Severed the Feeling

If you actually knew anything about Oliver Sykes, you would know how much he loathes the idea of sitting in a small room, having to be on time where ever he was needed and that he had a problem on listening other people than the ones he trusted, were close to him and his heart.

Oliver had stayed in his bed, not moving much for hours when his phone had rudely alarmed the first two ore three times, waking him; well aware that the clock was coming close to ten, when he should be on his way to work already; honestly he just absolutely didn't care because he was too tired to get up. It was his clothing company, so in Oliver's head, it was okay for him to be late even if it didn't proof the capability of running the business, his mother was ready to take from him, because she thought Oliver wasn't ready to handle such a big responsibility.

The twenty-five year old had always wondered how he managed to get into work before anyone noticed that he was late; it was like magic. So there he was, sitting in a small room, in the end of the long table, surrounded by people he somewhat knew and trusted and everyone of them expected him to be at work on time if you didn't count his little brother and Oliver's four best mates; they knew better.

'I took the liberty of hiring a new model, since Amanda dropped out.' Carol Sykes, mother of Oliver and Thomas, walked into the meeting, carrying several bags of takeouts. Oliver was blessed with a wonderful mother and he well knew that, but the feeling isn't mutual; if you asked from Carol she would just simply say that she was blessed with a curse, curse named Oliver Scott Sykes. She didn't hate her son, she loved him like any mother would love their sons but sometimes Oliver made the whole loving part a bit difficult for her.

When Carol had mentioned Amanda, Oliver's hear stopped for a second, or the pieces left of it. Amanda was the first girl ever to leave Oliver when he thought he had finally found someone he would probably marry someday. He didn't get bored with her, he didn't want to cheat her; Amanda was perfect in Oliver's eyes.

'Mum, there's no veggie food for Oli.' Thomas noted after he had went through all the brown paper bags Carol had put on the table.

'Don't worry, I got the food for the princess.' awfully familiar young women walked into the meeting, carrying a single paper back she dropped in front of the confused man, giggling. Oliver's eyes widened from shock as he stared at the beauty he had met few week ago; the same beautiful creature he couldn't get out of his mind.

Oliver noticed that he wasn't the only one to stare at the young women; pretty much everyone was, but one by one they returned back to their spring rolls and what ever they were eating.

'There is a large Starbucks, with soy milk, no sugar and roasted tofu noodle thing with sweet chili sauce, but i heard you didn't really eat much, so half of that tofu thing is mine.' She informed, unpacking everything in front of the man she had met once.

'Everyone, this is Hannah Snowdon. She's the new model, but she won't be here as much as the others, so Oliver you have to ask first is Hannah free before organizing any photo shoots or anything.'

'Okay mum.' Oliver gulped, not able to move his stare from the new model for a second longer.

After a long day at the office, Oliver ran to his car, ignoring everyone that was calling after him and drove home, braking every traffic regulations he knew. He needed to get as far as he could from Hannah, as fast as he could. She had been making the heavily tattooed man crazy just by being in the same room as he was, breathing the same air as he.

When he finally got his front door open with shaky hands, he ran to the kitchen, where he knew his precious hidden liquor stash was; the third cabinet from right, behind the fake wall he had built behind the shot glasses and the solo cups. It took a while for him to move everything from his way to remove the fake wall; there was nothing, all his bottles were gone and replaced with a note from his little brother. You don't need it. -Tom.

Oliver put the note back to where he had found it, behind the wall he also put back on it's place. The man took a long, shaky breath, thinking million different ways to kill Thomas even if he probably was right about not needing the burning sensation the liquor caused in his throat. The more he thought it, the more he seemed to be needing it; tears rolling down on his cheeks, Oliver started to move the glasses back on their places.

After ten minutes, all Oliver's glasses were on the wooden floor, in million little pieces and Oliver himself was in his bed, already in deep, dreamless sleep which didn't last long. When Oliver woke up, he was numb; he didn't feel anything even when he walked over the shattered glass barefoot when he went to the kitchen to get his emergency pack of cigarettes from the top of the fridge.

While the tired man was sleeping, a new storm had started, making it a third one this month; power was going off time to time, annoying Oliver a bit, taking the numbness away.

He sat on a wooden chair on the patio, which luckily had a roof, keeping the rain off and also creating a soothing melody when the droplets hit it.

'I'm scared to get close and I hate being alone, I long for that feeling to not feel at all. The higher I get, the lower I'll sink, I can't drown my demons, they know how to swim.' and by every word a small cloud of gray smoke escaped Oliver's mouth.

'You should have started that band, you know.' Hannah whispered. Oliver's head snapped towards the source of the voice, blowing the smoke slowly out of his lungs, staring at the young women leaning against the glass wall, cigarette hanging from her mouth.

'How.' Oliver almost choke on the smoke.

'How I knew? Your mother filled in some facts about you. How I got in? Tom is in the kitchen, cleaning up that mess.' Hannah's eyes were closed. She tried to relax, being around Oliver made her nervous; she had to be ready to handle anything he was going to say or do. Carol had told her some things that may have changed her way to see the older man.

'And you still are here; aren't you a one bloody twisted bird.' Oliver shook his head chuckling. Hannah agreed with Oliver, she felt really twisted for actually trying to get close the renowned ladies man with no heart. She took the whole heartless boy as a challenge; she knew everyone had something good in them, even if it was in a sick and twisted way.

'Next time we go to London, I'm taking you to Ikea.' Thomas yelled from the depths of the house. 'I mean Oli, you have destroyed almost half of all your furniture and plates and shit in the past three months.' He sounded pissed and Oliver didn't wonder why. He knew how hard it was to be his little brother; Thomas had turned into a big brother.

'And that's tomorrow and you are dropping me home since I live in London.' Hannah opened her eyes, right when Oliver was walking past her, into the house.

'So I guess Oscar's back.' Oliver sighed when he heard the barking after the loud sound of thunder. Oliver had actually missed his mutt while he was staying at Thomas's. As soon as the dog heard his owners voice, he beamed towards him, jumping against his almost skeletal body. Thomas had an amused grin on his face as he watched his big brother baby talking to Oscar, like the old Oliver would have came back, finally.

Thomas and Hannah left soon after they had came and cleaned up Oliver's place, leaving him alone with his dog. The power finally came back and didn't go off after few minutes, allowing Oliver to use his computer to check on work emails, delivery lists and the new designs that kept him busy for the rest of the night; also the thoughts of Hannah disappeared for a while. Soon as all the work had been done, Hannah was the only thing on Oliver Sykes mind.