Hello Sheffield

“Oli, this isn’t exactly something just friends would do,” I panted, my hands running through his hair as his lips hunted along my neck. He chuckled and heat rushed through my body.

“We’re not exactly just friends, are we now love?” he said huskily in my ear. His tone, mixed with his accent was enough on its own to make me moan. That’s not even mentioning the way I felt.

With Oli’s body flush against mine and his lips on my skin, I could barely tell you what my name was let alone what country I was in. His hands roamed up and down the sides of my body and I leaned my head back, giving him better exposure to my neck. He bit softly at the skin, claiming a territory that wasn’t his.

If he kept up like this, he could have whatever he wanted.

“I guess not,” I managed to choke out, though it was more of a moan than anything else. He groaned and breathed heavily in my ear as my fingers tugged lightly on his hair. I bit my lip and smirked lightly, taking advantage of his weak spot and dragging my hands down his bare chest and lightly tracing the waist of his jeans.

“Fuck,” he hissed, “Yeh’re so fucking hot.”

I smirked heavier in satisfaction and flipped us over with surprising ease so that I was on top of him. He looked nearly as shocked as I felt about this new development but I kissed him quickly. His hands gripped my hips as I ground down onto him.

“You really think I’m hot?” I asked with a sugar sweet voice, teasing as I held my hips still. He groaned and ran his hands up my sides, leaving a trail of tingles under his tattooed fingertips. I bit my lip and kissed him again, his tongue invading my mouth this time.

I lost track of where hands were and whose body was whose. We were seamed together so perfectly that I truly couldn’t tell where mine ended and his began. I didn’t care. I was lost in him.

Within a moment I was on my back again, Oli between my legs. He was smirking down at me.

“I don’t think yeh’re hot, I know it baby,” he said, his voice taking on a softer tone as he kissed my cheek. He rocked his hips gently against mine and I felt this overwhelming need to have my pants off. Thunder sounded loudly from the dark window but we barely even noticed.

His mouth trailed down from my mouth, down my neck, between my breasts, and down toward the button of my jeans. I couldn’t handle another moment of this silently and moaned out a quick ‘fuck’ before curling my toes and throwing my head back. His tongue lightly floated over the very edge before he came back to kiss me.

I never felt like this before, never in my whole life.

After a long time, or maybe no time at all, he fell off of me and pulled me back into his bare chest, our skin touching. I felt his hard-on through both of our pant layers and I could barely even take laying silently next to him. He stroked my hip bones and kissed my bare shoulder lightly.

“I missed yeh,” he murmured quietly against my skin. He left goosebumps.

I sighed contentedly and settled back into him. He buried his face into my shoulder and breathed in deeply. It was such a peaceful moment that I never wanted to fall asleep, but all the stress from earlier was catching up with me. I drifted to sleep gently, no regrets on my mind.

When I woke up, the sun was shining through the window. Like the previous morning, it started out sunny in Sheffield. I turned over and Oli was gone. For half a moment I wondered whether it was a dream, but I knew it couldn’t have been.

I had a shirt on now and no jeans. I vaguely remembered going to the bathroom and changing my attire. I got up and stretched, glancing around the room. I ventured down the stairs to see Oli lounging on my couch in his boxers, eating granola and watching the news.

I rolled my eyes and sat next to him. He ignored me for a few minutes and I just watched him as he looked at the television. It was a quiet morning so far, just the news and soft mewing of Zeus from his corner.

“Go on and get dressed, we’re goin’ out,” Oli said, patting my knee. I raised an eyebrow and looked over at him. He looked at me and smiled widely. “Go on, we’re probably gonna be late anyway. It took yeh forever to get up.”

“Wait, where are we late to?” I asked.

“We’re pickin’ up Matt and his bird and then the two of us have a lil’ surprise for the two of yehs so get on upstairs and get ready.”

