Note: Things that are crossed out mean that they are thoughts that the character does not want to admit to herself or say/think.
Chapter 4 – Lacey
"And then there were three." Danny joked although none of us smiled. "What happened anyway?"
"I don't know; she just threw up." I quietly replied as I picked up the glass of icy water that had been recently placed on the table. The night couldn't go any worse. My two closest friends were completely far away from me. One was home sick and the other was right beside me, but still out of reach.
What was up with him? Just three hours ago he was the Dougie Poynter I was head over heels in love with, now he was just another person sitting at the table with me.
"Maybe he was just too shy" Linette's words ran through my mind as I took another sip from the large glass. Right! That's completely true. I rolled my eyes at my own sarcasm.
"Anyway…" Danny tried to make conversation again. I was sure he could sense something between Dougie and me, although not even I was sure what it was.
"Anyway," I replied, setting the glass down which was followed by another awkward silence.
"Yeah, I'm going to go." Danny smiled and stood up from his chair and walked over the washroom. Silence followed. I looked up from the water drops that were slowly forming on the glass and met Dougie's sky blue eyes. As soon as our eyes locked for a moment, he quickly looked away.
I pretended not to notice this and took another sip of my water. So much for this night not being able to get worse. And then there were two. I smiled at how retarded that sounded in my mind. Everything weird just sounded a lot better on Danny.
I glanced around the restaurant and noticed couples and groups of friends at every table, continuously speaking. My green eyes moved over to the bar where Harry was flirting with the red head. She was pretty – slutty pretty – but pretty. She was wearing an over exaggerated low cut dress that seemed to be a size too small. I think that was on purpose if you ask me.
I looked back at Dougie, our eyes meeting once again, and once again, he quickly looked away. I raised my eye brows at him and rolled my eyes. What was with him? Then again when I look at people I can accidently look away when they look back. I stared at Dougie whose eyes slowly met mine but quickly looked away again.
"Oh real mature!" I snapped and got up from my seat wanting to head to the washroom to reapply my lip gloss, and also because sitting through another second of an awkward silence with Dougie would be excruciating.
"That's mature too." I heard him say after me, but I didn't bother to turn back.
I slammed the washroom door open and let my Coach bag drop on the sink counter. (i1./img/item/251/171/62/coach6234black.jpg) I got out my lip gloss and slowly reapplied it, not wanting to go back to the table. I took out my cell phone, badly wanting to call Linette and rant to her about my situation but I knew she was sick and I didn't want to disturb her. Then there was Dougie, who I would tell everything to if I couldn't tell Linette first, (I'd tell him everything anyway) but he was the main problem so I really couldn't confide in him. Next was Tom since he was really sweet and trustworthy, but he was taking care of Linette. Then came Harry but he was busy with a girl. Lastly was Danny. It wasn't like I didn't trust him; it was just that I didn't think that would be much to confide in. I think Danny's more of a guy that would always have fun, no matter what. I didn't think he was much of an advice giving guy.
Not like I ever even needed to go that far down on the scale. I always had either Linette or Dougie. There's a first time for everything right? I put the lip gloss back into my purse and slowly headed for the door.
I let out a sigh as I sat down beside Dougie.
"I ordered already." He said simply and I just nodded. Silence. More silence.
"What's wrong with you?" I asked looking up at him.
"What's wrong with you?" He answered quickly.
"Okay, seriously, how old are we?"
"Twelve." He replied. It was now his turn to take a sip of his drink. I opened my mouth to say something to him. I wasn't going to be shut up that easily, especially since he was really starting to piss me off. Maybe it's because it hurt to know he didn't see me as more than a friend. At that moment Danny sat down at the table and I decided to argue with Dougie later.
"Hey!" He said cheerfully as he looked from Dougie to me. "Did you know you could dance at here? There's a dance floor farther down!"
The food had finally arrived and I was surprised that Dougie had known to order my favourite food, Italian pasta with chicken Cordon Bleu. When I usually visited for Christmas and other holidays we never went to a restaurant much. I would usually end up doing all of the cooking since I was too lazy to get all fancy and dine out.
