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OLIVER FLETCHER

PAST
JULY 2019

When I opened my eyes the next morning, they burned. Painfully. I almost forgot that I went out last night considering how easily I fell asleep but now I remember everything, including my head that starts to pound.

I wince and shuffle in the bed, an arm was wrapped around my body gently and I sigh as I look down to Max beside me. He was already awake and staring up at the ceiling.

My lips purse and I lean over my bedside table, taking a massive gulp of water from my bottle.

"How are you feeling?" Max's voice from behind me startles me.

I nod and place the bottle back and shuffle underneath the duvet. "Okay," I breathe out.

Max sits up beside me and drops his head to my shoulder. "Do you hate me?" He asks.

"No," I say simply. "But I'm not exactly ecstatic with everything that's happened."

His head nods against my shoulder and looks up at me, his eyes looked lazy and you could tell he was tired. Clearly looping thoughts round in his head, over and over.

"Let's go out for breakfast," he suggests. "Give us a chance to talk, you can cure that hangover."

I look over at the window for a moment, covered by my blinds. "Okay," I nod after a few moments. "We can go get breakfast."

Max offers me a smile before pulling back the covers and swinging his legs down onto the floor. "We can go to the one near my old house," he suggests.

"Sure," I say as I stand from the bed, feeling my stomach swirl slightly. "I'm gonna shower."

"Can I come?"

I glance over my shoulder at him, his puppy dog eyes weren't working on me today. "I don't need any more distractions," I say simply. "And I need to eat as soon as possible."

Max nods and leans down to collect his clothes. "I got it." He smiles.

After my quick shower, we soon leave my accommodation and fall into a silent walk to the café. Max's hands were shoved into his jeans and his head low to the floor as we approach the high street. I knew he was feeling guilty but not this guilty.

He presses a hand to the glass door and glances up at me, allowing me in first. I nod and smile. "Thanks," I breathe out before looking over the customers and sitting down at the back.

Max follows my lead and slides into the chair in front of me, his hands clasping together on the table. He opens his mouth to speak, followed by a deep sigh. "I'm so sorry Oliver," he breaks the silence.

I lean back into the chair and flick my eyes between his. "For which part?"

"For all of it," he tells me sincerely. "For ignoring you when you needed me, for telling you that you needed more friends, for kicking off at that guy yesterday. I'm just sorry for acting like a complete dick. I'm embarrassed."

"I'm embarrassed too," I say seriously.

Thinking back to Jamie, he must think Max is a complete psycho.

"I'm sorry for acting out like you're my property," his eyes fall to a look of sadness. "That was wrong of me and I'm sorry. I never want to upset you, something just switched inside me and I lost it. And you're right, it isn't fair and I want you to know that I'm severely annoyed at myself."

"Well for one, Jamie is straight. He lives in my accommodation and I met him outside. We had a chat about why we were upset and he asked if I wanted to go out for a drink. You literally said I should make friends and now I'm being punished for doing exactly that?" I breathe out quickly.

Max nods. "I shouldn't have manhandled him like that."

"No you shouldn't of." I shake my head.

"Can we fix this or have I fucked everything up?"

My eyebrows crease at his tone. "I love you Max," I state, causing his eyes to find mine. "I'm not going to give up on us because you made a couple mistakes. I just want you to know how to do better next time, to retain your anger, to be there for me when I need you."

Max's dark eyes flick between mine as he nods continuously.

"Because if you called me up saying you needed me and I was busy, I'd drop everything for you, Max. Everything. All a relationship is, is being there for each other, for support." I explain, lowering my tone slightly.

"I know," he nods. "And I wasn't there for you. But I will do better, I have learnt from my mistakes and I know that I need to be better. Because I don't want to lose you Oliver, never."

"Then don't," I exhale as I lean over to grab his hands gently.

Max looks at the table and entwines our fingers together tightly. The waitress stops by our table and welcomes us warmly before taking our orders, my stomach growls. Almost forgetting how hungry and hungover I was.

But Max takes me away from everything. Completely distracted and oblivious to the world when I'm with him.

"Let's talk about what happened," Max says as he leans back to put a sachet of sugar into his coffee. "About your mum."

"I just went to see her," I say, trying to ignore the lump in my throat that started growing. "Bought her flowers and was looking forward to seeing her. Then things turned quickly, she said that I was a shit son and I was the reason why my dad left her. That I ruined everything, her family. I'm the reason why she's like that."

Max's lips fall into a frown as he latches onto my hands once again, brushing his thumb over the back of my hand. "You know that's not true right?" He says slowly.

I sigh and look down at the orange juice in front of me. "It might be." I mumble.

"What?" Max's voice draws my eyes back up to his. "You are not a shit son. Oliver, you're in university now. You are independent, wanting to live your life doesn't make you a shit son. She's going through stuff right now and she doesn't mean what she says."

"Even if she doesn't mean it," I shrug. "She still said it. Your own mother saying those things to you, it hurts."

Max's forehead creases as he frowns gently. "You didn't ruin anything," he exhales slowly. "When we went to go see your dad, he was happy to see you, to see us together. Your dad didn't leave your mum because of you Oliver. Do not believe that."

"I just don't know what to do," my lip trembles slowly. "Should I have stayed there whilst she hurled abuse at me? She's mentally unwell, she doesn't really have anyone else."

