Heart Attack Waiting to Happen

Chapter 5: Just Look At The Messed You’ve Made

Josh’s P.O.V

Amy opened the door, her eyes widening when she saw me, practically swinging her arms around my neck and hugging me close.

“Josh! I thought you weren’t going to turn up!” She squealed.

Her actions startled me and I pay her on the back awkwardly and I pull out of her hug. I shifted slightly in my jacket and I answered her.

“Sorry, I lost track of time…and erm, invited a friend if that’s okay?” I say, stepping aside revealing Oli who stood awkwardly on the door step.

She looked surprised to see him but welcome him in anyway. The one thing I liked about Amy is that she was never judgemental, she was kind and polite to everyone she met.

“The guys were about to send out a search party for you.” She joked as she led us through the long corridor and into the large living room, where everyone was gathered. Her house was huge and fancy and it felt weird to want to have a party here incase we might totally mess it up.

“Finally mate! What took you so long?” Max stood up, handing me a beer and pulling me into a brotherly hug. He froze when he pulled away and saw Oli standing behind me.

“Oh that explains it.” He sarcastically says.

He didn’t seem impressed with the company I brought along with me. He gave me a 'why the hell did you invite him for’ look and I instantly felt bad. I didn’t want there to be any awkwardness or hard feelings between anyone, so I put my arm around Oli’s neck and lifted the half empty bottle of Jack Daniel’s he was holding and smiled at my best friend.

“More the merrier right? And besides, he brought some alcohol.” I say in a cheery voice, trying to lighten the mood.

Max only smirked and rolled his eyes before sitting back down in his seat next to Dan.

I removed my arm from Oli’s neck, he didn’t say a single word but I could sense he felt really uncomfortable to be here and I couldn’t help but feel a little bad. I know he doesn’t like to socialize with people but I’m sure with a little more alcohol in his system I’m pretty sure he’ll loosen up and enjoy himself. Hopefully.

I took a seat on the sofa next to Amy, pulling Oli down with me so he sat on my other side. I hope he knew being sat beside me made him feel less uncomfortable and that I was on his side.

As the night went on, we joked around abit being stupid, playing loud music and some of us dancing but it soon led to a game of truth or dare, which I can honestly say I really do hate this game. You never know what your gonna be asked or what dare you have to suffer and it only seems to end up in disaster and embarrassment.

It started out funny as Max was dared to run around the living room in his boxers shouting ‘I love my little pony.’ And I had to admit, the scene had me in stitches of laughter. The game was going around the circle of the group and it then became Dan’s turn to ask Oli and surprisingly he chose a truth question. Oli hated talking to anyone, let alone be asks to tell the truth about something… I was a little nervous of what Dan might ask him or even worse, what the answer would be.

“Why did you leave your old school Oli?”

I sighed in relief. Oh okay, not as bad as I thought the question was going to be, Dan was being nice.

But I found myself really curious to know the answer. Oli was a closed book. He never spoke about himself like, where he grew up or what schools he went to or mentioned any friends or family… he kept himself private. I guess in some ways it’s a good thing but he’ll never get anywhere in life if he carries on like this.

All eyes were now on Oli, including myself. Everyone waiting for him to answer the question, I guess I weren’t the only one curious to know a little something about him. He shrugged his shoulders and awkwardly glanced down into his empty JD bottle, probably debating if he should answer “truthfully” or not.

“I punched a teacher in the face.” He mumbles quietly.

Wait, what?!

Everyone was completely in shocked from his answer, Max even spat out his drink. We all gawked at Oli like he grew three heads, well you can’t really blame us, we know nothing about him to even know if he was joking or not. We all continued to stare at him, waiting for an explanation or for him to burst out laughing to say it was just a joke but his expression and body langue remained serious.

“You asked.” He says bluntly, shrugging his shoulders and glancing at me before hiding his face under his fringe.

I was honestly in shock; I really wasn’t expecting him to come out with something like that… I wonder if that really happen or was he just tying to act like a badass in front of the others? From what I know of Oli, which is hardly anything at all but he really doesn’t come across as an aggressive or violent person at all. I find that very hard to believe that actually happened, so I just shrugged it off and let it go and allowed the game to continue.

“I’ll get us both another drink.” I say turning to Oli.

