ivy quietly opened the door to her flat, although it was not late, she did not want to disturb her friends if they were busy. walking in the direction of sage's room, she softly knocked on the door, listening to yelling from inside, but also hearing a "come in!"

"hey." ivy smiled, opening the door, "who you streaming with?"

"oh hey," she swivelled around in her gaming chair, "erm, just george and his friends."

"nice." ivy nodded her head, stepping forwards to glance at sage's chat.

"i'll be done soon." she smiled at ivy, turning back to the game.

ivy nodded her head in response, leaving the room to find esme sat on the sofa, "oh, hello." ivy grinned, throwing herself beside her.

"you alright? where've you been?"

"just cal and harry's," she sighed, "just something to do whilst you and sage were busy."

"have you eaten? i'm starving." esme complained whilst she tried to find something to watch on the tv.

"yeah, we ordered food at theirs."

the two girls sat watching some random movie neither of them had heard of before, chatting now and again, but mainly remaining their focus on the tv. once the movie came to an end, sage finally emerged from her room, causing ivy to mock her, "oh, i'll be done soon." she laughed.

"sorry, i got distracted." sage giggled, sitting beside the two girls, "anyways, what did you do then?" she asked ivy.

she shrugged her shoulders in response, throwing her head back into the cushions, "nothing, just watched them film a video, ate food, chat shit," she laughed, "oh and i spoke to harry." she pulled her body up to look at sage.

"i thought i told you not to?"

"he came and spoke to me," ivy furrowed her eyebrows, "think he wanted some advice."

"right," sage nodded her head slowly, "what did he say?"

"well, he likes you, but obviously he's just come out of a long term relationship."

"hmm." sage muttered.

"but i told him that if he likes you then it's a step onto moving forwards," she shrugged her shoulders, "then he was saying how he's not convinced i'm over simon or whatever." she rolled her eyes.

"i don't think anyone's convinced." sage cocked her head.

"hmm." ivy raised her eyebrows, throwing her body back down, "just wish i didn't have to see him anymore."

"well you do," sage murmured, "so deal with it."

"fucking hell, sage!" ivy groaned out of frustration, "if it wasn't for you seeing harry then i wouldn't have to have anything to do with simon."

"it's not my fault that you're not over him? you're forcing yourself to put on this front like you don't care, when you do ivy!" sage raised her voice.

ivy brought both hands to her head out of frustration, sighing, "i don't know what you're on about." she shook her head.

"but you do know!"

"why would i not be over him?" ivy stood up, taking a deep breath in. she glanced over at esme, awkwardly sat on the edge of the sofa, staring at the two girls, but not wanting to get involved as it was not her place to.

"i don't know? maybe because you hid away for two years and now you're faced with him again, it's understandable ivy if you're not!" sage stared up at ivy.

ivy walked towards the front door, huffing, "just fuck off sage, you don't understand half of it." she placed her hand on the handle, slowly pulling it down.

"so help us to understand, ivy! just admit the truth!" sage yelled back as ivy walked out of the front door. she threw both arms over her chest, her heart rate increased as she walked down the hallway towards the lift.

she pulled out her phone, glancing down at it, not knowing who to talk to, but the first person who came to her mind was simon. she sighed, pressing his contact and slowly lifting her phone to her ear, waiting for him to answer.

"hello?" he finally answered.

"hi," she breathed in deeply, "can i - erm, come round? just had an argument with sage and, i don't know," she sighed, "just need a friend."

"of course," he hummed, "want me to come get you?"

"no, no, i'll get an uber."

"alright, see you soon." he hummed. she ended the call and quickly booked an uber, standing outside in the dark whilst she waited impatiently.

as she made it to simon's flat, she almost debated with herself as to whether it was a good idea. maybe she should have asked someone else, like tobi or ethan, even one of the girls such as gee. but for some reason, in the moment of stress and anger, he was the first person to come to mind, because all those years ago, he was the first person she would go to when she felt like crap.

simon opened the door to find ivy stood looking to the floor, she appeared emotionless. "come in." he ushered her inside, the corners of her mouth turning up, but it barely looked like a smile. she kicked her shoes off by the door and dragged her body into the flat.

"is jj home?" she questioned, awkwardly sitting on the edge of the sofa.

"nah," he shook his head, "he's busy doing some filming or something," he shrugged his shoulders, "not back til tomorrow."

"oh, right." she sighed, staring at her knees as he sat himself beside her.

"so, what happened?" he cocked his head.

"nothing," she sighed, she could not admit to him what she had argued to one of her best friends about, "just stupid girl drama."

"ah, right." he smirked, "see when you were friends with me, we never had that kind of drama."

she giggled in response, finally turning her head to face him, "no, i guess we didn't."

"girls are stupid, man." he threw his body back into the cushions, "bet it was over something dumb."

"mhm." she slowly nodded her head. ivy wished it was over something dumb, something not worth being upset over, but instead she was sat next to the person she argued about.

"anyways," he pulled his body up from the sofa, scratching his neck, "want a drink? you can stay for as long as you need." he shrugged his shoulders, turning away from her.

"thanks," she softly smiled, "what have you got?"

"erm," he walked towards the kitchen, "coke, red bull, water?" he shouted over to her, "or," he span around, holding a large bottle of vodka, "this?"

