Apology Accepted

“Sam, are yeh ready yet?” I asked, knocking on the bathroom door.

I heard her meek reply and stepped away from the door, making my way across the living room and leaning against the front door as I waited even longer for her to emerge from the bathroom. Suddenly, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and clicked answer before looking at who the call was from.

“’Ello?”

“’Ey Matt, how the ‘ell are yeh?” Tom yelled, over loud music.

“Brill. Why’re yeh callin’?”

“Olleh wants teh know where yeh are.”

“I’m at meh ‘ouse.”

“Well, what the ‘eck are yeh waitin’ for? Get over ‘ere.”

He had no idea what I was waiting for. None at all.

“I’m comin’. Are yeh at yer ‘ouse?”

“Yeah, mum and dad decided to leave fer the night, so we just decided teh ‘ave the party ‘ere.”

I rolled my eyes, wondering why in the hell Carol and Ian chose to ignore absolutely everything when they know for a fact their two sons were the most irresponsible pair of kids in Sheffield, and they continued to leave them alone together. And why were they gone on Oliver’s birthday?

“Why aren’t they there fer Olleh’s birthday?”

“I dunno. They ‘ad some wine tastin’ thing, er somethin’. Just get over ‘ere!”

He quickly hung up the phone and almost at the same time, Sam emerged from the bathroom. She had on a pair of jeans that hugged her tightly, and a long sleeve black t shirt with an UnderOATH t shirt pulled on top of it. Her now black hair was pin straight and hung only an inch past her shoulders. Her blue eyes were outlined in black eye liner and she looked scared.

She was fully clothed; and she would be lucky to get within a ten foot radius of Oli.

“Oi Sam,” I smiled, “Yeh look nice.”

Her face fell pale quickly as she mentioned she didn’t feel well.

“It’s only yer nerves. Come on.”

-------------

I pulled my car against Oliver’s curb, surprised there was any room left. There were cars lined up and down the street, some familiar and some I’d never seen before. I turned the car off and turned towards Sam whose eyes had gone wide and her face had lost more color than I ever thought possible. She watched as two girls walked in front of my car to get on the sidewalk.

Dressed in short skirts, high heels, and small shirts, they were ready to get a jolly good rogering from Oli if they asked for one.

“They’re sure asking for it.” Sam mumbled.

I only nodded. I’d gotten used to it after being around Oliver for the last three months. This is how he lives his life. Drunk and inside the dark cavern of someone’s crab infested twat. I shook my head, removing the image from my brain and pulled open my car door, looking towards Sam who had started to do the same.

I waited on the sidewalk for her and she quickly made her way over. She stopped and stared at the Sykes’ household. It was a big house, decorated nicely for the Autumn, almost Winter season. It was intimidating at a first glance, very classy with nice glass windows, expensive cars sitting in the driveway and a big, red door complete with a knocker and all.

Suddenly, she doubled over and I reached out to help her, thinking she’d slipped when I realized she was throwing up. Her food landed on the sidewalk, making a sick splattering noise and a gross puddle began to freeze to the sidewalk. She wiped her mouth and looked up at me, tears glistening in her eyes before she leaned over and proceeded to rid herself of anything else left in her stomach.

I rested a comforting hand on her back, and she finally stood up.

“I need to leave Matt. I can’t do this. Will you please take me back to your place?”

“Oh no, yeh are gonna go in that ‘ouse and yeh’re gonna talk teh Olleh. Yeh didn’t come all the way out ‘ere teh yack on his sidewalk and go back to America.”

She looked up at me, tears now streaming against her cold face and she let out a low breath, her voice reeking of stale food and vomit and she sniffed loudly, “I can’t do this tonight. I’m not kidding.”

I sighed loudly and pulled a piece of gum from my pocket, “I ain’t kiddin’ either Sam. Put this in yeh’re mouth and get in that ‘ouse,” I grabbed her hand, “Look I’ll even go with yeh. Trust meh, it ain’t that ‘orrible once yeh get inside.”

She pulled her hand roughly away from me, chewing vigorously on the gum, “You don’t understand. I can’t do-”

“Oi! Matt!” Tom ran up and embraced me in a hug, “’Ow the ‘ell are yeh? Yeh took forever.” He glanced quickly towards Sam and grinned, “I see why yeh took so long.”

“Yeah,” I grinned saying quietly, “She’s a bit nervous teh meet Oliver.”

“I thought every girl in Sheffield already knew ‘im.” Tom mumbled, “Well, let’s go an’ find that bugger.”

Tom quickly turned around and Sam shot me an alarming look. I bent down close to her and whispered quickly in her ear.

“That’s Tom.” I said quickly, “’Es Olleh’s brother. ‘E ain’t too fond of yeh, fer reasons no one knows. Don’t yeh dare open yer mouth. Let meh do all the talkin’ till we find Oliver. Then it’s all yeh. Got it?”

She nodded quickly, scared to even keep her face above ground. I watched as she stepped behind Tom into the house, the lights were on and you could plainly see everything in front of you. There was no one hiding in a dark corner, there was nothing to hide. Everyone was clearly dancing to what they wanted, how they wanted, with who they wanted. Cigarettes hung between people’s lips and plastic cups were gripped in everyone’s hands.

