Chapter 16: 14 ♢ Imagine

Let me know what y'all think

The week carried on agonisingly slow. Thankfully Nora had backed off and would turn a blind eye when Oliver went for his morning fixes. That didn't mean they didn't have their daily arguments over nothing. They usually ended with Nora storming out of the room and Oliver apologising like he always did. She always twisted his words, making him out to be the bad guy but Oliver was far from it! However, when things were good Oliver would feel reaffirmed about his decision choosing her. She made him so happy.

But all the happiness in the world couldn't relieve his aching heart. Charlie kept popping into his hear like a pop-up ad. He found it difficult to indulge in Nora's return without feeling guilty. His heartbroken voice chorused in his mind like a broken record, lamenting 'choose me, choose me'. He tried to call him again but there was no dial tone, implying his number had been blocked. All he could do was try to forget and force himself to ignore the pleading voice in his mind begging him to go see Charlie. He was finally reunited with the love of his life. He wouldn't let anything ruin that for him.

Saturday was his day off from work and he was looking forward to relaxing in bed with Nora all day. However, Nora had something else in plan.

"Get dressed. We're going to Maddie's wedding."

"Huh?"

Oliver was just coming out of the bathroom when Nora dropped that bombshell. He had seen her on the phone and she told him she had been talking to Madeline, which was another shock. Did Madeline actually reinvite her to the wedding?

"She sounded upset on the phone. I think there's something wrong. I have to be there for her."

Oliver had almost completely forgotten about her wedding. He wouldn't have remembered if it weren't for Nora reminding him earlier in the morning. If he was being honest, he was actually still rather salty over being blacklisted at her wedding rehearsal. There was no way in hell he was going to go to her wedding.

♢ ♢ ♢

"I'm really uncomfortable being here, Nor. You know how I feel about Madeline."

Oliver huffed his breath and crossed his arms like a child having a tantrum. He really didn't want to be there. Nora didn't give him any choice. She just said that if he didn't want to go, she would go alone. Obviously he wasn't going to let her go by herself, especially with Madeline Lockhart there. He saw what Nora would get like after an argument with Madeline. He had to be there if everything went to shit like it usually did.

Nora rolled her eyes. "Honey, I love you but I'm really getting sick of your whining. Get over it."

She scurried away before he could protest even more leaving him to check in and bring all their luggage to their room. He groaned as he dragged his feet to the reception and droned his details to the chirpy receptionist.

"Oh my god! Oliver? Oliver Scott?"

Oliver turned around to face a tall, vampiric looking girl. Her red lips (which contrasted greatly with her paper-white skin) curled into an almost maniac smile as she guffawed at him. He instantly recognised her.

"Sienna! How are you?!"

Sienna pulled him for a tight hug. "It's been like what? A year?"

"Yeah! Way too long!"

Sienna went to high school with him but they became reacquainted three years previously. She was the cousin of his friend Ivan and they had met at his birthday party. From there they became friends, reuniting at every single one of Ivan's wild soirées. However, she eventually stopped showing up to them as her band took off and they began touring and thus they lost touch. Oliver enjoyed her judgement-free company. They usually ended their nights with powder on their noses and joints in their mouth. She was super fun to be around. Of course Nora didn't know about any of this. To her Sienna was nothing but a distant high school memory. Oliver would have had to be crazy to tell her about his drug-fuelled experiences with Sienna or, as the media knew her, 'Vampy'.

"What bring you here?"

Sienna pointed at her band behind her. "Blake is a close friend of mine. I promised him I'd perform at the reception."

Oliver cringed at the thought of Sienna's hardcore rock music playing at Madeline's wedding reception. Even though he would never say it out loud, he knew Madeline. He knew her like the back of his hand and he was certain that she had either one; not approved this performance or two; been drunk or high if she did. The first option was probably the most likely one because of Madeline's teetotalism.

"Nice! I can't wait to see you perform!"

Sienna smiled. "Look, I have to go set up but afterwards let's get a drink. I have a few new pills I'd love to try and I know you're the best person to try them with."

