Spoiler
As promised, here's the sixteenth chapter posted publicly. This is a rough draft, so you guys are going to have to bare with me and help me out! All reviews are greatly appreciated because this is a chapter I really want to get right. Sorry it's a weeny bit long... 
It was disgusting. As I was sitting at the kitchen table the next day, I watched indignantly while my father and mother laughed together as though they didn’t have a care in the world. Very rarely did I see them together nowadays, and right now, I was glad of it. Being in the kitchen with them like this made me want to scream.
The temptation of telling my mother the truth was almost hurting me, it was so strong. I managed to resist it and instead, I just grinned and bared it until I left the room.
“Your toast’s almost done, darling,” my mother smiled, giving my father a quick kiss. “If your father hadn’t burnt the first one.” She began laughing. “It would have been cooked ten minutes ago!”
My father laughed in response as he gave my mother another kiss. Had he completely forgotten about yesterday? Or was he purposely mocking me?
I would have asked Ollie to get the toast for me, but judging by his response to what I told him about yesterday, he might have knocked my father out. I was beginning to regret getting it myself now. Seeing my parents like this made me feel sick.
I couldn’t get out of the room fast enough. Reminding myself not to slam the door, I closed it quietly, but quickly. I made my way upstairs and into my room to see Ollie lying on my bed, fiddling with my television remote.
“How many setting's does this thing ‘ave? It’s more like an aeroplane than a TV,” he said, dropping the remote. “I’m surprised there ain’t cup holders in it. Mind you, I've never been on an aeroplane, but I've seen 'em on TV. They look like obese seagulls or somethin'.”
“Mhmmm,” I murmured, not really listening.
“Uh... anybody home?” Ollie laughed, waving.
“Yeah, um, sorry. I don’t know.” I sat down on my bed and began nibbling rather pointlessly on the slice of toast.
Swallowing the crumbs, they ran coarsely down my throat. It felt as though they were individually piercing into me. Pulling a face, I dropped the piece of toasted bread back onto the plate.
“You all right, Tori?” I hadn’t noticed Ollie sitting next to me until now. I responded with a simple nod. He gritted his teeth. “It’s him, innit?”
Before I could say anything else, Ollie was on his feet. I hurriedly jumped up and took hold of his arm before he could leave my room.
“Ollie, it’s fine! Just leave it! Why are you even so bothered about it? My dad’s an idiot, it’s nothing new. If you go and make a scene now, your job is screwed.”
Ollie sighed and his body relaxed slightly from its previous tense form. I could tell he wasn’t happy with my response, but he knew that I was right.
When I told Ollie what had happened last night, he’d reacted a lot differently to what I'd thought he would. In all honesty, I didn’t think he’d care or say much. I was very wrong. He even offered to come over, which I knew would have been a bad idea, especially after he arrived this morning.
I swore if I hadn’t stopped him, he would have gone straight into my father’s office and tried beating him to death or something. He didn’t have a soft spot for adultery, that I was sure of. It shouldn’t have surprised me though. I did have to remember, he was from the East End. From what I’d seen on Eastenders, fighting was their thing.
Telling him to leave it once more, Ollie eventually sat back down and sighed heavily. He leaned back on the bed and was soon lying down.
“Sorry... I just, I dunno. He pisses me off,” he said, closing his eyes. “I get wound up easily.”
“Never! I wouldn’t have guessed,” I managed to joke.
Ollie responded with a light chuckle, but a deathly silence soon took over. That silence was sorely missed when the faint sound of my parents laughing and joking downstairs replaced it. I glanced at Ollie to see him clenching his fists, his knuckles whitening.
He let out a long breath and opened his eyes again. Both of his hands soon relaxed. I had to admit, when he was wound up, Ollie could calm himself pretty well. It was like when he managed to stop himself from crying in his flat. He must have been awfully good at composing himself.
“There’s a river around ‘ere, ain’t there?” Ollie randomly said as he sat back up.
“Well, yeah...” I replied slowly. “Why exactly did you want to know that?”
He stood up and grabbed the television remote again before turning the television off.
“Let’s go check it out,” he answered as if it was the most normal suggestion ever.
It was the end of November, practically snowing outside, and he wanted to go down to the river. I stared at him blankly.
“C’mon, it’ll be fun,” he laughed, tussling my hair.
I would have refused to move and asked him if he was high or something, but my curiosity got the better of me. If getting out of the house meant going to a river, then so be it. I’d have been willing to stand in a burning building right now if it stopped me from listening to my parents downstairs.
