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

1.33

'Thanks,' I whispered. The silence between us was broken when we both shrieked from the doorbell ringing painfully loud at this hour of the night.

'For fuck's sake,' Tom muttered while getting up. He opened the door.

'Tom, is Ali here?,' Oliver's hoarse voice sounded.

'Oh great, the other half of the problem case,' Tom said sarcastically. He let Oliver in and our eyes met. We both froze at the sight of each other.

'Ey...,' Oliver said. I stayed silent and looked away from him to my hands, fumbling them. Oliver carefully sat down on the other side of the couch.

'I knew you would be here.'

'Did you?,' I retorted. Oliver shrugged.

'Not many other places in Sheffield you could go, could you?'

'Could've gone to one of the lads,' I threw back.

'I texted them, they all said they hadn't seen you.' I sighed and sank back in the couch, rubbing my face with my hands and noticing how exhausted I was. I felt the couch sag a little and looked through my fingers at Oliver sitting down next to me, biting his lip. We stared at each other for a moment. He looked tired, and still not sober. His eyes were dull, and his body slackened over the couch as he sank further down. Tom just observed us for a while until he grunted and stood in front of us, looking at us like a mother being disappointed and angry at her children for fighting.

'Okay, you two - listen up.' We both looked up at him. 'You guys are frustrating me so fucking much! Come on! Stop being so fucking complicated! Oliver, you have found someone who cares so much about you, that she leaves her entire life behind to get you back on track. She loves you so much, that she decides to marry you in an instant -' Oliver looked at me and frowned, probably wondering how he knew '- and yet, you still decide to let another woman kiss you -'

'Oi, Amanda just threw herself on me, okay?,' Oliver defended himself. 'I did nothing.'

'No, that's the problem,' I muttered. He gave me an angry look, followed by Tom, who looked at me the same. For a moment I could see they really were brothers; they looked like each other a lot this way.

'And you -,' Tom then started. 'You can't expect him to be able to cope with the news you dropped on him and then act like it's all his fault.'

'I did not!,' I said in disbelief. 'I just -' Tom just put up his hand and I fell quiet.

'My point is... You two are meant for each other, but act like children on the playground! I know everything about your relationship is rushed, since it all happened in just a few months, and it's all been very intense. But you wouldn't have both been here if neither of you cared, so just... Talk and make up, or something.' He sighed and looked at the both of us. 'Oli, I swear, if you fail to make her happy, I'll kill you.' His words sounded so genuine, that my eyes flicked up at him in shock. 'Because she will be the best thing that has ever happened to you, and I would never take that for granted, if I were you.' His voice quieted down, and he gave me a small smile. Oliver just frowned at him and then looked at me.

'I know,' he whispered.

'Good. And Alison -' Tom just shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. 'Don't be so hard on him. His head wasn't wired for this world, so give him a break sometimes.' Oliver huffed at that and watched Tom walk away from us, while we just looked at each other in contemplation.

'I'll leave you guys to it...,' Tom muttered awkwardly. 'But Oli -' Oliver tore his eyes from me and looked at his brother. 'Amanda? Really?' Oliver just hissed at him and flipped his middle finger. Tom shook his head and hid into his bedroom, closing the door.