The Fourth Side of the Triangle

Chapter 11.

11.

It is roughly one month later when things take a turn for the definite worse.

They are in Suffolk and Amy and Becca are on location with them; nobody says it, but they all know it is to keep a close eye on Oliver, something they would not be able to do if they were stuck at home.

James, Amy, Oliver and Becca are walking through the gardens to where the cameras are set up so that the boys can film their final scene of the day. It has been an extremely long haul- they were on set at around 6 in the morning and it is now 8 in the evening. The large overhead lights are in sight when it happens; Oliver stops walking, and clutches onto Amy’s arm, his knuckles turning white. His face loses all colour and his eyes grow wide and staring.

“Oliver...?” Amy asks timidly, but he doesn’t answer. Black dots are flashing in his vision and he can’t even shake his head to get rid of them. Amy’s expression turns scared. “Ollie, let go, you’re hurting my arm.” When she receives no reply, she calls out desperately to Becca and James who have carried on walking, completely oblivious to their friends’ strange behaviour.

“What’s wrong?” James asks as they jog back to where the couple are standing. Becca stands in front of Oliver, concern clouding her eyes.

“Oliver... can you hear me?” she asks, placing her hands firmly on his shoulders.

Oliver collapses.

-x-

“Anyone else getting a strange sense of déjà vu...?”

“Oliver!”

Becca leaps towards the bed, thrusting a glass of water into his hand.

“This is becoming a regular occurrence... me passing out and then waking up to find you watching me sleep.” His lips quirk into a weak smile and he is desperate to show her that he is absolutely fine.

“I don’t know whether to be pleased that you can joke about something so serious or not,” Becca frowns at him, “because it isn’t really funny you know. You’re killing yourself Oliver.”

“Come now...” Oliver says, “That’s a bit dramatic.”

“I’m not joking!” Becca snaps, pinching the bridge of her nose, “I’m going to be honest with you Oliver. I’m really concerned about your weight. We all are. You’re endangering your health and your job because if you carry on like this, you’re going to have to pull out because your body is going to give up on you. I’m actually surprised you’ve managed to go on this long without getting seriously ill. What happened earlier... your body just stopped responding because it can’t cope. You’re depriving it of all the basic nutrients and vitamins and it’s not healthy. At least think of Amy. The stress isn’t good for her now and the rest of your family and friends just want to see you happy and healthy again. You have to start looking after yourself.”

With that, she storms out of the room, leaving the dark haired man alone once more.

He forces himself to join the rest of the cast members for dinner. He ignores the looks of concern and sympathy that Anthony and Jonathan give him and he can’t even look at Alice and Nancy- it is too much but he refuses to be an outsider. He tries to lighten the mood but it is completely impossible. Amy and Becca are nowhere to be seen and James only comes down to join them halfway through the main course. Even though there is a seat next to Oliver, he takes the one next to Anthony, ignoring him completely. Oliver looks down at his fish in despair. He knows that James is angry with him- he’s angry with himself.

“So where are your girls, Jazzer you pimp?” he hears Anthony ask the blonde.

“Becca’s with Amy upstairs... she’s asleep in my room. Becca says the stress is too much for her. I mean, for god’s sake, it’s too much for all of us isn’t it?”

Even though James isn’t talking to him, Oliver knows that this is aimed at him.

“Hush now J,” Anthony continues, “it can’t be helped. Everyone’s under a lot of pressure at the moment.”

“Yeah,” James snorts, “pressure. Anyway, you gonna eat that bread Tony or can I take it upstairs?” Anthony waves a hand and gives James a smile, dismissing him from the table. James takes the bread basket and a couple of napkins, before turning on his heel and striding out of the restaurant. He does all this without looking at Oliver once.

“Oliver... Oliver!”

A voice breaks through his thoughts and he sees Nancy looking at him, her dark hair framing her regal face, her piercing eyes that have softened as she looks upon him. “Oll, you’re shaking.”

She hands him a glass of water and squeezes his knee under the table.

“Drink it,” she orders, “you have to keep drinking.”

Oliver wants to tell her that that isn’t the problem; he’s drinking enough, more than enough and it’s the food that’s the problem, but the words die in his throat as she rubs her long fingers over his hand, forcing him to relax.

-x-

Oliver starts having his ‘relapse’ as Becca calls it fairly soon after. His head spins constantly for no apparent reason, forcing him to sit down in the middle of scenes. He has had to lean on James for support more than once when they are filming and the blonde simply purses his lips and says nothing. The rest of the cast and crew are starting to cotton on what is happening. People such as Karen and Charlotte, two members of the crew who have babied Oliver since the beginning are horrified and spend every free minute of their day bringing him cups of tea that he can’t drink because of the milk, or wrapping him up in extra coats.

Eventually, James loses it with them and storms off set. Nobody can find him anywhere until much later- at 9.00 in the evening, Amy finds him sitting at the top of the castle, sitting right next to the wall of the tower, staring out over the lake, still dressed in his costume, a forlorn expression etched into his handsome features. She sits down next to him and lets him cry into her lap. Nobody is around to witness this; Becca has gone back with the rest of the team to keep an eye on Oliver. It is only when he and Amy are alone, that James allows his facade slip. She holds him until he has cried himself dry, before helping him to brush off his costume. Neither of them say a single word. She knows that he is embarrassed, so she says nothing.

Back at the hotel, Julia from the costume department shouts herself hoarse at the blonde for, ‘irresponsible behaviour’ and ‘for causing damage to the expensive materials.’ James takes it all in his stride, before apologising and retiring to his room without a second glance at any of his friends. Oliver makes to go after him, but Amy holds him back and announces to everyone that they should leave James alone for the time being.

“What happened today?” Oliver asks Amy that evening as they are getting ready for bed.

“Nothing,” Amy mumbles, “he’s just worried about you.”

Oliver bites his lip but says nothing. After all, what can he say?

The next morning when Becca takes him aside and asks if he’ll see her friend Gabbie, back at home who is a dietician, he agrees. Not because he wants to, but so that the whole world will get off his shoulders for one second.