I hesitated for a moment as I reached the front door. Should I have told my parents where I was going? On second thought, I’d prefer not to interrupt them. I pulled a jumper over my head, followed by one of my brown leather jackets.
“You’re going to be freezing...” I looked at Ollie who was wearing his usual t-shirt, jeans, and black and white Converse shoes.
“Nah, I’ll be fine. I can deal with a bit of cold,” he shrugged, opening the front door.
I grabbed one of my dad’s hooded jumpers, just in case, before following Ollie outside. I purposely made sure that the door closed silently behind us.
I led the way to the river, something that Ollie wasn’t used to. He was buzzing beside me, edging me to move faster every few minutes. Even though I was moving at a steady pace, he was almost skipping beside me with impatience. Then again, he might have just been cold.
“You ‘re like a blooming fly,” I said, turning to him. “Constantly buzzing.”
“I reckon it’s my ADHD; it gives me too much energy, even when I’m on meds.” He thought for a moment. “Or maybe the meds give me more energy..." He shrugged. "Who knows?”
“You’re not just cold, are you? If you are, I’ve got this.” I help up the hoodie.
Ollie shook his head, pushing my hand away. I was comfortably warm, but I was also wearing about three layers. If I were Ollie, it would feel as though my toes were falling off.
After trudging through a field of wild grass, we reached the river bank. I used to come here all of the time when I was a little girl, but I hadn’t been here in years. As my eyes fell onto the flowing water,I felt nostalgic. It was almost unreal how the memories in my mind felt like they came from another lifetime.
The memory of my father leading me across the rocks like stepping stones flashed though my head, his hand firmly holding mine, promising me he wouldn’t let me fall in. It was amazing how when you were younger, your parents couldn’t do a thing wrong. I almost missed my naivety.
I must have been staring blankly at the water because I felt someone nudge me softly on my side. My mind returned to the present as I turned to Ollie.
“Tori, 'ave you been on the booze today or somethin'? You’re starin’ into space a lot,” he asked, making his way down the banking that led to the river.
I glared at him as I did the same. It was impossible for me not to get my jeans dirty as I slid and skidded down the steep banking. Miraculously, Ollie managed to get down with complete ease and when he reached the bottom, there wasn’t a speck of dirt on his jeans. Well, not a new speck of dirt.
The second my feet touched the flat ground, I began rubbing my clothes eagerly, hoping to get rid of the stains. I gave up after a while and accepted the fact that I’d have to put them in the wash when I got home.
“Wash ‘em in the river,” Ollie suggested, nodding at the water.
“It’s dirty though...” I replied. “I’ll just wash them when I get home.”
He shrugged before sitting down on the smooth grass below. It still amazed me how he wasn’t shivering in just a t-shirt.
Wiping the ground before I dared sit on it, I eventually did so. I didn’t know why I was being so fussy; my jeans were dirty as it was. Realising this, I gave up and stretched my legs out in front of me.
“Why is it we’re here then?” I asked, looking at Ollie.
“Do you ‘ave to question everythin’?” he replied.
“Well, it is freezing. I can’t see much logic to coming here,” I argued.
A curved grin spread across Ollie’s face as he suddenly reached down. Bringing his hand back up, he flicked a pile of water in my direction. As the ice cold water hit me, I yelped and immediately sprung up.
“That, Victoria dear, is freezing,” Ollie laughed, lying down.
Jumping over him, I hastily reached down until I felt the so cold, it seemed sharp, water on my hand. I repeated Ollie’s actions, managing to get the water over his face as he flinched. Before I could do anything else, he was on his feet.
I was about to make a run for the banking when he grabbed my legs and the next thing I knew, Ollie was holding me over his shoulder. Through mixed laughs, I began pounding at his back with my fists.
“Let me down!” I yelled, still laughing. “I can sue you, you know!”
Ignoring me completely, he casually walked towards the riverside. I was practically beating him up by the time I realised what he was doing.
“Let you down? Sure, I’ll chuck you in now,” he said.
“Don’t you bloody dare!”
I screamed as he began to bend over the river. I shut my eyes tightly, waiting for the sudden shock, when I felt the soft ground below me.
Opening my eyes, I saw Ollie laughing his head off above me. He had his hands in his pockets as I stood back up, wiping myself down.
“You’re actually dangerous.” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Pfft, there’s nothin’ wrong with this water.” He nodded at the river behind him.
