****Willow's POV****
After having the conversation with Miles the other day I had to go away for a shoot abroad so I haven't had the chance to speak to anyone. Miles and I have been messaging constantly and from what I've been told nothing has happened with him and Maeva so I'm just going to have to trust him on that. Liv was also celebrating her birthday so we were going away for the weekend to celebrate at her parent's house. I had planned to go early with Miles the night before to help Lib but the whole thing became a bit sour though when I got a text an hour before we were meant to leave which left me fuming.
"I need a big glass of whatever's going." I announced when I walked into the living room, finding Liv nursing a glass of red. "Sorry I'm late."
"Don't worry about it, is Miles following you in?"
"Next joke please."
"Why, what's happened?" She asked, turning to look at me as I sunk into the sofa next to her.
"I got a text from him, an hour before we were meant to leave saying Maeva's still really upset, he saw her today and she wanted him to go with her tomorrow. So he's going with her tomorrow because he couldn't say no, apparently." I had to take a pause to control the anger in my voice.
"What so he wants to...."
"Oh no it gets better, so then just as I arrive I get a text from one of my friends, she owns a swimwear shop in Chelsea and guess who was in there today, Miles and Maeva."
"Fuck off, did she give you anymore details?"
"Oh she gave me all the details, apparently he got his own little tour of the shop and then she tried some on for him, gave him a right little show. They were in there for over an hour. To me that's just disrespectful on both halves and then I hear he was speaking about going out with Ruby yesterday. Like would he be happy if I went bikini shopping with Julius or Fred, he'd be livid."
"I was actually going to tell you something today, I didn't want you to hear this over the phone but I have to tell you..."
"Hit me with it." I downed the rest of my drink and refilled it to the top, ready for what she had to say."
"So I had lunch with Maeva and Ollie yesterday and Maeva made a comment that did concern me a bit, Ollie had just left and she said that to get back at James for kissing that girl, she wants to make him pay and the only way to do that would be to sleep around... with Miles."
"Say that again?"
"She wants to sleep with Miles, to hurt James as much as he hurt her."
"I feel like I'm dreaming right now, you don't say that about anyone, never mind the person your supposed friend is seeing."
"She's really hurt right now and I think she's just on this war path and when she's like this she's got her blinkers on, she can't see what anyone is feeling."
"But that's no excuse, I would never even think of feeling like that."
"How's that making you feel, knowing they're going to be here together?"
"I was annoyed before I even heard what you said, now I'm just angry, I'm angry at her for saying things like that, I'm annoyed at Miles for going shopping with her but I'm just frustrated with myself, I knew this would happen."
"Have you spoken to him about any of this?"
"I spoke to him last week, obviously before all this and he said I just had to trust him."
"Do you?"
"I did before this but Maeva just has her way and in my head I know it will be hard for him to deny her if she asks."
"But from what I've seen he does like you."
"But he's a guy, he has a soft spot for Maeva whether he wants to admit that or not and now she's giving him that perfect opportunity to scratch that itch or get that one up on James."
"Now the question is what you do next?" She hesitantly asked.
"I guess I'll see what he says tomorrow, whether he wants to admit what they've been doing or deny it. I'm just going to avoid Maeva or I'll lose my mind and I don't want to ruin the night, it's meant to be all about you."
"I'll try and keep you two apart, steer you both away from each other."
"Thank you but I just want to enjoy the night with you as well, take my mind off it all."
"I'll do that as well, as long as you're glass is full all night we'll have a good time."
"Of course, now come on I'll help you get everything ready."
****
The guests started arriving the next day, after finishing setting all the tents up last night Liv and I ended up crashing in her old room upon completion of two bottles of wine between us and a few shots here and there. So I had to chuck on a face full of make up to hide the bags under my eyes and put on my best outfit for the day.
"Thompson has arrived at the party." Sam came over and sat with Tiff, Nicole and I along with Robbie on some hay bales.
"Robbie now lives with Liv." Tiff explained to us all.
"Oh wow, you're the new tenant."
"I am, pink bedroom, gay heaven." Robbie confirmed.
"What's she like to live with? I ask the three people here who have lived with her." Sam joked.
"She's super clean, super tidy, very easy to live with. She gets up very early though." I told him.
"Oh yeah her walks."
"Tell me about it, my thighs are killing me."
"Nicole you're here without boyfriend." Sam confirmed.
