Hotel on a Hill

“Tom said you were in Connecticut, so we came to see if you were okay,” a man with short brown hair said as he gestured to a blond man that stood next to him; I presumed him to be Tom.

“I said I was fine,” he grumbled. “How the bloody hell did you find me anyway?”

“Ha, that is the beauty of twitter. Nothing seems to be too private anymore mate,” the last man said. He had short brown hair as well, but there was a small wave to it.

Dougie didn’t look pleased and I was scared. All I knew of Dougie was happy Dougie and seeing him getting angry was not something I wanted. I walked a little closer, pushing my anxiety level higher, but I cared about him and wanted to know if he was alright.

“Yeah, so Dan suggested we come here to get you so here we are,” Tom said, spreading his arms out while looking around at the place.

“Um, Dougie?” I choked out.
“Who’s that Doug?” one of them asked.

“None of your business Danny,” he snarled at him.

So that is Danny, I registered in my mind. “The names Rae,” I said a bit more confident this time.

“Rae, you don’t have to explain yourself to them,” Dougie looked at me sympathetically.

“Dougie, who are these people?”

“Just my best mates, that’s all,” he said exasperated.

“Just your best mates? Is that all we are to ya Doug? You didn’t tell her that we were your bands mates?” Danny asked , every word he spoke laced with shock.

Dougie’s face dropped even more and he shut his eyes tightly. “Danny, no. Shut the bloody hell up!” he cursed at him.

By this point, I was completely and utterly confused. “Dougie, what is going on? Please tell me,” I pleaded with him. I looked from him to the rest of the guys, each of them staring back at me. I had no idea what this was all about, I was starting to feel a bit on edge.

“Can we please just talk about this later?” he stood in front of me, his eyes begging with mine to let it go.

I didn’t want to let it go, I just wanted to know the truth. “No Dougie, if you aren’t going to tell me what’s going on now, then one of them can,” I told him. I gestured to the other men standing in front of me, my eyes glaring at them all.

“What did he tell you about himself?”Tom asked me, an eyebrow rose at me with curiosity.

I stepped around Dougie so I could talk to Tom face to face. “That he worked in a shop in London, had a one bedroom flat, and lived alone. Tell me the truth,” I said sternly.

The look on Tom’s face went from curious to confused, which in turn made my gut wrench. This made me believe that Dougie had been lying to me the whole time and to think I was falling hard for him made it worse. “Dougie and us,” he gestured to himself along with the two other men, “we’re in a band; a quite successful one actually, McFly.”

It felt as though my heart stopped beating and the world began to spin quickly around me. McFly, that is why he didn’t want me to listen to them and that is why he thought that they were crap! Because that is his life. It was all making sense now. I laughed, not a conscience one, but I laughed. The world slowed down and I could see a little clearer. All four of the guys were staring at me, no doubt waiting to see what my reaction was.

“Um, are you okay?” one of them asked.

I shook my head, “Yeah. Just a little pissed off. Wow, I can not believe that you didn’t tell me the truth. That was the whole entire reason why you didn’t want me to listen them; I mean, sorry, you! Just…I.” I didn’t know what to say. I just wanted to go home.

I turned around and started to walk back to my car, but Dougie grabbed my wrist bringing me to a halt. My eyes looked at his hand and traveled the length of his arm until they reached his face. I glared right at him, my face stern.

“Look, I can explain Rae,” Dougie pleaded.

“That is what they always say,” I mumbled to myself, loud enough for Dougie to hear. “I don’t want to talk right now, I, I have some place that’d I rather be.”

“But-“ he started.

“No,” I bent my head low. I shook from his grip and marched to the car. I got in, not even a glance back. My emotions were so gumbled, I felt sick to my stomach. As I took off, I looked once in the mirror. Dougie stood there, his head down still in the same place I had left him.

The part that hurt me the most was leaving him.

>>>

On my way home I had called Elise to come over, she didn’t even have to ask why, she just knew.

“So he lied to you, but you aren’t that mad?” she asked. She grabbed a piece of pizza from the box that we had ordered and started to chew on it while waiting for my response.

I scrunched my face up at her, “I guess. He lied to protect me, I think. It isn’t like he has a girlfriend or something.”

Her eyes lingered on me, “Do you know that?” I knew Elise wasn’t trying to be negative, but she was right.

I didn’t know if that was even true, I just hoped in my heart that it was. “I don’t know it, I just hope that some part of the Dougie I know is true. Part of me is hoping he is gone by tomorrow morning when I go to work. The other part is hoping to see him and talk to him and get this shit straightened out. Ugh,” I grunted. “This sucks.”

My phone began to ring so I picked it up to see who it was.

“Who is it?” Elise asked.

I shrugged my shoulders, “Dunno. I have never seen this number in my life.” I took a leap of faith and answered it. “Hello?” I questioned.

“Is this Rae?” a man with an English accent asked.

“Yeah, but who is this?” I snarled in confusion.

He sighed, “This is Tom. I sort of met you this afternoon. I’m one of Dougie’s mates.”

I placed my hand over the receiver so he wouldn’t hear me whisper to Elise. “It’s Tom, one of Dougie’s friends and well, I guess band mates,” I said. “Um, hi. Why exactly is it that you are calling me?” I was trying to be rude, but it was weird that a guy I barely knew was calling me about his friend.

“Look, can I talk to you about Dougie?” he asked. His voice had a nervous twinge to it.

I took a deep breath in, releasing it slowly showing my anxiety. The muscles in my stomach knotted up tightly, but I had to hear what he wanted to say to me. “Yeah, go on.”

“Actually, I was wondering if we could meet somewhere. I feel awkward doing this on the phone.”

I laughed out of impulse, coughing to hide it up. “Um, okay. Did you want to come to my apartment? It isn’t far from the inn.” I offered.

“Yeah, just tell me the way and I will be there in a few minutes,” he said sounding relieved.

I quickly gave him directions to my place and awaited his arrival.

“Elise, isn’t it weird how much different life can be from the week before?” I pondered. I sat there on my couch waiting eagerly for the knock on the door.

She looked at me with sympathetic eyes, “Yeah, it is crazy. But, I know you are a strong woman and can handle all of this.” Elise threw her arms around me, squeezing my body tight.

“Yeah.”