Trust Me, Don't Leave Me

Dougie’s POV
“What’s the excitement in here?” I heard Danny ask the guys in the living room.
“Well,” Gio began, “This weekend, we met this really cool girl named Liz. We showed her a picture of the four of you guys. She said, and this is a direct quote, ‘That one is gorgeous!’ pointing at Dougie. So, Grace got a picture of her on her cell phone. When we got back here, he was fussing about the ‘lovey mooshy crap’ of our reunions. So, me and Grace were picking on him, saying he was feeling left out.”
“Yeah?” Emma asked, giggling. “What’d he say to that?”
“He said he preferred being single…until we told him about Liz. Then he was like, ‘being single is boring!’ and wanted to see the picture. So, we showed it to him. He couldn’t look away for more than, how long would you say, Grace?”
“Five seconds,” she called out. I pouted out my lower lip and gave her Bambi eyes. She looked away. “Patience, Dougie.” Then I looked down at the phone again. God, that girl is beautiful. “He’s looking at it again!”
“Shut up!” I said. What else was I supposed to do? She was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen in my entire life!
The guys laughed. “Well, anyway, he wants to know what she’s like, but Grace told him to wait and see when she comes over tomorrow morning. And he’s being impatient.”
“You really wanna know, Dougie?” I nodded, looking at Grace eagerly. “How about I tell you…two things about her that might be important to know?” I nodded again; anything worked for me. “OK, first of all, she can be a bit temperamental. And she’s way eccentric.” I smiled, looking at the picture again. “Can I have my phone back now?”
“Umm,” I said, looking between her and the picture. “Umm…” I wanted to keep looking at the girl. “Two more things: What’s her name and when is she coming tomorrow?”
“Her name is Liz and she’s coming over at ten in the morning.” She held out her hand and I gave her the phone. Everyone was laughing at me again.
So I ran through the living room and up the stairs to my room with lightning speed.
I closed the door and locked it, lying on my bed. I wondered what kind of things she was interested in, if she liked playing video games. I’d go out and find one that she liked so we could play it together. I could imagine her smiling and laughing with me, ridiculing me when I messed up.
Then I heard Gio and Grace talking outside my room.
“You didn’t find it important to tell him?” Grace asked.
“Well, you didn’t either. Let him be surprised.”
“Well, you know Harry’ll recognize her if he sees the picture. And you know he’ll tell Dougie.”
“Tell me what?” I asked, opening the door. They were standing right there.
“Umm…nothing,” they said together. Then they ran down the hall. I just stood there for a moment, wondering what they hadn’t told me.
Next Morning/ Liz’s POV
I was snoring peacefully in the hotel bed in the hotel room I got to myself when something touched my foot. “The fuck?” I grumbled, my head snapping up. “I’ll kill you, Richard!” I snarled at my dad when I saw his familiar smirk. And he pretended he was always innocent!
“You’re the one who told me to wake you up today,” he reminded me. “You’re the one who wants to wear your Little-Bo-Peep-Meets-Lumber-Jack-Joe creepiness to that band’s house and you want to get there at ten.”
I blinked. “Oh, yeah…” I seriously shouldn’t have watched Chicago last night, I thought. Then I glared at my dad. “I told you not to call it that, you bastard!” He smirked again and ran away. I rolled around until I fell on all fours on the floor. I was feeling very Cheetah-like today. Meaning, I wanted to speed down the highway on my motorcycle and be in wide open spaces.
I was damn glad I didn’t work in that building full of cubicles anymore. That had been the worst four and a half weeks of my life.
Oh, well. Now I had my book out on shelves. My first book! And I had things that were awesome, like my motorcycle and my laptop. I’d gotten my motorcycle license soon after I’d bought the beautiful machine.
By the way, my book was Fair Lady and it was about…well, how about you read it and find out.
Now, the whole thing about my “Little-Bo-Peep-Meets-Lumber-Jack-Joe creepiness” is clothing my best friend and I had made. It’s called Lolita, a Japanese fashion that’s modeled after Victorian clothing. Only, they only go down to knee length.
For today, I chose Casual Lolita, Lolita where you could barely tell it was Lolita. I wore a simple dress made from blue fabric with strawberries printed on it. In my hair, I put a headband with two small bows of the same kind of fabric.
I was adorable! If only I could see myself as gorgeous, then I could have whatever guy I wanted. But beauty wasn’t my calling. I didn’t put on any makeup besides chap-stick, but that was just because I hated having dry, cracked lips. It felt weird.
And I wasn’t my damned brother! Gross.
Now I had to decide if I should take my motorcycle or my mom’s Grand Am. Did I want to stick with the sweet and innocent look or look like a complete weirdo?
I guessed that I should show them how I was right off the bat. Motorcycle it was.
Now the real problem: How was I gonna wow Dougie without letting him see I liked him? Or had Grace and Gio already told him?
Frosty babe or sweetie pie? Icy glare or wide-eyed wonder?
Me or actress?