To prove his point, Ollie did the stupidest thing he could have possibly done. Turning around, he leaped into the water, followed by a loud splash that soaked me completely.
It wasn’t long until he returned to the surface. “See,” he said, swimming back towards me. “I’m alive. Plus, my clothes are clean.”
He shook his head like a dog who’d just come out of an icy bath, swishing his soaked hair out of his face, and once again, wetting me. Pulling himself up with the riverside, he was soon back on dry ground again.
“You look warm,” I said sarcastically, noticing the almost white hairs on his arms standing up.
His clothes had glued themselves onto his skin, his t-shirt wrapped tightly around his torso. Water fell from his clothes like raindrops as he ran his fingers through his drenched hair.
“Okay, fair enough, I’m cold now.” He started laughing through chattering teeth.
Shaking my head, I handed him the hoodie beside me. He thankfully grabbed it and pulled it over his head.
It looked terribly big on him because my father had grown around the edges due to the money well spent on food over the years, but it would do.
“Tha' weren’t the best idea, was it?”
“No, not really, Ollie. Common sense doesn’t really seem to be your thing though.”
Ollie nodded, openly agreeing with me. Delving his hands into the large pocket of my father’s hoodie, he leaned back against the banking.
That hoodie was probably the only casual piece of clothing my father owned, and he never wore it anyway. He thought he looked like a homeless person in it, so he used that as an excuse not to wear it, even though the hoodie was from Hollister; certainly not a homeless person’s shop.
Ollie remained shivering as his eyes shut. Although it was freezing, the air smelt a bit funny, and the grass was wet, it felt wonderful to be at the riverside. It held many of my childhood memories, the ones I’d almost regrettably forgotten. I was glad Ollie had brought me here.
Throughout the time we’d been here, what I discovered yesterday hadn’t even tried creeping into my mind. Ollie seemed to have that effect on me. While I was doing something with him, it was as though my real life was on pause.
The sky was rapidly darkening now, and I could feel the temperature dropping. Being out here wasn’t the best idea, especially not for Ollie after being in the water. Time had, quite literally, flown by this evening. I didn’t regret a second of it.
“Thanks,” I murmured, leaning back against the banking with Ollie.
He looked at me. “Okay...” he chuckled. “For?”
“I don’t know... Everything, I guess.”
“Includin' threatenin' to chuck you into a river?”
I tried glaring at him, but it didn’t last long. A gust of wind blew my hair onto my face, causing me to hold it back as though I were putting it into a ponytail.
“Seriously though,” I said, “you might be a complete idiot, but you’ve helped me out a lot.”
Ollie started laughing for the hundredth time today. “How ‘ave I helped you? As far as I’m aware, I’ve made things worse for you. I’m as useless as hell.”
“Well.” I thought for a short while. “You stopped me from getting attacked; that’s a big one. You helped me pick a wedding dress, you got me to try fish and chips, didn’t call me a touchy idiot for getting so paranoid about my dad and his little friend. Plus, I’ve been a lot more relaxed lately, minus the wedding and the idiotic father's affair stress. You seem to... I don’t know... Make me able to forget about things. Oh, and you gave me the interesting experience of sharing a car with you...”
I let out a long breath after saying that. He had done quite a bit for me actually, even if it was in his own, weird little way. I impatiently waited for his response.
“Fancy givin’ me a raise ‘en ?” he laughed.
“Why do you do that?” There was a slight annoyance in my voice.
“Huh? Do wha’?”
“Joke about absolutely everything?” I looked at him seriously. “It’s like you try too hard to be happy sometimes, I swear,” I muttered
I was trying to have a serious discussion with Ollie, but he couldn’t help but come out with some jokey, little comment. It may have been bad for me to have thought so, but I liked the day his mother returned. That was the first time I’d ever seen Ollie with genuine emotion on his face. He wasn’t trying to be happy then.
In reality, he wasn’t fooling anyone. It was a physical impossibility to be constantly happy, especially in Ollie’s case. When it comes down to it, he had an alcoholic mother, hardly a penny to his name, a herd of children to constantly look after, and lived in a horrible neighbourhood. Where was the happiness in that?
Ollie observed me carefully, tilting his head to the side. He seemed to be contemplating what I’d just said. After a minute or so, he chuckled quietly to himself, not saying a word to me for a while. That freaked me out a tiny bit.
