ivy flew into her bedroom, she was definitely feeling the effect of the alcohol, but she was enjoying herself and it wasn't overwhelming. huffing, she noticed that her bathroom was occupied and sat herself on the edge of her bed whilst she waited. the bedroom was slightly spinning around her, unable to concentrate on a single thing. she immediately became alert when her bathroom door opened, watching a lanky blonde stroll out of it.

"oh." he smiled, "sorry, i used this bathroom because everyone was waiting for the other." he pointed awkwardly.

"it's fine," she giggled, "it's my room anyways."

"yeah, i can tell." he nodded his head with a grin before adjusting his hair in the mirror, he still knew her so well. ivy watched his every movement, she could not seem to help herself, but her stare was powerful and he could feel it burning into him. clearing his throat, he turned to look at her, "can i talk to you?"

"mhm." playing with her hair, she patted the space beside her. he offered her an appreciative smile and awkwardly seated himself beside her, "what's up?" she asked.

"well," he sighed, "i just want to make sure that things are okay between us?"

she furrowed her eyebrows at him, "yeah, why wouldn't they be?"

"it's just that i've tried messaging you and you were ignoring me."

"i've been ignoring everyone." mumbling, she looked down at her knees.

"i've heard," he exhaled as his concentration remained on her, even if he was just staring at the side of her head, "i'm just trying to make sure there's no problem and i'm sorry for trying to argue about the cal thing."

"it's fine." she murmured, slowly bringing her head back up to look at him, "i should've told you, i just thought it would cause arguments."

"it's fine," he shrugged his shoulders, "i get it."

the two made eye contact, his blue eyes gazing into her hazel ones. although he always found her perfect, he was mesmerised by her tonight and couldn't seem to avert his gaze. even when she stood dancing with the girls and jj was trying to speak to him, he was only concentrated on ivy. maybe it was because the last time he saw her, everything was put into a different perspective when they both admitted they still had feelings for one another.

softly placing her hand on his leg, she took a deep breath in, "honestly, me and you are fine."

"good." he caught his breath in his throat as their faces inched closer. they both shared the mutual feeling of hating being left alone together as they yearned for the feeling of the other person's lips.

biting her lip, ivy swiftly turned her head away from him. she was drunk and he made her feel even more intoxicated, but in a different way, "i'm gonna go to the toilet and bring sage's cake out," she cleared her throat, "please could you tell es to start getting it ready?"

"yeah, sure." he nodded his head slowly.

"thanks." she quickly stood up from the bed and made her way into the toilet. simon let out a long sigh before standing up himself, his eyes glanced around ivy's bedroom briefly and finally made his way out of the bedroom door.

making her way into the kitchen, ivy spotted esme already placing candles into a colin the caterpillar cake and ivy helped with the last few before lighting them. blasting 'happy birthday' through the speaker, esme and ivy made their way over to sage as everyone's attention focused on sage who stood excitedly with a massive grin on her face. everyone around them sang along and some took video's on their phone.

"happy birthday!" ivy yelled excitedly, "make a wish." she smiled as the song came to an end. sage closed her eyes for a second and blew the candles out whilst everyone loudly cheered.

"i love you guys." sage grinned from ear to ear, already ripping the face off the cake and biting into it. ivy switched the music back on and carried the cake back to the kitchen. taking a large gulp of her drink, her eyes wandered around the groups of people and decided to make her way to ethan and tobi.

copious amounts of alcohol flowed, including many shots and everyone appeared to be enjoying themselves. ivy somehow found herself stood with harry, simon, sage and esme. she felt her stomach churning and knew that her night was heading in a different direction to what she had hoped. trying to listen to the conversation around her, all she could do was concentrate on trying not to be sick, but she knew she would have to make a dash to the toilet.

ivy stumbled in the direction of her bedroom, the sickly feeling rose too quickly for her to handle. making it to her en suite, her head was instantly thrown over the toilet seat as all the alcohol in her system spewed out of her. it was rare of ivy to throw up from alcohol, but after refusing to eat the entire day due to her nerves and then consuming drink after drink because of those same nerves, it was bound to happen.

