Save Me.

It used to feel so fucking perfect.

“Didn’t think I’d see you ‘ere” Mattie smiled at Georgia’s tired face. He hadn’t seen her in about a week and in that short amount of time she had managed to waste away just a little more.

Georgia said nothing. Just smiled a little at him while Ali stood by her side doing all her explaining for her. She jumped a little when Tom placed his hand on her leg, the unsettled feeling still present on her face.

The bar that they were currently residing in was packed to bursting point with all of the Drop Dead team plus a few extra guests. Georgia wasn’t quite sure how Alexa had managed to talk her in to going along to the end of year party but what she was sure of that she was going to dread the entire thing.

“If you want to go we can” Tom whispered into her ear giving her goose bumps. Tom had this strange power over her that he wasn’t even aware of. Georgia herself hadn’t even been aware of it until very recently.

“Yeah, we can sit up and play x-box” Ali smiled over to them. He had successfully gotten rid of Matt and turned back to his friends. Ali let his attention fall equally across the two sat in front of him. Tom and Georgia had always been his best friends, the three the closest out of team Architects. It was the only relationship he had never truly worried about.

Georgia forced a smile at Ali. She wasn’t prepared for any of this. All she wanted to do was go back home and curl up in bed.

Except she wasn’t completely sure where ‘home’ was. She’d thought countless times about going back to her parent’s house. But she didn’t want to be a burden to them. She had been for the first eighteen years of her life and now she was supposed to be an adult. Plus going back to Brighton wouldn’t exactly help her restarting her career.

All her friends had living arrangements that she didn’t want to impose on. Either living with each other or with their significant other half’s. It wouldn’t exactly be convenient if she just appeared on their doorstep one evening searching for accommodation. Her second thought was to go back to stay with Ali and her brother. But she couldn’t rely on Sam to take care of her forever.

A couple of times she had found herself outside her flat after dragging herself out of Tom’s spare room. It was an instinct that had been built up over the last couple of years. Each time she would leave the flat for whatever reason she would always take the same route back. Except it wasn’t her home anymore, it was Oliver’s.

Oliver had seen her once sitting in the beat-up old Volkswagen behind the wheel. He had watched her as she sat there not focusing on anything. He wanted her to leave the car and return home to him. She never did.

Tom was the first person that she thought of after Oliver left. She hadn’t really even thought of him. Her mind had shut off while her body just went to him. He assured her she was welcome for as long as she wanted. She wasn’t sure. Eventually he’d find himself a girl and he’d want rid of her. That was just common knowledge. According to Georgia anyway.

The three friends were joined by the eldest Carter child. Sam stood beside Ail looking down at his sister. She resembled a mannequin you’d see in a shop window, skin and bones covered with leggings with one of Tom’s t-shirts draped over her, hair pulled away from her face with an elastic hair band that had an oversized flower on top.

“Tommy and Alexa are looking for you” Sam sighed towards Georgia. She only nodded her head in acknowledgment. Tom took hold of her hand as Sam walked away back into the crowd. He couldn’t stand to be near his sister anymore.

Ali took a seat next to Georgia, resting his back against the bar as he let his eyes wander around the crowd. Girls all dolled up while the guys were dressed smartly. It was strange for Ali to witness his friends this calm and demure. At any other party there would have been fights and some sort of visit to the local hospital by now.

He did a double take on a group of girls standing with Alexa. He recognized one of them. The tall blond haired girl. More dressed up than anyone else he had seen all night, face full of make-up and her best clothes, set to impress. There was something about her sparkling green eyes that made him uneasy.

Georgia’s heart stopped when she spotted Oliver across the room for her. With a beer in his hand, he was stood next to his brother as he no doubt blabbered away, while he himself looked emotionless staring blankly at her. She hadn’t seen him since he left her. Hadn’t heard from him either. If she was being honest, she didn’t want to.

Georgia stood up from her seat, mumbling that she had to go to the toilet when Tom wouldn’t let go of her hand, and walked quickly through the crowd, hand placed protectively over her stomach.

“I think we should take her home” Dan scared both his twin and Ali when he spoke. Neither had seen him coming as they were focused on Georgia. The two males looked to Dan while he kept his eyes on the direction that Georgia had run off in. “Mattie was saying Oli wants to talk to her”

“He’s a little too late for that” Tom spat. He was sick of everyone trying to give Oliver a chance. In his eyes Oliver had done worse than worse and didn’t even deserve to be near Georgia never mind being able to talk to her. Even Thomas had been starting to try and convince Georgia into meeting him.

