I Can Taste the Failure

[Oliver]

“She’s been gone forever,” Oli groaned in irritation and dropped into the uncomfortable plastic seat next to Louise’s bed. “Fuck, I knew I should have followed her.”

Louise rolled her eyes behind her trash-talk magazine, “Don’t get your knickers in a twist, Sykes-” She had insisted upon calling Oliver by his last name since Curtis informed her of Chelsea and the way he supposedly ripped her best friends heart out. The bloody liar, Oliver thought in annoyance. “She’ll be back soon, don’t you worry.”

“Don’t worry,” he mocked her. “Bloody hell, Louise, your best mate just went off with a detective!”

“Honestly, you’re giving me a headache, Sykes.”

“Would you stop calling me that?”

“No,” she said stiffly. “She’s much too good for you, and that way she looks at you is… disgustingly hopeful. I’m sure you know what you’re doing, but she doesn’t.”

Disgustingly hopeful? Oliver didn’t know what to think about that.

He crossed his arms over his chest and sunk lower in the seat, sprawling his legs out while his lips turned down in a pout, “That’s bull, Louise, I don’t have one fuckin’ clue what I’m doing.”

Louise shrugged her shoulders, “Look, I get it. You care for her, yeah? Well, stop fucking with her so much. You’re just ruining your chances… Oliver.”

Oliver couldn’t help but let the tiniest victory smirk to overtake his lips, though his mind couldn’t focus on anything but the issues surrounding his life.

[Holley]

I threw my black sweater down on the chair in the corner of Louise’s hospital room, checking to see if Oliver was passed out on the chair next to her bed before yanking up the slipping black tank top covering my torso.

“’Bout time, Hol,” Louise said, closing a magazine and setting it on the table next to more than a dozen others. “Oliver was getting into a right state with you gone so long.”

I slumped into a chair opposite from Oliver and crossed my arms over my chest.

“Oliver was worried?”

“Completely, love. I must have sent him out for tea a thousand times just to get him out of the room.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose, “Lou, the doctor told you, no caffeine.”

“I’m not going to drop dead from a cup of caffeinated tea,” she said, rolling her pretty blue eyes.

“Drop dead. Bloody hell, Lou, you were poisoned! You did almost die.”

Louise ignored me, leaning foreword and hushing her voice as she said, “I was talking to Oliver, while you were gone. He wants us to move in with him until this whole poisoning business is over with. He insisted, in fact.”

I looked at my best friend, shocked.

“We can’t just move in with him. Louise, I mean… things aren’t exactly right between us right now.”

“Holley…?” Oliver mumbled, reaching up half-asleep to scratch his scrunched-up nose.

“Just think about it, Hol,” Louise said in a reasoning voice. “In the meantime, you and Oliver should probably go home and get some rest…” she shot a meaningful look at Oliver, who had sunk down into an uncomfortable looking position in his sleep, and was moving restlessly.

“Louise, I can’t leave you…”

“Holley James, seriously, go home and rest for awhile. I could use some rest myself. I sent everyone else home too,” Louise mumbled something under her breath then, which sounded awfully like, “I just want some bloody space.”

I sighed, “Fine, but you call me the second you need me.”

“Really, don’t count on it, sweetheart.”

I pulled myself out of the ugly plastic seat and sat down next to Oliver, whose hand flopped into my lap the second I poked him in the arm. “Oli,” I said, “Oliver, wake up,” I poked him again, and when that didn’t work, I picked his hand from out of my lap and slapped him in the face. His nose scrunched up and pulled back, frowning, confused. His brown eyes slowly fluttered open. “Ah,” I said, “so you’re alive.”

“Ha-ha,” Louise said from behind her trashy gossip magazine, having picked it up once again.

“I’m going to get cleaned up for a bit-” I shot a grin at Louise. “Lou here insisted. Would you like to come? You look like you could use a break.”

Oliver yawned widely, “’Course, yeah,” his gaze dropped down to our hands, still clutching each other in my lap. I opened my mouth for a second, staring into his eyes once his gaze returned from our hands. He smirked, “You all right there, love?”

I let go of his hand quickly, jumping to my feet and dusting off imaginary dirt clinging to my skirt. I strode over to my sweatshirt hanging off of a chair in the corner and looked up, only to meet Louise’s interested gaze. I rolled my eyes; she raised a thin eyebrow and her gaze flickered between Oliver and the blush on my cheeks. I narrowed my eyes at her and she grinned, sticking her tongue out at me.

I noticed Oliver staring at us with an amused expression and cleared my throat, “You coming, Oli? I’ll drive.”

Oliver and I called out our goodbyes to Louise- (“Goodbye, Lou.”) (“Bye, Louise.”) - and stepped out into the hall. My feet were still enclosed in tall, black heels, which were killing my feet as we found our way out of the hospital and out into the setting night. It was an extremely beautiful night; sunset spreading golden pinks across the sky, the sliver of the moon already visible, the familiar sound of crickets filling up the silence.

Oli stuffed his hands into his pockets as we made our way out to my little black car, ducking his head and training his eyes on his canvas sneakers.

“So, I actually wanted to talk to you, ‘olley.”

“Yeah?” I said, craning my head in order to find my car.

“I don’t… well, I talked to Louise about having the two of you move in with me for the time being, with everything that’s been going on lately.”

“I know, Lou told me while you were conked out.”

He looked at me hopefully, “And…?”

I blew my hair, shifted by the wind, out of my eyes and bent to unlock my car. I paused as a gentle hand closed around my wrist. I closed my eyes.

“I honestly… do not know, Oliver.”

“Holley,” my name, so soft on his lips, softer than I was used to hearing it, “Louise, she’s in trouble. Someone is after her. If you go back to your house, you’ll be all alone, and what if that same person decides to come back? You two wouldn’t stand a chance.”

My voice broke, “Oli, I’m so scared.”

Oliver wrapped his arms around me, drawing me against his body. I shivered involuntarily as he pressed his lips to my forehead. I rested my head in the crook of his neck, wrapping my arms around him tightly as a tear reluctantly trailed down my cheek.

“I know, love, I know you’re scared.”

“I don’t… I wish I knew who it was,” I said, clutching him tighter. “I’m so scared; what if he comes back?”

“I won’t let anything happen to you, Holley, or Louise. I swear to you, we will find who did this to Louise. I’ll go after him myself, if I have to.”

“Detective Webster, when he was talking to me, he told me… he told me he thinks it’s someone that knows her. That we know, Oliver. I don’t know… I feel like I’m suspecting everybody,” I said, pulling away so I could see Oliver’s face, gnawing at my protruding lower lip. “I keep going through who it could be, who could want to hurt Louise-” my voice broke again, and Oliver’s warm brown eyes swam before me as more tears pressed to leak down my cheeks. “But who would ever want to hurt her? Not her, not Lou. She’s the sweetest girl I know.”

Oliver pressed his lips to mine suddenly. He pulled back, resting his forehead against mine. His eyes, staring straight into mine, were the only things keeping me sane at that exact moment.

“Move in with me, Holley, please. Let me protect you.”

“Okay,” I whispered.

Oliver pressed his lips to mine again, closed his eyes, and said with an exhale of relief, “Okay.”