"Wicked, who ordered for me?" Danny asked, thrilled as he looked down into his plate which was filled with fries with a French baguette and honey blazed pork chops.
"I did." Dougie dug a fork into his own plate which was a mix of Danny's and my plates.
"Oh, thanks mate!" Danny quickly started eating his food.
I didn't bother to say anything; I was so annoyed with him. It sounded so childish in my mind the reason why I was mad at him. Just because he didn't compliment me? Was I really that vain that I needed to hear it from him? No of course not, I just wanted to hear him say it because it'd be a compliment from a person who makes your day everyday.
No one spoke while we ate. This dinner was beyond awkward. Harry was no longer at the bar with the red head and Danny was no longer attempting to make jokes. We soon finished our meal and as I set the fork down someone finally spoke up.
"Want to dance?" I looked up and finally met Dougie's blue eyes.
"Sure." I smiled as he stood up from his chair.
"See when I left you two alone you had each other, who do I have?" Danny complained as he leaned back in his chair.
I laughed and Dougie led me towards the dance floor where I noticed Harry and the redhead just talking to one another. I wasn't sure how much time passed but it didn't much matter since I was hoping that by the end of the night Dougie would be back to his old self.
The band in the center of the room started playing a much slower song. I gasped as I realized which song it was; Scarlet Rose by Alexa. Even though the song was recently written it was so 50's and I melted when it came to the 50's.
"What?" Dougie asked as he placed his arms around my waist.
"It's Scarlet Rose." I wrapped my arms around his neck.
"Never heard of it."
"Yeah I know. I saw it on a show where the guy got murdered by his ex-girlfriend because his daughter got to know her father. And the mom was jealous so she shot the dad and the song was written by the daughter to the dad." I explained. "This is probably not the best time to bring that up." I brought my head closer to his neck. Damn he smelled good.
"So why were you so mad like two seconds ago?" I asked.
"I wasn't mad, why were you mad?" He replied.
"I wasn't." I slightly lied. There was a moment of silence.
"Good because for a second I thought you were mad that I never said anything about how you looked."
"Oh, no, why would I be?" That was a slightly bigger lie than the previous one.
Dougie lightly laughed. "Yeah I didn't think that you were so vain that you needed to hear a compliment from me."
Excuse me? Did he just say that? I pulled away from him and made a face that perfectly read "Excuse me, what was that?"
At that moment Danny came to stand beside us. "It's nine forty-six, we need to leave or else we'll never catch a bus to get home."
I pulled away from Dougie and walked towards the door.
"What did I say?" I heard him ask Danny behind me. I reached the door where I noticed the red head giving Harry the number.
"Bye." She said flirtatiously as she left him standing by the door.
"Are you going to call her?" I smiled as he put the small piece of paper into his pants.
"No." He laughed. Danny and Dougie came up behind us.
"Come on!" Danny urged, pushing his way through Harry and me.
We walked to the bus and quickly got on seconds before it left the stop. I sat down beside Harry, across from Dougie since I really had no intentions of speaking to him for the rest of the night. Not like I was really mad at him or anything, he was just pissing me off and I needed to straighten out what I was going to do with him. Was I actually going to tell the Douglas Lee Poynter – a somebody – that I, Lacey Collins – a nobody – liked him?
The bus soon stopped in front of our hotel. We stepped out of the bus and into the hotel and into the elevator. We were all talking to one another but everyone could sense some tension between Dougie and me.
We reached our floor where I headed to the left while everyone else went right.
"Um… Lace, our room is this way." Danny said.
"I know." I smiled.
"Yeah, Dougie's bed is that way." Harry joked.
"I know that too." I kept smiling.
"We're that way." Harry said.
"I'm that way. Goodnight." I waved and turned towards my room. I opened the door and didn't bother to turn the light on since I knew that Linette would probably be sleeping. I allowed my bag to drop onto the bed and then clumsily threw all of my other dresses into the luggage. I'd clean it later. I took out my pink pyjama pants and a plain loose white tank top. I walked into the bathroom where I lightly closed the door and turned on the light. I quickly brushed my teeth and as I opened the bathroom door light seeped into the bedroom.