"Has he made you his linguine yet?" Tiff asked.
"Shut up, yes he has. It was really good."
"Sorry guys am I alright to borrow Willow?" The voice that I'd been dreading came over, placing a hand on my shoulder.
Despite the pleading look I was giving him, Sam ignored me and excused me to go and speak to Miles. "Be our guest."
"I'm sorry for yesterday." He whispered as we walked through a group of people.
"Yeah well there's not much we can do about that now."
"How have you been?" Miles asked as we walked over to the tent I knew he'd be staying in, thankfully planned with Fred and Julius.
"Good."
"Good." He seemed to be confused by my short answer.
"What have you been doing whilst I've been away?"
"I went to see Ruby the other day, it was nice to just spend some time together, I guess after all the drama we just want to be friends and move past it all."
"Is that how she sees you now?"
"Yeah, I think so."
"Is it still flirty?"
"What's with the 20 questions, we've always been flirty but that's just how I am, you know that."
"Difference is you was always single with me."
"I'm still single now." I could see him getting worked up but I had to carry on.
"So that's how you see yourself?"
"You know what I meant, I'll always be that way babe, I'm just a flirty person."
"Yeah, so anything else."
"Maeva took me shopping yesterday"
"I know."
"How do you know?"
"Lets just say people know people in Chelsea, you should know by now that nothing in this place is a secret for very long."
"So I'm guessing you know we went bikini shopping."
"Yeah, all I can ask is why you thought that was ok? Like if I did that you'd be fuming."
"I'll admit I didn't know where we were going and yeah it was just a spur of the moment thing, I probably should have stepped in and stopped it all but I just wanted to be there for Maeva."
"But then like today, we were meant to be coming together and then she clicks her fingers and you drop everything for her."
"I think that's a bit of an exaggeration but I can't really apologise for being there for my friend."
"Open your eyes Miles, really just open them. I don't take Fred or Sam shopping for a reason, it's weird. Her taking you shopping is weird, her even wanting to be around you 24/7 is becoming weird." I'm glad we'd moved away as my voice got louder. "Stop being so naïve."
"I honestly thought we'd got past this, I told you to trust me and yet you still can't get over this hurdle."
"But what am I meant to think, I want to trust you I really do but you're playing with fire, you're putting yourself in these positions. I want us to ben in that honeymoon period, enjoying our time together but then I hear you've been meeting other girls who I know you have a soft spot for."
"So you haven't spoken to any guys?"
"As I told you when we became exclusive, no. Because I wanted this to work, I want this to work."
"So do I, you just have to trust me."
"But I don't know if I can do that."
"Miles we need your help with wood for the fire." I heard Fred shout over. "Come on."
"Just go." I whispered. "I'll speak to you tomorrow." He gave me one final look before placing a kiss on my temple and running off.
That went as expected.
****
The party was now in full swing but all I could keep my eyes on was Maeva as she was stood talking to Miles on the balcony, I had kept in the corner, away from their view but so I could still see anything, sat in a love seat by the window. She was almost hanging off his arm, keeping her hand trailed on his arm and giving him that seductive look I knew he would have a hard time resisting.
"Come on, why are you looking so down?" I turned to find Digby stood over me, holding a bottle of champagne. "Move up."
I moved over in the chair, filling up enough space for him to sit next to me, though it meant our sides were glued together and his free arm was slung over my shoulder. "Where did you get that?" I asked referring to the bottle.
"That would be giving away all my secrets."
"It wasn't from her mum's secret collection."
"Sometimes I forget that you've spent probably as much time here as I have. Want some?"
"I think I need some." Carefully tilting up the bottle he guided it up to my lips, stopping as I signalled I'd had enough.
"So come on then, why are you all alone in here when Liv's dancing on the tables in there?"
"Don't really feel like celebrating to be honest."
"Come on you have to give me more than that, something's got to be bothering you..." As he said that he must have caught me eyes flickering back outside as they moved away from the edge to walk back inside. "So that's why..."
"Yeah the reason I'm here is because the guy I'm meant to be seeing is probably about to go and sleep with Maeva."
"I don't really know what to say to be honest, it's shit but you know that. Just know that you're such a beautiful girl and from what I've heard around here everyone adores you so he should as well and if he even entertains that the he's not the one for you."
"If you were exclusive with a girl and then her good friend took you bikini shopping would that not ring alarm bells for you?"
