That Girl | David Dobrik

𝐿𝒾𝓉𝓉𝓁𝑒 𝒯𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈 | 𝒟𝒶𝓋𝒾𝒹'𝓈 𝒫𝒪𝒱

I walked into my house, still on cloud nine from the interaction of the night before. It seemingly showed on my face, because as soon as Jason and Natalie saw me, they pounced.

"David! Hey!" Jason said, putting an arm around my shoulder, that I quickly shrugged off. "Where were you last night?"

"Yeah, we saw you leaving with Marley." Natalie said, her arms crossed over her chest and her eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, uh... We needed to have a talk," I said, feeling a blush rising into my cheeks. I looked down, trying to slightly shield my face. I knew my expression would give me away... if not the whole story, at least something. They knew me far too well.

"And have a sleepover?" She stood there, narrowing her eyes. Jason let out a quick laugh, which he quickly tried to cover up.

"I... guess?" I nervously ran my fingers through my hair, walking into the living room. I could feel their eyes still on me, and I knew there was a slim chance that I was going to get away with not talking about what had happened.

"David..." Jason started, once again putting a hand on my shoulder. He looked at me for a moment, before a sudden realization hit him, and his jaw dropped slightly. "Wait a minute... did you have sex?!"

"What? I didn't say that..." I trailed off, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot.

"You didn't have to. I can see it on your face." Jason was grinning like a fool. Honestly, he looked more excited about it than I was. "Congrats man! Are you two a thing now?"

"Uh... thanks? And no, not exactly," I laughed, looking over to Natalie, who just rolled her eyes. "Now, did you come over here just to grill me, or are we filming something?"

"Yeah, I'm having someone bring over a bunch of puppies in like, five minutes," he laughed. "I think Carly and Erin are heading over soon, too... maybe you should ask Marley to come?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at me, and I waved him off. I didn't want to make it a big 'thing', and I knew Marley would especially hate it if I did. I wasn't offering up much information.

"I already did, actually," I said, flopping down onto the love sac. I pulled out my phone and sent Marley a quick text message, with just my address and a smiley face. "Knowing what I know about her, I don't know if she's going to come."

"Well, just send her a picture of the puppies and she'll run right over," Jason joked. "Speaking of, they just texted that they're here, so I'll go let them in."

"Okay, cool..." I looked down at my phone, not in any way expecting to see a response from Marley, but yet, there was one.

'Okay, I might see you in a bit then!'

I couldn't help myself, as soon as I saw that, a small smile broke onto my face. It didn't mean that she was actually going to show... for all I knew, I wouldn't see her again anytime soon... all it meant, was that for once... she was actually thinking about it.

And that was enough for me, for now.

--

We had been filming with the puppies for only about ten minutes when I heard a knock on the door. I got up, setting my camera slightly out of reach of the dogs, and headed towards the door. I just assumed it was Carly and Erin, not thinking about the fact that they probably would have just walked in. I peeked out, making sure it wasn't some crazy fan... and to my surprise, saw Marley standing there, nervously staring at her feet.

"Marley!" I said excitedly as I opened the door. "I didn't think you'd actually come!"

"Well... here I am," she said sheepishly, shrugging her shoulders, and stepping into my house. I could immediately tell that she was out of her comfort zone, but I was too excited to see her to care.

"Good timing, too... there's puppies." I said, giggling and pulling her inside by her hand. Her eyebrows immediately shot up at the mention of puppies, and she peered over my shoulder quickly, before looking back at me in disbelief.

"...Why? I mean, I'm not complaining. I am obviously a big fan of puppies," she said with a slight laugh, following me into the living room. "I have to say though, I was not expecting puppies."

"For a video. Jason brought them over." I said, shrugging my shoulders. "Honestly, nowhere near the weirdest thing that I've come home too... trust me on that. Now... do you want a grand tour of my place, or do you want to come hang out with the dogs?"

"Dogs? Obviously? Is that even a question?"

"That's probably what I would pick, too." I led her over to the couch, noticing that she was hanging back slightly, her shoulders a bit slumped as if she was trying to hide behind me. She raised a hand in greeting to Natalie and Jason, who both said hello.

"How are you, Marley?" Jason asked, grinning from ear to ear. I shot him a quick warning glance, hoping that would be enough for him to not make any comments about the night that Marley and I shared... or really anything else embarassing that he could probably pull out at the drop of a hat.

"I'm pretty good, even better now that I'm being covered in these cuties," she said, gently picking up a little black puppy, cooing at him and placing him in her lap. I grabbed my camera, ready to start recording again.

A few minutes later, Carly and Erin showed up, and immediately started fawning over the puppies. Marley sat beside me, leaning into my side shyly. I wanted to wrap my arm around her, reassure her that it was alright, because I could sense her fear... but I didn't exactly know what the protocal was with a 'hook up'. I knew she didn't want to be on camera, but everytime I even nearly pointed in her direction, she practically cowered, dipping her head behind my shoulder. It was a bit strange to me how nervous and shy she was. At all the parties I had seen her at, she seemed very social.

As the women from the animal shelter started getting ready to go, and all the cameras started to turn off, I could basically feel Marley let out a sigh of relief. The tension left her shoulders, and to my dismay, she moved away from me slightly.

"So, Marley..." Jason started, and she perked up, smiling at him for almost the first time since she'd arrived. "Did David bribe you with the puppies? Be honest."

"Ha! Obviously," she laughed, shooting me a quick wink. "I actually came before I knew there would be puppies. That was just an added bonus."

"You don't have to lie to us... but it is nice to see you. You should come hang out with all of us more often."

My eyes scanned the room, and thankfully, I saw the other girls nodding in agreement. It was important to me that everyone liked her, seeing as we were such a tight knit group. I wanted Marley to be comfortable just as much as I wanted everyone else to like her.

"Yeah, you know what... I probably should."

She didn't meet my eyes, but I couldn't help but break out into a grin at her words... and out of the corner of my eye, I could see her smiling too.