Hollow Crown.

tonight I feel useless.

Thomas’s whole body trembled as he sat on the cold bathroom floor, elbows resting on the seat of the toilet, head in his hands as he mumbled incoherent sentences, his chest heaving as he took deep breaths. Georgia sat behind him on the edge of the bathtub, gently rubbing his back, staring into space.

Once Thomas was pretty sure he wasn’t going to be sick again, Georgia called out for her brother to help her carry him back into the bedroom. Sam wandered into the bathroom with Tom hot in his heels, both insisting that Georgia should go sit down. She wandered into the bedroom area of the hotel, sitting on the small set of drawers pulling Tom’s t-shirt down over her knees watching as he and Sam dragged Thomas’s half conscious body over to the bed, laying him on his side just in case he was sick again.

“I gave up my job for this” Georgia whispered, tears forming in her eyes. She hadn’t even had a chance to come to terms with what had happened the night before. After Thomas dragged her from the bar they had gone straight to another, Thomas drinking anything he could get his hands on, Georgia had sobered up so much she wasn’t in the mood to start drinking again. Sam phoned them after the bands set, making sure they were in the van for the drive to Exeter. The state that they had found Thomas in had forced them to get a hotel for the night.

“I gave up everything for him” Tom was first over to the small female, his arms instantly around her body as she sobbed quietly.

Georgia had left her job at Dragon Tattoo in order to come on tour. Michael was heartbroken to see her go but promised if they had any kind of opening she would be first to be phoned. In reality, Georgia had given up everything for this tour, only to have her whole world crash down around her.

“Sam open the fucking door!” Oliver’s voice boomed through the door, his fist pounding against it as tried desperately to get in the room. He hadn’t seen Georgia since she left with Thomas the night before and he was desperate to talk to her.

“I know she’s in there. I aint moving ‘till I see ‘er” There was another voice heard through the door, although no one was able to hear exactly what was being heard over Oliver’s yells of protest and Georgia’s quiet sobbing.

“Guys let me in, Oli just got thrown out” Ali’s voice said as he tapped gentle on the door. Sam sighed, opening the door causing Ali to fly in and attach himself to Georgia and Tom. After closing the door, Sam took a seat at the bottom of the bed beside Thomas’s feet, rubbing his face with his hands. He knew something was going to happen, he could feel the drama start to boil over weeks ago; he just didn’t expect Oliver to be part of it all.

*****

Thomas stood outside the bar where Architects where currently playing to a packed audience, his headache finally getting the better of him. He had suffered from worse hangovers but that’s not where most of the headache was coming from. He took a draw of his cigarette, closing his eyes when he saw a familiar body making their way towards him.

“Tom?” Sarah’s voice wavered as she spoke. She clung onto her jacket, pulling it closer to her body in hope of keeping the cold wind from her body.

“’ust fuck off, will ye?” Thomas spat. He wasn’t in the mood to see her right at that moment. He doubted that he would ever be in the mood to see her ever again.

“It wasn’t what it looked like” Sarah tried. She put her hand on his shoulder only for him to shrug it off. He didn’t want her touching him. She had come between him and Georgia and worse, his brother. Thomas had sworn that he would never choose a girl over his family and he had done exactly that. He was disgusted with himself for being an idiot and not choosing the right side.

“’course it wasn’t. Dan was there, he told me what ye did” Thomas yelled causing Sarah to flinch and step back a little. Thomas’s mind flashed back to when Georgia had done the same, the same petrified look in her eyes. It was then that he realised that Georgia wasn’t just using him to get to Oliver. The two had made friends not even realising their brothers where friends, how could she possibly have had a hidden agenda.

“I told ye ‘bout all those girls that used me for Oli. I thought ye were different but no, as soon as I leave ye for ten minutes you stick yer tongue down me brother’s throat.” Thomas spat watching as Sarah’s eyes tear up. “I hope yer ‘appy, ye destroyed their relationship.”

Thomas walked away from Sarah, leaving her outside as he made his way back into the building determined that by the end of the night he would have fixed everyone’s relationships, blaming the entire situation on himself.

*****

Georgia sat out on the balcony of the hotel room, cigarette in one hand, an old copy of The Merchant of Venice in the other. She had always had a love for Shakespeare plays, favouring them over any other form of literature. She liked the complexity of each character.

She had decided to stay behind, leaving everyone else to go to the gig. She had tried to explain to the boys why she wasn’t going but was only dismissed by a wave of the hand. Ali had sat with her in the hotel room for most of the day just cheering her up. Each of the boys had always treated her as a sister, the baby of the Architects family.

“I ‘ated reading that shit at school” Georgia didn’t have to turn around to know it was Oliver behind her. She ignored him and carried on with her play, putting out her cigarette in the ashtray beside her seat.

“Gee please” Oliver begged, pulling her seat around and taking away her book so she had no choice but to listen to him. He knelt down in front of her so that they could look at each other. “I promise it was ‘er. I didn’t even no she was gonna do it”

Georgia stared at him willing her head to believe him. She wanted nothing more than to go back to the afternoon of the day before when they told each other how they really felt. He had only made her nightmares come true.

“I told you I love you” she whispered, the hollow expression on his face converting onto hers.

“I love you, why would I waste this on ‘er?” he asked desperately, his voice softer than she had ever heard it before.

“Just leave Oliver, please?” Georgia sighed, gently pushing him out of her way and making her way into the bedroom, lying down on the bed with her back facing the door. Her heart breaking when she heard him leaving saying a quiet ‘I love you’ before he shut the door.