****Willow's POV****
A couple of days after the Zara bombshell came out I arranged to meet with Jamie and get his take on things. I've seen Sam a couple of times since the breakup and the media have got wind of Zara cheating.
I had on my honourable mom jeans with a black roll neck and my camel coat.
"Hey come in." Jamie invited me into his house.
"Is Habbs here?"
"No she's gone out with Melissa and Verity I think. How are you anyway?"
"Well I'm alright. I'm a bit concerned for our friend though."
"I know. I've seen him a couple of times this week and he really isn't in a good place. I know they were on different pages but I don't think it's ever crossed his mind to cheat on her."
"Yeah that's the opinion I had. I mean apparently a couple of days before she was saying he needed to make a bigger effort and show her how much he cared."
"I actually had lunch with Zara, Harry and Melissa. She was crying and using the excuse that she didn't know if they were going to make it. I had to leave because I couldn't take it."
"I'm kind of dreading seeing her to be honest. She didn't have the best opinion of me before all this and now I've been kind of consoling Sam."
"What did he say to you?"
"He just said he doesn't know whether to listen to his head or heart. Apparently she's been begging for him back." I told him. "I just want them to get it all out and then he needs to think it all through. There's nothing worse than him taking her back and then it coming back to haunt them."
"I agree."
"It's hard though seeing them like that. I was devastated when I had my breakup and we definitely weren't as serious as Sam and Zara."
"I think she's leaning on Ruby and Melissa now."
"That's another person who's got a problem with me."
"Melissa?"
"Yeah so I went out to lunch with her and a group of others and she was so frosty towards me. I think it's because of that argument I had with Zara."
"She'll get over it, that girl has a different drama every week."
"How's Habbs by the way?"
"She's getting there. I think she's just annoyed because Emily now hasn't reached out to her, I mean she doesn't even feel like she can go home."
"That sucks."
"Yeah. I actually had a conversation with Harvey the other night and that guy is so arrogant. I don't think he could see why Habbs would have a problem with it unless she still had feelings for him."
"Whether you've got feelings or not it's not a nice thought for them to be getting with your ex."
"Exactly."
****
That afternoon I went out for a drink with Liv, Sophie, Ollie and Gareth.
"Isn't this lovely." Ollie said. "So what's been going on with you all?"
"Not a lot really. I've actually got a date later." Liv announced.
"What's his name?"
"It's actually a her. I basically met this girl the other night, we were chatting and then I kissed her."
"You know how much I support this."
"It's not like a girl thing, it's a person thing."
"No I get that."
"It's really weird, I haven't actually thought about it at all today. I was kind of mulling over it yesterday, should I go or should I not but I'm just going to go."
"I guess we've all been there." Sophie agreed. "I've never gone as far as dating but there's been the odd kiss here and there. Mostly because there's been a guy watching."
"I'm still kind of holding out for you and Fred."
"I think you kind of need to drop that. It's been like three years."
"You two do have this thing though." Olivia said. "I can tell you like some aspects about him."
"I do but we're both in totally different stages of our lives."
"I think he was giving you some looks the other day."
"Where is all of this coming from? I'm happily dating right now."
"I suppose if you're happy that's all that matters but I do think you two would look good together. I think you could have a cheeky snog."
"A cheeky snog is not going to cut it."
"A good hard bang then, I don't know. Olivia you went out with Fred briefly and I do imagine he's good a good Icelandic sword if you know what I mean."
"He's well endowed." Olivia muttered. "But I actually wanted to speak to Willow because I met up with Emily this morning and she mentioned you two had a run in."
"I was just defending Habbs and I don't agree with the way she's going about this. I didn't think it was a big deal though, I would happily have a conversation with her."
"I think that'll make her happy, obviously she knows it might be over between her and Habbs but I don't think she wants to lose another potential friendship."
"If I see her I'll definitely have a conversation with her just to make sure everything's ok."
"Have you seen much of Sam recently?" Ollie asked.
"Yeah I've seen him a couple of times. He's pretty cut up about the whole thing."
