love came calling, twice // olly murs

6.

And suddenly, the pieces of the puzzle all came together and Amelia realized why everything made sense. Why Tom had spent so much time in Los Angeles the last year. She had actually believed that it was for business! How could she have been so naive?! She had actually been stupid enough to think that he loved her and that he had wanted to be a part of the planning process of their nuptials, but he just couldn't.

It had all been a lie.

"But...but..." Amelia bit down on her thumb again. "If he wanted to break things off with me, why did he propose?"

Olly shrugged, taking another gulp of his beer. "I don't know."

"I can't believe this," Jason said suddenly, taking a seat on the ground. "I can't believe he was like that. I can't believe I thought I knew him." He bit his lip, trying to restrain the tears that were threatening to spill. "Fuck him."

Adam looked at Jason, shocked. "Jase, don't say that, he's gone, we all make mistakes."

"No, he's right," Jeff added, "Fuck him. If he lied about something this important, this crucial all these years...who knows what else he lied about?"

Amelia pressed her hands to her face. "I can't believe this. I can't believe this is happening. I can't believe he did this."

"He loved you, Amelia," Adam said desperately. He didn't want this. He didn't want his friend's memory to be so tarnished, so ruined. Though his mind was reeling over the secrets of Tom's that were suddenly fact, he couldn't help but want to instill something into Amelia that proved that Tom had, at some point, in some way, loved her.

"I can't...I can't believe this," Amelia said, trembling. "Why did he do this?"

"I don't know why he did," Olly spoke softly, "I told you everything I knew. I don't know why he proposed and I don't know why he stayed with her."

When he was finished speaking, he looked up at Amelia. Her face was unbearably pale and he wanted nothing more than to reach out and give her some colour. Tears pooled in her eyes and she was biting her bottom lip so hard it was turning white.

"Amelia," he choked out, watching her as she walked over to him in three quick strides. "I am so, so sorry."

A resounding crack echoed through the room as Amelia's hand made contact with Olly's cheek. His head jerked back and his bangs fell in his eyes, shielding them from his friends. He brought a hand up to touch the stinging skin and he looked up at her.

"Amelia, I-" She cut him off, slapping him on the other cheek before Adam grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her back.

"Millie, stop!" Adam shouted, but the woman angrily writhed in his hold.

"How could you?!" she screamed, "How dare you keep this from me for a year and a half! A whole fucking year, Murs! You knew he was unfaithful and you never bothered to tell me!"

Dropping the hand from his face, he searched hers, desperate to get her to understand. "I thought he had told you. For almost two years, I thought you knew and that you two had worked it out. When I found out that he hadn't, I didn't know how to tell you," he swallowed. "I didn't want to hurt you."

"Didn't want to hurt me?" she screeched, tears falling down her face rapidly. "I was going to marry him, Murs! He was my everything! I loved him and he wasn't faithful and you thought you'd just stand by and let me marry someone when he had a mistress, a sidepiece? How could you?"

"It wasn't my place!" Olly barked suddenly. "I was his friend, Amelia, one of his best. I kept his secrets because that was what I was supposed to do!" He ran a hand through his hair, gripping the strands. "You however, were not! My loyalty, my friendship went to him by default, even if I knew what he was doing was wrong! What did I owe you? You wouldn't even look at me half of the time!"

Her eyes grew wide. "Oh, so that's it then? You wanted me hurt. After all the mean words I flung at you, you thought it best to give me a taste of my own medicine?"

Olly's eyes snapped to her gaze and he felt his stomach churn. "No, Amelia, that wasn't it at all!" He said desperately. "I didn't want to hurt you! I knew how much you loved Tom. You were so, so happy to be getting married to him and I had hoped that that would...that it would make things alright with you!" He looked down at the ground, his hands clenched into fists. "I didn't want to hurt you."

Amelia laughed, swiping her hands across her face. "Oh, that's rich, Murs! You didn't want to hurt me? And you thought keeping it from me was the way to go?"

Olly pressed his hand over his eyes, trying desperately to get the room to stop spinning. "Amelia, it was nothing like that! Put yourself in my position! I'm not the one you're mad at and you know it!"

She stared at him then, Adam's hands still gripping her upper arms and her lower lip trembled. Olly felt his heart break at her expression and she hung her head as her knees collapsed from underneath her. Adam staggered as her weight fell to the floor and she began to cry, her body racking with sobs.

Olly swallowed the lump in his throat as Adam scrambled to gather her up in his arms. Olly felt his own body suddenly become exhausted and he stumbled over to the counter and leaned upon it.

Adam had scooped Amelia up into his arms and she clung to him, her small, frail frame shaking. Adam looked up from her tear stained face and looked at Olly.

"I'm going to take her to, um," he choked on the name, "I'm going to take her to his room, okay? She needs some rest."

Olly nodded mutely, looking at the broken girl before pressing his lips together. "I'm sorry." The apology this time wasn't just to Amelia. It was to everyone; Olly was taking the blame, the burden and the guilt that came along with Tom's betrayal. He would take each jab, each glare for the man who had died and left him with a secret that had haunted him everyday for a year and a half.

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