"why am i not mad at that idea?" she chuckled, standing up to walk over to him, "shall we just get fucked?" she suggested, gazing up at him.

"yeah, fuck it." he laughed, grabbing them both glasses and pouring vodka into the two of them, "odds on doing a shot?"

she shook her head, sighing at him, "fine, four." she muttered. "3, 2, 1."

"3."

"3."

"fuck you!" she shook her head at him.

"you literally always say three, you really haven't changed." he shook his head in disappointment, "but to be nice, i'll do one too." the two of them giggled as he poured vodka into two shot glasses, both of them choking from the burning sensation.

"i hate shotting vodka." she yelled, still cringing from the taste and swiftly poured coke into her glass to try and wash away the taste.

they wandered back over to the sofa, ivy making herself slightly more comfortable than she was when she first turned up, even just the thought of the alcohol hitting her already settled her nerves.

"so," he raised his eyebrows, "what have you done today?"

"went to cal and harry's," she sighed, "oh and i saw gib, i've not seen him in time." she laughed.

"oh shit," his eyes widened, "yeah you won't have seen him in a while, will you?"

"no," she grinned, "anyways, i'm surprised you're not streaming or anything tonight."

"i like to have breaks sometimes." he shrugged his shoulders, "i attempt to schedule my weeks, sometimes i film more than one video in a day or whatever. i'm obviously busy, but i know how to separate it from my actual life."

"that's good," a soft smile formed on her lips, "yeah, at least you can organise yourself a bit better." she let out what felt like a sigh of relief, knowing that simon had learnt to schedule his busy life.

a couple more drinks and shots in, the two found themselves reminiscing on the past, remembering when they were young. "i do not miss practically carrying jj home from clubs." she laughed, shaking her head.

"he's never been able to handle his drink well," he shook his head, "it's the fact that he would literally get us kicked out of clubs." he cackled.

"for being too drunk and dancing on tables," ivy could not hold back her laughter, "to be fair, we used to be just as bad."

"you just can't hold your balance," he shook his head, "you literally used to go flying like 4 drinks in. you used to think you could run around, even in heels, then be surprised when you'd smack the floor outside a club."

"true," she nodded in agreement, "i swear i still have scars somewhere on my body, but you definitely had your moments too."

"i've had near death experiences," he smirked, "well maybe not near death, but you did have to basically carry me home a few times."

"yeah, one time i had to carry you by myself, took us ages to get home that night." she shook her head at him, "i miss those days." turning away from him, she looked down at her drink in her finger tips.

"i do too, it was jokes." he exhaled, "now we're old."

she swiftly turned her head and scowled at him, "i am not old!" she leant over to playfully punch his arm, "i'm younger than you by a year and like 8 months or some shit."

"sure." he mocked sarcastically, winking at her and chuckled as he watched her get angry at him.

"fuck off!" she frowned, softly kicking his leg. he quickly grabbed her ankle with his hand, holding a firm grip on it, "wow." she shook her head.

"getting aggressive because i'm telling the truth," he shook his head, "just admit it ivy." he finally let go of her, sighing.

'admit', the word that sage yelled to her earlier during their argument. it dawned on ivy there was a lot of things she needed to admit, but instead dealt with it by hiding away rather than putting forward her feelings.

"i hate you." her cheeks burned from the laughter.

"you love me." he grinned, shuffling closer beside her. falling backwards, she laid her head into the cushions and rested her legs on simon's lap, "wow, so i'm just a slave now?"

"hey," she pulled out her bottom lip, "it's comfy."

the two sat talking for a while longer, simon's hand aimlessly resting on ivy's thigh, but she paid no attention. she enjoyed the feeling of his touch, she did not realise how much she had missed it until she started spending time with him again. even just the purely platonic ways.

"what do you think about sage and harry then?" he questioned, leaning forwards to place his drink down before throwing his body back.

"well," she sighed, "he's been ignoring her recently, but he told me he likes her, so i have no idea."

"if they get together, there's basically no escaping from me," he smirked and squeezed her leg, "again."

"shut it!" she yelled, shaking her head at him, "you know when i said i hate you? like 25 minutes ago? yeah, i meant it."

he furrowed his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes, "you just don't."

ivy's breath hitched in her throat as simon moved closer to her, her heart sinking to her stomach, "but i do." she whispered, wrapping her legs around his waist whilst he hovered over her.

"hmm." he raised his eyebrows, holding his gaze on her. ivy's breathing felt shaky, but she didn't want him to stop whatever he was doing as she could not avert her attention from his eyes, staring up at him through her eyelashes.

caressing her cheek with his thumb, he leant down and smashed his lips against hers. it took her by surprise briefly, but she instantly melted into his lips, humming at his touch. both of her arms wrapped around his neck, one hand grazing against the back of his head as she held him tightly against her. the scent of alcohol surrounded them, lost in the familiar feeling of one another's lips.

he ground himself against her, causing her to softly moan before his lips moved down to her jawline, slowly moving down to her neck. simon knew how much ivy loved neck kisses, he knew how to wrap her around his little finger and have her melt under his touch. it was as though nothing about her had changed.

"shall we," he hummed against her skin, pressing one more kiss on her neck before moving his face back up to meet hers, "take this to my room." his tongue swiped across his bottom lip, staring into her hazel eyes.

"mhm." she nodded her head slowly, her chest rising and falling heavily.

"are you sure?"

"of course i am."