That Girl (David Tennant Fanfic)

Chapter 4

Issy ran through the streets, tears blurring her brown eyes, sobbing miserably. How could James? She'd trusted him so much...

She came to halt outside the back of a Chinese takeaway shop. There were black rubbish bags strewn across the floor and a disgusting smell filled the air but Issy didn't care. This dark alleyway would be a perfect place for her to gather her thoughts.

She walked a little further away from the stench and leaned against a wall of cold, hard bricks and buried her face in her hands. James had cheated... With another girl... She could barely take it in, for each time she thought about his affair with that perfectly tanned, skinny, blonde girl she felt a knife stab her deep inside and that pain was unbearable. She sank slowly to the ground, moaning slightly, a fresh flood of tears coming upon her.

And David... He'd walked off, without even looking back, and that pain had been almost as bad. She'd desperately wanted him to stay, to get to know him better...

She didn't know how she felt about him. Sure, he was handsome, very handsome, and charming, and kind, and nice... But surely she couldn't love him? For starters, she'd loved James deeply, she thought, until an hour ago, and secondly David was a celebrity! It would never work out.

Would it?

'Hello, darlin'...'

Issy gasped with shock as a strong, cold hand gripped her wrist. She winced with pain as she was pulled to her feet and smelly, beer-stained breath filled her nose and senses. A man stood before her, ugly, broken-nosed and grinning evily. Panic and cold fright swamped Issy and she opened her mouth to shout but the mugger clamped his sweaty hand over her mouth before she could. He tightened his already iron grip on her wrist and smiled again, saying,

'Now, now, sweetheart, we don't wanna be making any noise now, do we? We might attract some... Unwelcome attention...' He laughed and Issy felt dread fill her as he began to drag her further into the alleyway.

***

David staggered out of the bar he'd spent the whole evening in. He'd gambled away stacks of cash, had a couple of drinks and got into a couple of fights, but none of it could drown the misery inside. He now knew for certain that he loved Issy more than he'd ever loved any other girl; he wanted nothing more than to be with her but he knew that it could never be. She already had someone.

He shook his head violently to try and clear the jumbled thoughts crowding his mind. He couldn't think straight - yet, he wasn't drunk on alcohol, he'd only had a few drinks, he was more just desperate for Issy.

David rubbed his forehead where a headache was developing and set off in the direction of his car. He walked through the night, thinking of nothing but Issy. He could almost hear her voice, yelling for him...

'Help! HELP! HEL-'

David turned around. He was at the head of an alleyway that stank of rotting Chinese and he could've sworn Issy was shouting from within its dark depths. He peered closer into the darkness and saw that Issy was indeed in the alley, struggling with a large, bald thug, who had just put his hand over her mouth.

Immediately David's reflexes were back and his mind cleared. As he raced towards Issy there was only one thing on his mind: saving her.

***

David didn't quite remember what happened after that. He knew he'd punched the man with all his force, but it hadn't achieved much, except for making him let go of Issy and turn angrily on David instead. The next thing he knew he was sitting slumped against a wall with Issy crying next to him and police were leading the mugger away.

'Oh David,' Issy had whispered, 'James cheated on me... I don't know what to do... But you were so brave... Thank you...' He'd felt her lips brush his cheek and after that everything was dark.