I glared and growled at my reflection. Then I flashed a porcelain-doll smile, all gentle kindness that I used mostly for pictures. Then I looked away, grabbing my riding gear. I paused, looking down at my legs.
“Dammit!” I growled, dropping the helmet and jacket in the chair and going to my suitcase. I kicked off my adorable heels and grabbed the thicker trouser socks. I should have put those on in the first place; I’d made them with the same fabric as the dress. I slipped them on over the black ones, cuz the ones I made weren’t that comfy.
Then I grabbed my gear again and put on the jacket. “Later,” I said to my parents, my shoes perfectly back in place.
“You’re riding you’re bike in that outfit?” my mom asked. I could see her point.
“Might as well show them my oddity right now. And, besides, I could take them for rides, right?” She nodded and I left, grabbing my “five-pound-bag” with the key card to the room and the keys to the car in it.
When I got to my bike, I jammed the bag in a compartment in the back. I had the spare helmet and jacket in the other one, so taking people for rides would be easy. I pulled out the headband and set it in the compartment, closing it. Then I climbed onto the bike and put on my helmet, stuffing my hair up into it. I grabbed the leather gloves from the pockets of my jacket and pulled them on.
Then I grabbed the clutch and kick-started the bike. It purred beneath me and I smiled. Then I pulled gently out of the parking area.
And I was flying down the highway like a cheetah on the hunt.
“Meow!” I muttered to myself. You see, I have this thing where I feel like I’m part cat. I’ve always had that feeling. And now I was seventeen, roaring down the road on a 510CC motorcycle. It was a good thing I’d put on the second pair of socks; wind-burn was a son of a bitch.
Soon I was at the Mcfly house, parking in the driveway. I saw the curtains twitch as I pulled off my helmet. I looked over reflexively, paranoid as I was. It was just one of the guys looking through at me. I couldn’t tell who, so I turned and opened up the side compartment, grabbing the headband and the case that held my glasses. When I had the headband and glasses back on, I pulled out the bag and started putting my riding gear away.
I was just stuffing the jacket down and closing the compartment when the girls that invited me over came out.
“Liz!” they called together, running up. I turned and briefly glanced at the window. Dougie had been looking out at me and he was wide-eyed and open-mouthed. I discreetly tapped my jaw and his instantly snapped up. He was probably wondering why I’d ride a motorcycle in this outfit.
“’Sup?” I called lazily. I looked away from him like he was nothing special. I was pretty sure he must have done the same when I wasn’t looking.
“So you ended up riding the bike?” Grace asked. I nodded. She was looking at it like it was a lion poised to pounce on her.
“Nice dress,” Gio commented.
“Do I look like the sweet and innocent doll I can never be?” I asked, twirling.
“Oh, yeah!” she said. “I’m thinking that Dougie is going gaga over you.”
My face reverted to ice. “I doubt it,” I said. Then I smirked. “Lolita is meant to make me look adorable, not sexy.”
Grace pulled out her cell phone. “Cutsie pose!” she said. I bent over slightly, one hand in front of my mouth and the other on my leg. She snapped the picture of me with a wide-eyed-wonder look on my face. “Oh, my God! You should be a model!”
“Or an actress!” Gio chimed. We laughed. “Oh, Grace, did Harry end up seeing the pic?”
“No, but we’d better go warn him that Liz is the girl who wrote that book he loved.” With that, she ran inside.
Inside/ Dougie’s POV
I was standing at the window, peeking through the curtains at the girl named Liz, standing next to her motorcycle in a cute dress. She was even prettier in person, even though I could hardly see her. When she’d noticed me staring at her with a dropped jaw, she’d given me a signal to close my mouth, and then she’d looked away.
After she’d done a cute little pose for a picture on Grace’s phone, Grace had started running back inside.
“Harry!” she was shouting now from the door. “I have something to tell you about our guest!” I spun around cuz I wanted to hear it too.
“What’s that?” Harry asked in a bored voice.
“Umm, you know that new book you got last week and read in one sitting while ignoring me? Well, our Liz is the Liz who wrote that.”
“Cool,” he said. I knew he was really excited to meet a published writer, but he said it in a casual way. He glanced at me.
“You can be excited,” I told him, looking out the window at her. “You never met an author in person.” Then I froze.
Liz had a look of horror on her face.
Outside/ Liz’s POV
I heard a tiny mew coming from the direction of my bike.
“Star?!” I shouted, spinning and opening the closest compartment. I was pulling out the jacket, helmet and blanket after looking among them for my little kitten. She wasn’t there, so I ran to the other compartment and repeated the process. She wasn’t there. Then I heard her mew again.
I sighed, walking calmly over to my bag and kneeling beside it. I pulled the opening apart and smiled with relief. Staring up at me was Star, my little black kitten with a white star in the middle of her forehead. I snapped my fingers and she was instantly on my shoulders, nuzzling my neck.
