Hollow Crown.

“Could you two stop for five minutes please?” Thomas sighed as he watched Oliver and Georgia all over each other through the lens of his camera. For the last hour and a half he had been photographing them and Sam in the back alleyway to his flat for the new range of Drop Dead clothing that was coming out. Oliver and Georgia were taking the longest to shot as instead of standing beside each other and posing, like they were supposed to be doing, every so often they would be all over each other, using the cold weather as an excuse to be permanently attached at the hip.

“Yer just pissed yer wee girlfriend didn’t come” Oliver shouted, laughing as Thomas stuck his fingers up at him. Of course Thomas was upset that Sarah couldn’t come but she certainly was not his girlfriend. Well not yet at least. He had only met her at the New Year party three weeks ago, apparently she came with one of the other bands, but they had kept in constant contact, even going out a couple of times. She had made quiet an impression on him.

“Is she coming camping with us?” Georgia asked, pushing Oliver away from her as he tried to lift her up and pin her against the wall again.

“Yeah she is” he smiled seemingly slipping into a small daydream before yelling at Sam to stop smoking and get in the next set of photos.

Camping was Sam and Oliver’s idea, of course. It was really just an excuse to head up into the forest for a couple of days and drink to their hearts content. Most of Bring me The Horizon and Architects were being dragged along too, not that they had needed much persuasion, Thomas was going as well deciding that it would be the best time to introduce Sarah to his unique group of friends. As long as she got on reasonably well with everyone, especially Georgia, then he was sure that she was worth keeping around.

Curtis walked slowly down the dark alleyway towards his group of friends, hands clutching onto a try of mugs of coffee and tea to keep everyone from freezing. Placing the try down on the fold up table by Thomas, he leant against the wall, watching intently as the three ‘models’ mucked around. All three of them where wearing matching purple Zippersaurus hoodies, although Georgia must have drawn the short straw as she had on a pair of ass face shorts while the boys had on jeans.

After another half hour Georgia’s legs had had enough of the cold meaning the end of the outdoor shot. Everyone piled into the flat which had turned into some sort of gathering point for anyone who had nothing to do. Matt and Ali standing in the middle of the living room, after pushing all the furniture up against the wall, playing Guitar Hero while Dan and Tom watched occasionally yelling crude comments intending on putting them off.

“Worthless phoned,” Dan yelled over the loud music coming from the telly as the group made their way into the living room, spreading out across the room looking for somewhere to sit. “He and Benny are coming camping”

Thomas groaned. He was worried enough about Sarah meeting everyone-especially Oliver, Georgia and Sam-and adding more people to the equation was not going to help.

*****

Georgia sighed loudly before yelling at Ali to turn up the music. She, Oliver, Benny, Ali, Nick and Matt where packed into one of the tour vans heading out into the middle of nowhere for their camping trip. For the past half hour the only thing to be said between the group was the stereotypical ‘are we there yet?’ fight between the parents and children or in this case Ali and Benny.

For the next fifteen minutes the car was silenced apart from the gentle thudding of Cancer Bats coming from the speakers. Ali tapped his fingers against the steering wheel along to the music as he concentrated on following the identical van in front of him through the dark forest trails. Matt sat beside him dozing on and off while Benny, Nick, Oliver and Georgia sat in the back.

Eventually the van slowed to a stop in a small clearing. Everyone piled out the vans looking around in the last hour’s worth of evening light for the best place to pitch their tents. Thomas’ eyes locked on Oliver and Georgia’s forms as they started removing things from the back of the van. His stomach tightened as he ran his hands through his hair, stressing out over the thousands of possibilities that could occur over the next forty eight hours.

“Your not that embarrassed by me are you?” Sarah’s voice, as well as her hand resting against his shoulder, startled him as. He shook his head smiling softly as he turned to face her. Dark hair and bright green eyes where a contract to the only other girl in camp. Thomas took her hand in his, took a deep breath and pulled her over towards his two best friends.

“Gee, Oli, this is Sarah” he rushed out as soon as he stopped beside them. The car journey had been easier than he had anticipated. Sam, Curtis, Dan and Tom had taking quiet well to Sarah which had relieved his for a short while.

Oliver and Georgia smiled at the new arrival to the group, attempting to make some sort of small talk with her as Thomas seemed to be zoning in and out of some sort of trance, he wasn’t quite sure wither things were really going well in reality or just in his mind.

*****

Loud music from the car and even louder voices floated through the once undisturbed forest. Night time had fallen upon the group as they sat around telling jokes and sharing stories. The camp fire roared in the centre of the group, flames illuminating each individual face. Everyone was wrapped up jackets, hats, gloves, scares, blankets, sleeping bags as they drank a mixture of the bottles of beer and spirits that had been packed into the back of the vans.

Sarah decided to call it a night, heading to the tent she was sharing with Thomas. Georgia watched as she walked away from the group, head held high, arms crossed across her chest, blocking out everyone like she was better than the rest of them. Georgia caught the same look that was plastered across her face on Sam’s.

Thomas couldn’t have been happier. Everyone loved Sarah, no one interrupted her when she was talking, she laughed along with everyone else and neither she or Georgia had said anything remotely hurtful to each other.

“You like her?” Thomas slurred, leaning into Georgia’s side. She only nodded announcing she was going to go to bed too. Oliver decided he was going to not bothering to wait for an invite.

Oliver and Georgia stumbled into their tent, hardly even able to zip it up after them. Lying down in a bundle of clothes and covers, the pair had a foot worth of space between them, allowing them to see each others faces through strained and blurred vision form a mixture of the dark and alcohol.

“You hate her” Oliver mumbled, taking Georgia’s hand, kissing it softly.

“I don’t know her Oliver” Georgia mumbled back rolling her eyes as he pulled her into him, wrapping his tattooed arms around her small body, repeatedly kissing her forehead.

“I promise I wont let her hurt you like they did” he said softly. Georgia’s brows furrowed confused as to how Oliver knew anything about the thoughts that had been racing through her head all night. Everything that Sarah had done had reminded her of her friends in high school and that had made her uncomfortable.