3
Cars weren't Dottie's thing. They were either big, small, oddly shaped or something. This car was gray, small in shape and newer in years. Fergal had opened her door for her after putting their things in the backseat.
"You'll be fine, Dottie." Cait said before leaving for her own nearby car.
Dottie watched her sister get smaller in the side mirror as Fergal pulled away from the arena. She turned around one last time as they left through a side exit where some fans had been gathered to see off their wrestlers.
"Dottie, turn around." Fergal said.
Scared was not a word she liked to use often. Worried, yes. She knew she worried about a lot of things. Frightened, sure there was that, too. It wasn't knowing that worried her the most. The routine of travel took some getting used to but she was able to figure it out, even if it meant going by bus somewhere. This was different, this was new. Sure she liked Fergal, but she had never been left alone with him before, until that night at least.
"We're going to Denny's." Fergal said as he came to a stop light.
Night time was dark, the artificial lights created sickly orange glows around them as they waited for the traffic light to turn green. Dottie contended with the shadows as she stared out the window as cars from the cross street passed by.
Fergal didn't turn on the radio, he didn't talk as they coasted through the green light. His left hand dominated the top of the wheel, his right thumb just sort of held the bottom of the wheel when she looked at him sideways. There was nothing to play with, except for the hem of her shirt. The rough cotton seam had a ridge to it and she counted four distinct threads on one section of the hem. One, two, three, four, and she would repeat the numbers in her head as she stared straight in front of her.
"Dottie?" Fergal spoke up, his hand on her knee. "Dottie, we're here."
They were in a parking lot of a Denny's restaurant. There weren't a lot of other cars there, and as Fergal unbuckled his seat belt, he reached across and undid her seat belt as well. He got out and then went around to her door to open it for held his hand out to her and she took it. She got out of the car and then they headed to the front of the restaurant.
When they were placed at a booth, Fergal sat next to her and shared his menu. He'd flip from one page to the next slowly, his finger running over the descriptions of food selections. She pointed to the chicken fingers with onion rings, then she looked at him.
"If that's what you want, I don't care." He smiled and brought his arm around her shoulders.
Fergal made his selection and then they waited for the waitress to come back. His fingers rubbed her exposed arm, his eyes focusing on a sports game on a television nearby. When she looked it was a soccer game, FIFA was going on from what she remembered.
"Soccer?" She asked, her voice so low she thought he didn't hear her.
"Football." He said. "I played Gaelic football back in Ireland. But wrestling was my passion."
She raised her head and watched the game. She didn't know much about the sport itself, but there were some strange uniforms that both teams wore. Dottie liked the ones in yellow and white.
"F I F A?" She asked, spelling out each letter with her finger on the table.
"No, university it looks like." Fergal's thumb hooked her sleeve a little bit. "I like England's Spurs. Look, their striker is going for a goal."
The person kicking the ball at the goal was tripped by a red uniform person, stealing the ball to the other side. Dottie glanced at Fergal as he tilted his head.
The yellow team had made a goal by the time their food came out. Fergal pulled his arm from around her shoulders and unrolled the silverware so that he could have his napkin within reach. The chicken tenders were great, if she dipped them in her ranch dressing and the onion rings were just perfect. Fergal had a burger, which dripped ketchup and mayo as he bit into it. When one of the drops sloshed on his hand, Dottie picked up her napkin and wiped it off for him.
"I coulda done that myself." He said as he looked down at her.
Dottie shrugged. "Messy."
"Only when they bleeding put too much sauce on it."
She pointed to his beard where some of the sauce was hanging out as well. He managed to get most of it but some still hung around.
"Better?"
She shook her head and picked up the napkin, dabbing the corner of his mouth where he had missed. Dottie smiled when he was cleaned up again, thanks to her hand.
"Thanks, Dottie. Now eat up."
She went back to eating her own food, while Fergal went back to his hot mess of a burger. They ate in relative silence, Fergal having to wipe his mouth after every other bite until he had finished his burger and some of his fries.
Then he stole one of her onion rings.
"Hey," she looked at him. Dottie looked at his plate and stole a fry.
"Hey," he smiled back.
Fergal bumped her shoulder, still with the smile on his face. Dottie smiled the best that she could.
"There's the smile I like so much." He patted her knee.
They finished their meals, Fergal paid for them and then took Dottie by the hand to get her back outside. But there was a flash of light that came from overhead, which followed by a thunderous roar. Dottie dropped Fergal's hand and covered her ears, bending over.
"Dottie?" He rubbed her back. "Ey, lovely. Come on. It's just a storm coming."
She looked at him, breathing heavy again.