I wasn’t one to be averse to surprises so I bounced off of the couch and ran upstairs. I took a shower quickly and did my hair and makeup faster than that. It was sunny, but not quite warm enough for short sleeves, so I wore a plaid flannel over a plain v-neck and skinny jeans with moccasins.

“Oli, have you seen my purple beanie?” I yelled down the stairs, bouncing down them. He was standing at the bottom holding it. I smiled and grabbed it, placing it on my head. I kissed his cheek lightly.

“I fed Zeus for yeh and we just need to stop ‘round mine so I can shower and get dressed.”

My stomach dropped, worried about sitting around with Carol. She’d liked me the first time I’d met her but since then, a lot had happened. I wasn’t sure whether or not Tom would be home, and if she hated me, this could be a whole lot awkward.

Apparently, however, my fears had absolutely no basis. Normal mothers would probably hate me by now, but obviously Carol wasn’t a normal mother.

“Oh, my asshole of a son finally fixed everythin’ he mucked up then!” she exclaimed, pulling me into a hug when I stepped into the house. I hugged her back easily and chuckled.

“He can be sweet and maybe just a tad persuasive,” I explained.

“Are we talkin’ about my son Oliver? He can be sweet?”

Oliver sent her a dark, sullen look and then trotted up the stairs to shower. I talked to Carol for a little bit and then Tom walked in, looking incredulous at the sight of me within his household.

“Were yeh waitin’ to see me?” he asked hesitantly.

“Oi, Liv, do yeh want to eat somethin’ before we go?” Oli yelled as he flew down the stairs. Tom’s eyes bulged nearly out of his head as Oliver walked in and wrapped an arm around my waist. I smiled sheepishly.

“So yeh’ve made up then?” Tom asked quietly.

“No, I don’t really know what he’s talking about, I hate him and we’re not going anywhere together at all,” I answered sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

He grinned and shook his head. When he pulled out his phone, I knew our friends were finding out about how we’d made up.

“Don’t bother tellin’ Matty, he already knows. We’re surprisin’ Liv and Becca together,” he said. Tom glanced at me and then back at his phone.

“Surprisin’ em with what?” he asked, glancing up at Oli. When no sound came out, I looked up and saw Oli mouthing something to Tom, who looked thoroughly amused. I missed what he said though and pouted.

“Let’s go so I can find out!” I shrieked, pulling on Oli’s arm and thereby giving him the answer to his original question. I pulled him straight out the door and allowed him to drive to Matty’s while I fidgeted in the seat next to him.

“Have you ever met her?” I asked timidly.

“Who?”

“Matty’s bir—I mean, Becca.”

“Were yeh about to use English slang?” he asked excitedly, turning to look at me, “Holy shit, yeh were!”

“No, I wasn’t!” I defended and then I shrugged as I realized he would never take no for an answer. I let him gloat in happiness about his accent rubbing off on me and I stared moodily out the window. Finally he stopped and answered my question.

“I’ve met her once. She’s awfully nice and really funny. I think yeh’ll like her a lot and get along with her,” he said.

“Matty made it sound like she’s got the sun shining out of her ass.”

“I s’pose that’s how I sound when I talk about yeh as well,” he said, a sheepish smile on his face, “He is quite fond of her.”

My heart melted into a puddle and I smiled widely at him. I resisted the urge to lean over and kiss his cheek, opting to squeeze my own hands together in complete happiness. We pulled into Matty’s apartment complex and I got nervous.

The last time I’d made a new friend, she’d completely ruined everything for me.

Oli laced our fingers together as we walked down the hallway though, and I felt soothed to say the least. I wasn’t really sure what you would call us right now, not friends but not quite dating. In any case, him just holding my hand made me feel a lot better about meeting someone new.

Matty looked incredibly happy when he opened the door. He did the bro thing with Oli and hugged me in greeting. I heard Oli greeting Becca and then I timidly stepped into view to introduce myself.

“Hi, I’m Liv,” I said.

“It’s nice to meet you, I’m Becca and we’re gonna be best friends.”

