Selfish Machines

If there was one thing I hated more than the fact Tom snored after he drank too much, it was the first day of tour.

Tom and Oliver's mother was driving us to the bus in Manchester and I was already annoyed thinking about everything that was waiting for me at the venue. We had a day of rehearsals and then tour started and went for about two weeks.

And not only was I not looking forward to the first day of tour, but things had been weird between Tom and I. Which was never a good thing. I think I had surprised him by showing up at the store opening and sort of freaked out about how I had ignored him the day before. He had caused a slight scene and a few kids seemed to be rather intrigued to see the generally soft spoken Sykes brother blow up like that, but after a while he cooled down and I didn't really even bother to say much back to him. It was his brother's day after all, and I wasn't about to yell back and ruin that for Oliver. And besides, I knew the only reason Tom was so angry was because he thought I was trying to make him look bad.

But that hadn't been my intention. As a matter of fact, I wasn't even there for him. Because despite what Tom thought me showing up to the store opening made him look like a twat, I was supporting his brother. And yeah, maybe that did make him look like a shitty friend, because we both knew he wouldn't do the same. If we had fought the day before and I asked previously invited him somewhere, or we were both going to be at the same place, he wouldn't show. And we both knew I would. Because all of that petty bullshit didn't bother me nearly as much as it bothered him. Or so it seemed. I was just a lot better at hiding it than he was.

When we arrived in Manchester an hour later I hopped out of the car and walked around to the driver's seat to give Mrs. Sykes and hug and say good-bye before I grabbed my suitcase and began walking to Architects' tour bus.

"Well look who it is," Tim smiled when he saw me walk up the stairs.

"Hey Timmy," I sent him a small smile and gave him a quick hug as I passed him on my way to my bunk. "Where's everyone else?"

"Isn't it your job to be babysitter?" He asked.

I rolled my eyes, "Babysitting a bunch of twenty something rock stars, how did I get so lucky?"

"Better than bein' at Uni, I'm sure," he gave me a small smile.

"You know I'm kidding Tim," I grinned. "As much as you guys smell, there's no where I'd rather be."

"Well I know you'd rather be somewhere Tom wasn't, yeah?"

"How the fuck do you know that?" I raised an eyebrow. It wasn't that I was angry, rather just amazed. Those boys all gossiped more than any girls I had ever known.

"Ofher Tom told me," he said. "And Dan told him. And I fhink that Oli was the one who told Dan," Tim said slowly, thinking as he spoke.

"I'm glad my life problems seem to spread around this band like wildfire," I rolled my eyes.

"Oh it's not just our band, it's Bring Me as well," he smirked. I laughed and threw my pillow at his head, missing him narrowly.

"Jerk," I smiled.

---

Rehearsal was pissing me off. Sam was drunk and Dan kept making fun of me and everyone else was talking. And so after Sam effectively forgot the words to his own song and then tripped over the mic cable, I took a step outside for some air. And lucky for me, Tom was close by screwing around with a new camera he had bought a few days prior.

"Hey," he nodded towards me, surprisingly acknowledging my existence. It shocked me to say the least, especially because Tom was certainly one to hold a grudge, and certainly never one to apologize first. He must've caught onto my startled expression and sighed deeply. "God Gemma, don't look at meh like I've got three 'eads or somefhin'."

"I'm just surprised you're talking to me is all," I shrugged simply.

He sighed again, taking a few steps towards me. I leaned back against the wall of the building and crossed my arms over my chest. "Listen," he began. "I know I'm a proper dick ta ya sometimes and I'm sorreh. And I'm sorreh about yellin' at you at Drop Dead. I jus'...it jus's pisses me off that yer so much better than me, ya know? Like, yer so fuckin' perfect and it just always makes me realize wha' a prick I am."

"You're not a prick, Tom," I said, sighing now. He walked even closer, putting his hand right next to my head and leaning forward, almost hovering over me.

"I dunno 'ow ya always let me back into yer life," he whispered.

"I guess I sorta like you is all," I grinned, crinkling my nose and titling my head up to look at him. He laughed lightly and leaned down, placing a small kiss right next to my mouth.

"I'll try ta be jus' as good as you," he smiled. "'s not like I'm ever gonna find anyone else who puts up wiff my shit like you do."

"You're probably right."

Tom was fucking wasted. Like, completely and utterly wasted.

I hadn't been with him the whole night so I wasn't exactly sure how much he drank but from what his most recent girlfriend Emily had explained, it had been a lot more than he could handle.

"Do ya fhink 'e's gonna die?" Emily asked as I drove them both home. Emily was sitting shotgun while Tom rolled around in the back seat. I glanced over at her quickly to read the expression on her face because I wasn't sure if she was being serious or not. When I saw how completely horrified she looked, I knew she was being serious. My first reaction was to laugh but I second guessed my actions because I didn't want to scare her any more than she already was.