Oliver smiled. "I'd like that."

After Sienna walked away, Oliver thanked the receptionist and took his keycard, leaving his bags for the bellhop. Once he got to the room he grabbed a beer bottle from the mini fridge and lied down on the sofa. He stared at the ceiling and entered the maze that was his mind. Lost in his thoughts, he began to imagine Charlie. He imagined him holding his hand, he imagined him kissing him, he imagined the two of them lying beside each other. If he closed his eyes tight enough he could almost see him in front of him. He didn't realise how much he would miss him.

His phone vibrated. His heart skipped a beat because he thought it was Charlie. But it was only a message from Sienna.

'our equipment was set up for us. give me your room number, i'm coming up now.'

Oliver stretched his arms over his head and yawned. He would have much preferred to spend his day imagining Charlie. Another message popped up as he tried to come up with an excuse.

'i'll bring a bottle of jack and vodka. see you soon'

That sounded very tempting. Oliver patted his pocket to make sure he brought coke before replying.

'Room 67.... bring champagne too.'

♢ ♢ ♢

Sienna let out a mighty whoop as she did her third line of coke. Her drummer and guitarist took a break from making out to laugh at her. Her serpent eyes met Oliver's and winked.

"I don't know how I'm going to perform at this wedding," She chuckled, taking the bottle from Oliver's tightly clasped hands.

Oliver smiled weakly because that was pretty much all he had energy to do.

"Why do you look so tired?"

"Because I am. This cocaine is doing nothing for me."

"Oh. Why didn't you say so!" Sienna exclaimed, reaching into her pocket. She pulled out a small yellow pill with the imprint of a smiley face on it. "Good old 'Molly' will do the trick!"

Without waiting for a response from him, Sienna shoved the pill into his mouth and smiled. "There you go."

Oliver closed his eyes and relaxed his muscles. He couldn't understand why he was so uncomfortable and exhausted. He had this feeling that he was meant to be somewhere else. With someone else.

"Can I ask you something?" Sienna asked, lighting a joint.

"Shoot."

She exhaled a cloud of smoke. "When did you and Nora get back together?"

Of course she had heard about their break-up. They were the It-Couple.

"Last week."

She thought for a moment. "So you and Charlie K broke up?"

Oliver shot up, any signs of exhaustion quickly disappearing as his eyes bugged out. "How do you know about that?! Who told you?! Do other people know?! When-"

"Chill! I was in Vegas for a show and I saw you two making out. You weren't exactly trying to hide it. It was kind of gross actually. Your tongues were all over the place and-"

"That's enough!"

"LOL-"

[Sienna was the type of person to drawl LOL (pronounced 'lawl') unironically. If it weren't for her fun personality Oliver would have ghosted her ages ago]

"- I can't believe you two were going out! Charlie K is, like, one of my bros! How long did that last?"

"We weren't... we weren't going out."

"Oh, you were just hooking up, got it."

It sounded wrong to say that what they had was 'just hooking up'. It was more meaningful than that. Even the thought of Charlie brought about a feeling of warm, invisible arms wrapping around him and soft kisses like fluttering butterfly wings landing on his lips.  Casual hook-ups couldn't have that effect on someone.

"Yeah... just hooking up."

The two turned their heads towards the door as it suddenly opened.

"Oli?" Nora's voice called out.

Oliver whipped his head to face Sienna. "Don't mention anything about him-"

"She doesn't know?!"

"Don't say anything," He hissed. "In here!"

"Hello," Nora said slowly as she entered the room. She scan the room in confusion and furrowed her eyebrows.

Oliver poured her some champagne and walked up to her planting a kiss on her cheek. "Hey babe!" he said casually. "Do you remember Sienna from high school? She's friends with Blake! What are the odds!"

"Ok..." Nora put down her bag and waited for an explanation as to why she was there.

"They came early because they're performing at the reception so Sienna texted me and asked if they could hang out with us."

Nora nodded. "Um, yeah, that's fine. I'm going to go lie down-"

"Are you not going to get ready for the wedding?"