I couldn't help but let out a sigh. Cute much? There, on her bed, Linette lay asleep with Tom's oh-so-famous Disney blanket. Half on the floor was Tom, his head resting on the bed and the rest of his body sitting on the floor, except his one hand which was entangled in Linette's fingers.
I turned the light off and picked up my own blanket off of the bed. Suddenly there was a knock on my door. I dropped the covers and walked towards the door. I slowly opened it, not wanting light to escape into the room.
"Hey." Dougie smiled.
"Hi." I replied, a bit stunned at his unexpected appearance at my door.
"You're mad!" He quickly added.
"No I'm not." I responded just as quickly.
"Then why are you sleeping here?"
"There's a first time for everything."
"No there isn't. Why are you mad?"
"I'm not mad; I just need to think some things through."
"Like what?"
"Like… things." I looked back into the room and noticed Linette stir a bit in her bed. Whether it was from pain or from noise, I decided not to take any chances in her waking up. I pushed myself through the small opening in the door and slowly closed it behind me.
"Things like what?"
"Personal stuff."
"Since when do you keep things from me?"
"I only keep one thing from you, and that's what I need to think about. I can't do that around you because I can't tell you." Or just because I can never think straight when you're close to me.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to say you were vain." Dougie quickly added.
"I know. I'm not mad." I repeated. I was not going to sleep in his bed tonight. I couldn't. I turned towards the door and turned the door knob but the door didn't move. Are you kidding me? Stupid automatic locking doors!
"Good. Are you sleeping with us then?" Oh he so knew I couldn't get in.
"Fine." I slowly answered.
"Well now that I think about it, I don't think we have enough room for one more person."
"Seriously, no."
"No I am serious; I really don't think there's enough room."
"You're such a jerk, you know that?" I said, playfully glaring at him as Dougie started fake crying.
"Don't even give me that!"
"Alright, good night." He smiled and ran to his own room where he quickly got in and closed the door behind him. What a douche! Now I was stuck outside in the hallway. I wasn't going to wake Tom or Linette up so they could open the door for me and I was too lazy to go all the way down stairs and ask for another key.
I rolled my eyes although there was a large smile playing across my lips as I walked towards room 801. I loudly knocked on the door.
"Who is that?" I heard Harry ask.
"Oh God, please not Ashley." Danny begged.
"It's no one." Dougie laughed. He laughed? What a giant douche!
"Fuck you Douglas Poynter open the door!" I tried to suppress my own laughter.
"Oh I'm definitely not opening the door now!"
"I'm serious! This is so retarded!" I yelled into the door as a lady walked past, giving me a dirty look. "Look now some stuck up woman just glared at me!" I cried, making sure the lady hadn't gone into her own room and had heard me clearly.
"What's in it for me?" Dougie teased.
"A kiss maybe?" I heard Danny reply. I knew he was being loud enough for me to hear.
"Shut up! I don't know! Nothing?" I replied.
"No okay I'll give you an insane dare and you have to do it."
"Oh hell, no way!" I replied and decided that I'd figure out a way to get through.
"Shut up you two we're watching The Ring! You have to let it sink in how creepy this is!" Danny yelled out.
"Fine. Goodnight Lace." Dougie said. Did he just leave? What a seriously giant douche! I stood outside the room for a moment. I had an idea forming in my mind and it's not like I couldn't do it, but would I risk it? I remembered doing it when I was a little girl and I would try to sneak into Dougie's hotel room when my parents wouldn't let me. It wasn't that hard, except I wasn't eight floors up. I could easily go downstairs and ask for a key, or I could risk falling down eight floors.
What's life without taking risks?
I knocked on door 803 and a little girl opened the door. "Hello?" She asked.
"Hey, are your parents here?" I asked, glancing around her room.
"No, they're out for dinner, why?"
"Alright sweet, do you think I could come in and use your balcony for like two seconds?" I smiled sweetly at her.
"Um, no?" She replied.
"Oh my God." I rolled my eyes at her. What did she think I was going to do? Murder her in a hotel room? What the hell with? "You can go grab a knife if you're that freaking scared that I will somehow murder you." I replied.
