SavingGrace626

Grace's P.O.V.

The night of Dougie's 18th birthday, after standing up
for me and getting beat up, we spent the night in my
room...playing card games, Truth/20 questions, never
have I ever, and listening to the radio. It was nice
to have him around. He made me happy- happy enough to
forget all the bad things that had recently happened
to me. When I was with him, telling jokes and asking
questions about each other, I felt like just any other
teenager...something that was so important to me.

It had been a month since then, and Dougie had been
coming by almost every day. I always looked foward to
him coming around. A few days ago, Mike asked me what
was up with him..and told me that I better be careful.
Technically, he didn't have to let me see Dougie all
the time, but for some odd reason he was being nice
enough to let him stay for a few hours every night. I
guess its because his newphew is Dougie's friend. I
guess you could say I liked Dougie, ALOT. Whenever I
answered the door and found him standing on the other
side, I couldnt help but smile. It brightened up my
mood.

I heard a knock on my bedroom door. He had been down
the hallways and knew his way around by now, and
always knocked on my door. I knew it was him. It
wouldn't be anyone else...i didnt HAVE any one else. I
jumped off my bed and skipped to the door, unlocking
it and pulling it open. Just as I expected, Dougie was
standing on the other side, his hands in his pockets,
his shaggy blonde hair in his eyes.

"Hi..." I smiled shyly. He chuckled and started
inside, "Hey" he replied cooly. We both took a seat on
my bed next to each other. In the more recent days, it
had been growing increasingly awkward between us.
There were more awkward silences, or atleast it seemed
that way to me. I felt nervous and jittery during
those moments, searching for any topic to spark a
conversation. We both sat on the bed, our feet
dangling above the floor, for a few minutes. THIS
..was one of those awkward moments. I giggled
nervously and he smiled, before looking back down to
his hands, which were resting in his lap.

"I wish we could go out....and do something" Dougie
said, breaking the silence. I nodded, frowning,
"Yeah...me too.." i said quietly. I didn't like being
treated like a slave, but at the same time I was
afraid to ask to leave... incase Mike decided to not
let me see Dougie anymore. A little bit of freedom
was better than none. I sighed and shrugged,
"Sorry..." i said quietly, feeling slightly embarrased
and ashamed of the situation i've been forced into.
"Won't Mike let you come out... a few times a
week?...I mean..he does know me..." he suggested. I
shrugged, unsure of what to say.
"I dont want to make him mad" I replied.
"Welllllll...we COULD just SNEAK out!" he smirked
deviously. I laughed and pushed his shoulder
playfully. "You're such a bad influence on me..." I
joked. He chuckled but continued, "No really, its not
like anyone checks up on you..you could probably slip
out without anyone noticing, spend the day with me,
and then come back while
everyones asleep! It's practically a fool proof plan!"
His eyes started to grow in excitement as he worked
out the details in his head, smiling widely. "What
about it?"
I bit my lip. I really liked Dougie. ALOT. I wanted to
go with him, but at the same time was sort of afraid
for my life. Mike wasn't the type of person I wanted
to piss off.

"I...I..." I searched for a reasonable solution.
"Oh come on! Do something daring!" Dougie urged. I
smiled and nodded. "What's the plan then?" I laughed.
He started pacing, walked into the bathroom and I
heard him fiddling around in there. He came back and
smiled - turned to me, excited, yet serious. "Okay.
When it gets late and everyone starts going to sleep,
I'll go outside...pretend like I'm leaving. I'll pull
my car around back. You lock your door, go into the
bathroom and sneak out the bathroom window, and down
the fire escape. We get in my car and leave!" He
exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air
to show his enthusiasm.

I nodded, taking it all in. "Okay...only one problem"
I said. He frowned, "Whats that?" he asked. I pointed
to the half open bathroom door. "There's wire-netting
over the window...." I started. He waved his hand at
me and smiled, "dont worry about it...I'll take care
of it!" he winked at me. I furrowed my eyebrows,
confused at what he was implying.

He laughed and sat back down on the bed next to me.
"That 'netting' as you call it, it looks like is
nailed into the brick outside the window...." he
started explaining. "I'll take the nails out from the
outside, you climb out, we both climb down the fire
escape and off we go!" I smiled, thinking he was being
super cute. Almost like a secret agent: my prince
charming in disguise. It was so sweet of him to go
through all of this for me...he could easily find
someone else to hang out with. The fact that he even
was coming around was surprisingly sweet.

