Anything to See You Smile

"God dammit, Oli! Cmon!"

"No, you are not dragging me into another stupid plan to get out of here."

"Sure I am. C'mon!"

"No!!!"

"Oli...."

"Fine."

Andy had always been helpless against Oli, he was his best friend. From the minute they'd met on their first day of the second year at The Phoenix's Boarding School for Boys, in Yorkshire. Oli had put a whoopee cushion on the headmasters chair in assembly. The result was hilarious, and he wasn't caught. Andy was the only one who knew it was him - because Oli had winked at him as they all laughed. From that moment they'd been friends.
They snuck into the administrations office and changed the roommates register so that they could share a room. They'd stay up talking about random things - comedians, movies, alcohol, their dreams. They'd talk for hours, and laugh, but not once in the year that followed would they truly say anything real about themselves. Until one night.

"My dad and I hate each other. My mum ran away. My grandparents, besides one, are dead, and I lied - I've never had sex. I've never even kissed anyone."

Oli had been shocked, he hadn't known what to say for a long time.

My parents are still together...I have a brother who didn't have to come to boarding school cause my parents love him more than me...and I lied too. I haven't had sex either...but I have kissed a girl. But I'm pretty sure she only did it to get at my infamous chocolate stash that I had when I was at primary school - I used to be fat."

Andy had looked at him in the dark, moonlight just catching his cheek, and they'd both laughed together. For the rest of their friendship, they'd told each other everything. They'd pranked teachers and other students, passed their subjects with flying colours, and when it came to every summer holiday, Andy would stay at school. He never went home. Oli's parents let him invite Andy to stay with him, and he said no for two whole years, every holiday bar Christmas he'd stay at school by himself. And his dad let him.

"You are not staying here again, Andy. Come stay with me, it'll be a blast."

"No..."

"Why?"

"I don't do families!! Ok? I can't do it-"

"What?"

Andy had sat down, genuinely sad, and Oli was genuinely sad to see it. He sat next to him until Andy was ready to explain.

"I don't have a normal family...so I can't come and be involved in yours, because I just can't. It hurts, ok? You think your parents love your brother more than you...but they don't really. I've seen them with you, how much they adore you...and it hurts. I'm jealous. I can't deal with that for a whole summer."

Oli had rested his head on Andy's shoulder and put an arm round him.

"What about how much I love you? I hate being alone all summer, without you. It's summer - it's meant to be the best time of year, but it never is because I know you're here miserable, and I miss you the whole time."

Andy had sighed and muttered "fine," and that was that. From then on, every holiday Andy would stay at his house. He never got one call from his dad, no letter, email, nothing. Andy settled into his family like a brother. They all loved him. And Oli knew he looked up to his parents more than his own.

One summer, in 2006 when they were fifteen, they'd packed their bags and we're waiting for Oli's parents to come and pick them up for their final summer before they'd go to college....a tall, heavily muscled man with a fierce brow arrived in a cloud of dust and the rumble of the expensive engine of a Bentley. Andy had cursed and Oli knew exactly who it was.

"Oli help." He'd dragged Andy away before the man could see them and they'd hidden in an old shed with sports equipment in.

"We can't stay here forever."

"He's gonna take me back there...I don't want to go." He'd looked at Oli and e could see the dread and the fear, he'd hugged him tightly and they were both disappointed,angry and hurt at the prospect of what could have been their final summer together...had been ruined. As they approached the front of the school, Oli's jaw clenched as he walked up to Andy's father next to his best friend - determined not to let him be hurt.

"What the hell took you so long? I don't pay that phone bill of yours to have you ignore my calls." And with those few, harsh words spoken with venom, the cheeky smile and fiery spirit that Oli had come to know vanished and he bowed his head.

"Sorry."

"Your appearance is unacceptable - tuck your shirt in, and sort that hair out. You're getting that cut."

"But-"

"Don't argue with me. I've got you a position at the bank with Ronald. You'll be working there this summer. It's about time you grew up."

"Hello!! You must be Andy's dad." Oli's anger only increased as the man looked at his parents with distaste.

"Yes. And you are...?"

"Oli's parents. I'm Ian, this is my wife Carol. It's good to finally meet you. Andy's a great kid, he's become one of the family."

"How nice. Andrew won't be staying with you any longer, however, he's got a job at the bank of JP Morgan Chase."

