For My Lucy

Oliver awoke Christmas day far too early for his own liking. His eyelids were closed, trying to guard his hazel-green eyes from the penetrating sunlight. He flopped around numerous times, trying to resituate himself in a more comfortable manner. He even almost smothered himself, wrapping his arm around his pillow and pushing down on his face. Oliver groaned aloud in the unsatisfactory of being incapable of falling back to sleep. He rolled to the side of his bed, flung his legs out from the warmth of his blanket, and begun his Christmas day.

Lucytania wish she had gotten at least a little bit more sleep, but right after Tom had fallen asleep, he kicked her a couple of times and pushed her to the very edge of his bed. Obviously, he hadn’t ever shared a bed with someone before or was just a flat out bed hog in general. She shoved Tom with all her might in hopes of him rolling over ever so slightly, but he didn’t budge a centimetre. Although she was irritated and tired, Lucytania stumped out of Tom’s bed.

She glanced at herself as she was walking out of Tom’s bedroom. Her hair flew and stuck out in all different directions like branches on a tree. She groaned silently and progressed to the ground floor of the house for a cup of tea or something to wake her up even more than she already was, fixing her hair on the way down. She crawled down the two flights of steps. Music of a band she never heard of filled the air slowly around her.

The music grew louder as she reached her destination, the kitchen. Oliver picked up his spoonful of cereal and opened his mouth, continuing to eat like no one was in the room. He didn’t even notice Lucytania’s presence in the room. She stood still for a moment grasping her nerves, which already controlled her actions partially. Her nerves exacerbated her for nearly the last time, and she wanted to control what she did, not her nerves.

Lucytania inhaled so deeply that someone would have thought that she would have passed out from the amount of air she took in. She marched in the direction of the kitchen from the hallway. Oliver didn’t notice her one bit, but he openly gawked at nothing at all after he had finished his bowl of cereal. Now, this made Lucytania concerned with Oliver’s well being because of the strained expression on his countenance. “’Ey, Olleh.” She leaned over into his view. He shook himself back to reality, and his eyes came into focus on Lucytania. “Yeh all right, mate?”

He exhaled deeply and shrugged his shoulders. Oliver knew that he was just tired for that day and he didn’t really want to do anything to extravagant like his family would like Christmas dinner and gift opening.

“’M all righ’ fer righ’ now. Just tired, that’s it.” She sat down across from him. Both were in an awkward silence after he finished his sentence. “Do yeh wanna go get some coffee or somethin’?” Oliver knew he needed to get to know Lucytania, his little brother’s love interest.

Even though Tom didn’t need Oliver’s approval on who he dated and who he didn’t, he wanted to get to know Lucytania because he knew that Tom was in it for the long run this time. Tom wouldn’t have tried so hard if he just wanted to hook up and then drop her the next moment. Lucy shook her head in acceptance to Oliver’s offer.

“Okay. I just need time to get dressed.” Oliver wasn’t going to lie to himself. He was shocked that Lucytania even thought of accepting. He smiled softly at her and proceeded to signal the way for her to Tom’s bedroom, so she could dress herself. She skipped back up the steps and glanced at herself in the mirror.

She had a lot of work to do before she could even go downstairs to face Oliver again. She wasn’t sure how she managed the first time looking how she did. Her hair was still everywhere and completely untamed. Her pajamas didn’t even match, but that’s how her night time outfits usually were, mismatched.

Her cheeks flushed florescent red as she uncontrollably thought of what Oliver would have been thinking when he saw her. She snuck back into Tom’s bedroom where he continued to sleep the day away, although it still was early morning. She rounded up her clothes for the day and crept into Tom’s personal “attic” bathroom that resided next to his bedroom in the attic. She stripped herself of her clothes from the night before and eased her fresh outfit on slowly.

She thought that putting her normal make up on would have been worthless, so she splattered and rubbed in her foundation, and then she swished through her eyelashes with some mascara. Lucytania felt the end to her beauty session coming to a close, as she eased her comb under some running water, and slicked it through her hair, and ruffled her hair to help it fall into place. She smiled with contentment in the mirror with the success of her make over, replacing her natural ugly face with her beautiful made over face.