She just didn't know Tom very well yet. This was a weekly occurrence for him. He always drank more than he could handle, it just seemed this time he had outdone himself. Obviously Emily wasn't aware of this though and seemed to be convinced he was going to die of alcohol poisoning or...something. And maybe I should have been somewhat scared for him as well, but it was hard to feel bad for him anymore.

"I don't think so," I offered her some comfort. Her expression softened slightly as she glanced over her shoulder at Tom.

"Do ya 'ear that, babeh? Gemma says yer not gonna die," she cooed. I literally bit my tongue to stop myself from laughing.

We arrived at Tom's house a few minutes later. Carol and Ian were headed to a friend's party and weren't due home for at least another hour, which gave me plenty of time to get Tom up to his room and then drive Emily back to her house. I parked in the driveway and then walked around to the back of the car and helped Tom out with the help of Emily. We both carried him inside carefully and just as we were halfway up the stairs, we heard a car pull into the driveway and two doors slam shut.

Carol and Ian were home a bit earlier than I had anticipated and Emily immediately began to freak the fuck out.

"Wha' the fuck!" She yelled. "I can't get in trouble! They know my parents and they'll totally tell them I'm drunk! Ohmigod, wha' do I do!?" She dropped Tom's arm from around her shoulders and started to panic. My knees almost buckled because of all the weight that had been subsequently shifted to me and I nearly fell backwards.

"Calm down!" I hissed. "You're gonna be fin-"

Before I could even finish my sentence, Emily was down the stairs and running to the kitchen, towards the back door.

"Where the fuck are you going?!" I yelled at her.

"I'm leavin!" I heard her far off voice scream.

I groaned loudly and started to haul ass up the stairs, ignoring Tom's moans and groans and also ignoring the sounds of Ian and Carol's voices getting closer to the front door. I just got to the top of the stairs when I heard the front door open and close again and so I stood behind Tom, looped both of my arms under his began to drag him to his room. As I passed Oli's room I kicked the door open to see if he was home to help, only to realize his room was completely empty. I cursed under my breath and began to walk quicker.

Finally I reached his room and tossed his completely dead-weight body on his bed. After positioning him under the covers and continually ignoring his drunken questions I shut the lights off crouched down next to him.

"Don't say anything, you got that?" I hissed at him. His eyes were half lidded and I wasn't sure he if completely understood but he nodded anyway and that was enough for me.

Tom's door was pushed open about 2.3 seconds after my warning to him and I stood up quickly, smiling at Carol's confused expression. "Hey!" I greeted her. I motioned for her to leave the room and she obliged apprehensively as I followed behind her closely. I shut the door and smiled up at Tom's mother. The Sykes parents weren't notoriously strict or anything, but not parent wanted to come home to find their sixteen year old son absolutely sloshed out of his mind. I was nervous, to say the least.

"Tom's sick, I think," I began slowly. "We were watching a movie and he kept complaining about his stomach and so I found some Tums and he took those but he ended up puking like an hour later. I think it was all of the crap food he ate a few hours before but I'm not entirely sure so I just cleaned him up and got him to bed. I was just leaving now though."

Carol rolled her eyes, "Tha' boy I swear," she shook her head. "'e doesn't know when ta quit, does 'e? Jus' keeps eatin' till 'e 'as a sick. 'e used ta do tha' all the time when 'e was younger, ya know," she told me. I laughed awkwardly. "Well thank you fer takin' care of 'im Gemma, yer always there for him when 'e needs ya," she smiled, giving me a quick hug. "But why don't ya jus' stay the nigh'? Sleep on the couch in his room, you look awfully tired, love."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course, dear!"

"Okay, thanks Carol. I'll see you in the morning then," I smiled as I walked back into Tom's room. I closed the door behind me swiftly and when I turned around I noticed Tom sitting straight up, staring right back at me.

"Where's Emily?" He asked, suddenly sober; I guess that the sound of his mother's voice and the realization he could be absolutely fucked.

"She left," I replied simply, falling down onto his bed and taking a deep breath. It seemed as though I forgot how to breathe in the past 15 minutes.

"Why?"

"She didn't want to get caught," I rolled over and crawled into bed next to him.

"An' you stayed?" He inquired.

"As opposed to just letting you tumble down the stairs and break your neck and then choke on your own vomit?" I laughed lightly. "Someone had to cover for you."

"Yer the best," he sighed dreamily as he curled up next to me, his arm snaking it's way around my waist and his nose nuzzling into the back of my neck.

"Yeah, yeah," I sighed.

"Seriously."

And I smiled.