She was unnervingly pretty. She had long, light hair and the most stunning eyes I’d ever seen in my whole life. They were bright blue with an almost navy ring around them. Her smile showed easily why Matty had gone after her in the first place. Her accent and easy-going personality made her seem genuine.

“Only if you tell me where we’re going,” I said, and she laughed.

“I wish I knew, but I seriously have no idea.”

Her outfit reflected mine, with skinny jeans, sneakers, and an All Time Low band shirt. I agreed with the best friend part. She seemed extremely easy to get along with and like an absolutely charming person.

“Damn, I thought Matty would have had mercy on you,” I said and she glanced over at him. He shook his head though, smirking.

“Nope, it’s a surprise and we really have to get goin’ if we want to meet him on time,” he said, glancing at his phone. Becca and I looked at each other and then at him. Silently, our brains were frying.

Matty draped an arm over her shoulders as they walked down the hall in front of us and she leaned into him. I smiled watching them, not minding the lack of physical contact between Oli and I.

“So yeh finally made up with him then?” Matty asked, turning to glance at me. I bit my lip.

“Yeah, he was there when I came in and he wouldn’t stop banging on my door. I was actually just concerned about my door’s welfare but he made a few valid points on why I should forgive him so, here we are.”

“I think I’m more important than yer damn door,” Oli protested obstinately.

“I beg to differ. Have you ever seen the lovely shade of green it is?”

Matty snorted as Becca barked out a laugh. Oliver just looked at me and raised an eyebrow before pulling me into him and laughing. We walked out to my car, which Matty claimed shotgun on, and piled in. We started driving and after ten minutes of shooting the shit, Becca started getting curious.

She would randomly spout out a drawn out, “Maaaaattyyyy?” to which he would reply, “Yes, baby?” to which she would ask, “Who are we going to see?” to which he would reply with a very ominous “You’ll see.”

Obviously, from the short time I’d known her, Becca wasn’t very patient. Not at all actually as she was starting to get frustrated once we hit the twenty-five minute mark.

“I will crack open the skulls of children if you don’t tell me. Think of the children Matt,” she said sternly and seriously. I looked at her with wide eyes before practically collapsing onto her in laughter. She would be my best friend, and it wouldn’t be a disaster.

Finally, after twenty-seven minutes of driving, we pulled up to a tall building that was labeled at the top in the large, black letters: Epitaph. Becca and I looked at each other with confused looks as we started mentally going through bands that could be signed to this label.

Oli and Matty got us through preliminaries like getting through security and on an elevator headed toward the tenth floor. We stood with our heads down at the floor, randomly spitting out artists like “New Found Glory!” or “Alesana!” to which the boys would just smirk and look away.

Eventually, the elevator stopped and the doors opened, revealing a real posh looking office space. Becca and I clung to each other as the boys led us down a hallway. There were seemingly recording studios on all sides of us.

“A good friend of ours asked me to do a little vocalizin’ for their new album and we decided it might be nice for yeh ladies to, erm, meet them,” Oli turned and explained to us, before pushing a glass door open.

We both peeked between the boys and snapped our heads back to look at each other. Sitting and drinking a coffee was Josh Franceschi. Matty and Oli greeted him before his eyes turned to us, and at that moment, I knew I was the luckiest girl in the whole entire world.

I mean, without meeting him I already was considering the whole ‘I’m friends with BMTH and canoodling with Oliver Sykes’ thing but this was almost too much to actually handle.

“Hi,” I barely squeaked out, Becca and I holding each other’s arms, “I’m Liv. This is—”

“Becca,” she said dryly, “I am Becca.”

“Hey, I’m Josh.”

“We know,” Becca and I said simultaneously before breaking down into laughter and thereby breaking the weird tension that had been in the room. They all laughed with us and eventually we ended up sitting on a couch in the corner of the room with Josh as Matty stood with the producer and Oli screamed in the box.