Lucytania crept back out to Tom’s room while he was still sleeping soundly. His body lay across the bed upside down with his head at the foot of the bed. He must have flopped around since she started her beauty journey in his bathroom. Her right hand grasped her purple cheetah purse as her left hand caressed Tom’s hair softly. She looked upon his peaceful state with loving eyes.

Lucytania just wanted to crawl back into bed with his unbelievably warm body and snuggle up against him with his arms wrapped around her. But alas this wasn’t permitted at this time since she had promised Oliver he could take her to coffee. She sighed hesitantly, thinking she might wake him if she made even the slightest noise. Lucytania leaned over and kissed his head as she hoisted her purse on her right shoulder. “Good-bye, love,” she whispered, “I’ll be back before yeh even know I was gone.” She kissed his head a second time and unwillingly pried herself away from his presence.

Lucytania crawled down the steps as she began to regret her decision on letting Oliver escort her to tea or coffee, whichever she preferred. She groaned, but it was barely audible, so she didn’t wake anyone up who were still asleep. The walk back to Oliver was the longest of Lucytania’s life. His presence always disturbed Lucytania, making her nerves uncontrollably jittery.

She chewed on her unchapped lower lip harshly as she witnessed Oliver walk back into the house shivering. “Just went out to warm up the car. We dun need teh freeze our arses off on Christmas!” He shot her a friendly smile. Oliver realized how nervous he made her at that point. He ambitiously wanted her to realize he wasn’t going to do anything to her. Dating his little brother wasn’t going to help the fact Oliver was going to be around, but they weren’t even dating. This was only the second time he has actually heard her voice. Her timidness was something she needed help to overcome.

“Are yeh ready, love? Tom’ll be ‘ere when weh get back. ‘E’s always been quite the heavy sleeper.” Tom failed to mention this to her yesterday before they went to bed. She shrugged it off and paved a path to Oliver’s car. “I’ll take that as a yes,” he said, following her to his own car.

She already climbed in and situated herself within the near SUV he had as a car. He climbed in himself and clicked the stereo on. The music of another band Lucytania had never heard of filled the air and empty space of the car softly. It was soothing to her, and she was shocked that Oliver would listen to it since Tom had shown her Oliver’s band over the course of the two months Oliver was gone.

“What’s this music, Olleh? ‘M kinda shocked yeh listen to it,” Lucytania asked him as she continuously listened intently to the lethargic song. She imagined that Oliver would listen to something much m ore fast-paced and aggressive like the music he creates. He was driving languidly like the tempo of the music.

He smiled at her while he turned onto the street with their destination. “It’s a band called Pink Floyd. They’re from ‘ere in England.” He attempted at being as friendly as he could be, so she didn’t have to feel like throwing up her guard. They arrived at the only coffee house that was open on Christmas day.

“It’s reallleh soothin’, Olleh,” she said to him, trying to keep things positive between the two individuals. Lucytania kept in mind that Oliver was going to be there when she hung out with Tom at his house. “Not gonna lie to yeh, Olleh, Tom talks about yeh all the time. ‘E really looks up to yeh.” Oliver wasn’t shocked that Tom talked very highly of him. They would always hang out together with Oliver’s band mates when Tom was home from school and Oliver’s band wasn’t at a show.

Lucytania and Oliver walked from the car, nearly freezing their bums off, to the glass front door of the coffee house. They walked in, and Oliver already seemed at home and comfortable. Lucytania finally felt comfortable. Her nerves calmed down, but her guard was still high up. She placed every word as carefully as she could in every single sentence she spoke. They sat down at a booth near the windo and the front door. As Lucytania scooted herself onto the one-person booth, she unraveled her scarf from her neck, yanked off her barret, and then sat her pleather purse on the ground.

Oliver pulled off his winter coat, exposing his outlined arm, full of different designs to be coloured by a precise tattoo artist. Oliver glanced at her, and something that gleamed in the sunlight caught his eye.

