom seemed a little put off by this comment, but it made him drop the subject, shuffle round and fall asleep almost instantaneously.
I sent Harry a nervous grin across the circle, and he held up his hand for a high-five. I accepted, and I also accepted him as one of us. That was the time when I felt like the band had truly come together at last. Now all we had to do was think of a name.
Harry yawned and said "I'm going to sleep guys; I can't stay awake any longer!"
"Night Harry!"
"Yeah, g'night mate." I agreed, and Harry was asleep as soon as his head had hit the floor.
I felt uncomfortable in the presence of just Dougie, and he seemed to feel the same way, as he didn't talk for a few minutes. This was the shy Dougie that came out as soon as there was any one-to-one conversation. He was fine in a group, but hated any kind of confrontation.
After what felt like an eternity, he said "dude, I'm gonna hit the hay too. I'm knackered and I'm gonna be so moody tomorrow."
I was a bit disappointed, but I felt that I should go to sleep too. Everyone would be needed the next morning and being tired wasn't gonna be a good enough excuse to not help out. "Okay" I said, resigned to the idea. "See you in a few hours."
"Night Danny" whispered Doug, as he drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
Lying in the dark with Dougie's body inches away from mine, I smiled.
N'awwwwh ain't he cute? Keep your eyes peeled for the next chapter, I'll try and do it as quickly as possible...
Promise!
xxxx
