Look for the Girl With the Broken Smile

SJ's eyes fluttered open. She was staring up at an off-white ceiling. A soft breeze was coming in from the window, and she was lying in a bed wrapped in a light blue comforter. She was in Harry's hotel room.

She sat up slightly. She was all alone. She fell back onto the bed. Miraculously, her head felt fine. She frowned in concentration. She remembered soft, small hands sitting her up and giving her pills to swallow down before she drifted back to sleep. It definitely wasn't Harry, his hands were bigger. Well, whoever it was, she sincerely thanked him. She had managed to sleep through the worst of her hangover.

SJ groaned and closed her eyes as she tried to remember what happened last night. She vaguely recalled sitting on someone's lap and drinking shots and vodka tonics. And dancing. A lot. With people she didn't know, until Harry pulled her away.

"That's it, SJ we're leaving." Harry firmly grasped her and led her off the dancefloor.
"Harry! I was having fun!" SJ protested, trying to wriggle out of his tight grip.
"No. You're drunk."
"So?" SJ whined. "I wanna dance!"
"You promised me you wouldn't drink!"
"Harry, are you mad at me?" She pouted as they reached Danny, Tom, and Dougie. Harry let go of her for a second. The ground wobbled under her feet and she fell on the closest person to her. It was Dougie.
"Come on, SJ, let's walk," he told her as they headed out of the club. He kept a strong hold on her so she didn't fall again.
"Why aren't you drunk, Poynter?" she asked him, messing up his blond hair with her hand and giggling.
"I wasn't drinking—whoa!" She tripped on the curb and he caught her before she landed on the ground. He brought her up carefully.
SJ got a whiff of his cologne. "You smell nice," she whispered in his ear, giggling again.
"Thanks...Now get in the car."

SJ's eyes flew open. Shit, she hoped she didn't do anything too embarrassing.

"Oh good, you're up," a voice remarked. "I was starting to get worried you wouldn't wake up before they came back."

Dougie had walked out of the bathroom and was looking at her. SJ groaned and pulled the covers up. Dougie was not the first person she wanted to see when she woke up. "What are you talking about? Where's Harry?" She heard the mattress creak very slightly and knew Dougie had sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Harry went with Tom and Danny to the GMTV interview," Dougie informed her.

"Why are you here then?" SJ mumbled from under the sheets.

"We played rock, paper, scissor to see who would have to stay and take care of you. I lost, which is why I'm here," he told her. Or did he win? Dougie wasn't sure. All he knew was that being this close to SJ, without a table of art supplies between them, was making his heart race. "Do you always drink that much?" he asked, recalling her drunken behavior from the night before. He remembered the shivers she'd sent down his spine when she whispered in his ear. He knew SJ would have never said that if she was sober.

"Shut up," came the response.

Dougie sighed. "Is your head feeling better, at least?"

"Yes, much." She pulled the covers away and looked at him with a quizzical expression. "Were you the one who gave me medicine this morning?"

"Yeah," Dougie answered. "Why?"

SJ shrugged. "Thanks, I guess."

They were silent for a couple of seconds until Dougie spoke again. "Harry just called to say they're done with the interview and they're heading back. We have to be ready when they get here so we can get back to the tourbus."

"Alright, alright," SJ grumbled. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed to sit up and yawned. She was dressed in the same clothes as last night. It took all of Dougie's self-restrain not to inch close enough to smell her intoxicating sweet smell and touch her.

"I'm hungry," SJ complained, distracting Dougie from his thoughts. "Can I have breakfast?"

Dougie checked his watch. "More like lunch."

"Whatever. I just wanna eat." She got up and walked over to the mirror to tie her long brown hair back in a messy ponytail.

"I don't think we have time, though. They're gonna be here any minute."

SJ turned back around to face him, about to argue back. Dougie fished in the side pocket of his plaid Billabong shorts for what he'd bought for her earlier. He pulled it out and held it out to her, almost as a peace offering.

SJ moved toward him and accepted the Reese's bar from his hand. "They're your favorite, aren't they?" he said, suddenly looking a little embarrassed. "I got one for you from the vending machine down the hall."