"Oh I'd be out of their in a flash now, I've made mistakes in the past and I'll be the first to admit that but if I'm seeing someone then I want to be putting all my attention onto them,"
"Can I let you in on a secret, you can't tell anyone."
"I'm good at keeping those."
"Apparently she's going to ask him to sleep with her tonight, to get back at James."
"Does he know that? Does she know you know?"
"No and no, because that's what friends do right, shit on other friends."
"That is messed up." He admitted. "I wouldn't even dream of doing that."
"Are you seeing anyone right now?"
"No I am not." He confirmed. "I was just speaking to Liv about it, there's quite a few good looking girls here, including yourself, and yeah I want to get back out there again."
"No chance for you and Liv?"
"No chance at all, I just want her to be happy and I know she wasn't with me, we've both grown up and sadly we're just not right for each other anymore."
"I just want to be the centre of someone's universe, I'm meant to be in the honeymoon stage with Miles and yet it feels like we're good one day and then a couple of days later I'm hearing rumours and my trust is already getting knocked."
"I'm good friends with James so obviously I'm hearing all this stuff about Miles from him but obviously you've seen this other side to him that you want to see so I can't really comment on that. All I would say is just to be careful, take a step back if you feel you need to because you're meant to be enjoying yourself, partying all night and yet you're sat here crying over a glass of wine."
"Shut up." All I could do was lightly knock his shoulder with mine.
"Now down the rest of this...." He handed me the remaining third of the bottle. "and let's join in the fun."
"Deal, thank you Digby."
"No worries darling."
*****
The next morning I had the worst headache I've probably ever had and that was not helped one bit by the camping which I endured for most of the night. Liv, Inga, Robbie and I had a little debrief over the night together.
"Well last night was fun." Liv said.
"I did not enjoy the camping." Robbie said.
"I snuck Willow and I inside." Liv said, "we needed the bed."
"I feel so ropy this morning though." Inga said.
"You're telling me." I managed to get out between my slurps of coffee. "I need this as a drip."
"I don't feel too bad, it was Thompson giving out the shots." Robbie admitted.
"I don't think mine was helped by Digby pouring a bottle of champagne down my throat then forcing me to do a line of shots with him."
"Was you alright last night? I saw you two sitting there." Robbie asked.
"Yeah I was a bit down, things aren't great between Miles and I at the moment but Digby was great, he just reminded me like I'm here to celebrate Liv and that's what I did."
"Yeah I did enjoy the lap dance at 2 this morning." Liv admitted. "No wonder with the amount you had to drink, I'm glad you had a good night though. Have you spoken to Miles?"
"No, I saw them come out of separate tents this morning so I presume they didn't sleep together but to be honest that's just the tip of the iceberg for all our problems."
"Seeing you last night was the happiest I've seen you in a few weeks," Liv said. "Just remember like as much as you like Miles, he's not the be all and end all, you need to make sure you want this."
"Yeah."
"Speaking of wanting something." Liv admitted. "I've done something stupid and I haven't really told anyone, but a week ago I slept with Tristan."
"Oh no."
"Don't I regret it enough already. But then last night I had a drunk chat with Nicole and she was asking what's the deal with Tristan so I asked her back and she was like 'I've been over to his house, he's cooked me dinner and we've hooked up',"
"Her and Tristan? What does she mean?"
"Yeah, I think she used the word snog but I don't like that. But when I spoke to Tristan he said it wasn't serious, they've been to dinner twice and he's never kissed her. So someone's obviously lying, probably Tristan."
"What an idiot."
"He's a lying fucker and what annoys me most is that he knows he can reel me back in whenever he wants, I've been nice to him when I know I don't need to be, whenever he's hung over he messages me and I'm just too nice to him. I loved him so much and I obviously care about him which is what annoys me the most."
"Oh Liv." I brought her into my arms as the other joined in for a group hug.
"I'm just so emotional and hungover."
"He's playing with your emotions."
"I think just seeing Digby last night reminded me of how amazing he was and I wish it could have been like that with Tristan."
"But as your friend I'm telling you, he can't be in your life if this is how he's playing the game." I told her. "He knows you care and he knows as sad as it is, he can have Nicole and you both in the palm of hands and you're both too nice to say no."
"He can't be in your life." Robbie confirmed.
"I don't want him in my life, it's just how I stop that."
****Author's Note****
I hope you like this chapter.
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