Don't Let Me Drown (Oli Sykes Fan Fic) COMPLETE

CALENDAR DATES

Luiz greeted me at the check in desk with a smile like he always did and I hugged him quickly once I'd arrived. "So, how was your time with Oli?" he asked as soon as I let go. I felt myself blush at the question, honestly it had been perfect. It had given me clarity about what I wanted and we'd both been so open about things... I wasn't afraid of rejection or being hurt. I felt like he really liked me and I couldn't help but smile. "Do you remember last time I spent time with him? You asked me if it was something you needed to hide from the press, and I said not yet?" I asked him. He nodded in response. "I think maybe I need to change that." I added.
"What? You're together, together?" Luiz asked a little surprised.
"Well no, not officially... but I really like him. I more than like him and I know he likes me too. I think I might be..." I said, trailing off. Also blushing... I wasn't sure if I could actually say what I was thinking.
"Falling in love?" Luiz said, putting the words right in my mouth. I just looked at him and smiled nervously then nodded. I wasn't embarrassed, but Luiz had never seen me fawn over anyone. He'd certainly never seen me being all coy and gushy over a boy, very few people had. "Aww..." Luiz sounded. "I saw it a mile away." he added as he gave me a quick, supportive hug. He did? "Well, just know that I am happy to help you make it work however you guys need, OK? You want to go see him on tour, we will make that happen. He wants to visit you somewhere overseas, just say the word." he stated. I smiled and hugged him tightly feeling so fucking good.
"You're amazing Luiz. I don't know what I'd do without you." I gushed.

My runway shows went off without a hitch, though it was hard not to smile at times. I honestly felt so happy and content, it was almost scary. Oli sent me pictures all day; mostly just random stuff and the occasional cute selfie, but it was nice that we were communicating so much. It was the thing that always made me doubt in the past, but he was obviously thinking about me now and that made me beyond happy. I went to an after party that night and sent him a photo of my outfit, then when I got home, he'd sent me a video with the caption 'Wish you were here'. I pushed off my shoes and laid on my couch and I hit play on Oli's video. It was a clip from their show that night, shot from the side of the stage, and I quickly realised it was the song 'Can You Feel My Heart'. It was so sweet that he'd had someone to record it since he knew it was my favourite song and I sat there watching the video with a smile on my face. I was so proud of him and just in awe of how he was on a stage, knowing he was thinking about me as he sung. 'You're so cute' I replied, along with a thank you and a little message about my night. I guess he was already asleep since he didn't reply, but I completely understood. He'd had a crazy couple of days.

I woke up the following day and headed back to Bryant Park for my second last day of Fashion Week commitments. It was only two days now until I flew to London and it actually felt strange knowing that I would be in Oli's home country while he would be staying in mine. He had sent me a 'Good Morning' message and a reply to my message from the night before, so I sent him one back. I walked two runway shows that day; Tom Ford and Calvin Klein. Both were big shows that attracted a tonne of celebrities and press, and Luiz was by my side all day as usual. After everything that had happened and how supportive he had been toward Oli and I, I appreciated him even more than I did before. I ran into Zac backstage and I felt quite awkward since we'd hung out just a couple of days ago and then I'd kind of ghosted him, but I did the right thing and told him that I was seeing someone. I told him it was really new and I also apologised for if I'd led him on, but he was totally cool with it. He didn't seem phased at all, so maybe he never really thought our 'date' was a date either. We chatted for a while about his charity work and we both still wanted to work together on it, so that potentially awkward conversation went a lot better than I thought it would. He was a really chilled-out guy though, so I shouldn't have been surprised.

Once the shows were over, I went home for a couple of hours before heading to Luiz's to get ready for my final fashion week after party. I wanted to call Oli in my down time; I wanted to speak to him before I flew to the UK in the morning and I knew those two hours might be my only opportunity. When I arrived home, I was surprised to find a parcel waiting for me with the security desk... that had never happened before since all of my mail went to either the agency or a PO Box in LA. The parcel was one of those pre-paid, express postage satchels with no return address so I was a little apprehensive about it. Luiz had always told me if I ever received an unknown package not to open it, but then nobody knew where I lived in New York, so I shrugged and signed for it. I ripped it opened it on the security desk just incase there was an issue, but inside was a flat, book-shaped object wrapped in white tissue. I could see it wasn't anything dangerous so I pressed the elevator button and headed up to my apartment. I was completely mind-boggled as to what it was. I unwrapped the tissue paper as I stepped into my apartment and a hand written note stared at me as I pushed the tissue paper away.