“That’s a realleh pretty necklace, Lucy. Didja get it fer Christmas?” Oliver asked her, causing her to blush slightly. Tom was talking to Oliver, when they got to talk while Oliver was touring, about how he bought Lucytania a necklace for Christmas. She looked down at her chest to remind herself of which necklace she wore today. It was the necklace Tom bought her for Christmas. She should have already known this since she hadn’t taken it off since he clipped it on. It was white gold, and a heart-shaped locket dangled from her neck. Lucytania blushed harsher because of her forget mind.

“Yeh. Tom bought it fer meh fer Christmas.” She didn’t look at it in detail yet. She hadn’t the time.

“Well… Tom describe it to meh. It’s a real great necklace from what he’s told meh. Have yeh looked at it yet?” He asked her as he stood awkwardly by the table.

“I ‘aven’t ‘ad the time yet, but with what I was, it’s beautiful.”

Oliver nodded at her Lucytania’s voice was proper sweet in his ears. He gave Lucytania a good look before he continued with what he was thinking before he asked about the necklace. “Uh…what do yeh want to drink? And yeh might wanna open the locket.”

Lucytania grasped on the heart as she formed the next sentence that she wanted to say in her mind. “Oh. Uhm… I want a French cappuccino, please.” She paused before continuing. “Thank yeh, Olleh. Yanno fer treain’ meh to a cup of coffee t’day. I realleh appreciate it.” Lucytania continued to thank Oliver heavily for this treat when the only reason he took her out for coffee was to make her less nervous around him since he was now home and she was always at the Sykes’ residence.

While Oliver was on tour and every time Tom called, Tom seemed so happy. It was almost unreal to Oliver since he’s never seen his little brother so keen on one girl to be in a real committed relationship with. Oliver left Lucytania to her peace for a few minutes while he ordered the drinks.

As Oliver walked away, Lucytania exhaled her held-breath which she swore she had been holding for a lifetime. She tugged at the locket, pulling it out as far as she could without breaking it. The first thing she decided to do was to open the locket. She pried the two pieces apart and could feel the tears well up in her eyes. The first picture was of her family. It was the only picture there was of her mum, dad, little sister, and her. It was taken about two years or so after Chastity was born a premature baby.

Just knowing that Tom knew Lucytania never gets to see her family as a whole shocked her. She gasped at the picture. It was just hard to believe he thought of something like that for her. Her eyes fluttered to the next side of her new locket which was a picture of Tom and her that was taken not too long ago. She was wearing her favourite sweater and bit the sleeve of it. Tom was being silly, and Lucytania remember that she bit the sleeve to try and contain her giggles.

She snapped it shut and felt and engraving on the back. She flipped over the locket and read probably one of the sweetest things someone had ever said to her metaphorically. More tears welled up in her eyes. Tom always outdid himself. Sometimes she thinks he’s trying to hard since he already had won her over. Lucytania knew that she wouldn’t had hung out with him all these times if he was only in it for the bonk.

Oliver had already ordered and paid for the coffees. He was now just waiting for them. He occasionally glanced over at Lucytania, who sat peacefully at their chosen table. She was a very pretty girl, not like most girls Tom would go after though. He would normally chase after the bleach blond beach type girl.

Oliver wasn’t going to lie to himself and say he wasn’t shocked because he absolutely was. He wasn’t exactly sure what made Tom have the sudden switch in love interest, but it didn’t concern him much. As long as Tom as happy, Oliver was content. He picked up the drinks, nearly burning his hands in the process, and progressed a path to Lucytania and the table. “’ere yeh go, love,” the friendliness didn’t even have to be forced out anymore from Oliver. It was like second nature to him now. “Drink up.” She giggled at Oliver’s attempt to be funny.

“Seriously, Olleh, thank yeh. Yeh didn’t ‘ave teh do this,” She whispered to him between sipping on the extremely hot cup of coffee. Oliver was almost annoyed with how much she was thanking him, not like he wanted to though. He nodded his head again and took a sip of what he ordered. His black coffee tasted bitter, just like he liked it.

