"Sooooooo, how was your date with DJ Love Doug?" Nancy is now looking a lot more with it since I left her in her half-dead state early this morning.

"The meeting went very well." Is my very easy-going answer.

Nance starts grinning. "A meeting? At seven thirty in the morning?" She's not buying it at all. "So what did you talk about at this meeting?" She comfortably perches herself on the end of her bed, waiting for me to divulge all that Doug and I talked about.

To make myself appear dead casual about things, I start looking at what I might wear out later on tonight. "We just talked about stuff."

"Stuff?" Asks a very disappointed sounding Nancy.

Eyeing up my spandex leggings, I wonder whether I actually have the sassy guts to wear them out tonight. "Yeah, we talked about a lot of stuff...mainly music." Yup! I think I really do have the sassy guts to wear these! Is what I soon tell myself.

"You like him, I can tell." Nance knowingly smiles across at me. "If the spandex is out...you definitely like him." She's laughing now, watching how I react to her teasing of me.

Part of me really does want to tell Nance absolutely everything we talked about. But if I do that, she'll only get excited and start reading more into it, which will then make me get really excited and start reading more into it.

The thing is, we talked. We talked a lot.

Over breakfast, I told him just a little about my life and my family. In exchange, he told me a little about his. From what I can tell, music pretty much dominates Doug's life. Almost every aspect of it, is woven within his Doug DiCarto brand. He spoke so much about his passion, that he literally only touched upon the subject of his family. All I got out of him was that he's an only child, that his dad is dead and that his mum lives in Romford. To me, it was very much a subject that he wasn't all that comfortable talking about, and one that he chose to skim over during our conversations. Which isn't a red flag or anything for me, I guess not all families are as cohesive as mine happens to be. But yeah, we had a great time getting to know one another.

We talked.

We held hands.

We laughed.

"I do like him, hence why I am doing the vocals for his track." Is what I eventually give to Nancy.

In a flash, my friend is off her bed and doing her silly 'happy clappy' thing. "You are doing it?" She asks, all high and fired up.

My grin stretches right across my satisfied face. "I am. I know it's not going to be easy, Nance, but I have to do this."

Hugging me delightfully tight, Nancy's words start coming out at like one hundred miles per hour. "This is going to be so good for you, Frankie. It's going to be the making of you, it really is. You are a different person now, hun. This is now your time to shine." She hugs me eagerly tighter, squishing me so hard, it kind of now hurts.

"Can't. Breathe." I joke with her, hoping that her enthusiastic hold will loosen on me.

Nancy lets go, although getting more excited by the second. "If the spandex is out, I guess we're off to Revival again tonight?" She cheekily says, now rummaging through her own clothes.

"We are, if that's okay with you?"

Plucking a slinky cross back dress from out of the wardrobe, she is now beaming my way. "Absolutely!" Is Nancy's sultry reply. "This must mean you really do like him, though." As she throws her white dress down onto her bed, she pivots on her toes to face me again. "I mean, you flirted a lot last night. You've spent the entire morning together, and the spandex is making a sexy appearance this evening...you definitely do like him."

My fellow singing friend is just like a dog with a bone sometimes—she never lets go. Suppressing a smile, my reply comes out on the end of a sigh. "I do like him. I like all those who I work with. It makes the whole professional experience a far more pleasant one, right?"

Nance heavily rolls her eyes, smirking. "I think we both know that this is more than just a professional experience?"

Shaking my head, my smile is now beginning to reveal itself. "It is, with maybe just a smidgen of fun thrown in?"

Nancy places her hands on her hips, her eyebrows all high and mighty on her forehead. "Just a smidgen of fun? Yeah right, you really like him. I've seen you with blokes before, hun. But with him, you act different. You're more sure of yourself. More free-spirited. He's bringing out a side of you that I always knew was in there. It's just been pushed back in because of what happened with Lovers and Leavers and Falco. But Doug, he's drawing out the real you. The real Frankie Fenner, and I'm enjoying watching him draw it out, let me tell you."

Put like that, I stay quiet. I don't yet have a witty comeback or an explanatory reply. I only have how I am currently feeling—excited, buoyant, positive, content, energetic—and maybe that really is all down to Doug and that DiCarto charm of his? "Whatever is going on with us, Nance, I've still got to remember that I'm professionally working with this guy. And besides, we are going back home tomorrow."

That doesn't seem to bother Nancy at all. "And so will he be returning back to London. Am I right in thinking that he doesn't live out here for the whole of the summer?"

Nodding, I am frowning with the many thoughts meandering around in my mind. Although Doug told me that he's based in Shoreditch, he's often travelling, either abroad or up and down the UK, because of his incredibly busy work schedule. He said that at the moment, he's in Ibiza from the Thursday to the Monday, then producing back at his studio in the days in between.

How can you ever truly get to know someone like that?

How can you get to know someone who is never in the same place for a significant amount of time?

I have to be sensible about me and Doug.

I have to not expect too much.

A bit of fun is all this can ever be. And that is what I'm going to tell Nancy. Maybe if I say it out loud, that will substantiate all of my thoughts? "We are both just having some fun together, Nance...nothing more, nothing less."

My friend just smiles back at me, like she has all of the answers inside her intuitive little brain. "You're telling me that your heart doesn't race when you see him?"

"Nope!" Is my confidently given lie.

"You don't feel all fuzzy and warm around him?"

"Nope!" I confidently lie again.

Nancy suspiciously now frowns at me. "And you don't get all throbby down there and sweaty armpits whenever you are near him?"

Now she's just being downright ridiculous. "Nope!" Is my loud and disapproving lie.

The truth is, Doug does make me feel all of those things.

But for the sake of my personal and professional interests, I can't get too ahead of myself with him.

For now, Doug DiCarto is giving me something I need. Something that I'm enjoying and feeling good about. But this man has a reckless side. An unconventional side. I see it there in his eyes and I hear it in all that he says to me. It's just who he is as a person. And as long as it doesn't ever hurt me, I am absolutely fine with who he is.

It is while I happen to be thinking about him, that Doug unexpectedly sends me a text.

It's been half an hour since you last saw me...missing me yet?

D X

Smiling down at my phone, I speedily tap in my reply.

Like a hole in the head!! 🔫

Yup! It's definitely just all a bit of fun.

** A Mallion Interlude **

Okaaaaaay, I thought I'd pop in about now, just as the story is heating up a little 😉
What are we thinking lovelies?
Are you loving Frankie and Doug so far?
I do looooooove hearing your thoughts, and those gorgeous votes.....well, you know that makes my Mallion self VERY happy 💋

And the video above is: A THOUSAND MILES - DAMN HOT