Chapter 21 - Goodbye
That month came and went faster than I'd ever seen. The guys and I began packing our things onto the tour bus. Our own tour bus. It was insane. It was huge, too. Two floors on this bus, an XBox a fridge and microwave a TV. Anything you could possibly need, this bus had it. It was unreal. But then came Shay. A month gave me a lot less time than I thought it would to say goodbye. I mean, I'd only be gone a month, right? A month isn't too long. But without Shay it would seem like an eternity. I just got her back.
"Doug, help me with this will ya?" Tom asked, carrying two suitcases filled with clothes.
"Sure," I grabbed one, taking some weight off his shoulders and following him out to the bus.
"How pumped are you, mate?" Tom asked me, grinning.
"Dude, this is gonna be so wicked!" I laughed. We had been talking about this for weeks. The guys an I couldn't wait to get on the road and play shows to thousands of people a night. It was hard to wrap my mind around the whole thing though. Dougie Poynter, 17 years old and famous.
We set some of the stuff on the bus. Danny was already in there, sprawled across one of the couches.
"Danny, we aren't leaving for another two days." Tom reminded him with a laugh.
"Oh, I know." Danny said, "I'm just trying to get used to the rock star lifestyle. At least I'm not like Haz, he's using the toilet in here."
Just then Harry came out of one of the doors. "You know, you can't do a number two in that bathroom?" he said.
Danny got up, and grabbed my arm, leading me off the bus and into the side yard, "Dougie, can I talk to you for a sec?"
"Shoot, mate." I smiled.
"You seem a little...I don't know..." he thought for a minute trying to find the right word, "Nervous."
"Well sure," I shrugged, "Danny, we're going to be playing shows to millions of people. Of course I'm nervous."
"No, not like that." Danny shook his head, "Like nervous about leaving. Listen, Doug, I know about you and Shay."
I stared at my feet, "Oh."
"Dude, I'm not mad or anything." Danny continued, "But I know that you two are just getting things back to how they used to be and it's hard leaving her. She feels that same way, you know. So I'm gonna have to ask a favor from you, though."
"Sure, anything." I nodded. He looked me straight in the eyes, "Don't do anything stupid."
I laughed, "Danny, do you realize who you're talking to. My middle name is stupid."
Danny laughed too, "Very true, very true. But in all seriousness, Doug, it's weird enough that you're madly in love with my sister, but for whatever reason you make her happy. So if you screw that up, expect a beating from me."
"Yes sir." I nodded. We both turned to meet back up with the others. "Oh and one more thing." Danny added.
"Yeah?"
"Next time you fall asleep on the couch, keep your fantasies to yourself," he laughed, "No one needs to hear your moaning throughout the house. I was afraid you and Tom had decided to become butt buddies and I wasn't sure I could handle that."
I laughed and turned red at the same time, "Sure, Danny, I'll try to tone it down a notch for you."
The day before the tour started, I owed it to myself and Shayna to say goodbye. I picked her up around six and she came to the McFLY house. The rest of the guys were with their parents, but I took care of that during the day so we had the house to ourselves. I wanted to take Shay out to some fancy dinner place or something but she refused to let me. "We'll hang out like we did before you were famous. We'll just chill at your place and watch a movie or something, like before." she had said. So a movie it was.
Shay snuggled up next to me on the couch and I pulled a purple blanket over both of us. "What movie have you picked out for us this fine evening?" she asked me. I grinned and hit play.
"The Notebook?" she asked, smiling. "Dougie, you're going to hate this movie, you know that right?"
"I'm not going to hate it if I'm watching it with you," I told her, placing a kiss on her forehead.
She was right. I didn't like it much. It was a chick flick, but I will admit I did envy that Noah guy. He seemed...perfect. Something I'd never be to Shay.
"Dougie," Shay whispered during the movie.
"Hmm?"
"Don't go."
I looked down and tears were formed in both her eyes. She looked so sad and I could have cried just seeing that. "I'll miss you too much. Please..."
"Shay.." I started, then ran my hands through my hair, "We can't just cancel all those shows. All those people..."
"I know," she sighed, "I'm being selfish. I want you to go, I really do, but then I don't. I don't know what I'm saying, I think I'm just..."
I cut her off my placing my mouth to hers. There was a sort of feeling to that kiss, a sort of tension, as if we;d never see each other again even though we both knew that one month wasn't that long at all. It was as if that would be the last time I'd ever get to kiss her.
I got too caught up in everything and didn't notice my hands were under her shirt on the skin on her back. I opened my eyes and moved them. Shay moved her mouth away from mine. "Dougie..."
"No." I said shaking my head, I knew what she was going to ask.
"Please," she said, moving her lips to my ear, my one weakness. "You're leaving. And I'm going to be stuck here without you. I'll miss you."
She knew guilt trips always worked with me. I swallowed hard and closed my eyes as her lips moved from my ear, down my jaw.
"Shay..." I started, but her lips kept mine from saying anything more. This whole thing seemed too familiar. The way her hands traced along my spine, down to my shirt collar, unbuttoning. The path her hands took down my torso. It all was so familiar.
But this time, I didn't fight fate. I let what was supposed to happen, happen.