Cigarettes and Hickies [n.h]

quatre

A mob of girls were surrounding the entrance, eager to catch a glimpse of the One Direction member. Ocean merely frowned at the sight of them, and pulled down her sunglassed not wanting to associate herself with the likes of them. She knew she had to squeeze her way past them, and for that matter, she cursed Niall under her breath for being the reason for all this.

The crispiness of the winter air, was hardly felt as the heat of the girls created some sort of warm refuge, as Ocean began to retreat away from the hospital. None of them seemed to realise her existence, until someone accidently stepped on the girl's feet.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Ocean fired at the girl who stepped on her, and even pushed her for good measure.

However, to Ocean's surprise the mob begun to push her, clearly trying to get her out of the ring. But Ocean was not at all pleased by their choice of gesture, and began to push them back harshly.

"Don't ever touch me again." She threatened a girl of twelve -who had accidently let her bag brush past her-, before pushing her away forcefully, making her stumble and fall.

Ocean suddenly felt a hand gripping her upper arm and drag her out of the circle of girls. The security guard didn't let go, despite the girl's protests and curses.

"You need to watch your language, young lady." He warned as he finally let go of her and stood her aside of the buidling.

"Please don't tell me what to do." She muttered coldly as she straighted her clothes.

A police officer had soon approached the security guard and had then let out a small laugh after he saw who the secuirty guard was with.

"Well, well, well. Ocean, I must admit that I am surprised to see you here."

When Ocean spotted him, she simply rolled her eyes and leaned against the hospital wall.

"I got this," The police officer clapped the security guard's shoulder as he gestured him to leave.

"Zach, I really don't have time for you." Ocean said the minute the security guard had left them alone.

"What have I told you about staying out of trouble?" Zach said. He was quite a young police officer; his brown hair sweeped across his forehead and he had to brush a hand over it to keep it away from his eyes. The police uniform complimented his handsome features perfectly, and clinged tightly around his formed biceps and toned legs.

"Piss off, Zach." Ocean fired as she took the cigarette from behind her ear and lit it, before bringing it to her lips.

"That security guard was right, you know? You need to watch your language. Just because I know you, doesn't mean you get any special treatment." He came to stand beside her. Zach folder his arms and looked at his friend smoke.

"Because you're such a saint, you are." She contorted and puffed the smoke away angrily.

Zach knew what she meant. He had his past, and having known Ocean for a long time now, knew that she would always hold his change of lifestyle against him forever.

"This is not about me, O," He tried to diffuse the tension as he called her by the nickname he had given her a long time ago. "People change."

Ocean scoffed as she drew in a long intake of smoke as she brought the cigarette between her lips again. Her cheek bones stood out clearly as she did that, and made her features seem almost fish-like.

"You know you're one of my closest friends Ocean. You out of all people should understand why I had to leave." He turned to face her now, his tone of voice was getting more urged. "They called themselves my friends, but they were sinking me, O. And they'll sink you down too! Look at you! I mean, since when did you smoke?" Ocean only fumed and didn't answer him. "They're a bad influence, and I'm only sorry I introduced you to the lot of them."

"Oh so you think your life is awesome now? Is being a police officer suddenly made you a do-gooder and better than me? Do you have an awesome time? Do you sit around and soak up each other's awesomeness?" Ocean fired widely quoting lines from her favourite film for emphasis. Her friend's ditching made her frustrated and angry, but she couldn't help to realise that it had actually done him some good.

"O, I never said my life was better than yours. I simply chose to make something of it. Being surrounded by negativity and bad people for such a long time, made me want to change. Life isn't just about getting high, and fucking up in trying to impress others who, at the end of the day, are never truly there for you. And I learnt that the hard way."

Zach stared at Ocean for a long time then, trying to make her understand. She was only three years younger than him, and he already hated the fact that it was his fault she turned into the person she was now.

"I care so much about you, O. I just don't want to see you go down the same road that I went through, before I realised what was good for me."

"Why are people suddenly giving a shit about me?" She laughed coldly as she looked at the sky in disbelief. Ocean couldn't believe Zach was saying those words; in her eyes, he had abandoned her. Had left her behind and had only saved himself.

"You were the one that helped me when you found me halfway drowned in that tub, and I'm never going to forget that. You're like my little sister-"

"Ew," Ocean interrupted as she began to remember the things she had done with him.

"I know we did things that siblings should never do, but that was a long time ago. You know I don't see you like that anymore, and I know you don't either. I'd hate to stand by and watch you ruin your life without having done something about it-"

"Stop! Stop trying to look out for me, or trying to fix me, ok? I can fend for myself."

"I know you can," Zach nodded in agreement, getting back to his argument. "But sometimes you get in situations that you could avoid and it irritates me because I start to worry about you. Like now, for example; what on earth are you doing here with a bunch of One Direction fans?"

As those words reached Ocean's ears, she tried hard not to laugh. "Maybe I like wasting my time in the cold, waiting to catch a glimpse of a handicapped celebrity as my hobby."

Zach laughed and shook his head, as Ocean soon followed suit.

"Seriously, O. Don't let them keep influencing you; you're so much better than them."

Ocean didn't want to protest anymore or argue, and so she simply did what she did best - she rolled her eyes. She then threw the fag end on the ground and crushed it with her foot.

"How's Jasper, then?" Zach asked after a pause. He saw no point in dwelling on the matter, and thought best to change the subject. However, as he spotted the way Ocean tensed her jaw and looked down at the ground in thought, he was soon regretting bringing it up. "Again?" He asked, surprised she was going through the same break-up yet again.

Ocean simply nodded as her eyes began to swell up with tears. Zach hated seeing her like this. It was Zach who had introduced Jasper to Ocean too, and he knew very well the sort of person Jasper was, and hated seeing him treat Ocean the way he did.

"That's what I'm talking about, O!" He hugged her and rubbed her back soothingly, "You need to meet new people. People that are good for you."

But again, Zach had gone too far. Ocean pushed him away violently and began walking away.

"For goodness sake, I know what I'm doing! I'm not a fucking child!" She raged as she moved her hands around in the air and drew further away from Zach.

"Ocean!" Zach called her back, but Ocean ignored him completely.

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A/N: So, here is chapter 4! What do you guys think of it? What do you think of Ocean? I personally love writing her character.

What about the new characters introduced? Zach and Jasper? Please comment with your thoughts, they mean so much to me and encourage me to keep writing!

And since this update was uploaded on a Wednesday, I have to ask: are you wearing pink? I'm wearing pink slippers hehe.

xo