“You do know you almost gave me a heart attack, don’t you?” I said to her. She mewed in protest of my words. By now, Dougie had rushed out and was watching me worriedly. “Why so worried, Dougie?” I said, smirking. I was getting good at acting like I didn’t care about shit.
He looked down, embarrassed. “Well, you looked, umm, scared,” he muttered. I laughed.
“Let’s get started with the intro,” I said, and Star jumped down, padding up to Gio. This was so practiced. “Star, this is Gio,” I said as she rubbed against her leg. “Gio, this is my baby, Star.”
“A pleasure to meet you, Miss Star,” she said. Star mewed and gave her little kitty curtsy before going on to Dougie.
“This guy is called Dougie,” I said, signaling her to cuddle him more than usual. She jumped up into his arms, nuzzling into his chest. “Dougie, this is Star. She seems to really like you,” I hinted to her, and she licked him. He chuckled.
“Hey, Star, you’re cute. So’s your mama,” he murmured, looking at me. Then he seemed to realize what he’d said and flushed. I was way past blushing by now. Great, that just blew it. Star looked at me, then at him, judging him based on my expression. She seemed to approve, licking his cheek. My jaw dropped.
OK, I was about to be scared shitless, I swear to Bob. Star never licked anyone other than me without my command. Ever. “OK, Star, come to mama!” I called in a falsely calm voice, standing up. She arced through the air, strait into my arms.
The minute we touched, our minds were as one. It happened when she wanted to tell me things.
“You like him, he likes you, it works great! He’s nice,” was the message I got from her now.
“Alright, let’s go inside,” I said, grabbing my bag. Then I paused. “I gotta put my stuff back first.” And thus, I put all the stuff I’d pulled out in my frantic searching back in the compartments and locked them, grabbing my bag as I headed for the house. “OK, now let’s go inside.”
“You need help with that?” Dougie asked, pointing to the bag that had me tilting to one side.
“Nah, I’m good,” I said. He held the door for me and I gave Star the signal to start more intros. I won’t bore you with the details. But I will say that just as Star was padding her way back to me, my hand was being held by someone else’s.
I looked at my hand in his, then followed the arm up to a blushing Dougie. I looked back at our hands. Before I could snap at him about my no touching rule, Grace jumped up.
“Liz, how about Dougie takes you on the grand tour?” she asked. Everyone else agreed.
“OK,” I muttered. I knew what she was doing. She was trying to give us some alone time so we could get to know each other or get together. Star was hissing at Dougie, so I snapped my fingers, calling her to jump onto my shoulders. She definitely didn’t like Dougie anymore, as I could tell when she obeyed.
“Come on,” Dougie said as he pulled on my hand. I followed him down a hallway. When we were out of sight of the living room, he wrapped his arm around my shoulders.
“Watch out for Star,” I said too late. She had sunk her teeth into his arm.
“OW!” he yelled, pulling away, but Star was holding on tight. I grabbed her and used my mind to call her off. She instantly released him, mewing at me to pull her closer. When I turned her in my hands, she saw my face and stopped. She knew the look on my face.
I set her down facing the wall and said, “Stay here, Star, and think about what you did.” She’d done that before to someone that I’d liked. There was this one guy that didn’t like me, but I had my sister convince him to go on a date with me. When he’d dropped me off at home and told me he didn’t like me, she’d jumped on him and bit a chunk of skin off his arm.
He’d bled so much that it had almost made me feel better. Almost.
“I’m sorry about her,” I said, grabbing his arm. He’d been sucking at the wound, so I smacked him. “You keep doing that and you’ll get an infection.” Only one of her fangs had penetrated the skin, so I pulled out a band-aid and put it on his arm. “That should keep it sanitary. No more saliva on wounds.”
He grinned. “Sorry,” he muttered. Then he grabbed my hand and pulled me down the hall. “On with the tour.”
Dougie’s POV
OK, she was absolutely gorgeous and I really wanted to kiss her. I just didn’t know how to make that move. Normally, I could just do whatever without a thought, like a kid. But she made me…I can’t even describe it.
And then there was the fact that her kitten, Star, had bitten me. Then, just by grabbing her, Liz had been able to get her to let go. Maybe it had been planned. And that was scary.
Anyway, I was trying to keep my attitude childish like it usually was, and she kept up an iciness that had me nervous. Maybe she didn’t really like me. My palms were sweating, I knew it. How in the heck was I gonna make a move without embarrassing myself?
That was the only thing I could think about while I was pointing out rooms to her.
We eventually ended up on an upper deck and I grabbed her hand without thinking. She’d been humming something in a high pitch, but cut off when our hands touched. Slowly, very slowly, she let her fingers relax around my hand.
I gulped and turned so I was facing her. My free hand tilted her chin up and I leaned down to kiss her.
Her lips stayed frozen under mine. Shit.
When I pulled back she looked over her shoulder as though she’d heard something. Then I felt her fist connect with my gut and I let out an oof!
She turned and walked away, muttering under her breath. “Jerk,” she said, walking through a door, and continued on with more wordless muttering.