****Willow's POV****
A few days after the roof top party, I was meeting Liv and James for lunch, as he wanted to speak to us both which did make me a tiny bit curious as even though I knew they'd broken up I still had no idea what had happened between them both. Miles and I were also in a good place after our conversation together, I had no reason to not trust him now so I just had to put my faith in him that he wouldn't mess this up.
"Are you ready for this?" Liv asked as I met her at the door. "See what he has to say."
"I'm ready for his side of the story."
"Miss Bentley, Miss Locke." James welcomed us over to the table where he was sat. "Thanks for coming."
"No worries." I said and took a sip from the glass of water placed in front of me, the both of us taking a seat opposite him.
"So what's going on?"
"Well Maeva and I broke up." James just came out and said.
"Right.. who? Who dumped who?"
" Maeva broke up with me."
"Right."
"I've got to the point now where I'm so confused and I hoped I'd get some straight answers from you two in terms of what she's thinking. I know you two speak to her a lot. She's confiding in you and that's really what I want to know."
"When I last saw Maeva and we properly spoke about everything." Liv explained. "She was was very much saying, I asked her if you want to be single and she immediately said no but then I asked her would you fight for James if you broke up with her and she also said no to that."
"I think everyone at that point thought it didn't make sense to us." I carried on. "It's like do you want... I don't know, something just seems odd about the whole situation."
"Thanks because it doesn't make sense to me either. Okay yes there is a lack of passion between us sometimes because of XYZ, I will admit that, but I'm trying to talk to her like an adult about it"
"You guys have been together two years as well, a honeymoon phase cannot last forever. It does suddenly get to a point where it had to get serious." I told him.
"That's why I'm so ok with it, but she really isn't. It's also been so blown out of proportion because of all this stuff with Miles now." He paused to make sure I was ok with him bring this up but I just gave him a nod to carry on. "They had this five hour dinner together."
"Maeva and Miles?" Liv asked. "When?"
"Yeah, weeks ago."
"What does she want to talk to Miles about?"
"She was saying that they had this conversation on the rooftop with Miles about how they had such a passionate relationship when the very thing we're arguing about.."
"Is passion." Liv could see the pieces connecting now.
"Is passion and she's talking to her ex-boyfriend about the amount of passion she had with him."
"What do you think about this?" Liv asked.
"I'll admit the other day when I saw them together it does make me feel uncomfortable, they're both just so blunt and honest people and they're open to talking about their passion together." I explained. "The other day I did just have to say I don't want to hear about the passion you two had together, it makes me feel like there's pressure on me to have that same spark as they did."
"Did he say if there's anything there between them?"
"He said he couldn't love her and there's no way back for them in that respect but then his answer was a bit less straightforward about whether he would sleep with her, thankfully I think we've set that boundary now but yeah I think they're actually together right now, he messaged me earlier to say they were meeting."
"I think none of us will ever truly know what goes on between them."
"To me this sounds like a game." I told him. "The whole thing just seems so rogue and I think that's what annoys me about the whole situation."
"It's viscous."
"There's something dark there because it's Miles." I also added. "It's not just some random guy, it's like she's purposefully gone to him."
"Well we're mean to be going on this girls weekend thing." Emily had organised for us all to stay at The Shard. "I don't know whether to mention it and maybe try and get her act together."
"I like Maeva, I really do but I can also see that she's got something great here. These things can be so damaging in the future and she's heading down that path." I said.
"It's definitely heading that way."
****
Before I went to meet the girls I had to quickly run a few errands so I was a bit late compared to all the other girls, but I packed a few bottles of champagne hoping that would sweeten them all up. Walking out of the lift into the stunning suite Emily had booked for us I noticed her, Inga and Liv on the sofas.
"Hi lovelies." I made my presence known.
"Willow!" Emily greeted me, making room on the sofa next to her. "Come site down."
"Thank you, how is everyone?"
"Really good."
"What are you all gossiping about?" I asked.