He looked down at his empty bottle in his hands and then back at me, he seemed a little reluctant to let me go. He hasn’t left my side all night and to be honest I kinda liked it. I wanted him to know he was comfortable and safe with me and that he could trust me. I guess in a way he must have known that I wasn’t going to let anything happen to him. I should have known better not to leave him on his own knowing how nervous and uneasy he gets around other people but he sent me a small smile to reassume me it was okay.

I walked into the kitchen to get some cold beers out of the fridge where Matt said he put some earlier. I’ve had a couple already and could feel myself start to get a little tipsy. I decided to grab two beers each for me and Oli because I wanted to prove to everyone I could handle my drink and I thought Oli would loosen up a lot more if we were both drunk and I wanted us to have a good time.

I closed the fridge happy with the four beers I had in my hands but when I turned back around, a very tipsy giggly Amy was stood in my path.

“Finally manage to get you on your own Josh.” She giggled, wearing the biggest smile of her face, making me feel slightly nervous.

“What do you mean?” I asked innocently.

She stepped closer to me, stumbling and falling into me. I take the glass of wine from her and place it down in the kitchen counter but she clung to me not letting me go. She brushed my fringe out of my eyes with her fingers and I feel myself blush, my heart starting to race and the banter from the guys earlier after school entered my mind. Oh shit.

She looked up at me with her sparkling green eyes, wrapping her arms around my neck and pushing my back against the fridge. She tip toed so she could be more levelled with me, reaching closer to my lips and I knew what was going to happen next.

I’ve liked Amy for awhile now, the guys have always tease me about it but I’ve never had the guts to ask her out and now she was literally leaning into my chest, tipsy and giggling, looking up at me with pretty eyes and I knew the first kiss was coming.

My heart was pounding, this could honestly lead to more and well, I was suddenly filled with nerves.

“I like you Josh, I like you a lot…” She trails off, biting her lower lip. I see her close her eyes leaving her lips inches away from mine waiting for me to meet her half way. I guess this was it, what I’ve been waiting for, my first kiss with the girl I liked for months. I rest my hands on her hips because my hands were already full of holding the beers and I slowly move my face towards her, going to close the kiss.

But before our lips could touch we were interrupted by a glass smashing loudly in the room.

We both jump apart from each other, both in shock from the noise which interrupt us. We both looked towards where the sound came from; which revealed a very upset and angry looking Oli who was glaring at us. The empty JD bottle he once held was smashed into tiny little pieces on the kitchen floor by his feet.

“Oli?” Concern was thick in my tone. But before I could say or do anything else, he stormed out of the kitchen.

“Oli wait!” I shouted after him.

I stepped out of Amy’s hold, placing the beers in my hands on the kitchen counter and following after Oli. I needed to know what was wrong, I couldn’t let him run off like this, I was the one who brought him here after all.

“Wait Josh, Come back.” Amy called after me, sounding a little offended.

“Sorry Amy, but I need to go.”

I felt bad leaving her standing there alone in the kitchen but my concern was with Oli. I hurried back into the living room where the guys were drinking as if nothing had happened and that’s when I heard the front door slam.

“What happened?” I ordered at Max and Dan who both looked back at me with lazy eyes and drunken smirks.

“Nothing, I only dared him to down the rest of my drink and he did. Next thing I know he’s gone to see what was taking you so long in the kitchen and then he’s running out of here.” Max says, not bothered at all by the fact Oli had left.

“I have to go after him.”

I panicked and grabbed my jacket and ran off after Oli, ignoring everyone who tried to stop me from leaving. I couldn’t just let him leave the way he did and pretend nothing had happen. He looked so upset and I don’t know why but I had to go after him to make sure he was okay. he had a lot to drink I couldn’t just let him run the streets on his own the state he was in, anything could happen to him.

~~

I was half way across the playground by the time I caught up with him and for someone who was drunk he could sure run fast. I was so out of shape but I’ll just blame that on the alcohol in my system before going into how unfit I was.

“Oli wait!” I shouted out to him but he ignored me and continued running through the playground.

What the fuck? Why can’t he just stop and let me talk to him, he has no reason to run away from me.

Oli stop!” I yell, finally catching up to him and grabbing hold of his arm and bringing him to a stop.

He swayed backwards from the sudden halt but he quickly found his balanced and yanked his arm out of my grasp.

“Don’t fucking touch me!” He screamed, looking furious.

I raised my hands up in defence, taking a step back shocked by his sudden outburst. This was the first time I have ever heard him raise his voice, it was so unexpected and scary.

