Party 'til you pass out / When the party's over

Alison

It felt like my heart just stopped beating, and all oxygen left my body. I just stood there, frozen at the sight of Oliver and Amanda kissing. It took a long moment - too long - before he pulled away and said something to her. Then he turned around, frowning, shaking his head while he ran his fingers through his hair before his eyes finally fell on me. All colour seemed to drain from his face at that, and he stared back at me for a few seconds. He looked up and down the road, waited for a car to pass, and crossed it.

I finally found the ability again to move, turning on my heels and walking off.

'Alison!' I just kept walking, trying to block out his voice calling my name. 'Ali! Wait!' The sounds of his quick footsteps came closer, but I didn't stop until he reached me and grabbed my arm. 'Alison...' Oliver turned me around and looked down on me. I only just stared at him blankly. I could see he had been drinking, and my agitation against him only grew at that.

'That was not what it looked like...,' he started.

'Then explain to me what it was according to you, because it sure looked you were kissing her,' I threw at him, still in denial about what I just saw.

'It was not - I wasn't - she kissed me,' he stumbled.

'Right... Sure.' I pulled away and started walking again, with Oliver right behind me.

'Alison, please -'

'You know, Oli... I think coming home to you was a mistake,' I said furiously as I spun around to face him again.

'Don't say that,' he pleaded. 'Please, listen to me -'

'No, you listen to me!,' I yelled. I gulped while I stared at his face, his features still sharp and visible in the dark of the night around us. 'I came home because I wanted to talk and make up to you, and because I missed you. I took the last fucking train to the Midlands from King's Cross, hoping you were waiting for me at home, happy to see me too, but I just find you -' I stopped because the idea of only speaking about what I just saw made my heart break in a thousand pieces, and suddenly I totally understood how Brian must have felt. Tears welt up in my eyes and I tried to blink them away. Oliver set a step closer to me.

'It didn't mean anything, really. Trust me, Ali. It was nothing.'

'That's what I said to Brian about Tom kissing me too.'

'What does that have to do -,' he started, frowning in annoyance.

'And that was the start of the end for us.' I looked up at him, and saw my words hit target.

'What do you mean?!,' Oliver asked alarmed, sounding anxious now. I shrugged and threw my hands up in the air, biting my tears away without success. 'Ali, please. I swear, Amanda kissed me! I had no intention to come close to her whatsoever! She just jumped at me, we had been fighting before that - Fuck!' He grunted and hid his face in his hands. 'Fuck, fuck!' His fingers slid off his face, dragging at his eyes and lingering in front of his mouth while he looked at me.

'I don't care at how it happened, Oliver! Fact is, you guys kissed! You didn't stop her, you didn't push her away. If only it lasted half a second, it was already too fucking long!,' I yelled at him.

'I'm sorry,' he muttered. 'You're right. I'm sorry.' I sniffed and wiped the tears off my cheeks, crossing my arms over my chest and shuffling a small pebble around with my foot.

'You're drunk,' I just said. 'Go home, Oliver.' My feet started moving again and I walked down the road, trying to listen whether Oliver was coming after me, and getting upset when I noticed he wasn't.