Teach Me How to Dougie
Six
I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake. Shake it off. Shake it off.
I reached over and grabbed my phone, shutting of my alarm as quickly as possible. T Swift was too enthusiastic for first thing in the morning, but at least she got me out of bed. I had an hour to get ready for class, so I took my time. I opened the weather app on my phone, glad to see that today would be another sunny autumn day. That in mind, I hopped off of my bed and walked to the closet, analyzing my clothing in an attempt to put together an outfit. I grabbed a pair of jeans, my brown riding boots, a gray flowy t-shirt and a maroon scarf. It wasn't the fanciest outfit, but it looked pretty good and I really didn't feel like dressing up too much.
I walked out of the closet, dressed in my outfit, running a comb through my tangled curls. Opening my phone, I went to send my mom a "good morning" text, but was distracted by another name on my screen. There, at the bottom of the list, was Dougie's name. I hadn't looked at the message he had sent after the game for a couple of days.
It had been a week since the game and a week since Dougie and I exchanged numbers. I had never responded to his message, because I had no clue what to say. I wasn't always the smoothest when it came to texting guys, and honestly I had been so focused on letting Holly know what had happened that I had forgotten about responding until the following morning.
To be fair, Dougie hadn't texted me since then, either. I tried to not let myself get to caught up as to why. I mean, he was probably just being nice by getting my number. But there was also part of me that wondered if he wasn't just being nice. I had heard that he was kind of shy and awkward, and I guess I had seen that in our conversation after the game, but I wasn't brave enough to make the next move. Sure, he was only two years older than me, but he was also a professional athlete who could have the attention of any girl he wanted. Why would he want to talk to me?
I snapped out of my trance and sent a quick text to my mom. Grabbing my backpack, I stuffed my laptop and notebooks inside, looking around the room to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything. With that, I shut off the lights and made my way out the door and to my first class of the day.
---------------
"Bye Ava!" I yelled to my friend as we made our separate ways out of the lecture hall. I had spent the entire class playing some stupid game on my phone. The professor was rambling on about some concept I had heard explained a million times, so I didn't think I really had to listen that intently. Plus, games are supposed to improve your mental strength or something, right? I really wasn't being that bad.
I had an hour until my next and last class of the day, which was another hour long lecture in the same building I was in now. I decided to head outside and walk to the food court next door to grab some lunch. I knew it would be packed with students, especially at this time of day, but I had forgotten to eat breakfast and my stomach was reminding me of that every few minutes.
Opening the doors to the food court, I wasn't surprised to see that it was bustling with students walking to and from class. Some people carried trays of food to their tables, while other groups stood chatting on the side of the path, voices echoing throughout the large building. I spied someone packing up their stuff at a table nearby and booked it over, narrowly stealing the spot from a lurker nearby.
I bought a salad and a water from the food court and made my way back to the table, pulling my laptop out of my bag. Why be social when I could scroll through Buzzfeed and ignore everyone around me? I opened my salad and started to eat, while clicking through the list of "Ten Reasons You Should Move to Hawaii". At around reason number 5, I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. Wiggling it out (damn skinny jeans with their tiny pockets), I flipped it over and nearly dropped it in my salad.
*Dougie: Hey Chloe! What are you up to today?*
I looked around me to make sure nobody had seen my embarrassing almost-mishap. How do I respond? Is this a "oh nothing much, hbu?" type of thing, or does he actually want to know? I typed out a quick response and hit send before I could change my mind.
*Chloe: Hi Dougie. :) I'm just eating lunch and then my day is done at 1:00. How's your day?*
Ugh, why did I add the smiley face? So stupid... I stared at my phone as he typed out a response, surprised at how quickly he replied.
*Dougie: Nothing much. We had an optional skate this morning but we don't play again until Friday, so I'm just hanging out at home.*
Okay, he wasn't really giving me much to work with here.... My phone buzzed again.
*Dougie: Actually, I was wondering if you would wanna get together and do something later.*
Double texter, huh? I couldn't help but smile at the prospect of spending an afternoon with Dougie Hamilton.
*Chloe: Yeah, I'd love to! What did you have in mind?*
Why did I say 'love'? Way too enthusiastic and- *buzz*.
*Dougie: idk, you wanna watch a movie or something?*
I rolled my eyes. Typical boy, I guess. I knew what "watch a movie" meant. It meant put on some movie or TV show and not actually watch it. But it wasn't an idea I was opposed to. And, besides, he probably was just doing this as a kind gesture or something. Or maybe he wasn't. I didn't know.
*Chloe: Sounds fun. Do you wanna come over to my place at like 2:00?*
I sent the message before remembering that, again, I was texting someone who probably lived in a beautiful apartment and had no interest in coming all the way over to my tiny studio.
*Dougie: Sure! Just send me the address and I'll be over at 2:00.*
AHHH. This was actually happening. I quickly sent him my address and proceeded to freak out internally. He responded with a smiley face emoji, which was really cute and only made me more nervous for our date later.
Unless it wasn't a date. I still wasn't clear about what was happening yet. What I did know is that I could already feel myself getting nervous, so I decided to try to relax and push these thoughts out of my mind, focusing on finishing my lunch, getting through my class, and getting ready for whatever was happening at 2:00.
