****Willow's POV****
Like we had planned once I came back from the country house I moved in with Gareth and Ollie, it's been nice so far, we've had no real arguments as I've just been settling in and moving my things over. This morning we were going out for lunch with Sophie and Liv.
I had chosen a typical blazer and jeans outfit which is exactly what Liv was wearing but in black.
"How do you feel being back then?" Sophie asked Liv and I.
"I'm so glad to be back, don't get me wrong I did enjoy being out there but at the same time the last few days were full of drama."
"Yeah the last few days we were there weren't fun." I agreed with her.
"You both seem happy though." Ollie said.
"No it was a nice break from everything so I'm glad I went."
"Can we comment on the matching outfits? I didn't know we'd come to a business meeting."
"This wasn't planned by the way. I guess we're just both into that blazer look."
"What drama was going down then?" Sophie asked.
"So I got with Tristan, yeah we're just getting to know each other."
"I like Tristan." Gareth commented.
"No way. He's so hot." Of course that was Sophie. "I think you guys would look good together."
"Very tall?"
"He is tall but I'm not the shortest so I think it works."
"He looks fertile as well."
"Fertile?"
"So can you see yourself dating him?"
"I can, it's more about what's going on with him. He's quite closed off so especially now we're not in the same house it's hard to tell where his head is at." I said. "We spoke about going on a date on the final day but I wanted to speak about the boundaries of us just being friends."
"Good relationships start as friendships though."
"Ollie and I were just friends at first and now look. It's a good starting point. I think you should go on this date because I've got a good feelings about him."
"I think he might sack me off."
"No."
"If he hurts you we'll hurt him. The gay mafia. Gafia."
"I have got someone for Liv as well." Sophie said. "Will?"
"Aren't you dating Will?"
"No."
"Will'a coming to ours for tea tonight, you should come."
"He's a beautiful man." Sophie commented again.
"We love him and he's got a motorbike."
That night we all had a lovely dinner together, which consisted of Liv and Will being very flirty with each other. We had to leave early but even before then they were all over each other. Ollie decided to invite him over the next morning to get all the gossip.
"Last night was great." Will commented.
"Well we want to know what happened?"
"Well after we left you guys..."
"Let's start at the beginning. So I can remember just before we left you two were all over each other, I mean that was flirty edging on dirty."
"I hadn't known her that much till that evening but things just happen."
"She's so fun."
"I know. She's got such good chat and we have a lot in common but it's just where her head is at."
"Liv puts on this hard exterior but underneath it she's so sweet and she would be a great girlfriend, I just know it." I told him. "I'd just go for it."
****
The next day the girls in our country house plus Paris decided to meet up for a catch up. I had on a nice leopard print blouse with my mom jeans on.
"This is delightful girls. It's so good to see you." Emily said.
"I want to know if you and Tristan are still keeping up this holiday romance?" Paris asked.
"The holiday romance has come crashing down."
"No!"
"So yesterday I realised we hadn't spoken to each other in a while so I messaged him and he was being nice. He then called me love which I really don't like so I asked him not to call me that but he replied saying go and have another rose. Basically go and have another drink."
"That's a low blow."
"I can't get my head around it though. In the house we couldn't get enough of each other and he was being so sweet, now the conversation feels forced and he thinks he can be a knob to me."
"If he hasn't taken you on a date yet and he's being an arse then sack him off." Emily advised.
"Yeah I would."
"I just don't like being made out to be an idiot."
"I've got some news guys, so later I'm going out with that Will guy. I went out with Ollie and Gareth the other night and he was so sweet. You all went to bed and we kept taking." Liv said.
"Is their chemistry between you both?"
"He is very attractive and he's so nice so I can see the potential there."
The food came so we all had a bite to eat with a side order for champagne before Tiff spoke.
"So I went to meet Ruby this morning and Sam and Rez were there as well. I was like oh no but actually he was really nice and wanted to be friends. Rez was there as well so he was making comments like he's been cheated on, he's lost you as a friend and now you and Zara are friends."
"Do you miss your friendship with Sam?"
"I think it's hard because we were friends before we dated so we'll always have that. It would just be nice to not have to avoid each other at social events and things."
"I think it takes a lot of energy to dislike someone." I said.
"Really, I find it so easy." Liv joked.
