ivy awoke with a raging hangover and pain soaring through every part of her body. she glared at the reminder on her phone, telling her she had a particular brand deal to post on instagram during the day and she let out a loud groan. the night before felt like a blur, trying to string her hazy memories of it together into some sort of timeline, but failing in the process. all she could remember was the reason why she left.

she laid in bed for a while longer, trying to motivate herself to get up and do something, but failed each time and instantly remembered why she chooses to not get that drunk. everything she did somehow reminded her of simon, even simply getting drunk. he was one of the first people she got drunk with, one of the first people she spent her first night out with, someone who frequently got on the same level as her when they drank, but it was enjoyable waking up beside him with the same severe symptoms the next morning. however, waking up on her own simply made her regret the abundance of alcohol she had previously consumed.

dragging her feet out of the bed, she instantly felt fragile as her legs wobbled beneath her. she trudged through the empty flat, curious as to when the girls would arrive home as she peered inside of the fridge, but the sight of food instantly made her feel sick to her stomach. shaking her head, she pulled her body back to her bedroom with very little energy. after curling her body beneath the covers, she felt her phone vibrate against the mattress and slowly glared at it.

from cal i'm really sorry about last night, i overstepped. hope you can forgive me.

ivy sighed to herself, her eyes scanning over the message multiple times.

to cal it's fine, no worries. glad you apologised, let's just forget about it

huffing, she rolled her eyes and attempted to push the entire situation to the back of her mind. it was an obvious mistake, but ivy felt as though she was making too many of those and was putting herself in an uncomfortable situation. she fucked things up with simon, now fucking things up with cal, what else could go wrong? it was more of a reason for her to regret moving to london.

nerves hit her as she glanced at the time, realising she had to post her brand deal. usually, ivy never felt anxious about them, but this time it was for a lingerie company that had got in touch with her and offered an affiliate code. she thought it could be something to boost her confidence, make her feel better about herself, but she had too many doubts due to her dispirited mindset. glancing at the photo she had taken a couple of days prior, she sighed to herself knowing that if she looked at it too long she would grow to hate it, so instead posted it without hesitation - an image of her posing on her bed in a lacy green set.

cringing, she threw her phone to the side, not wanting to pay attention to the notifications. she gazed over at her television, turning on 'sex education' and waited for her friends to return home.

after a couple of episodes, she finally heard the front door open and close and listened closely to footsteps shuffling through the flat. ivy cackled at the two girls who weakly stood in her doorway, holding their bodies up against the wall for support.

"fucking hell." ivy laughed, shaking her head at the two. sage stood with her heels in hand and mascara smeared under her eyes and esme wobbled around in her heels, wearing what appeared to be ethan's t-shirt and her hair was all over the place, "good night?"

"shut up." esme and sage murmured in unison, each walking towards their rooms as ivy struggled to hold back her giggles.

the two girls appeared back in ivy's room in no time, in much comfier clothes, makeup finally removed and their hair somewhat presentable. she gazed at them dive into bed beside her leaving ivy in the middle, tucking themselves underneath the covers. "i feel like shit." sage groaned.

"not surprised," ivy giggled, "think we were all pretty fucked."

"and we carried on drinking after you left." esme sighed, fluttering her eyes shut.

"i'm really sorry, ivy," sage sat up against the headboard, "about what i said in never have i ever? i thought i'd be baiting one of the guys out, not you. i genuinely completely forgot." she appeared annoyed at herself.

"don't worry about it," ivy shrugged her shoulders, "ethan knew, the other two were bound to find out at some point."

esme tucked her fingertips under the pillow below her head, her eyes remained closed, "what on earth was cal thinking last night?"

"don't get me started." ivy muttered.

"i told him to apologise when he was sober, has he?" sage raised an eyebrow.

"yeah, he messaged me saying he overstepped or whatever and he's sorry, i just told him to forget about it. the last thing i need is for that to get back to simon." ivy inhaled deeply, turning to look at the television.

"it was bang out of order though, we all told him that." esme slowly opened her eyes, squinting from the daylight filling the bedroom.

"i told him it was too," ivy scoffed, "he's one of simon's closest mates."

"it would be so wrong for any of those guys to get with you," sage shook her head, "i just don't think it could be justified."

"nah," ivy agreed, "it definitely couldn't."

"what an idiot." esme mumbled.

"anyways," ivy exhaled, "glad you both had a good night."

sage stared at ivy with a puzzled expression, "you had a good night too though, didn't you?"

"yeah," ivy nodded her head swiftly, "of course i did, just a shame it ended like that, but it is what it is."

"ooh," esme smirked, "nice instagram photo." she chuckled, scrolling through her phone.

"shut up." ivy's cheeked burned red, shaking her head, "don't think i'm a fan."

"show me." sage sat up, leaning over ivy to gaze at esme's phone, "nah, you look hot." she laughed, plummeting her head back into the pillows. ivy slowly reached for her phone, going to instagram to look at her notifications, spotting a familiar name.

"wow," ivy was instantly taken aback, raising her eyebrows, "simon must like it too."

"has he liked it?" a grin quickly formed on sage's lips.

"mhm." ivy nodded her head slowly, "i think that's the first instagram photo of mine that he has liked since we broke up." she instantly spotted a couple of comments already blooming about him liking it.

'miniminter liking his ex's post!'

rolling her eyes, she grumbled, "fuck off," at her phone, "got the miniminter fans on my case already." she smirked, looking back and forth at the two girls.

"must be excited about him liking your photo." esme wiggled her eyebrows.

"they must be." ivy chuckled, noticing a text message pop up at the top of her phone, taking her by surprise.

from simon how you feeling?

pressing on the message, regret immediately consumed her. "who the fuck let me message simon whilst drunk?" she threw a palm to her face.

"you dickhead." sage chuckled, shaking her head at her.

to simon feeling rough sorry, i was really drunk

ivy felt angry with herself, whilst sober she could not bring herself to reply to him at all, but as soon as the alcohol was in her system, he was suddenly on her mind.

"i actually hate you, ivy." esme shook her head with a smirk, peering down at ivy's phone.

"i hate me too." ivy huffed, awkwardly waiting for a reply, "he was asking for a serious conversation and i couldn't even see straight."

"idiot." sage mumbled whilst laughing, her attention remaining on the tv show.

from simon i could tell, haha i wanted to talk, but if you think there's nothing to talk about then we'll leave it

ivy sighed, chucking her phone down on the duvet laid over her body and threw her face into her palms. there was nothing she despised more than serious conversation. she knew they needed to talk, she could not keep holding back her feelings as it was sending her insane, but she also had no idea what he could say to her. would it just be him telling her it was also a mistake? when in reality, for ivy, it really was not?

"i can't bring myself to talk to him." she mumbled into her palms, barely audible.

"but you need to." sage sighed.

"sage has got a point," esme hummed, "you hid in your room until we forced you to come out, at least if you talk to him then you know where you stand."

ivy slowly removed her palms from her face and folded her arms over her chest. she faced the tv, not wanting to mutter a word to the two girls beside her. she knew they were right.

"even if he doesn't tell you what you necessarily want to hear, at least you've spoke to him and hopefully it'll be less awkward." sage cocked her head, trying to get ivy's attention.

"fine." ivy murmured, slowly lifting up her phone.

to simon no, i want to talk as well

from simon come round tomorrow afternoon? if you want to

to simon ok

"great." she muttered.