“So ‘ow do yeh like yer coffee? ‘ope I got the right thing er yeh.” Oliver mentioned, creating small talk with his brother’s girl. She was in the midsts of taking a sip, so she flashed him a thumbs up with her free hand. Oliver sighed with relief. He wasn’t sure if he bought her the right drink, but inevitably, he did. “Tom really ‘oped yeh liked the necklace ‘e bought yeh fer Christmas.”

Lucytania smiled at Oliver and said, “Of, course. I love it. It’s the first Christmas gift I’ve received in a long time, not gonna lie to yeh.” She shook her head quickly and spat out, “Don’t tell Tom that. ‘M actually scared of what ‘e might do if ‘e found that out.” Oliver chucked out loud to her. “’E does so much fer meh and proper babies meh a lot.” Lucytania blushed at the thought of how Tom treats her. He treats her like golden. She hasn’t ever seen Tom treat a lady like he treats her. It was proper astounding to her.

Oliver looked down at his coffee and then back up at Lucytania. Tom was taking things he saw his brother do and put them at work for himself, and they worked on Lucytania like a charm. “’Ve neveh ‘ear a girl say that about meh brotheh, not gonna lie to yeh, love.” Certainly, Oliver noticed how comfortable Lucytania became with his presence. He knew from the time he had first laid eyes on her that she was delicate and needed someone to be painfully nice to her to let her adjust. “’E’s always said good things about yeh when we talked. It seemed like yeh changed ‘im for the better!” Oliver exclaimed, drawing a little more attention to them than necessary. Lucytania instantly covered her face. She despised the public attention.

The Sykes brothers always made her embarrassed in some way, but this type of embarrassment was like the kind that would happen in an eighties high school movie. “Oh, c’mon, love. Yeh know yeh did, and yeh ‘ave to admit yer happeh about it.” Oliver nudged her, jokingly. She giggled slightly as she reached for her coffee and took a few more sips.

“’E neveh ceases to amaze meh, Olleh. ‘E’s amazin’. What else can I say?” Lucytania admitted. She adored Tom and everything about him. People at school knew that Lucytania had a hook on Tom Sykes, a grasp not easily broken since it was created by Tom Sykes himself. “’E does so much fer meh and neveh expects anythin’ back. I appreciate ‘im so much.” Lucytania opened up to Oliver.

“’E’s such a doll to yeh. ‘Ey, now that yer gonna be around a lot more, yeh’ll ‘ave teh get used to the guys. They ain’t bad, just a bit mischievous at times!” Oliver said, finishing up his coffee. He grinned idiotically at her as she giggled more.

“I guess yer right on that one unless Tom doesn’t want meh around anymore.” Lucytania whispered, kicking in her pessimistic attitude to their conversation. Oliver’s eyes shot open faster than a lightning bolt could strike the ground.

“’E does! Don’t think like that, love. ‘E would’ve given up by now if ‘e didn’t want yeh fer real.” Oliver helped boost her confidence in Tom more. He didn’t want her thinking that Tom didn’t want her because even if Tom didn’t after a while, Oliver would still be there to be her pal. “Trust meh, I know meh brotheh.” He shot a smile in her direction as she giggled. She shrugged her shoulders. Oliver pulled his phone from his left pocket and checked the time. 10:48 AM. Tom would be awake by now.

“We might wanna ‘urry up, ‘cause Tom might be up by now!” As he said that, he finally saw how much Tom meant to her because her eyes gleamed brightly as she heard that Tom might be awake. She sipped her coffee more often, listening to Oliver chatter about his band and their girlfriends and how they’ll love her. She finally had finished her cup and took a hold of her purse. Oliver jumped up from his seat as Lucytania situated her barret on her head and wrapped her scarf around her neck. Oliver’s phone started to vibrate loudly in his hand. He pulled it to his face and clicked the send button. “’Ey, Tommeh. Dun worreh. I ‘ave ‘er. She didn’t leave yeh.” Oliver said, assuming that’s what he called about.

He heard Tom sigh in relief, “Take good care of ‘er fer meh. See yeh when yeh two get ‘ome.”