Drown (Doomed sequel) - Oli Sykes fanfiction

25. Save me from myself (#2)

CW: Perceived cheating, anxiety, arguments, lies, deception, blame, guilt, nausea, anger, upset... You get the idea. Content heavy and lots of POV switching - lots going on here so buckle up!

Oli furrowed his brow as he blinked at the blank screen in front of him. Everything inside his head was raging and he refused to believe it at first, but what he'd seen and heard over the past ten minutes or so replayed over and over in his head.

"Just take that part," Andy's voice was strained, like he was struggling. "If you give that a tug, it should slide right in there." A cacophony of whines and grunts from both Andy and Mia followed, finishing with squeals of relief and heavy panting. Then the screen went blank and the Skype call was cut off.

Oli wrung his head in his hands. His thoughts were getting carried away, he knew they were. It could have been innocent, sure. But what if it wasn't? He tried to focus on anything else, but it had been a good thirty minutes since the call was cut off and Mia hadn't called with an explanation. He'd tried to give her the benefit of the doubt, but the doubt had won.

As far as he could see, Mia was cheating on him with Andy and it was destroying him. He switched his phone to Do Not Disturb and pulled up his emails. His friend in LA - a producer by the name of Dan had sent him some demos they'd been working on and he threw himself into them for the rest of the evening, desperate for a distraction and eventually falling asleep at his computer.

Oli woke early at about 5am and immediately, his head was filled with reminders about yesterday. He found several missed calls from Mia on his phone, but he ignored them. As far as he was concerned, it was too little, too late. He also had several missed calls from Josh and he contemplated ignoring them too, but he had a better idea. He downed some coffee and showered quickly before heading off into the rainy morning and walking to the one place he knew he could let off some steam without judgement.

— — — — — — — — — — — —

Lisa rolled over blearily and nudged Josh awake.

"Huh?" Josh grunted as his eyes adjusted to her face. He listened closely, but heard no cries from James and frowned at her furrowed brow before the sound of loud rapping at the door came again.

"Who the fuck is knocking so loudly at this time of the morning?!" Lisa grumbled. The baby monitor crackled next to her and James' whimpers sounded through it and she groaned as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed. "I'll sort Jamie, you get the door."

Josh grunted again but his face softened as he watched Lisa trudge sleepily out of the room, soon hearing her sweet voice talking calmly to James over the monitor. He pulled his lip between his teeth and shook his head to himself in awe at how lucky he was. Just a few weeks ago, Lisa had agreed to marry him and now they'd had a chance to talk about it more, they were both really excited about having another baby. Sure, they'd not planned to have two so close together, but life had a way of working things out.

The knocking at the door got more insistent and Josh grumbled as he shuffled down the stairs, pulling on a hoodie as he went. He yawned as he pulled the door open to find Oli standing in the rain, staring at the floor.

"What on earth? Oli what's-" Josh stopped as Oli raised his head. Even through the rain, Josh could see Oli's eyes were swollen and red from crying. "Shit, you'd better come in."

Oli sniffed and nodded as Josh stood back to let Oli pass, closing the door softly behind him and gesturing towards the living room. Josh glanced up at the stairs, seeing Lisa jiggling James on her shoulder and tilting her head questioningly at him. He mouthed Oli's name at her and shrugged in response to her silent question before making his way through to the kitchen to make some coffee.