The Original High (Koli) ✔️

34: He Wasn't Lying

One Monday night later that summer, it was the busiest night in the history of La Lune. Someone was having a huge birthday party and decided to end it with drinks at the pub. This pub, out of all the ones in London.

I ran around, doing my absolute best at tending to every customer with drinks and snacks.

Michael had called in sick and couldn't help out, so I was on my own, sadly enough. Oli had shown up too, as well as the usual men, but I didn't really have any time to chat with them. It was just too crowded.

The night went on for hours, the customers begging me to stay open just a little longer every time I was about to shut the place down. I groaned and gave in, until at some point it was nearly 4 am. "I'm sorry gents, we really need to close down now." I announced as I turned off the music.

A choir of whines and pleas filled the place and I noticed Oli chuckling from the corner of my eye as he gulped down the last bit of his beer. "I'm serious guys, it's been 12 very long hours for me, it has got to end." I said, firmly standing my ground.

Finally, they all gave in and slowly but surely, the place emptied. Relieved at the silence, I put my head down on the bar and sighed. I probably could've fallen asleep right then and there. . . but I still had to clean the goddamn place for the next day. And knowing that Michael was sick, he definitely wasn't going to do it.

I groaned and lifted my head back off the bar and started cleaning. I did it as best I could with the energy I had left, refilled the tap and locked the place down. For a summer's night, it was quite chilly out, so I quickly made my way back to the hostel. I tugged on the front door, only thinking of my bed. . . my head on my soft pillow and my thin duvet hugging my tired body.

But the door wouldn't budge.

"Shit." I muttered below my breath, realizing what was going on. The door of this place had an automatic lock, set to a certain time. The landlady had set it to 2:30 for me, since usually I only worked 'til 2 am. Fuck. I knew I was going to regret keeping the pub open so late.

I groaned as I leaned my head against the door. I couldn't go to Michael's place, he was sick and I really didn't want to bother him. And though I didn't have that many options to begin with, knocking on Ashton's door at this hour would be just a little bit awkward.

I decided I could just go back to the pub and stay there 'til 8, which was the time that the door of the hostel would unlock again.

I shoved my hands into my pockets and made my way back down the street. I passed the all-familiar alleyway right before the pub and noticed some light in the corner of my eye. It was coming from the big window in Oli's loft. He was still up, I guessed. I smiled a little and changed my mind in an instant.

He would probably shut the door right back into my face, but I was willing to take the risk. So I made my way down the alley and pressed the button right next to the dark brown door. I heard numerous noises coming from inside the loft and eventually, the door opened.

There stood Oli, his hair still in perfect shape and casually dressed in a black v-neck shirt and some light gray sweatpants. His brows furrowed, question and amusement taking over his face as he saw me. "Say, did the color of your door inspire you to do your hair that way?" I decided to ask him, trying to sound all serious.

Oli arched an eyebrow and looked at his door for a moment, then back at me. "Love, please don't tell me you came here at five in the morning just to ask me that." He then muttered with a groan as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Yeah. . . No, that's not the reason." I admitted, still feeling kind of stupid about the whole thing. I explained to him what had happened, and he was clearly amused, pretty much laughing at me at this point.

"Americans." Oli muttered as he chuckled. "Alright, come in you tourist." Mentally I jumped for joy as I then walked inside and closed the door behind me. I left my shoes and jacket by the door as I then followed him up the stairs and down a long, narrow hall.

"Cup of tea?" Oli then asked as we walked into the loft. I simply nodded as a reply, amazed by everything that I saw.

To the left there was a big kitchen area, where Oli walked off to. It had a kitchen island and everything and it was surrounded by a small fence, separating the kitchen from the rest of the big loft. On the right there was an opening in the fence, connected to a few steps that went down about a foot, maybe less. It lead to the living area, which had a big couch with a lounge part attached to it. There was a big tv in the corner and a few silver, gold and platinum records hanging from the red brick wall. Stacks of magazines, records and DVD's were scattered around the place.

My jaw dropped as I took in everything that I saw. I let my fingers touch the tops of the pointy bits on the fence and went down the steps to take a closer look. Then my eyes suddenly dropped on something odd. There was a silver colored pole in the back of the room. I walked over to it and touched it, not entirely sure what to think.

"Yeah, how do you like my stripper pole?" Oli then asked as he walked up to me with two cups in his hands.

"Yo-Your. . .?"

Oli laughed and handed me one of the cups. "I'm just kidding, love. This used to be a fire station. They re-did most of it but I asked them to leave the pole when they fixed the floor." He then explained. I simply looked at him, kinda skeptical. Why the fuck would you want to keep something like that? But my answer came soon enough. "It always sparks up interesting conversations when you have people over."

I snickered softly and shook my head. This guy was funny. I felt so at ease around him, like I had known him for years or something.

"Take a seat, pretend you're home." He then kindly said, pointing at the couch.

Home, yeah. . . that's something I was still looking for. But god a place like this would be perfect for me. I absolutely loved it. Not to even begin about the roof... There were so many windows in the roof; it was stunning to be able to see the night sky like that. Oli obviously wasn't lying when he told me it was the most amazing loft in all of London.

Lucky bastard.