Hollow Crown.

“He obviously likes you, why don’t you give him a chance?” Lydia Carter asked her daughter.

Georgia looked to her mother. To her, she had always been the most beautiful women in the world and she would be lucky if she inherited any of her genes. Not just obviously beautiful either, she had hidden beauty in her intelligence and wisdom.

“I guess”

Sam and Georgia were leaving their parents house in a couple of hours to make the trip back to Sheffield, so Georgia was making the most of the quality time she had left with their mother while Sam helped their dad with odd jobs around the house.

Lydia took a seat on the bed beside Georgia, resting her hands on her knees, letting a sigh escape her lips. Georgia had always been this way with boys, never taking risks, always being afraid to let her guard down and get hurt so her already low self esteem didn’t wither away to nothing. She had been hurt enough times in her life without adding boys to the equation.

“Sweetie, you have to take a chance with him. He might be everything you’ve ever wanted and if he’s not well I’m just a phone call away”

Georgia and Lydia had always been close, even through her awkward teenage years. They were best friends through and through, always sharing secrets, going on shopping trips, they did practically everything together and good advice was always followed.

*****

It was still snowing when the Carters returned to their small flat in Sheffield on the 30th of December after spending Christmas with their family in Brighton. The siblings had been forced to spend time with estranged relatives that they never knew existed instead of just being with their parents like they thought would happen. Christmas day was spent only with their parents exactly they way it had been when they were growing up; presents, their mothers cooking, and the occasional fight about who got what to eat.

“You want to go see lover boy then?” Sam asked Georgia as he walked into the kitchen. He leant against the counter, sliding his phone into his jean pocket looking towards his sister who was sitting at the island with her nose in some tattoo magazine. The flat was overrun by magazines and books all of which belonged to Georgia.

“If you want” Georgia replied nonchalantly as her insides screamed with happiness. As horrible as it sounds she had been dying to come home for days. Of course she missed her parents but she had been dying to see Oliver. She hadn’t seen him since Christmas Eve and see was missing him more than she thought she ever would.

The Sykes brothers were still staying with their parents house for reasons unknown, probably wanting to spend as much family time together before they went back on tour. The journey to the house was quiet and relaxed, a few stalls occurred due to the fact that Sam had to borrow one of their parents cars and he still wasn’t to sure about driving it.

“Georgia’s home!” Matt yelled throwing himself on top of her as she walked through the hallway of the Sykes house. Sam laughed at the mess of limbs piled on the wooden floor, stepping over them heading for the kitchen in search of food, he and Georgia had yet to go shopping and he hadn’t eaten that morning.

“Yer going to kill ‘er Matt” Carol scolded as she made her way down the stairs, her sons following behind. Her accent was like Oliver’s, thick and strong, easy to pick out against a load of others.

Matt reluctantly stood up, pulling Georgia’s small frame with him. He threw an arm around her shoulders making her giggle when he wouldn’t stop apologising. Pushing his hat up from his eyes, he grabbed her hand and pulled her through the kitchen, out the patio doors to the back garden. Her eyes instantly fell on Oliver’s form half right in the centre of the garden making a snowman.

“He’s been ‘ere all morning doing that” Matt laughed letting go of Georgia’s hand to lift snow from the garden table, moulding it into a ball between his gloved hands.

“Leave him alone” Georgia shoved Matt’s shoulder gently making his snowball fly through the air into the neighbour’s garden instead of hitting Oliver’s head like it was supposed to.

Matt glared at Georgia as she made her way through the thick snow to where Oliver was making his snowman. She stopped a couple of feet from him, watching intently as he fussed over bits that he thought were wrong, his grey jacket keeping him warm, purple hoodie protecting his hair from the moisture in the air.

“It looks good” Georgia said softly causing Oliver to jump and turn around quickly. He smiled at her, his stomach twisting in the usual way it did in her presence. Georgia laughed softly at the blush that spread across Oliver’s face.

Before he could process what he was doing, he had lifted her small body from the floor, holding her as close to him as their winter clothing would allow. Georgia took a couple of seconds to react to Oliver’s impulsive behaviour, letting herself wrap her arms around his neck, legs around his waist, hugging him back equally as hard. Usually she would have punched him and cursed him out but she had finally decided to let herself be happy with him, let herself open up to him.

“I didn’t think you would talk to me again” Oliver mumbled against her hair, her grey beanie being the only thing that stopped him from getting to her skin. She pulled away from him slightly, allowing herself to look into his dark brown eyes.

Just as she was going to reply, a snowball hit the left hand side of both their faces, icy coldness making their skin tingle and sting slightly. The pairs eyes turned to the backdoor to the house where Thomas, Sam and Matt stood acting as if they hadn’t done anything, each dressed in obscenely bright winter jackets.

“How ‘bout we kick their arses?”

*****

“Stop complaining. Yous shouldn’t be running ‘round in snow if yous didn’t want to get wet” Carol said over the racket that the ‘children’ were making as they sat around the kitchen table, wrapped in towels and blankets, clutching mugs of steaming coffee or tea in order to restore their body heat, talking excitedly about the New Years party they were throwing the next night, while she put all their clothes in the dryer.

After Oliver and Georgia had declared an official snowball war, everyone had gotten drenched. Snow had went literally everywhere. Oliver had even ended up with some down his trousers marking the end of the war.

Matt, Sam and Thomas disappeared from the table, one of them saying something about being the best at Halo. Georgia rolled her eyes knowing they would be there for the rest of the day with how competitive Sam can get.

“You want to go watch a film?” Oliver asked. Georgia smiled at him, inwardly ‘awing’ at how cute he looked with his blanket wrapped around him making his face the only part of him visible, his nose still red from the cold.

Oliver’s room in his parent’s house was exactly like any teenage boys rooms; walls covered in posters of his favorite bands, dirty magazines stuffed in drawers, empty alcohol bottles that had never been removed from under his bed, everything minus the mess. Georgia followed him into his room, ignoring the butterflies in her stomach when she lay on the bed. Once he had picked a film, he lay down behind her, hesitating for a second before he draped his colorful arm around her waist, holding her against his body.

Oliver wasn’t paying attention to the movie, he wasn’t even sure which one he had put on, he was to busy savoring the fact that Georgia was lying with him, in his bed. He could never have even imagined that she would ever be doing this with him.

His body stiffened as she rolled over to face him, he hadn’t realized until that moment that she had fallen asleep. She wrapped her arms around his waist, nuzzling her face into his bare chest, mumbling incoherent words. Oliver smiled, placing a small kiss on her forehead, completely content with everything at that moment. Never wanting the moment to end.