I worked around the crowd, making sure to keep a firm grip on Sam as she maneuvered her way through all of the people. Girls glared in her presence, thinking that they were all here for the same thing tonight; but not realizing that Sam was here for something entirely different, and unlike them, she may be the only one here who is willing to work for it. I looked down at Sam, who looked like she was about to puke again. Her eyes had gone wide and her face had fell extremely pale, almost a sickly green as Oliver’s voice leaked over to where we were. I felt her small hand grip my wrist tightly, and she dug her nails into my skin.

I sympathized for her. She was terrified of seeing Oliver again, knowing that whatever state he happened to be in, it wasn’t good, and it was all her fault. Oli’s voice boomed from the kitchen, loud and slurred, with just a tint of his harsh voice, courtesy of his sudden chain-smoking habit.

Tom turned around and grinned at Sam, winking at her. She returned a soft smile back and Tom’s gaze averted to mine, he shook his head, signaling to me that Sam wasn’t going to do as good as the rest of the girls here tonight.

But what Tom didn’t notice is that this wasn’t just any girl. This was Sam, the one from the States, that changed Oliver, and made him feel things he wasn’t used to feeling. This was the Sam that had Oliver hating himself for weeks. This was the Sam that made Oliver, and then destroyed him.

This was the Sam that Tom loathed, only because Oliver wasn’t as big a piece of shit that he used to be.

Tom worked hard to get him back to his old self, and Sam was here to destroy it.

“Oi Olleh,” Tom yelled over the voices of three birds, “I’ve got someone fer yeh teh meet.”

I felt Sam’s hand start to shake against my wrist and she leaned against me, her face still directed towards the ground, and she chewed her gum furiously. I looked over at Tom, who had only a look of amusement on his face, thinking he was going to embarrass this poor British bird, and get Oli one more step closer to completely trashing his life.

Tom took pride in ruining things for Oliver. He wanted Oli to become a drunk mess with unexplainable diseases. It was only before long that he started to really hurt Oliver and get him into drugs and other things he need not be involved in.

Only, at this moment he had absolutely no idea that he was reuniting Oliver with the one thing that Tom hates most. And he was doing it gladly.

Oliver looked over at the sound of Tom’s voice and urged him to leave, as he already had three birds chirping at him excitedly. But, Tom, only getting pleasure from seeing someone else fail; in this case that someone being Sam, who in his eyes just so happened to be a shy British girl; was not going to pass this up. He continuously bothered Oliver for a couple of minutes before Oliver so rudely interrupted one of the girls he wasn’t listening to and broke through the small group to talk to us.

“What the fuck do yeh want?” He bellowed loudly, the alcohol he had already consumed dripping from every word that managed to slip between his drunken lips.

I quickly cut Tom off before he was able to introduce Sam too soon and I looked Oli straight in the eyes, “I need teh tell yeh somethin’.”

And although Oli was clearly sloshed, he saw the girl standing next to me, her head bowed, only the top of her bangs showing and shot me a suspicious look, pointing in her direction with his plastic cup as if to ask, ‘Is it about ‘er?’

I simply nodded and Oliver handed his cup off to Tom, his face set gravely in stone. I watched as he replayed scenes in his head from the last few weeks, wondering what the hell he might have done. I mentally laughed upon the thought of him wondering if he had accidentally gotten this girl pregnant, or something of the sort had happened, when I was only reintroducing him to the one thing that had made him happy.

We quickly walked down the hallway, Sam’s terrified hand still clutching my wrist and we came to Oliver’s door. He pushed it open and I shoved Sam in, prying her away from my arm. I flicked on the light and leaned over to talk in Sam’s ear.

“Get teh talkin’.”

I closed the door and walked off, too anxious to wonder what was happening. Either this was going to go amazingly well, or horribly bad.

I made my way back into the living room where everyone else had continued to party, most of the girls wondering where the fuck Oliver had just been taken, but not worried enough about it to care. I made my way over to the table and picked up a bottle of Jack Daniels and had just started to pour myself a drink when I heard Oliver’s door fly open and crack against the wall.

No one noticed the noise until Oli had started to scream. He wasn’t yelling, he wasn’t joking. He was pissed off and he was screaming.

The radio was turned down. The talking had droned out to a zero, and everyone’s eyes, no matter they couldn’t see what was going on, had been averted towards the hallway.

“Who do yeh think yeh are?! Runnin’ away from meh and actin’ like I don’t matter, ignorin’ meh fer three months and then yeh just come stormin’ in meh ‘ouse!? Are yeh off yer damn trolleh?”

I watched as Sam emerged from the hallway, her head in her hands, and Oliver was trailing close behind her.

“I ‘ate yeh. Yeh just acted like I meant nothin’ teh yeh an’ then yeh expect me to listen to yer sob story?! Piss off!” He screamed loudly.

I watched as Sam brought her head up, in search of the door and she caught my eyes, her face covered in tears and smeared make up, and she quickly placed her hand on the door knob, twisting it roughly.

Oliver grabbed her by the back of the arm, “Yeh’re so good at ignorin’ meh Sam, now aren’t yeh? Yeh’re just gonna run back again, huh?”

“Fuck you!” She screamed loudly, tearing away from Oli’s grip and throwing herself out into the snow.

Oli turned and looked at me across from the room. I set down the Jack on the table with the cup next to it and looked back in his direction.

“Great fuckin’ birthday present Matt.” He sneered.