Must Be 18 Or Over To Enter//Golden Boy

So Vanilla.

I woke up with Oliver standing over me, watching intently. Waiting. It was dark. And I was in his bed. "You're welcome."

"For what?" I tried to move my head from the pillow but even thinking about it made my neck sting.

"You're alive. You really shouldn't go walking alone around here. There's some pretty big people, and some bigger animals." I couldn't remember anything after getting ready to go down to the pool after breakfast.

"What?" I asked. Oliver paced around his bed.

"According to the cameras you left the house, not wearing a coat, and apparently Kendall went looking for you. She found you unconscious in the snow, bleeding, and carried you back. That happens a lot doesn't it. Kendall saving your ass." She went looking for me? How would she even be able to carry me home by herself? What the fuck happened to me? "Don't you remember?" I went to move my hands to touch my face, but gasped as they began to burn. Why am I in Oliver's bed? Why would I go out alone without a coat?

OLIVER'S POV

My head was pounding. So many thoughts at the same time. Look like you're breathing. Keep Kylie from moving. Make her believe me. Making her believe anything was tough, even for me. She was strong. But I was stronger. I left her in the 'care' of Briana simply for affect, because she needed no care. I had saved her. Sure, I brought her all that way outside to kill her, but I changed my mind. That should count for something. I couldn't do it. I hated myself for it. I wanted to be with her all the time, I wanted to always be looking at her and touching her and listening to her speak about whatever she god damn wanted to. I was in love with her, and she didn't even like me. She hated me and I had conclusive proof. She thought it. She no longer thought about smart things. She no longer contemplated world issues. She no longer thought about art school and how much she missed her family and friends. It was all about me. It only took me two weeks to break her. Why does he get to be so dramatic all the time? Why does he act like a mafia ring leader and a total cute dork in front of me? Why is he so fake? She thought I was just some loser with too much money, and people, to spend. I loved her and she would never remember our first kiss - or our last. She hated me honestly and rightfully. I was manipulating her, and controlling her, and never really told her anything. Normally she would have been dead by the second day she arrived. I knew exactly what would happen, and I did nothing to stop or avoid it. She knows too much. Had I had the simple sense to change her mind the second she saw something, there would have been no issue. But I was stupid. I let her continue knowing, I let her continue seeing, I let her continue finding out even though I knew I was only putting her in danger.

"Oliver." Briana stood behind me. I didn't move out of my chair to greet her, or even acknowledge her.

"What." I sighed.

"It's been three hours."

"My, time flies when you're debating murder."

"They'll hear you." She hushed.

"They won't hear anything. They don't hear anything other than 'can I buy you a drink?' and the sound of their own brain cells dying. They don't hear me, and they never will hear me." Briana paused.

"She hears you."

"She hates me." I corrected. She does not hate you, Brianna thought. "Of course she does, I read her mind."

"Mr. Sykes. You cannot complain that nobody hears you if the only time you really listen is when people aren't even speaking. When you hear what you want to hear. Maybe if you stopped looking into her thoughts when she was around you, you could actually see what she thinks. Such a simple concept, sir. I thought you'd have understood."

"Remind me again why I continue to pay you when half the things you say to me are spiteful pieces of advice?" I spun my chair to face her. She was smirking.

"Because you know I'm right." As she walked away the heels of her shoes echoed across the dark hardwood floor. Maybe if you stopped looking into her thoughts when she was alone, you could actually see what she thinks. Yes but the problem with that is I couldn't get her alone and have her truly be alone. I couldn't 'listen' through walls. Never mind half a house. I would have to get her alone when she didn't know I was around. As soon as she knew I was around, the walls went up.

"Check the cameras. I want to know where she's been places I wasn't. When she's totally alone." I commended. Briana nodded and walked off. I made my way from the front foyer into the main living room where Perrie and Ivy were watching TV and eating popcorn. "Good evening, girls." I smiled.

"Hey dude." Ivy said with a very fake Transylvanian accent.

"What are you watching?"

"Dracula. Care to join?" Perrie offered.

"I'm not much for vampires. All that doom and gloom and eternity. Quite a silly concept isn't it?" I laughed to myself.

"That's half the fun right there. Don't worry. If you get scared you can hold my hand." I sighed as I sat between the girls. I made sure I wasn't even close to touching anyone, but I did see Perrie sneakily trying to take pictures of me than made it look like we were alone together. "No need to be scared anyway. There's no such thing."

"You think so? There's so pretty hard evidence out there that they do exist, or have. Apparently the strongest presence of vampires is right here in England." Ivy offered. "I wish I was a vampire. That would be so cool." Somebody stake me.

"Well," I turned back to Perrie. "If we find bite marks on your neck in the morning we'll know what happened.

"Ken!" Ivy cheered as Kendall walked in and sat down beside her. With the sunlight blocked by the mountains of snow covering every window, the usually bright house was always a little bit dark that no amount of corner table lamps would fix. I far preferred the winter sun to the summer heat, everything was white and bright, not orange and warm and alive. Dead and cold was the name of the game.

"Can I ask you girls something?" They all nodded and watched me intently. "Why do girls shorten everyone's name?"

"It's cute."

"If we give you a nickname it means we like you."

"Awh, you'll make me blush." I joked and they all laughed. The attention was at least nice, even if sitting so close to all of them made me want to jump out of my skin.

"Not like thaaaat." Perrie rolled her eyes.

"Speak for yourself. Some girls here can't keep it in their fucking pants." Kendall sighed, annoyed. 'If we give you a nickname, it means we like you'. Kylie refuses at all costs to call me Oli. Always Oliver. Or Oliver Sucks. To make things even worse. If she had a shitty nickname for me before we even met, there's no way I'd be getting to cute any time soon. I sighed and stood.

"As much as I would love to stay and chat with you about Perrie's vampiric tendencies, I must go make some boring adulty phone calls." Kendall smiled at me before I walked into my room and jumped onto my bed. My sheets smelled like vanilla. They smelled like her.