'I can't wait to see you again. x'

I was smiling before I even knew what it was because I'd already worked out who it was from. I removed the note and underneath was a photo of Oli and I; it was the one he'd taken in my bed two nights ago where I was licking his cheek and he was pulling a stupid face. It automatically made me laugh and my heart pound in my chest. Once I'd completely unwrapped it, I realised that the photo was at the top of one of those desktop calendars; the type where you rip off each month as it passes. Oli had already removed all of the months that had passed in the year because the one that was visible was the current one; September. He'd crossed off the days that had passed and written numbers in every remaining day in the month, and as I lifted the page to look at October, I saw that he had put a huge circle around the 2nd with the word 'YAY' inside. I knew why he'd done it straight away and I literally felt like it might burst. He'd created a countdown to the next time we'd see each other. I felt tears well in my eyes. I was absolutely lost for words. It was so romantic and so thoughtful; I just wanted to cry. He'd circled all of the other dates we'd talked about being together on the calendar too and it absolutely melted my heart. I never would have picked him as a romantic before I knew him, in fact I'm sure nobody would just by looking at him, but he was the sweetest person I think I'd ever met. Nobody had ever made me feel so special or done anything like that for me before. I immediately grabbed my phone and sent him a text that said nothing but 'Omg......' and my phone rang less than a minute later.

"I take it you got my present?" he asked straight away.
"Yes. Oh my god, it's so cute. I'm on the verge of crying." I said with a laugh.
"Awwwww, don't cry!" he said.
"It's just really, really sweet." I replied. He made me feel so wanted and appreciated, and I hadn't felt like that in such a long time - maybe ever.
"I thought you were crying cus of my ugly face on there." he joked. Yeah, he was pulling a stupid face in the photo he'd put on the calendar, but to me it was perfect. He was adorable.
"I love your ugly face." I said without thinking. "I can't believe how cute you are." I gushed.
"Well I'm really glad you like it." he said, obviously smiling on the other end of the line.
"I can't believe you did this... nobody has ever done anything so thoughtful for me." I gushed. He had won the biggest amount of brownie points with this gift.
"Well they should have. And there's plenty more where that came from." he said sweetly.
"Oli, you don't have to do anything else. I can't be any more impressed than I already am." I admitted which made him laugh down the line. "OK, well, I'll keep that in mind, but that does sound a bit like a challenge." he joked. I just laughed at him. He was adorable.
"Joy, I wish I could talk to you all night, but I'm actually in the middle of soundcheck and the guys are starting to death stare me. My flight was delayed yesterday so sound check was super late so I'm already in the dog house." he admitted with a chuckle.
"Oh no!" I quipped. I didn't want to interrupt him! "OK, well get back to your stuff and message me later and let me know how the show goes." I said, giving him the OK to leave.
"Sure, I will. I'm glad you liked the present." he said.
"I do, I absolutely love it." I replied. We said goodbye but I caught him right before he hung up. "Oli... Thank you." I said seriously. He didn't know how much his thoughtfulness meant to me, how much confidence it gave me, how for the first time in so long I didn't feel like I had to alter myself or doubt myself and my feelings.
"The pleasures all mine. Bye gorgeous." he said as he hung up.

I sat there at my dining room table with the calendar in my hands just dumbfounded at the entire thing. I felt like I wanted to cry, but not in a bad way. He was the sweetest person I think I'd ever met in my entire life and he was the best boyfriend I'd ever had, even though he wasn't even my boyfriend! We weren't together, he didn't have to do anything for me, but he did. I couldn't believe that he cared about me as much as he did... that he made so much effort to make me happy. I couldn't work out how I'd found someone like him or why I deserved him  making so much effort for me, but I smiled as I looked at his gorgeous, silly face on the calendar. He was amazing and I was completely falling in love with him.