Chapter Three- My Discovery

All I could do was stare at him. Wow. I hadn’t realised it was him. But he was… Dougie again. This was who I had asked out. He had dyed his hair so the blond was lighter, and the flesh tunnels he had allowed to shrink had been stretched back up. He was wearing a light trail of eyeliner, and his lip-ring from long ago had reappeared. Dougie Poynter- the real Dougie Poynter- was back.

“Hey,” I said carefully, not sure what his attitude towards me was. However, I could see even more that my dumping him was a good idea. Yes, now he looked really gorgeous, and I felt old feelings stirring, but dumping him had brought him back.

“Hey, Tom,” he said lightly. Then he turned to Harry, poking him insistently on the arm, “Do you think I deserved a detention?”

“You called a teacher a wanker,” was all he said.

“Well, we never know. He might be.”

Harry laughed, “You’re terrible.”

“But you like me like that…” he murmured, moving his mouth up to kiss Harry sensuously. Leaving them to play it out, I turned back to my locker.

Not that it annoyed me or made me jealous to see them kissing. It honestly didn’t. I just knew that Harry wouldn’t want me to just stand and stare. They looked good together, better than Dougie and I had. And plus, if I’d managed to suppress such a big personality, I was glad Harry could let him out again.

I shut my locker with a snap and turned the key to close it. “Harry, I need to go to the shop and buy my lunch, so I’ll talk to you later.” I wasn’t sure if he heard me, but I turned and walked away.

As I left the school and started along the road, I heard someone calling my name. Pulling my headphones out of my ears, I watched Dougie fall into step next to me. “What’s up? I thought you and Harry were-”

“He had to get to class early,” Dougie said abruptly, cutting me off. I frowned. “He needed to talk with his teacher about…something.”

“Oh.” We fell into an uncomfortable silence, broken only by our steady footsteps and our slow and bracing breaths.

“I need to talk to you,” he said finally.

“Oh?” I said lamely. “What about?”

He sighed, “Us. It’s going to be awkward if we don’t sort this out.”

“I’m sorry,” I blurted out. “Sorry for dumping you, sorry for anything I said or did to offend you. But… I’m also not sorry. If we went back in time, redid the whole thing, I wouldn’t not do it.”

He blinked in shock, “Excuse me?”

“Look at you, Doug. You’re you again. I don’t know what happened while we were dating, but you hid. You hid behind this…mask, and I’m sorry I made you feel like you had to. You changed because of me. I’m glad you’re back.”

He nodded slowly, “So am I. But you didn’t-”

“You and Harry look good together,” I told him. “You look happy with him.”

He smiled at me, “I am. But you’re his best friend. You have to see us together all the time. Don’t you mind?”

I frowned, “Why do people keep asking that? Harry checked with me before he called you. Do you want me to mind or something? I’m fine.” We reached the shop and stopped walking, “You two just seem to gel so well. I can’t be mad.”

A smile broke out on his face, “I’m glad. So, truce?”

I grinned, and shook the hand he offered, “Truce.”