I reached over and grabbed my phone, shutting of my alarm as quickly as possible. T Swift was too enthusiastic for first thing in the morning, but at least she got me out of bed. I had an hour to get ready for class, so I took my time. I opened the weather app on my phone, glad to see that today would be another sunny autumn day. That in mind, I hopped off of my bed and walked to the closet, analyzing my clothing in an attempt to put together an outfit. I grabbed a pair of jeans, my brown riding boots, a gray flowy t-shirt and a maroon scarf. It wasn't the fanciest outfit, but it looked pretty good and I really didn't feel like dressing up too much.
I walked out of the closet, dressed in my outfit, running a comb through my tangled curls. Opening my phone, I went to send my mom a "good morning" text, but was distracted by another name on my screen. There, at the bottom of the list, was Dougie's name. I hadn't looked at the message he had sent after the game for a couple of days.
It had been a week since the game and a week since Dougie and I exchanged numbers. I had never responded to his message, because I had no clue what to say. I wasn't always the smoothest when it came to texting guys, and honestly I had been so focused on letting Holly know what had happened that I had forgotten about responding until the following morning.
To be fair, Dougie hadn't texted me since then, either. I tried to not let myself get to caught up as to why. I mean, he was probably just being nice by getting my number. But there was also part of me that wondered if he wasn't just being nice. I had heard that he was kind of shy and awkward, and I guess I had seen that in our conversation after the game, but I wasn't brave enough to make the next move. Sure, he was only two years older than me, but he was also a professional athlete who could have the attention of any girl he wanted. Why would he want to talk to me?
I snapped out of my trance and sent a quick text to my mom. Grabbing my backpack, I stuffed my laptop and notebooks inside, looking around the room to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything. With that, I shut off the lights and made my way out the door and to my first class of the day.
---------------
"Bye Ava!" I yelled to my friend as we made our separate ways out of the lecture hall. I had spent the entire class playing some stupid game on my phone. The professor was rambling on about some concept I had heard explained a million times, so I didn't think I really had to listen that intently. Plus, games are supposed to improve your mental strength or something, right? I really wasn't being that bad.
I had an hour until my next and last class of the day, which was another hour long lecture in the same building I was in now. I decided to head outside and walk to the food court next door to grab some lunch. I knew it would be packed with students, especially at this time of day, but I had forgotten to eat breakfast and my stomach was reminding me of that every few minutes.
Opening the doors to the food court, I wasn't surprised to see that it was bustling with students walking to and from class. Some people carried trays of food to their tables, while other groups stood chatting on the side of the path, voices echoing throughout the large building. I spied someone packing up their stuff at a table nearby and booked it over, narrowly stealing the spot from a lurker nearby.
I bought a salad and a water from the food court and made my way back to the table, pulling my laptop out of my bag. Why be social when I could scroll through Buzzfeed and ignore everyone around me? I opened my salad and started to eat, while clicking through the list of "Ten Reasons You Should Move to Hawaii". At around reason number 5, I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. Wiggling it out (damn skinny jeans with their tiny pockets), I flipped it over and nearly dropped it in my salad.
*Dougie: Hey Chloe! What are you up to today?*
I looked around me to make sure nobody had seen my embarrassing almost-mishap. How do I respond? Is this a "oh nothing much, hbu?" type of thing, or does he actually want to know? I typed out a quick response and hit send before I could change my mind.
*Chloe: Hi Dougie. :) I'm just eating lunch and then my day is done at 1:00. How's your day?*
Ugh, why did I add the smiley face? So stupid... I stared at my phone as he typed out a response, surprised at how quickly he replied.
*Dougie: Nothing much. We had an optional skate this morning but we don't play again until Friday, so I'm just hanging out at home.*
Okay, he wasn't really giving me much to work with here.... My phone buzzed again.
*Dougie: Actually, I was wondering if you would wanna get together and do something later.*
Double texter, huh? I couldn't help but smile at the prospect of spending an afternoon with Dougie Hamilton.
*Chloe: Yeah, I'd love to! What did you have in mind?*
Why did I say 'love'? Way too enthusiastic and- *buzz*.
*Dougie: idk, you wanna watch a movie or something?*
I rolled my eyes. Typical boy, I guess. I knew what "watch a movie" meant. It meant put on some movie or TV show and not actually watch it. But it wasn't an idea I was opposed to. And, besides, he probably was just doing this as a kind gesture or something. Or maybe he wasn't. I didn't know.
*Chloe: Sounds fun. Do you wanna come over to my place at like 2:00?*
I sent the message before remembering that, again, I was texting someone who probably lived in a beautiful apartment and had no interest in coming all the way over to my tiny studio.
*Dougie: Sure! Just send me the address and I'll be over at 2:00.*
AHHH. This was actually happening. I quickly sent him my address and proceeded to freak out internally. He responded with a smiley face emoji, which was really cute and only made me more nervous for our date later.
Unless it wasn't a date. I still wasn't clear about what was happening yet. What I did know is that I could already feel myself getting nervous, so I decided to try to relax and push these thoughts out of my mind, focusing on finishing my lunch, getting through my class, and getting ready for whatever was happening at 2:00.
@hockeychick37
Thank you SOOOOO MUCH! <3
7/2/15