"I was just about to say, I'm feeling a bit awkward around Paris at the moment." Inga commented. "I didn't realise her and Angus were a bit more serious than I thought. He slid into my DM's and asked me to go for a drink the other day."
"I'm so happy I invited you all now."
"So what should I tell Paris?"
"Yes, you've got to say something." Emily confirmed, but just as she said that a blonde appeared from behind her.
"Hi."
"Come on in, welcome."
"Thank you for inviting me."
"No I um... sorry this is Nicole, Nicole this is Inga, Liv and Willow. You did say you wanted to meet the girls so I thought what better way than to just throw you in at the deep end, get the exes over with."
"Get it over with, we're nice, you've got nothing to worry about." Liv told her. "It's nice to finally meet you though, Tristan's told me a lot about you. All good."
"Good."
"Yeah I'm Willow," I introduced myself. "Please don't worry about me, I just want him to be happy and whether that's with you or someone else I really couldn't care less."
"Good." Emily tried to break the awkward tension. "I'm sure we're all going to have a great time."
We all warmed up to each other eventually and before we knew it, we'd all changed into our nightwear and were dancing on the tables, drinking from the bottles and blaring music at full blast. I was impressed with her though, she managed to contain the energy and joined in with us.
"What a way to welcome you into the group." I told her once we'd all settled down.
"Do you think we're all absolute nut jobs." Liv asked.
"No, these are my people. These are my species, I love it."
"We're not the AA. Hi my name's Emily, I date Harvey." Liv mimicked. "They're out again tonight aren't they."
"Yeah they're out again tonight, I can't deal with it anymore girls, he said they've just gone out for a few beers but I know he can't do that so I'm here wondering what girl's going to message me tonight."
"I feel like as well girls have very different views to guys about what is cheating or what is going across the line. For me personally I think personally there's no such thing as innocent flirting, flirting for me is cheating." Paris said.
"Paris there's actually something I need to speak to you about." Inga came out with it. "Angus has been sort of sending some flirty texts, he did ask to go for a drink."
"When was this?"
"Well we met at the boat party so since then but then he asked to go for a drink."
"It's really shit to hear he's been saying all this stuff to me about us being a team..." You could hear her voice crack as she said that.
"Don't get upset about him, he's really not worth it." I told her, even though we may not be friends it's clear when a girl's being wrongly done by."
"Well at least I know the truth now, thank you Inga for giving me that because I'm not going to take that shit."
I went downstairs to get us some more alcohol but when I came back upstairs I was greeted with Liv and Maeva locking horns on the sofa, I could see she'd started that one without me.
"I'm not happy and I need to figure it out." Maeva almost shouted. "He probably wants to figure it out as well, he might not want to be with me."
"But listen, this is where it can go one of two ways. I did this with Tristan, we broke up and I deep down sort of hoped that after a bit of time apart he would realise the love we had for each other meant more than anything else. But now look where I'm at, sat on a sofa with his new girlfriend and it's shit." Nicole let out a little laugh at that. "I know you're laughing but it is. There are so many things I wish I'd have said to him but I didn't, so don't do what I've done"
"You've got an amazing thing with James." I took over as Liv started to get emotional. "Sure have your time apart, work it out, but don't leave it too long that you end up losing each other because you won't get it back. With all the love in the world as well, and this isn't anything to do with Miles and I, but I don't think you understand the damage you could cause with him. You're playing a dangerous game and you'll always get burnt playing with fire."
****
Once we'd departed the next morning I had organised to go and meet Sam for some brunch and he invited Digby along as I wanted to properly get to know him as he seemed to be cool with Liv now and she was one of my best friends.
"Sammy." I greeted him with a kiss on the cheek before turning to the man opposite him. "You must be Digby."
"You must be Willow, Sam's been telling me all about you."
"All good I hope." I took the seat next to Digby and opposite Sam. "How have you both been?2
"Good thanks, how was girls night?"
"It was actually really fun, a bit serious in places but overall I think everyone enjoyed themselves."