"Oh....well that's a shame-"

"Why? He's going to be a success, if he works at it and gets rid of these childish inclinations." He gestured to Andy's hair, and Oli's fists balled up as his pale cheeks flushed in shame and upset.

"Well...right...I mean there's no need to make them grow up this soon, is there? Childhood is the best time of our lives, after all."

"That's your opinion. My father was the same as me...and its brought me nothing but success. Andrew will be the same."

"Of course...well, could Andy maybe stay with us for a few weeks at the end of the holiday? It is the boys last summer together, after all." He finally looked at Oli, and his eyes narrowed at the anger practically rolling off him in waves.

"What are they? Queers? You make it sound as though they're married-"

"Now look here! There's no need to be offensive-"

"I'll do what I want with my son. Come on Andrew, let's go." He barked, Andy couldn't even look at Oli and he started walking away.

"Hey!!" Oli grabbed him and turned him round.

"Stop it, Oli." His lips were trembling and he was fighting away tears with all his willpower.

"No. Give me a hug, at least." He grabbed hold of Andy and hugged him tightly, Andy clung to him so hard it hurt.

"I love you. I'll miss you, bro. If that bastard gives you a hard time get on a plane. You've got another home with us."

"Andrew!"

"I have to go."

"Stand up to him, at least once."

"For god's sake, you're not women. Let go of one another." Oli's dad pulled Andy back by his neck.

"You shame me...everywhere I go." With that he shoved Andy towards the car and glared at Oli.

"Stay away from my son...he shouldn't be mixing with people like you. He's far above your rank."

"Hey! Don't talk to my son-" Oli interrupted his father.

"Oh no doubt, and I'm sure you'd never let him forget it." The man's steely grey eyes narrowed further.

"By the way...talk to my family like that again, I'll kick your ass, I don't give a fuck how rich you are. I hope one day when you're old and dying...you look back and realise you could've had a son who loved you. As it is...he'll grow to resent you, he'll never be the same as you, he's better than everyone, especially you."

"Be very careful what you say to me, boy. Andrew won't be returning to this dump next year. Goodbye."

"Fuck you." Oli hissed as he left. His heart sank as he realised that it was the last time he'd see or hug Andy ever again.

Thankfully, Andy had returned for the final year. Oli had sprinted at him and hugged him, they'd landed on a heap on the floor and Andy hugged back until he couldn't breathe.

"Thank god." He'd said.

The threat of college loomed closer, the threat of losing one another again, this time for real.

"Check it out."

"Holy shit, you stole whiskey?"

"Best drink there is. Let's go."

"You're pulling me into something for once?" Andy smiled and just lead the way out to the equipment shed.

"I had to work at the bank, it was hell."

"He bullied you for a whole summer, didn't he?" Andy just took a large swig from the bottle. They got roaring drunk that night, they crept out of the school grounds and bought more bottles of whiskey at a newsagents that didn't care about ID. They went back and drank the lot.

That night, after they talked about things. After Andy told Oli how he felt, exactly what his dad said and did to him. After he revealed he underwent physical abuse as well as verbal....they'd sat in silence looking at one another. They'd sat in their drunken state and waited for something to happen, waited for the other to make the first move, to lean in. It became the only thing that they never spoke about.

"Yo Oli!! You home?"

"Yeah!" Oli flinched as he was pulled out of his memories and was jogged - ruining the drawing he was working on from his most recent comic book.

"Hey, I just spoke to Jake - we're in the top 10 in the charts!!!"

"No way! Congratulations!" They hugged and Oli cleared his throat, embarrassed at thinking over the old memories, even though Andy didn't know that's what he'd been doing.

"Let's crack open a bottle of something good - celebrate!"

"Whiskey?"

"I can't drink whiskey anymore, you know that."

"Why?" It hurt that he'd forgotten. Every time Andy suggested whiskey this happened. And every time it hurt.

"Because of that night at school."

"What night?"

"Before we finished school, when you told me all that stuff, I was so sick the next morning. Haven't been able to drink-"

"Drink it since, my bad. I forgot. Ok...I'll go buy something-"

"Nah, don't bother, let's get everyone together and go out."

"It's better when it's just us." Andy left to buy something, and Oli was left waiting, just as he had been back in 2006.