Look for the Girl With the Broken Smile

“I think you’re totally forgetting that we’re on a bus and we shouldn’t even be doing this,” SJ objected as Dougie cornered her in the empty bunk bed room. “We’re totally going to get caught!”

“No we won’t. Trust me,” Dougie whispered in her ear as he snaked his arm around her and pulled her close to him.

SJ forgot about her protests when he kissed her. “Mmm…” She pulled away from him, giggling. “You smell like cocoa butter.”

He sniffed her, making her giggle even more. “You smell like…honey,” he declared. “And…vanilla?”

SJ pushed him onto the lower bunk bed. “You know I love it when a girl takes charge.” He smirked at her. She rolled her eyes at him and kissed him, shutting him up. He moaned as she rubbed her hands up and down his chest under his shirt, lingering down to his belt buckle. “Please don’t be a tease, babe,” he sighed between kisses.

“I think you deserve it, Poynter,” she murmured in his ear, pushing herself even closer to him.

A snicker suddenly interrupted their heavy makeout session. They both froze. SJ lifted herself slowly off Dougie, terrified that Harry or Tom had walked in, and they both sat up carefully.

It was Danny. SJ breathed a sigh of relief as she finger-brushed her now-messy hair. “What do you want, Danny?” Dougie asked, glaring at him.

He was smirking. “Oh no, don’t stop on my behalf, I’m just going to go get some popcorn and I’ll be right back,” he taunted them.

“Shut up.” Dougie threw a pillow at him. Danny batted it away.

“We’re having an ‘official band meeting’,” Danny informed Dougie, putting the last three words in air quotes. He glanced at SJ. “Sorry, SJ, I don’t think it involves you.”

“This better be important,” Dougie grumbled as he stood up. He shot SJ an apologetic look as he followed Danny out the door.

“No problem, I’ll just sit here…by myself…” SJ muttered to the empty room. She flopped back down on the bed, trying to catch her breath. Dougie did that to her. Everything about him—the way he walked, the way he laughed, the way he smelled, the way he kissed her—made her a little crazy.

SJ sighed. It was perfect—almost. If there wasn’t James hanging out in the back of her mind. Why, if everything was so great with Dougie, did she keep thinking about him? SJ didn’t know. But everything Kelsey had told her the other day made her almost…anxious to talk to him.

Before she could have second thoughts, she had pulled out her mobile and pressed her number three speed dial. She waited breathlessly as it rang. She almost hoped he wouldn’t pick up.

“Hello?” No such luck.

“Hey, James…it’s me,” she responded quietly, wondering why the hell she had even called him.

“I know.” His voice was flat. It was unnerving.

“Er…well…Kelsey told me I should call you,” SJ said nervously. She really didn’t know what to say.

“She did?”

“Yeah. So, do you have, like, something to say to me or something?” she demanded.

James sighed. “SJ,” he began. “I am so sorry for being such a dick. I really, really am. I was really out of line the last time we talked.”

“You were,” SJ acknowledged. Oh yeah, she remembered perfectly well when her boyfriend had called her a slag. Good times, good times. She paused. “Why did you do it? Say that stuff, I mean?”

“I feel like a jerk saying this,” James admited. “But I guess I was kind of—being possessive. I mean, SJ. You’re fit, gorgeous, lovely, funny…I was afraid one of those McFly boys would, you know, go for you. I mean, what guy wouldn’t go for you? But I should have known that even if one of them did like you, you would have never done that to me.”

SJ felt a horrible twisting inside her stomach. Was that…guilt? But wait. He cheated on her first. And anyway, what SJ was doing with Dougie wasn’t technically cheating, was it? But me and James haven’t officially broken up yet, SJ reminded herself.

“SJ…?”

“Oh yeah, I’m here.” She snapped back from her thoughts. “What about…her?” she asked James.

“I was drunk,” he said simply. “And I know that’s no excuse, at all, but the minute I was sober I completely regretted it.”

SJ’s head was spinning. She couldn’t believe what James was saying. He seemed like a completely changed man from the last time they had spoken. “Was it any good, though?” She had to know. She needed to know if he had enjoyed cheating on her, just like she was thoroughly enjoying cheating on him. But it’s not cheating…is it?

“It just wasn’t you,” he answered miserably. “And…I miss you, SJ. I miss you so much.” His voice almost broke.

SJ was silent. She didn’t know what to say. Then she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. “James, I really have to go,” she said quickly.

“Will you call me?” he asked.

SJ paused for a second. “Yeah…I’ll talk to you later,” she told him quickly. “Bye.”

She hung up just as Dougie walked back into the room. He sat close to her on the edge of the bed. “Who was that?” he asked her.

“Er, Kelsey,” she lied automatically. “So, what was the ‘band meeting’ about?”

Dougie ducked his head down, almost as though he was embarrassed. “They wanted to know if I had a new girl or something,” he confessed. “Because apparently I seem to be unusually happy lately, and that only happens when I have a new girl.”

SJ’s heart almost melted. “I make you happy?” she asked, momentarily forgetting about James.

He smiled shyly at her. “Yeah.”

She looked away. She couldn’t believe this. She stood up hastily. “Er, I’m kinda hungry, I’m going down to eat.”

Dougie frowned. “Er…okay.”

SJ left the room quickly, feeling more confused than ever. Did she like Dougie, or did she still like James? She really had no idea.