****
I had a packed schedule that night as I had first planned to go and have a drink with Sam and Habbs before I then arranged to go and meet Tristan to see what's happening between us both.
"It's so good to see you." Habbs said. "I actually can't believe we've been apart for so long."
"I know it's been like nearly half a year since I saw you in the flesh. How's everything going?"
"Well Jamie's obviously gone away to start filming so I'm kind of on my own now."
"Does it feel weird being in that place without him?"
"Yeah. We'd obviously moved in together and then he had to go away so I've never been alone there."
"Have you spoken to him though? Is he doing ok?"
"Yeah he's really enjoying it and to be honest I think this time apart will do us some good after being together constantly these past couple of months."
"I agree." Sam said. "So how are you Willow?"
"I'm doing ok. So you probably both know what I've been getting with Tristan." The both nodded. "Well it was going great in the house but since then he's kind of been ignoring me and then the other day he said some comments which I wasn't very happy with so yeah he's not in my good books at the moment."
"Have you seen him then?"
"No, I'm going to meet him after this to hopefully get everything out in the open."
"I'm actually glad I've got you both here because I had been hearing a few rumours floating around and I want to let you two get in there first." Habbs said to us both. "So I heard from a few friends that apparently you two slept together."
"Shit." I blurted out.
"So is this like true?"
"It's true." I confirmed.
"We've done nothing wrong though." Sam confirmed. "It was before lockdown; I'd broken up with Zara, we were both drunk and we slept together."
"Is there any feelings between you both?"
"No." I answered this one. "It was just a one time thing, we honestly both laughed about it the next day because it definitely would not have happened had we been sober."
"How do you think Zara and Tristan will take this?"
"I mean Tristan doesn't really have any place to be annoyed, it was before we started speaking in any romantic way."
"I know Zara will be annoyed."
"I think the problem she'll have is knowing that you are still friends after it, I think if it wasn't Willow and you just got with a random girl then she wouldn't really care. Now she'll have it in the back of her mind that something has happened between you both."
"Should I speak to her?" I asked Sam.
"I don't really know. Let me speak to her first and then I'll send you a message, hopefully then it won't blow up in our faces."
"I really hope so."
****
"It's nice to see you." Tristan said as I sat down in front of a cocktail waiting for me.
"How are you?" I asked.
"Well this whole situation is exactly what I didn't want to happen."
"Ok so since we've been back in London I've heard from you once and then the other night you started off all nice and then you got patronising. I don't like being called love, it just reminds me of the past and I don't want to associate you with that. Then you go and say have another rose, do you know how rude that is?"
"I think you're taking that so out of context."
"I'm not."
"I sent you a kiss afterwards."
"You said it in a really patronising way, kind of prewarning me that you was going to mug me off."
"I'm sat here now telling me that I didn't mean it in that way and I'm really sorry about how this has all played out. If I'm being honest when I got back I kind of realised this isn't what I wanted and maybe it was just meant to be something in the house; which I thought was what you wanted as well."
"But why not just say that, I'm not a mind reader."
"Likewise."
"I feel like I've been much more transparent than you about this, so I just felt like I was a summer fling to you."
"That's how I felt about you."
"I stood up in front of all of our friends and said I liked you, I'm not going to do that for everyone."
"I know and I really do appreciate that but I feel like we've lost something now that could have been lovely."
"Yeah."
"There were feelings there that I've pushed down because I wasn't ready for them, which I think is what you did as well. It's a shame because we just didn't open up about them."
"So I feel like now is a good time to bring this up and get everything out in the open. I wanted to speak to you about some rumours that you're probably going to hear over the next couple of days. Basically Sam and I slept together early in March I would say, it was after him and Zara broke up apparently everyone knows about it now."
"So is there any feelings there?"
"Absolutely none. It was a drunken mistake, I know I spoke to you and said I didn't want us to sleep together because to me it is a special thing and you're probably thinking I'm a hypocrite but that was the night that kind of sparked it off. I don't want to have another night like that and then feel nothing afterwards."
"Ok. I'm glad you came and told me."
"I just don't want you to hear any twisted rumour."
"Where do you think we can go from here?" He asked.
"I'm glad we've seen each other but I think we should think everything through before we go any further with this."
"Ok. I understand."
****Author's Note****
I hope you like this chapter.
Vote and comment any suggestions.
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