SJ was surprised and touched at this small, yet considerate gesture. Reese's cups were her absolute favorite. "Thank you, Dougie," she said softly, for the first time in years letting slip from her lips his first name.

Dougie looked down. "No problem," he mumbled. His mobile suddenly vibrated, breaking the moment. SJ looked away and unwrapped her Reese's as Dougie talked quickly with Harry on the phone. Then he hung up and got to his feet. "Come on, they're here," he said. "Let's go."

SJ grabbed her bag and followed Dougie out the door, almost wishing for a second that she had more time with him.
--

"Check."

SJ stared at the board, glaring down at the bishop that was threatening her king. "Dammit!" she exclaimed out loud to Danny. "You tricked me!"

Danny's grin was triumphant. "Yup," he said happily.

SJ tapped her fingers against the board in concentration. "Okay, let me think," she said.

Ever since they'd left the hotel, they'd been driving all day. It was about twelve at night, and SJ and Danny were sprawled on the floor of the living room, playing chess. Harry was upstairs, already asleep, and Dougie was in the kitchen, laughing at Tom, who was in there cleaning up the mess he'd made when he'd accidentally exploded milk. Yes, he had exploded milk. The incident had involved a late-night craving of hot chocolate, where Tom had stupidly put milk in a tea kettle to heat up, then promptly forgotten it on the stove. Sometimes, SJ had her doubts that Danny was indeed the dumbest member of the band.

Dougie walked out of the kitchen into the living room. SJ looked up momentarily. His shirt and hair were drenched in what appeared to be milk—apparently, Tom had lost his temper at him.

"How's it going?" he asked them on his way upstairs.

"I checked her," Danny told him proudly.

Dougie laughed. "Wow, SJ, you suck so much that even Danny can beat you!"

"Shut up, Poynter, and get the hell out before I throw something at you," she threatened.

Dougie ducked out of the room and hurried up the stairs before she could follow through (one time she had thrown a pair of shoes that had a ridiculously sharp heel at him. It was a painful memory he probably didn't want to relive). Once he was gone, SJ returned her attention to the board. She moved her knight up two and once to the left, taking Danny's bishop. "Beat that," she told him.

When he didn't respond, she looked up at him. He was smirking. "What?" SJ asked him, confused. She checked the board to see if she had made a careless mistake. She hadn't. "What?" she pressed.

"Nothing." But his smirk deepened as he looked at the board.

"Danny!" SJ whined. "Tell me!"

Danny looked back up to her. "He likes you, you know," he said conversationally.

"Who?" SJ said, staring at him blankly.

"Dougie."

"What?!" SJ almost shrieked. She composed herself. "You're joking, right?"

Danny shook his head, grinning. "I'm serious. He told me last night. He also told me not to tell you..." His voice trailed off, and he frowned. Then he shrugged. "Oh well."

"Wait." SJ sat up in a cross-legged position. "You're saying that Dougie Poynter, the kid I've hated and he's hated back for five years, actually likes me?" she said incredulously. When Danny nodded, she declared, "I don't believe it. Was he drunk when he said this?"

"Nope." He was grinning again.

"Are you pulling one over me, Danny?" she demanded suspiciously.

"No!" Danny exclaimed. The chess game was momentarily forgotten. "He's liked you for ages, SJ! Since the first time we met you."

SJ was about to roll her eyes and scoff at this ridiculous statement, but then she remembered what Dougie had said. "You made me nervous." Was this why? Was it because he liked her?

"Too bad for him, you've got a boyfriend, haven't you?" Danny said nonchalantly.

SJ looked at him carefully. Did he know what had happened between her and James? His face looked completely innocent. But then she caught a suspicious knowing glint in his eyes.

"I..." SJ didn't know how to answer. She and James were possibly over. And Dougie liked her. After five years of solid hate to him, this was almost too much for her brain to process.

"Checkmate," Danny said casually. SJ looked down at the board. Sure enough, in one move, he had surrounded her king.

"You win." SJ was astonished. Sometimes, Danny had bouts of intelligence that surprised her.

He got up and yawned. "I'm gonna go to bed now. Losers get to clean up the board." He winked at her before heading up the stairs, leaving SJ pondering on what he'd just told her.