"I never expected that from Zara, if anything I was a bit worried about Sam and what he would do." Ollie admitted.
"I didn't see it coming either."
****
The next day Sam asked if I wanted to go and have a drink with him and two of his friends, Myles and Tristan. I of course agreed because to be quite honest I had nothing better to do.
"That better be a soda water." Sam said as we walked up to the table.
"Of course." The guy who I sat down next to said. "I'm Myles."
"I'm Willow, it's nice to meet you both."
"It's good to see you. I'm Tristan." The other guy said. "We didn't know what you liked but we figured every girl likes a good glass of wine."
"Of course, thank you both."
"How are you doing Sam?"
"I'm not too good but I'm just trying to get myself out there again. I need to start trying to live my life without her."
"So I actually wanted to have a chat with you." Myles said to Sam. "Basically I wanted to speak to you before anything happened because I do respect you as a mate. I've been speaking to your ex, Tiff."
"Do it." Sam laughed.
"Nothing's happened but we've been talking. I just wanted you to know and I've never really been in this position before."
"No I respect you for that."
"How are you feeling about Tiff now then?"
"Tiff taught me everything about having a girlfriend and loving someone in that way and she'll always have a place in my heart so I just want her to be happy."
"That's good to hear." I said. "At least you're not bitter about it and hopefully she's the same."
"Willow are you seeing anyone?" Myles asked.
"No I am very much single and loving life at the moment."
"Have you just returned to Italy?" Tristan asked.
"Yeah so I was out there for nearly a year and I decided that now was the right time to come back."
"Are you loving being back in Chelsea?"
"I've actually really missed it. Just like all the friends I have here and the new people that I meet. I felt like in Italy I was quite isolated out there, maybe due to the language barrier, but I really did struggle to make friends."
"I actually forgot to tell you guys but I spoke to Verity the other day and we sorted everything out." Tristan added. "I felt like we couldn't see each other's point of view and I feel like hopefully now we can move on from it."
"I had lunch with her the other day and she genuinely did seem really upset about it all. But all us girls could see why you would be upset."
"Exactly, I know we agreed to squash it but I know I had a reason to be upset with her, whether she likes it or not."
****
That night I was going out for a few drinks with some of my old friends, I had on a white midi dress which definitely sucked in all my curves.
I was walking through the bar when I spotted Emily and Verity sat with Harvey and Tristan, I was going to walk straight on but I didn't want to come across as rude so I walked up to their table.
"Willow." Verity stood up to pull me into a hug. "You look fabulous, come and take a seat."
"I'm meeting someone in about five minutes but I can stay for a bit, how are you all?"
"We're good thanks." Tristan said.
"I'm actually glad we've bumped into each other because I did want to speak to you." Emily said. "I know it was so awkward the other day when we did see each other and I probably did say things to you that I shouldn't have."
"Habbs is a close friend of mine and I don't like seeing her upset so I'm going to be protective about her."
"I completely understand that. I just don't want us to fall out, I mean we're not even friends yet but I did want to get to know you."
"No I completely agree. The argument is now between you two and Habbs and I've got to keep my opinions about that from clouding over my full judgement of you."
"I'm glad we can do that."
"Have you spoken to Habbs recently?" I asked.
"So we met yesterday and it didn't go too well. I'd wrote her a letter and it felt like she kind of chucked it back in my face. But I think we've decided to just leave it and stop talking about it."
"I love being back in Chelsea but one of the worst things is you do hear about conversations people have had and that's where it all gets messy."
"I think the best thing to do now is just to see how things go and take it from there." Tristan's said. "You've now got to try and see if there's something more in this as a relationship."
"I've got to say you do look good together." I told her.
"Thank you."
"Anyways I best be going but I'll see you all later."
"Bye babe."
****Author's Note****
I hope you like this chapter.
Guys I'm going to throw it out there, how would you feel about Liv as a love interest. I've also had quite a few comments/messages about Sam not being the love interest so I'm still considering Tristan.
Please vote and comment any suggestions.
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