He started to scare me abit, his mood just suddenly switched. He was calm and quiet a moment ago and now he’s this hysterical angry person who was screaming at me to get away from him. I didn’t understand what exactly caused all this, but I was going to blame it on the alcohol.

“What’s wrong?” I ask worriedly when I saw that he had tears running down his cheeks. This wasn’t normal at all, I had to know what was wrong with him, it upset me to see him so worked up like this.

“I told you…I told you I don’t do friends Josh, why won’t you just leave me alone!” He screamed. He was breathless and basically a drunken emotional mess and I couldn’t help but feel like he was having ago at me for something which wasn’t my fault but had happened to him in the past.

I guess I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and suddenly turned into his verbal abuse bag but so be it, if he needed to get something off his chest I’ll let him. I still wasn’t going to turn my back on him like this, he needed to know that already.

I think it all got abit too much for him because he fell to his hands and knees next to the round a bout and threw up all over the floor.

Oh great. Ew this is the last thing I needed.

I rolled my eyes but knelt down beside him placing my hand on his back for comfort just to let him know that I was here but he only pushed me away from him.

“Just leave me!” he choked, making me frown at his words. He can’t be serious.

“Don’t be ridiculous, I ain’t leaving you in this state!” I held my ground, no matter how many times he push me away and tell me to leave, I wasn’t going anywhere.

He shook off my hand resting on his back and wiped the sick from his mouth with the sleeve of his hoodie and knelt up.

He grabbed hold of one of the bars of the round a bout to try and pull himself up but he failed. I don’t know why he was being so difficult, he could clearly ask me to help him up but he chose to be an ignorant twat so I left him to it.

After the third attempt of trying to stand up and failing I was starting to get impatient and about to pull him up myself. But he then gave up himself and was now just clinging to one of the bars for dear life as if he felt if he let go, his world would come crashing down.

I stood in silence and watched him do his thing because I knew if I offered my help to him he would only pull a hissy fit like a little spoilt child so I waited for him to pass out or something.

He really did look a state though. With all the drunkenness aside, he looked so lost, so scared, so fragile. He looked as if no one has ever cared for him in the world and the thought of that tore me apart. Maybe this explains why he’s so angry and upset and pushes people away?

“Why do you care so much?” He slurred, breaking me out of my thoughts. He was still awake.

I don’t think he was even aware of what he was saying anymore. The poor boy was far gone.

“I just do.” I say annoyed. I don’t know why I do, I just do. There was something about him which made me care, even though all he did was push me away and insult me.

He let go of the bar and slumped himself down over the edge of the round a bout, not having any knowledge of his actions.
Yeah, he was completely wasted and was going to have a sore head tomorrow.

Letting out a sigh, I lean over him and saw he had passed out. If I wasn’t here he would basically be left in the freezing cold all night long without anyone knowing where he was. Great way to make yourself sick mate.

I put his arm round my neck and lifted him to his feet steadily; his body was completely limp which made it difficult for me to walk but I managed to put him over my back and give him a piggy back back to my house.

~~

The walk back to my house was a long awkward struggle but I manage to get him into my room without waking my parents.

I placed him down on my bed softly and took off his sick covered hoodie and his muddy shoes. Ugh, I didn’t sign up for this but here I am doing this out of the kindness of my heart, yeah he owes me big time for this.

I took a step back and glance down at the unconscious boy sprawled across my bed. I couldn’t see him very well because I didn’t bother to turn the light on but I could just make out that he was wearing a base ball style shirt which had quarter sleeves. It revealed his heavily tattooed arms, wow, I didn’t realise he had so many, he even had ones on his neck. I never saw those before, but then again he always kept himself well hidden and to be honest I never saw him without his hoodie off.

I yawned suddenly feeling exhausted; I thought it was a good time to go to bed as my clock did read 3:11 AM.

Not wanting to freak Oli out in the morning if he woke up before me, I grabbed one of my pillows and layed down next to him at the other end of the bed, so we were top and tail. Luckily I had a double bed so there was more than enough room for both of us.

As my head fell against my pillow my eyes were literally ready to close shut. But there was a little bit of anxiety which lingered in my mind which kept me awake, I was really worried about Oli. Just seeing him in that state tonight made me think differently of him, not in a bad way, just maybe there’s a lot more to the way he is than he lets on…

Oh God, what a night this turned out to be, but everything can wait till the morning, now was time for me to sleep.