"I heard Nicole was there, was that a bit awkward?" Sam asked.
"I don't think so, she was really nice so I didn't think there was any tension around the situation."
"Let me guess though you all had too much alcohol and someone ended up in an argument or giving someone a life lesson." Digby guessed.
"There were no arguments as such but Inga did mention that the guy Paris is dating has been messaging her so that brought the mood down and then I popped out and when I came back Liv and Maeva were having a pretty tense chat."
"I went out with James last night and he mentioned you two met him."
"Yeah, to be honest I hate getting into other people's drama, it's just not for me but I almost can't help it with them two. Don't get me wrong, I think the manipulative way that James went about it at the start was wrong and backfired on him, but I also think Maeva's a bit too stubborn to see where she's maybe over-reacted." I explained. "I'm hoping though after we spoke to her she can have a think about things."
"I'm guessing you haven't heard what happened last night then..."
"Why what happened?"
"James kissed another girl."
"Ugh." I almost wanted to plant my head against the table as I groaned at what he said. "I mean he's fully entitled to but at the same time I've got to admit I would be pretty annoyed at that."
"Do you not think this is his way at getting back at her for all the Miles stuff?" Sam asked.
"Very much so." Digby agreed. "This is tit for tat now and in my opinion it's probably going to end badly for the both of them."
"Miles actually messaged me to say he was going to meet James today"
"That can only end badly." Sam commented. "How do you feel about this? I guess he's not in the centre of this but he's pretty close to being so."
"I said yesterday like I've just got to trust him now that we've set those boundaries but I'll always be wary of them together and I know she stops at nothing to get what she wants. I'll be more annoyed because I've told her how I'm getting to know Miles and she's one of my closest friends, to me if she goes for him that will be like she's kicked me in the teeth."
"That would be a snaky move."
****
Digby actually turned out to be such a nice guy, I'm not surprised him and Liv are both civil now, you can tell they've both grown up a lot since a lot of that drama happened. On my way back I got a message from Miles asking if he could come over and when I arrived back home I found him sat on my doorstep.
"Hi babe." I greeted him. "Have you been waiting long?"
"No I've only been here a few minutes, how was lunch?"
"Really nice, Sam was his usual self and then Digby was really nice, it was nice to get to know him a bit better. How was James?"
"Yeah it didn't go too well to be honest."
"What happened?" I asked as we both sat down on the sofa.
"Basically he just confirmed that he's not happy with me seeing Maeva anymore, he doesn't want me to speak to her or meet her."
"What did you say to that?"
"I just said I can't do that, regardless of our past she'll always have a place in my heart and I can tell she's upset so I'm obviously going to be there for her, I can't just like leave her out in the cold."
"Anything else?"
"Oh he then brought up the fact that I'm trying to get in between their relationship, like I apparently did with Ruby and Rez. I just want her to be happy and I'll happy tell him that he's not giving her what she wants right now."
"I love Maeva but is there a line to be drawn there, you are her ex."
"I thought we were over this," He groaned. "I've told you before there's nothing there between us, I want to be there for her on a purely friendship level."
"I know you might want that but what does she want, James has kissed another girl now, is she just going to use you to get back at him."
"She doesn't see me like that."
"Miles take a step back from all of this, you have that attraction with her, you're both flirty with each other whether you like it or not, that's just the way you are. I'm telling you she could pounce now."
"Well then you've just got to trust me, I'm not some kind of homewrecker like James has made me out to be, I'm just trying to be a good friend and I have those boundaries firmly in place, Maeva is my friend Willow."
"I know. I know. But when she's around they'll always be a seed of doubt in my mind about her next move."
"Do you trust me?"
"Trust has got to be earnt Miles, now is you time to show that you deserve that trust."
"I will."
"Good."
****Author's Note****
I hope you like this chapter.
Please vote and comment any suggestions. What do you want to happen with Maeva and Miles? I also really like Digby....
Xx