“So we’re like, the first fans to hear even a little bit off the new album then?” I asked casually, though internally I was screaming. I loved You Me At Six more than I loved BMTH, though we wouldn’t be sharing that information with any of those boys any time soon.

“Um, yes I suppose yeh are. Do me a favor and don’t tell anyone about Oli bein’ on the album,” he said, winking. My heart beat into overdrive as I crossed my heart with a finger.

“That’s a promise,” I said seriously.

“Yeah, pinky promise,” Becca said, offering up her pinky and then smirking at me over the physical contact. I shook my head and glanced over to see Matty staring at their linked fingers. I grinned at him and then winked before drawing Josh into some other conversation.

It took a long time for Oli to finally perfect whatever he was doing and that was fine by Becca and I, as we enjoyed talking to Josh almost too greatly. At one point our giggling became too flirtatious, according to Matty, who came over to let us know about it. Becca pouted and leaned up to kiss her overprotective boyfriend while I let out a very unnecessary,

“Oli technically hasn’t asked me out yet sooooo.”

For that, I got a snort from the producer and Becca and a dark look from Matty.

“Sheeshe, I was just kidding,” I said, putting my hands up. I turned to Josh, “They don’t know how to take a joke these people. It’s a real tragedy.”

Oli was wrapping up then, so Becca and I exchanged numbers with the lovely Mr. Franceschi and then hugged him. Actually, I hugged him twice but the first was initiated by him when I complimented his music in “one of the highest ways he’d ever heard,” according to him.

As we left, I wrapped an arm around Oli’s thin waist, to prove to Matt that I had really been just joking previously. He seemed happy that I’d grabbed for him and pulled me closer, if possible, pulling me into the elevator when the doors opened. Once the doors were shut and we were descending, Becca and I started screeching and chattering a mile a minute.

“Josh fucking Franceschi, what the fuck?” I said, shaking my head and then fixing my beanie. She shook her head, eyes wide.

“I don’t even think that just happened.”

“He’s so great in person you know?”

“Talented and incredibly nice,” she agreed.

“Yeh’d think we were just two shits they met at the store,” Oli said to Matty, shaking his head exasperatedly. I poked his side and looked up at him.

“I did meet you in a store,” I reminded him.

“Yeh’d think we were two normal, everyday shits they met while we worked at the store,” he amended, looking at Matty and just shaking his head. Becca and I laughed and rolled our eyes at their discreet jealousy.

In the car on the way back to Matty’s, Becca and I discussed bands we liked and came to realize that we loved the same bands and used the same phrases. By the time Becca got out of the car, we already had a sleepover at my house planned for the upcoming weekend.

Oli drove me home and we talked about little things that I’d liked about the day and how happy we were about finally talking and being friends again. When we reached the house he walked me up to the door.

“I have this promotional photo shoot now,” he said as I struggled with the key, “Yeh can come if yeh’d like.”

“Actually I need to go grocery shopping…again,” I said sheepishly, “And tomorrow is my first day of work so I should probably get some stuff done for that.”

“Ah well, that’s fine then,” he said, “I can’t hang out with yeh then tomorrow?”

“Well,” I started, the key finally working, “Mia’s dad gets home at four so anytime after that should probably be fine I guess. You could sleepover.”

The suggestion wasn’t meant as a friend type thing; I wanted to continue where we left off this morning. From the look in his eyes, it was obvious he wanted this too, and perhaps even regretted not being able to come in now. I smiled and he grinned down at me, taking my face in one hand.

“I’ll see yeh tomorrow at some time during the day,” he said softly, leaning down to press a kiss to my lips. Before he did I brought up my suggestion again.

“Or night, whichever,” I said, submitting to his kiss and then smiling once he backed away. I stepped into the doorway and watched as he walked down the road. Without doing anything else, I shut the door, scooped up my black kitten, and sat on the couch cuddling him.

Maybe we weren’t dating. Maybe we were friends. Maybe we were friends with benefits. What the fuck were we?