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

[A/N: What, another update? Yes, because I am in a ADHD hyperfocus and had a day off, so... Here you go :) ]

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Press Event / Amo Release Party

London

January 2019

Oliver

Almost fifteen years of being in a band and I still hated these events. It had been nearly four years since we had last done this, with the release of That's The Spirit. I had been better at handling that one than I had with Sempiternal, but still.

So much had changed in the past years. Our fame was growing bigger and bigger, our name was everywhere, we were headlining festivals and tours now, Drop Dead had grown as a brand. Jordan and Lee had gotten married and had had kids, and somehow, I had also found back some of the peace I had always felt during my marriage with Alison.

After divorcing her, I had spent a year of living a fast-paced life, falling back in one-night stands, ketamine and alcohol. I had even had a girlfriend for a while, who made me feel love again. But it wasn't the same as with Alison, and no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't give myself to her as much as I wanted. So, for the sake of the both of us, I broke it off before it would become too difficult.

After that, I had cut out drugs and alcohol, and had decided to better my life and work on myself and my mental health instead of trying to tame it with things that made me regret using them afterwards. It took a long while, but finally, I found rest again.

Writing and recording Amo in Los Angeles had been like therapy for my messed-up heart. I got to process all that had happened in the past years; the heartbreak, the love, the mixed emotions. The anger and the hurt, the mental issues that came with it - all of that was recorded on Amo. A lot of it was about Alison, sometimes indirectly, and sometimes very obvious. Even though it was all my fault to start with, I eventually realized she hadn't been fair in the end either. The way she pushed through our divorce, and then had the guts to get back with that weird ex-boyfriend of hers - or so Tom told me - made me seethe for no reason. It hurt me more than it should have, because after all; we were officially divorced all because of the mistake I made, so why was I getting so upset about her getting back with Brian? And why was I thinking about this all, right now? I hadn't thought about her for a long while, but a question of someone asking what the song Ouch was about, brought this all up in my head again.

'Excuse me, Oli?,' someone asked. I looked up from my thoughts and was met by a blonde woman with big blue eyes. I frowned at her familiar face, and she chuckled.

'Penny, from Kerrang! Magazine,' she said, showing me her press card. I looked at it and then back to her face. 'Sempiternal press event, 2013?,' she said, and at that, it clicked in my head. I started laughing a bit and shook my head.

'That's been a while,' I chuckled, shaking my head.

'Sure has,' Penny smiled. 'Anyway, mind if I ask you some questions again?'

'Of course not,' I said, taking a sip from my iced tea and pointing at the seat next to me. She sat down and held up her phone, and I shook my head when I realized she was indicating whether I minded her recording our conversation.

'So, Oli...,' she started, 'A lot has changed in the years since we last met.' I nodded a bit.

'Yup.'

'Bring Me The Horizon is growing a lot, you guys have put out yet another album, your personal life has... well, changed too.' She threw me a questioning look, and I shrugged a bit.