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

2.22

'I still can't believe you actually have a fucking family now, Carlile,' I sighed, smiling at him.

'Oh, I pinch myself every day,' he told me.

'I'm happy for you.'

'Thanks.' He smiled. 'Okay, but we have some catching up to do, holy shit. You and Oliver got married again!' I huffed and rolled my eyes.

'That's so 2019. Keep up, Carlile.' He laughed at that and I chuckled. 'Yeah, we did.' I told Austin about what had happened between me and Oliver, the way we ever so quickly fell back in love again and sealed the deal for a second time. Talking about it made me happy, and I felt the love I had for Oliver so deeply for a moment. Austin was happy for me, and we talked the state of the world for a while until he came back to my initial reason to call him.

'Anyway, what makes you decide wanting to hear my sexy voice at four AM in the morning?' My smile faltered and I bit my lip.

'Eh... I'm worried about Oliver.' Austin frowned.

'Why?' I fumbled on my own fingers for a moment.

'Do you remember how he was on Warped when he was using ketamine?,' I asked, hoping he would. Austin frowned and nodded a bit.

'Well, he reminds me so much of that Oli lately...,' I admitted. Austin's eyes widened a bit.

'Are you afraid he is using again?,' he asked, shocked. I nodded a bit.

'I am... He just acts so strange.'

'What, like a restless, reckless piece of shit who hurts anyone around him with his vicious moods and his hang for destruction?'

'Yeah...' I scraped my throat and bit my lip to keep myself from crying. Austin sighed.

'Oh Ali, I am so sorry... Are you sure?'

'Not a hundred percent, but pretty sure, yes.'

'Well, you know him best. If your intuition says something is off, you're probably right. I am so sorry. It must be really hard for you to be around him like that.'

'It is,' I muttered, unable to keep my tears in anymore. 'He feels like a stranger I am afraid of,' I cried. 'And it's happened so quickly, because everything was fine before I left for London to go see my parents, and when I came back –' I let out a few sobs. 'It's my fault.'

'Oh Alison... It's not. Look at me.' I wiped my eyes and looked back at my phone screen, seeing Austin's gentle eyes stare back. 'It's not your fault. Not in a hundred years will this ever be your fault. Oliver chose this on himself.'

'But why?!,' I let out, crying again. 'Why can't talking to me not be enough to ease his mind?'

'Whose mind?,' a voice said, coming from the dark hallway. My head snapped up at that, my breath suddenly stuck in my throat and my heart stopping. Oliver's lanky figure, only dressed in shorts, came walking up to me from the shadows. I quickly wiped my eyes and stared at him.

'Al, are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost,' Austin asked, oblivious about Oliver coming at me. Oliver's eyes went dark at hearing his voice. He scared the shit out of me like that, and all I could do was stare at him with a slight fear running through my veins. Scared of my own husband, what a joke.

'Austin, can I call you back?,' I asked him without taking my eyes off Oliver.

'Sure, but what is –' I unceremoniously hung up on him and threw my phone next to me on the couch.

'Upset with me and running off to Carlile again, aren't you?,' Oliver said, his voice low. He stood in front of me, looking down with those dark eyes that shot anger at me.