"So? Your call..." he started. I smiled and nodded,
"Let's do it."
"Awesome" he smiled widely and leaned in, kissing me
softly on the cheek. "I'll make sure you have an
awesome time..." he whispered softly. I threw my arms
around his neck, hugging him..so thankful for
everything he was doing. "So what are we gonna do when
we get to the outside?" I asked, almost feeling like
this was an episode of FOX's Prison Break... Most days
I even FELT like I was in prison. He smiled and
shrugged, "I have a few things plannned..." he
suggested coyly. I smiled, but suddenly became
saddened quickly...slightly discouraged. Dougie must
have noticed the change in my expression. "What...what
is it?" he asked encouragingly. I motioned to my
clothes...or..lack there of. "What am I gonna wear?" I
asked, half laughing..slightly blushing.

"Oh..hm.." he pondered. He snapped his fingers, and as
if a lightbulb had gone on, his face lit up with an
idea. "I'll buy you clothes! We can stop at a
department store or something before we go anywhere
else!" he smiled, "Dont worry...i gotchya covered" he
teased. I smiled. "Okay..lets do it then.." I smiled,
excited to get to spend a day out in London with
Dougie, yet feeling my stomach churn with fright of
getting caught.

We hung out for a few hours, just as normal. The hours
of the club were different than hours of any other
business in town. Our workday started around 7 p.m.
and went all night, until around 4 or 5 a.m. When
everyone was sleepily making their way to their rooms,
and the club was closing down, I walked Dougie to the
front doors- past Mike and everyone else who was
cleaning up and putting the chairs upside down on the
tables. Doug opened the door and held it open for me-
I stepped outside onto the welcome matt in my bare
feet. It had rained earlier and was cold on my toes.
"So...ten minutes? I'll meet you round back?" he asked
quietly. I nodded, smiling. "I'm excited..." I said,
holding back a squeal. He laughed and pulled me into a
one armed side hug, before kissing my forehead and
making his way to his car, which was parked down the
street at a meter.

I watched for a few minutes, then headed back inside
and helped everyone clean up. When we were done, Mike
locked the front doors and turned all the lights
downstairs off, as we headed through the green
hallway, the supply room, up the stairs, and into our
individual bedrooms. The entire time, I felt
jittery... like I was transparent and they'd see
through me... see my plan of running away tonight. I
tried to keep cool, calm, and collected. I went into
my bedroom, locked my door and waited a few seconds
with my ear pressed to the door, listening to the
hallway..just to make sure everyone had truely gone to
bed.

After being satisfied with not hearing anything, I
headed into the bathrooom, closed and locked that
door, and pulled the window open, sticking my face
through the opening to look for Dougie- who I expected
to see on the ground. I was startled to see his face
smiling back at me. I jumped, but laughed quietly, and
he started pulling the nails out of the brick along
the bottom of the wire fence netting. After 3 quarters
of it was free, he held the wire up while I climbed
headfirst out of the window...which was NOT an easy
thing. I stood on the sink with my left foot and
crammed my whole body and my right knee through the
window.

Dougie wrapped his free arm around my waist and I
grabbed his shoulders as he pulled the rest of my body
out of the bathroom window, placing me down next to
him on the fire escape.

"This is very James Bond" Dougie laughed as we climbed
down the stairs and ladder and hopped into his car. I
couldn't help but smile the whole time...this was fun!
It was totally liberating, and exciting- that we may
get caught. He turned on the car and we headed down
the road as the sun started rising. Dougie pulled into
a large parking lot infront of a huge department store
and stopped the car, opening the door to get out. I
sat frozen in my seat, confused as to what to do. When
he noticed I wasn't moving, he leaned back inside the
car, "What's wrong?" he asked. "Uhhhh..." i started,
"I can't go IN THERE like this!" I said, implicating
towards my clothes, which to most people- would only
qualify as underware. Dougie scratched his chin,
thinking hard. "Well..what size are you?" he asked.
"Small...pants size 3?" I replied. He nodded and
closed the car door...leaving me there while he went
inside. I waited, watching cars whiz past on the busy
road next to the parking lot while I waited...kind of
wishing he hadn't left me all alone. Then again, I
couldn't have gone in like this. But sitting there in
the car..alone..i began to worry about Mike again.

About 10 minutes later, Dougie came out with a big bag
in his hands and dumped it out on his seat for me to
pick clothes from. There were 4 pairs of different
styled jeans and a bunch of teeshirts. I laughed and
picked through- deciding on a pair of destroyed
bootcut jeans and a purple shirt with a silver star
with sparkles on it. Dougie handed me a pair of black
flipflops which I slipped on and he shoved the rest of
the clothes into a bag, putting them in the backseat
and we started off again. "Thanks Doug" I smiled,
kissing his cheek while he was driving. He smiled as
we approached a red light. "My pleasure" he replied as
the car came to a stop, turning to me and taking my
chin in his hand gently....kissing me softly and
sweetly on the lips.

Piczo