My hand is raised up to Max's lips as he kisses the knuckles gently. "You can only help people who want to be helped Oliver," he tells me. "And by the sounds of things, she needs professional help. You can try and help her get the help she needs."

"I don't want to just abandon her," I close my eyes.

"Of course not," Max squeezes my hands gently. "She's still your mother. But if she doesn't want to be helped, continues saying nasty things to you. Then you have every right to step away, for your own sake and mental health."

I open my mouth to breathe out a shaky breath. "I feel guilty already."

"Don't feel guilty baby," he says gently.

My heart clenches at the nickname, already feeling calmer having opened up about this.

"Why don't you go see your dad?" He suggests.

I slowly drag my eyes up to his and nod. "Yeah," I agree. "I have a long summer ahead and I know I don't want to spend it cooped up in my accommodation."

"I'm sure he'll put your mind at ease at the situation as well," he continues to brush his thumb over my knuckles. "Your dad knows your mum probably better than anyone, tell him what happened and he might shed some light on the situation."

"I'm just confused," I admit as Max nods back at me. "This whole situation has fucked with my head."

"Things will sort themselves out, I promise." He nods firmly, a look in his eye that made me believe him. "And I'm always here if you want to talk about it. I want to support you, take care of you."

The corners of my mouth twitch up at his words. "Okay," I say quietly.

Max raises my hand again to kiss before the waitress comes back over with our order, my stomach growling painfully at the sight of the delicious food.

PRESENT
JULY 2021

Max and I were currently sitting in his flat, trying to piece together some flat pack furniture for his room. Desperately in need of some drawers for his clothes, he had invited me on a trip to IKEA. Even if you don't get anything for yourself, it's a day out. And the food is delicious.

Neither of us had loads of money, so always going on dates isn't feasible. But a trip to IKEA on a Sunday sounded perfect to me. Especially being with Max.

We could do nothing and I'd still have the best day.

Max groans as a screw he was trying to fit between two slabs of wood shoots from his fingers and rolls under his bed. "Let's take a break," he rolls his eyes before slumping against the frame of his bed.

"Okay," I agree as I fold up the instructions and place them onto the floor. "I'm not much help anyway."

He flashes me a smile that makes my stomach flip. "You're here for moral support, that's more important."

"True," I breathe out with a smile.

I lean back against the edge of Max's bed as he raises a hand to brush the back of my hair, his eyes admiring his actions. "So how's your mum?" He questions.

My shoulders shrug simply. "We haven't really been the same since two years ago." I mumble out.

"When she had that episode and was nasty to you?"

"Yup," I say shortly. "I tried my hardest with her but I remember you saying to me 'you can only help people who want to be helped' and that really stuck with me."

The corners of Max's lips twitch at my words. "So have you been to see her?"

"Yeah," I nod. "A couple times, she got the professional help she needed but it took a little while. I think she's in a better place now but still, things can never be the same. She didn't even apologise, even though we spoke about it a couple times."

Max frowns instantly as he scoots closer to me and presses a kiss to my temple. "Well you're the bigger person for still trying to have a relationship with her. It says a lot more about you than it does her."

"I guess," I mumble. "If anything, I've become closer with my dad. Which I'd thought I'd never say. But he was supportive of me, I still go round occasionally and see Kerry. She's great, I love her. And her children are nice."

"She makes peng food," Max laughs against my jaw.

"She does," I agree. "Maybe we should go round again soon?"

Max removes his head from me and smiles. "Yeah, I'd love that." He says eagerly.

"I'll give him a call next week and see if we can plan a date," I turn to smile at him.

"Sounds great."

I flick my eyes between Max's slowly. "What about your mum and dad?" I say slowly. "Have you heard from them?"

Max scoffs at my words. "My dad, not a chance," he speaks quickly. "My mum has tried to message me occasionally but after everything that happened, I kind of can't be bothered. She never wanted to defend me when my dad used to belt me one."

My heart breaks and I take my turn in wrapping my arms around him and giving him a gently hug. "I hate your dad," I admit.

"Join the club," Max laughs to himself. "They're old news. But I still try and keep in contact with my sisters, they understand me."

"It's weird to think I never met them," I trail off.

Max raises his hand to brush away my brown hair that had fallen into my eyes. "You can meet them when you want," he smiles. "One has moved out now but the other still lives at home."

"Well I'd love to meet them," I nod firmly.

"Well we have a lot to plan then don't we?" He grins back at me before pressing a kiss to my lips.

"We sure do."

Max then turns his eyes back to the planks of wood in front of us. "Right," he breathes out harshly. "Best get this done so we can chill."

"I want to help," I say instantly as I sit up on my knees. "Surely it will go faster if we both try."

"I like your optimism," he laughs before standing up. "Right, where have the instructions gone?"

"Here," I heave out as I lean across the floor to grab the paper.

"You tell me the instructions and we'll try to piece it together." He says as he places his hands on his hips and looks across the floor.

"We got this," I say confidently as I stretch out the instructions.

. . .

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Hello my darlings, what did we think of this chapter?

Did Max grovel enough for Oli's forgiveness in the past? He knows how much he fucked up and he wants to desperately do better

Who thinks it's been a little too quiet in the present??? Do we sense some drama approaching

Hope everyone is okay, see you guys on the next one, love Sav x

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