Flash of Violet

Tom sighed loudly as he heard Oli finally roll out of bed. He glanced at the clock on his Mac, reading 11:13 AM. A whole two hours earlier than yesterday. He rubbed his eyes, as he'd been up until four in the morning, only waking up five hours after he'd managed to pass out on the couch. His back ached slightly and his eyes still felt heavy, like he could sleep for days. Tom had a bed at Oli's, he should sleep in it. But, he just couldn't bring himself to do so. More so, he couldn't bring himself to sleep in his brother's flat. He'd stay up all hours of the night, on his lap top, wasting his time playing some stupid game or laughing at things people told him over his tumblr. Sometimes, he'd pass out on his lap top, or with it sitting in his lap. He'd wake up, wipe off the screen, get up, and go to the bathroom. Sometimes, he'd attempt sleeping in his room, but then he'd just end up on the couch. It was no use, he couldn't sleep.

Oli's door creaked open and the bathroom light clicked on, along with the fan. Tom snickered slightly as he heard Oli turn both of them off, curse under his breath, and then turn on only the light. Tom pushed his lap top onto the table and stretched, groaning a little bit.

"Aye Tom? Yeh dressed?" Oli asked, as he started pissing.

Tom looked down at his attire, contemplating on answering his brother's question, "Yeah, why?"

"I need yeh teh go buy some stuff fer teh party tonight."

"Are yeh kiddin' Ols? We just 'ad one a couple weeks ago an' yeh're place was trashed!"

He walked out of the bathroom, scratching himself and yawning, "It's 'alloween Tom, come on now."

Tom glanced at his computer and sure enough, it was 10/31/10. He rolled his eyes, not wanting to deal with the mess everyone was going to leave, "Can't we go trick er treatin' er somethin'?"

"Tom, 'm twenty three and yer twenty one."

"'M sick of parties, though." He whined. Tom wasn't necessarily sick of parties, he was just sick of Oliver being drunk. He knew that party or not; Oli was still going to get hammered. But at least if there was no party, he wouldn’t be able to make an arse out of himself in front of anyone but Tom. When he drank alone, he usually hid in his room, playing Call of Duty until he passed out.

"'M sick of yeh whinin!" Oli snapped, "Get off the couch and take a god damn shower so yeh can get goin', fer fuck's sake."

"Sod off." Tom mumbled, getting up, "Just 'cause yeh an' Amanda split up don't give yeh an excuse teh be drunk all the time."

Oli shoved him slightly, almost knocking Tom's tea over his lap top, "Why're yeh still talkin' 'bout that?" He yelled angrily.

"Watch it yeh bloke! Yeh almost knocked tea on meh computer!"

"Get if off meh fuckin' table then!"

"Aye, yeh're a right arse, yeh know that?"

"Yeh're an idiot Tom." Oliver said with so much hate in his voice, Tom was pretty sure he'd shrunk about ten sizes.

Tom didn't know anyone who could make him feel as horrible as Oli did. And Oliver never ceased to amaze him, some of the things he came up with.

Tom looked up at his older brother. Or at least, the remnants of his older brother. Oli used to be so happy all of the time. Never irritable. He was always laughing at something or making a light hearted joke about someone. He never used to get angry over stupid shit and he was the first one to apologize if he did. That was long gone, though. Amanda took a lot when she left Oliver, a lot being him.

Tom quickly picked up his computer and walked into his bedroom, placing it on his bed. He looked around the room and sighed sadly. The walls were bare, the sheets were new, the carpet was stain free. It wasn't home. He wanted to live with his mum and dad. He didn't like living with Oli. It'd been two weeks and he hadn't changed his mind, he still wanted to leave. But, he promised his mum he'd stay, just because the family was worried about Oli. They knew he was going insane because Amanda had left him. They knew it wasn't his fault. Anyone with slight feelings and a fucking brain could see that it wasn't his fault Amanda had left. No one understood why she left. Oli treated her right. He took her out, he bought her dinner, he showed her off to everyone, he genuinely loved her. But that didn't matter anymore. She was gone and that was that.

Oliver's mum and dad knew that Oli wasn't living how he should be. And they also knew that he thought he didn't need them. So, Carol thought what Oli needed was Tom. She thought he needed someone around to keep Oli company, to make sure he was doing all right. What Oli really needed was rehab, but Tom wasn't about to tell his mum and dad that.

He wasn't about to tell anyone that.

What Tom was about to do was get a change of clothes, take a shower, get Oli's money from the kitchen table, and do what Oli told him to.

Because that's what Tom did. He did what people told him to do. He left his bedroom, his home, where he lived for nineteen years to go live with his idiot brother, because his mum had told him to. He went out and ran errands for Oliver, cleaned his house, and made sure mum and dad thought he was doing all right, because that's what Oli told him to do.