Thanks for all the feedback everyone :) Keep it coming! I love to hear what you all think! xx
XX Dougie's POV XX
I stepped into Harry's house, not bothering to knock. I found him in the living room on his computer. He looked up from the screen when he heard me walk in.
"Jeez, does anyone knock anymore?" he joked.
"Nah, knocking's overrated," I said and sat next to him on the sofa. "So I actually have a reason for coming here for once."
"And that would be?"
"I wanted to talk to you about your sister, well not really her but Ryan mostly."
"What did that little bastard do now?"
"I actually don't know. It's just Erica's been acting odd since she went out with him yesterday and I have a feeling Ryan had something to do with it."
"Define odd. I mean are you sure it's not just pre-wedding jitters?"
"Well, she couldn't sleep last night and she seemed kind of distant this morning. I asked what was wrong and she said she was just nervous. Honestly, I don't believe it one bit."
"I wouldn't either. You need to get what exactly happened out of her. I don't trust that Ryan kid one bit."
"How do I do that? I mean what if that isn't the problem? What if she actually is just nervous? Harry, what if she's having second thoughts? WHAT IF SHE DOESN'T WANT TO GET MARRIED!" I was now pretty much hyperventilating. I let my thoughts get the better of me.
Harry put his hands on my shoulders and shook me a bit. "Dougs! Get a grip! Trust me, that is not the problem. She certainly does want to get married, more than anything."
My breathing began to come back to normal and I calmed down a bit. "Sorry, I don't even know why I keep thinking that. Maybe I'm the nervous one…"
"Well you have nothing to be nervous about. Everything is going to be perfect, I'll be sure of it. But first, you go find out what's going on with Erica."
I had to laugh a little. "Sure thing and thanks Harry."
"Anytime mate. I'm always here!"
With that, I headed for the door to head back home. On the way I tried to plan out how I was going to do this in my head. I'm not sure why because I definitely wouldn't follow it but it's worth it right?
XX My POV XX
Dougie hadn't even been gone for five minutes, yet I heard a car pull into the drive. I stood up from my seat on the stairs and peeked out the front window. I saw the tall dark figure climb out of the car. I didn't want him here. He can't be here if I don't want him to be, right? I'll just tell him to leave and he'll have to.
My thoughts were disrupted by his knocks at the door. I reluctantly opened the door slowly. Next thing I knew the door was flung open and I was nearly knocked over. Ryan just stepped right in and I was still clutching the doorknob.
"Well don't you look lovely today?" he said and just let himself into the kitchen. I followed him and he turned around to look at me. "Well I don't see Poynter anywhere; I take it the slight change of plans went well." A really crooked smile crept across his face.
"No. There was no change of plans and there never will be."
"Oh really?" he took a few steps closer to me. I backed up towards the counter. "You told him didn't you?"
He kept inching closer and I eventually bumped into the counter. "No I didn't. I didn't say anything to him. And you're not going to do anything to him either. In fact, I want you to leave."
"Love, I'm not going to do anything to him…and why should I leave? I just got here!" His hands were around me on the edge of the counter; it felt just like yesterday all over again. "Like I said, if you're not going to cooperate then I'll just take care of it myself. If I can't have you, why should he?"
My breath caught in my throat at that comment. He was completely serious about this. I've seen things like this in the movies before and not to many of them ended well. I was so scared at that point that I just didn't know what to do. "You're bluffing," is all I could think of. I only hoped he was.
"You think I'm bluffing? Well I'm pretty damn serious. I'll even prove it to you." Next he had a tight grip on my wrist and he was not going to let go. I tried to fight it as much as I possibly could but it was no use. I completely forgot Hannah was supposed to be stopping by and I was really hoping she would show up right about now. Or Dougie would come home early.
He was pulling me down the hallway to the front door. "How about we go for a little ride?" He sat me down in his car and then he pulled out of the drive. I had no idea where we were going.
XX Hannah's POV XX
I was actually quite late getting to Erica's house. Danny and I got caught up in a song idea we had and I lost track of time. Danny was late too. He was supposed to meet Tom in town for lunch and an interview afterwards.
We all lived on the same street, so there was no point in driving to each other's houses either. I walked up to Erica and Dougie's house and knocked on the door. I stood there for a few seconds and knocked again. She probably didn't hear me, so I just let myself in. It was unusually quiet in there. I wandered into the kitchen only to find it empty. Her keys were still here.
I peeked into the living room to find it empty too. Now I was becoming a little worried. She wouldn't have forgotten I was coming.
"Erica?" I called out. There was a slight tremor in my voice.
I looked in the office and headed upstairs too. "Erica?" I called again. Something was not right here. I checked her bedroom and the spare bedroom. Now I began to panic. I ran downstairs to check if there was a note or anything in the kitchen, but there wasn't.
I ran frantically through the house once again checking every single room. My heartbeat was getting faster and faster as well as my breathing. As I ran back down the stairs, Dougie came through the front door.
"Oh hey Hannah!" he greeted me as he shut the door behind him. Then, he saw the panic that was on my face. "What's wrong?"
"It's….she's….Erica….she's not here!" I finally spat out. "There was no note, no signs of her leaving. Her keys are still in the kitchen."
"Did you find her phone anywhere?"
"No, I think she has it. Or I just couldn't find it."
Dougie took off for the kitchen and he was doing what I just did. He ran frantically, checking every room possible. Once he returned to the hallway where I was standing, I could see all the color was drained from his face. "She wouldn't just leave like that…"
I walked him into the kitchen and we stood there in silence for a little bit. Then, at the same exact time, we both looked up at each other with our eyes wide. "Ryan…" we said in unison. This had to have been him. There's just no other explanations.