Dan said nothing, just rolled his eyes at Tom.

*****

Georgia had been gone for twenty minutes and the Architects boys were worried.

Ali sat silently his eyes darting around the room in search of the petit blonde. Dan and Sam had ventured out into the crowds to search for her. Tom sat at the bar mumbling over and over that something must have happened to her while Tim, being the only rational one, tried to calm him down.

Truth was Tim had already seen her. After receiving a text from a distraught Sam, he had headed over to the group. He had passed Georgia on his way. The only reason he hadn’t mentioned to anyone was because she was with Oliver. No one needed to add fuel to the fire on that situation.

Ali spotted Georgia when a group of girls he didn’t recognize moved out of his line of vision. He wasn’t sure how he felt when he seen Oliver beside her. Over the last couple of weeks he had gotten used to seeing them apart. It was as if Tom had taken over Oliver’s place on Georgia’s arm. The two seemed to be switching around like a fashion accessory.

Deciding not to say anything to cause Tom to start a fight, Ali sat quietly watching the pair as they spoke. At least now he could see if anything was going to happen to her.

*****

Oliver towered over Georgia’s small frame. He always had done, although Georgia had never felt that uneasy under his gaze. She had glanced at his face quickly before turning her attention to her feet. He looked terrible. Pale white face, sunken in eyes, he hadn’t even bothered to style his hair properly.

Oliver wasn’t sure how he felt when he stood in front of Georgia. He had missed her but now that she was actually there he wasn’t sure that he felt anything. It didn’t even bother him that she was wearing Tom’s clothes.

His eyes avoided all contact with her stomach. It was the only thing about her that looked healthy. Everyone had told him how she seemed to be withering away but he hadn’t really believed them. Georgia was always the strong, independent person that would never let anyone affect her. And now she and wasted away down to skin and bones because of him.

“When did you find out about the baby?”

Oliver had been rehearsing over and over in his head about what to say to her. A million different ways he had come up with had never seemed the right thing. The appropriate thing. And now the words just seemed to falling from his lips. He always was at his best under extreme situations.

Georgia looked up to him catching his eyes. She wasn’t exactly sure how to answer him. She wasn’t exactly sure she wanted to answer him. If she walked away from him he would stop her. She wasn’t worried about that, she had seen Ali watching them, knew she was safe if he made her uncomfortable.

“We have to talk about this”

Something inside her snapped.

“If we have to talk about anything it’s whatever happened in Italy”

One look at Oliver’s face and she knew after this nothing would be the same again.

“Come on Ol’s. I’ve heard everyone whispering about you needing to talk to me. How it’s not fair that I don’t know. So tell me”

Oliver watched Georgia as she shook. Her eyes welled up a little once she stopped speaking. He wasn’t ready for this. He thought talking about the baby would help them get back together. Now he was having doubts about anything being able to get them back together.

“Just tell me. You’ve already managed to humiliate me in front of all my friends”

Everything seemed to slow down. Awkward silence. Hardly breathing. Neither moved. Not a single muscle.

“I slept with another girl”

Ali had never moved faster than when he seen Georgia’s face. He wasn’t even aware that he was capable of moving so fast. All worries of a fight starting had left his mind. Tom quickly caught on to Ali and followed him over, Tim hurrying behind.

A crowd gathered around the estranged couple quicker than anyone could have imagined, Sam and Dan shoving their way through to get to Georgia. The yelling and tussle of the boys trying to hit each other and hold each other back created a diversion for Georgia to sneak away from everyone. No one even noticed she had disappeared.

Leaving her jacket behind, stashed in a corner somewhere along with Ali’s, Georgia made her way into the cold Sheffield night. The bar was conveniently placed in the center of town underneath a darkened ally behind a row of shops. The type of ally available in all horribly predictable horror movies. Cobble stone floor that her heels made an obnoxious clicking sound on, dumpsters of rubbish causing her to dodge around them and almost collide with moss covered walls and puddles everywhere. She didn’t want to think for a second what the puddles were of.

She hadn’t every felt that way before. Even when she found out she was pregnant. Her world had crashed around her feet but she hadn’t felt like there was nothing left. She didn’t know what to do. Couldn’t understand why all this was happening. Her mother always told her that when she didn’t know what to do just to look inside and ask yourself what you really wanted. Never before had she done that and found absolutely nothing.

Rubbing her hands along her arms in order to warm her up a little, she jumped a little when her phone started raining. She didn’t want to talk to anyone. Didn’t care what anyone had to say.

“Sam I’m fine”

That was the last thing she said before her world went black.