"What do you want to do on the balcony anyway?" She asked opening the door slightly farther. Was she actually going to let me in?
"I need to get into the other room but I don't have a key and no one else is in there and there's no one at the counter downstairs and I left the straightener underneath my dress so it could catch on fire." I lied.
To my surprise she opened the door farther and I quickly made my way to the balcony. I cautiously stepped onto the railing (thank God I wasn't afraid of heights and I had experience in this sort of thing) and grabbed onto the wood that separated one balcony from the other. I brought my bare foot over the other side and mouthed a thank you to the girl who was intently watching me from inside. I brought my head to the other side and to my luck there was a wooden chair placed right under my foot. I slowly placed it there and then brought over my other leg. I let out a sigh of relief. I jumped down from the chair and waited for the perfect moment to open the balcony door. I waited and watched the movie from outside the room and after a five minute wait I got bored of waiting so I decided to start pounding on the balcony door. I hid behind the curtains so they wouldn't be able to tell if anyone was outside or not. I waited a minute but no one came to open the balcony door so I pounded on it again.
There was another long wait and then finally the door opened. "What the fuck is that!?" Dougie asked and I could sense something in his voice.
"Shit I don't know!" Danny replied.
"That's just creepy!" Harry exclaimed.
Dougie didn't step onto the balcony and he didn't look around either. I rolled my eyes at how easily scared this kid could be. I jumped out in front of his face. Dougie swore loudly as I laughed uncontrollably.
"Oh my God you should have seen your face!" I said through laughs.
"You can stay out there!" Dougie exclaimed, closing the door in front of my face.
"Oh, are you serious? I just climbed over here and now I'm locked out!?" I whined.
"God damn it, just let her in!" Danny complained as he pressed play on the remote. The door slid open and I jumped into the room and onto Harry's bed.
"Hey you want to know something so cute?" I asked as I jumped up and down on the bed.
"What the hell's gotten into you?" Danny asked.
"I don't know."
"She's bipolar." Harry answered.
"No shut up! Listen." I crossed my legs. "So I walked into the room and then there's Linette with Tom's Disney blanket all curled up in a ball and she's holding his hand and he's like half on the floor and holding her hand and you know soap operas and stuff? Yeah it looks like one of those things where the chick is in that gay ass coma which we all know she'll get out off after like two episodes and the guy is like 'Oh baby, I love you forever! Please stay with me! Don't ever leave me or I'd die without you!'" I overdramatized.
"Are you serious? Let's see!" Danny stood up from the couch.
"Dude she's not on display." I replied. "But it's still like super cute!"
"Is she awake?" Harry asked.
"No idea."
"Come on, I have an idea." Dougie said as he rushed into the bathroom and almost immediately came out with a white bathrobe. He made a pose and I quickly caught on.
I got off of the bed and opened the door. He followed behind me. Dougie knocked on the door and in a much shorter period of time than I had expected, the door swung open revealing Tom.
"Are both of you awake?" I asked.
"Yeah." Tom simply replied.
"Awesome." Dougie said as he entered the room. "So Linette, Lacey said you were feeling sick. Do you feel better?"
"Yeah." She replied weakly, looking over at Tom. I totally caught onto that look: the look of 'oh if it weren't for you I don't know what I'd do!' I think I watch too many Soaps in my spare time.
"Well since I don't know exactly what happened I have created a re-enactment!" Dougie began and then turned to me. I looked over at Linette who looked extremely confused.
"Oh Doctor Fletcher-" I started in a helpless tone.
"Please call me Tom." Dougie interrupted in a James Bond sort of voice.
"There seems to be something wrong with my heart."
"In that case I will have to do a breast examination which involves both of us taking our clothes off!" Dougie said begging to untie the bathrobe.
"Get out." Tom yelled, throwing a pillow at us. I could tell he was trying to suppress a laugh. Linette was laughing through coughs as Dougie and I raced out of the room. Maybe today wasn't so bad after all. Dougie took a blue sky, turned it grey, and then turned it blue once again.