"No wonder you don't leave the locker room during the show." He ran a hand over his head. "I guess we'll have to check in at the hotel. Let's get you to the car first."
She pressed close to Fergal and he guided her back to the rental car. The rain started shortly after getting her in the car and Fergal even helped her with her seatbelt because her hands were shaking so bad. When Fergal got in, he pulled his phone out and dialed a number.
"Cait, yeah, you better not be driving. Look, we caught a storm and I don't feel safe driving with Dottie in it. She's freaking out. Do you mind if she stays with me tonight? Yeah? All right. We'll stick out the storm and meet up tomorrow."
Dottie liked that, she didn't like the flashing lights and the loud noises. They reminded her of those nights at the facility, that place where her mother put her. With her being in the car with Fergal, she felt better, even if her shoulders was up around her ears just in case thunder happened again.
She rocked again, her heart thumping in her ears as she waited for the inevitable. More flashes made Dottie squeeze her eyes shut and she fisted her hands over her face.
"Dottie, please." Fergal said. "You're starting to scare me."
"Sorry." She mumbled.
"No need to be. You're scared, I get that. Would you like to hold my hand so you're not afraid?" He asked.
She took his hand without second guessing, her thumb rubbing over his knuckles. She counted to four, counting each bone she passed over. One, two, three, four and then went back to one again. Dottie felt a little better with her counting, even if the flashes of lightning kept happening every four pass overs of Fergal's knuckles.
Before long they pulled up to a hotel and Fergal parked near the front entrance. The rain was loud against the windshield and as Fergal unbuckled her belt for her, she stayed put.
Fergal ran around to the door and opened the door for her. "Come on, Lovely." He held his hand out.
She grabbed it and they ran for the hotel, Fergal's arm secure around her. Safety hadn't felt so good before.
"I was going to check out after dinner but since we're sort of stuck here I'll pay for one more night and we'll leave early." Fergal said.
She nodded. Fergal went and told the front desk what was going on, and the clerk nodded. He paid for one more night, and then placed his hand on Dottie's back, guiding her to the elevator door.
"Oh no." Fergal said as he rubbed his face. "I forgot your overnight bag in the car. Oh well, I'll give you something to wear for the night."
She looked up at him. No, he wasn't that tall of a man, but he wasn't looming over her like a lot of the men did, not that Drew McIntyre scared her. Fergal was quietly looking at his phone, before he sighed and then looked at her.
"Everything's going to be okay, Dottie." He rubbed her back.
They got off on the fourth floor. Good, four was a good number. Even his room had a four in it, 842, which was a good looking number. Fergal led her in and there were two beds in there, one of which looked slept in and the other didn't. Fergal rummaged through one of his bags before pulling a shirt out and some shorts.
"You can wear this tonight, Dottie." He said.
"Okay." She took the clothes and then went to the nearby bathroom. "Thank you."
She closed the door behind her.
Pulling her hair out of the ponytail she put the tie around her wrist as she pulled her top off. The shirt that Fergal gave her was one of his BC logo shirts, the one that had a rainbow on it because he supported the LGBTQ community. That was good of him, he was nice that way. He'd been nice to her as well and that was really great, she thought he was a great person. For being cute, really, really cute.
Her face went hot as she pulled the shirt on and followed by some elastic sport shorts that went down over her knees. Wearing Fergal's clothes was enough to make her spin in a circle, giggling. She spun and spun, unable to contain herself. Jumbled thoughts of Fergal flashed in her mind, things she had thought before but never really considered.
"Dottie, what's going on in there?" She heard Fergal ask, which was followed by a knock on the door.
She stopped and looked at the door. He didn't open it, but she could hear him. Opening the door, however, Dottie looked up at him.
"I'm happy." She said, still a little hot in the face.
She scooted by Fergal, aware of how close he was and definitely aware of the lack of shirt he'd been without. Dottie went to the unmade bed and sat down on the edge, bouncing slightly. Springy beds were the best, it helped because her body sometimes felt like it was moving when really it wasn't and bouncing made her aware. Aware that Fergal hadn't used the bathroom like she had thought and he came back to sit across from her on the other bed.
"So you're happy? You're not scared?" He asked.
"Not with you, no." She played with the waxy emblem of the shirt, running her fingers over the letters.
He smiled at her. "Want to watch a movie before bed?"
"Um, okay."
There was a television across from the bed that Fergal had been using. There were a lot of movies on that she didn't care for. Dottie did come around to sit with Fergal on his bed.
"Sleeping Beauty?" He asked.
"Okay."
He was leaning up against the head of the bed, ankles crossed. Dottie sat back with him, doing the same with her ankles with her shoulder brushing his. This felt good. She wished it would last for a long time.