Nora pursed her lips. "I don't know if there's going to even be a wedding," She whispered but clearly not low enough as Sienna's ears perked up.

"What!" Sienna exclaimed. "We came all the way for nothing?"

Nora's phone pinged and she quickly checked it before nodding and smiling. "Yup."

Oliver wasn't surprised. Madeline wasn't the type to settle down. He couldn't imagine her being married. He wondered why the wedding was called off though. Probably Madeline just being Madeline and causing trouble.

Sienna stood up, flicking her joint onto the hotel carpet. "Thanks for the coke, Oliver. We're gonna go..."

Oliver mentally cursed as Nora turned quickly to him.

"You brought coke with you?!"

Oliver ignored her, pretending he didn't hear her and walked over to Sienna. "You don't have to go! Stay!"

He didn't want the fun to end. And by fun he meant unlimited alcohol and cocaine.

Sienna shrugged. "We came for a wedding. So unless you two plan on getting married, we've got better things to do."

She winked mischievously at Oliver and snickered. She meant it as a joke but suddenly it felt like a lightbulb went off above his head.

Maybe it was the ecstasy talking (or the whiskey or the vodka or the champagne or the cocaine or the weed) but a wedding seemed like the perfect solution for his Charlie heartbreak. And it was Nora! The love of his life! Of course he wanted to marry her! They had already been engaged before their breakup. Getting married would prevent any future breakups over petty matters and help Oliver get over Charlie. It was perfect.

Oliver kissed her shoulder as he got down on one knee.

"Nora... what do you think?"

"Oh my God...."

"For the second time. Nora Lawrence, will you marry me?"

The room went silent as everyone waited for her response. Oliver didn't feel nervous at all. He knew her inside out. She was going to say yes.

"You're kidding, right?" Nora finally choked out after a long silence.

Oliver laughed and shook his head. "No! I want to marry you, Nor!"

She looked at Sienna (who was in a fit of giggles) before grabbing Oliver's hand and pulled him into a random bedroom.

"Oliver, slow down okay? We never even talked about if we're still engaged after getting back together. Our relationship is already fragile and-"

Oliver stopped her with a kiss. "Nora," He murmured. "Do you love me?"

Why was marriage such a grave topic? All it was was a celebration of love. No need for all the semantics.

"You know the answer but-"

She was making everything more complicated than it was.

"Nora. Do. You. Love. Me."

Nora smiled and kissed him. "Of course I love you Oliver."

"Then screw logic. Let's get married. Today."

"I guess I could call my mom but she's in Barbados so she might take a while to arrive...."

"We don't need anyone. Just me and you, babe. We can have a better ceremony some other day but for now let's just make it official. Mister and Missus Scott."

"Missus Lawrence-Scott," Nora giggled, correcting him. "Wait, what am I even saying, no! We can't get married Oliver! I don't have a dress or veil or bouquet or-"

"None of that matters!"

"Oliver, this is all too fast. I mean, we just got back together."

"We've been together for six years. Let's do it Nor."

Fuck Charlie. He didn't need him. Nora and Oliver would rule the world. They were an unstoppable force together. No one understood that but them.

Nora bit her lip, hiding a wide beam before nodding. "Okay. Fuck it. Let's get married."

♢ ♢ ♢

Quick analysis of the toxic relationship between Oliver and Nora:

Most of their issues can be traced to Oliver's narcissism and substance abuse. However, I've recently realised that Nora is an enabler.

ENABLER

-a person or thing that makes something possible.

example; "the people who run these workshops are crime enablers"

-a person who encourages or enables negative or self-destructive behaviour in another.

example; "being an enabler to an addict does more harm than good"

^^That was taken from Google. Nora loves Oliver unconditionally which becomes a problem when she doesn't act on Oliver's addiction. I'm not saying it is her job to fix him but she also shouldn't turn a blind eye to his drug use which she has many times before.

What do you think?

See you all for the next update!

Love,

-hexed

xoxo