“Dunno.” He stared at the flowing water. “Easier, I guess. It’s better to be always be happy, even if it's fake happiness.”
It was odd. In some ways, he was right. Then again, he was so wrong. Sometimes you needed to express emotions; it was what stopped a person from going insane. I watched him carefully. Maybe I could try and get through to Ollie, break down the emotionless wall he seemed to have created over the years. Maybe...
Ollie shut his eyes again, an easy smile on his lips. The droplets on his face turned a calmed fire colour as the orange sunset shone on them. His damp hair fell loosely over his forehead as his lips remained curved. It may have been ice cold outside, but every part of me was warm. Ollie gave me something no one else could; he made me feel safe.
That was the moment I had the stupidest idea I’d ever thought of. Forgetting about my dad, his mistress, my mum, Ella, Richard, and anyone else entirely, I closed my eyes for a few seconds. Without even giving it an ounce of a thought, I gazed at Ollie and leaned forward.
The next thing I felt were Ollie’s cold lips against mine. I only got the chance to merely skim them because not even a second later, he jolted up like a bolt of lightning. My entire body froze as I realised what I’d just done.
Repeating Ollie’s actions by leaping up, I stared at him as he stood a good ten yards away from me. His face had dropped and he did nothing but stare back at me. There was something in his eyes, a look you could class as fear and utter shock. I couldn’t blame him. Oh God... What had I just done?
“Wha’ the hell are you doin’?” he stammered.
“Oh, God! I... I’m sorry... I didn’t, uh, I just...” My voice trailed off as my cheeks began burning.
I felt like digging a hole right there, right now, and burying myself in it for the rest of my life. Turning away from me completely - from his eyes to his feet - Ollie climbed up the banking.
I hastily followed, silently begging that he’d stop and let me explain. Explain what exactly, I had no idea. I was so confused, I didn’t even know how to process what had just happened.
“I’ve got to go.” Ollie spoke quickly as he began jogging back up to the road that led to my house.
I didn’t bother following him this time. Instead, I stood hopelessly on top of the banking, wishing that I hadn’t acted so spontaneously.
By the time I’d reached my house, my head was completely jumbled. What on this earth had possessed me to behave so foolishly? There were a million things wrong with what I just tried to do, the main one being I was engaged to be married, and the wedding was under a month away.
I entered my house and ran up my stairs loudly, not caring whether my parents heard me or not. I knew getting close to Ollie was a bad idea; I should have just sacked him when I had the chance. Everything was still trying to process in my mind, but it was struggling desperately. Right now, I needed a little thing called normality.
Calming myself, I tried bringing my thoughts together with some organisation. Okay, so I’d tried to kiss Ollie. It was probably just wedding nerves; I’d heard about people having affairs the night before their wedding. An attempted kiss wasn't shameful. Besides, it wasn’t as though I even liked Ollie in that way.
Admittedly, I liked him an awful lot more than when I first met him. I liked him a lot now. Heck, I might have even been edging on loving him, but I was not in love with him. There was a difference. Richard. That was who I was in love with.
Imbedding the thought into my mind, I was able to relax a bit. It wasn’t just that either. There was something else about Ollie that made me convince myself that I didn’t like him in that way. A gut feeling. It was something unexplainable.
I collapsed onto my bed. I was in love with Richard, of course I was. I felt idiotic for even considering otherwise.
*****
I dreamt that night. I was sitting on the riverbank in the dead of night, and was wearing my beautiful wedding dress. As I gazed up into the sky, the stars fell gracefully. By the time they were in my soft hands, they dissolved into, what looked like, individual fireworks.
Everything was going fluently. The air around me was cold, but my silky dress somehow managed to keep me comfortably warm, hot even. Then suddenly, one of the stars scorched my hand. Then another one did. Soon, the stars were falling like meteorites, violently crashing from the night sky.
In panic, I looked down at my dress to see it covered in dirt and burns. My chest tightened as the stars kept on erupting from the sky. I scrambled onto my feet, shielding my head from them as best as I could. Trying to run, my feet wouldn’t move, only trip over what wasn’t there. The stars were leaving my skin begging for something cold, anything to numb the heat.
That was when I saw Richard.
He was standing on top of the banking, his face filled with blank emotion. I called his name, begged for him to help. He didn’t though. Instead, a smooth smile spread itself calmly across his flawless face. I tried again, screaming for him this time. He glanced at me before turning away. The only thing left was the sound of a quiet chuckle.