"looks like someone's gone to be sick." esme smirked as her eyes followed ivy's figure race to her room.

"she's never usually sick." simon raised an eyebrow, staring down at his beer.

"i know." sage sighed, frowning slightly, "she's not really eaten and has drank a lot." she slurred her words and stared up at simon

"oh right," he nodded slowly, "not surprised then." he muttered, yearning to spend more time with her, but it was as though she was running away from him.

his eyes remained on the direction of ivy's room, hoping she would emerge from it and feel better, but after five minutes she was yet to return. "might go check on ivy." he suggested.

"yeah, good idea." sage smiled softly, "take her some water too."

taking a deep breath in, he downed the rest of his beer and placed the empty bottle on the side. simon dragged his feet through the crowds of people, pouring ivy a glass of water and wandered into her bedroom, closing the door behind him. he gazed at her body limply resting against the toilet, her eyes closed as she attempted to calm her breathing.

"ivy." he said softly, walking into her bathroom. ivy's eyes slowly opened, even in her drunk state he noticed a glimmer in her eye as she stared up at him.

"oh," she cleared her throat, "have sage and es sent you to look after me?"

"no," he shook his head, chuckling, "i came myself actually."

"my knight in shining armour." she teased, taking the glass from his finger tips, "thanks." she mumbled, taking a sip of the water.

"how you feeling?" he exhaled, taking the water back from her after she held it out like a child.

"erm," ivy huffed, "drunk and not so grea-" her head was instantly thrown back into the toilet bowl. simon sighed, kneeling down as he pulled her hair back with one hand and rubbed small circles on her back with his other.

"you alright now?" slumping his body beside her, he watched intently as she threw her weak body back against the wall.

"mhm." she nodded her head, her eyes fluttered shut, "you don't have to help me, you know? go back and enjoy the party." ivy attempted to sound as sober as possible, but failed to do so.

"nah," he shook his head, "i'm looking after you." although ivy was not the type to be sick when drinking, he was reminded of few times that she was. it was as though he had gone back in time and he was simply helping his girlfriend before carrying her to bed and allowing her to cuddle up beside him. but he knew this was different.

"hmm." she mumbled, drunkenly laying her head on his shoulder without hesitation.

the two sat in silence for a moment, listening to ivy's heavy breaths, before her head was back in the toilet bowl for the third time that night. exhaling, simon grabbed a hair tie from the side and sloppily tied her hair back with it whilst she threw up into the toilet, patting her back for her.

"thanks, si." she slurred, resting her head against the toilet seat incase anything else came up.

"it's alright." he hummed, softly rubbing his hand up and down her back.

"i -" she hiccuped, "i love you, you know?"

simon instantly raised his eyebrows at her, taken aback by what she had just drunkenly said to him. his eyes remained fixed on her as she rested back against the wall and he knelt in front of her.

ivy furrowed her eyebrows at him, "say it back then."

"shut up." he smirked, shaking his head at her.

"fine." she folded her arms across her chest and pulled out her bottom lip, "i see how it is."

"hmm." he murmured, passing her the glass of water and sat beside her again.

after taking a small sip of it, she passed him the glass and threw her head back into his shoulder, "don't say it back then." she mumbled.

"fine," he sighed, rolling his eyes, "i love you too, ivy." simon was certain she would not remember any of this the next day and although he thought she didn't mean it, he definitely did.

they sat in the same position for a good twenty minutes, her head aimlessly resting on her ex boyfriend as she tried to make herself feel better. the bathroom was completely silent, only the bass from the music thudding against the wall. simon rested his head on ivy's, it was somewhat relaxing. he didn't need his phone, he didn't need to drink, he didn't need to talk. feeling her touch was enough for him.

"think i'm okay now." she muttered, slowly leaning forwards.

"you sure?" he questioned, holding his gaze on her. the loss of her contact pained him.

"think so." nodding her head slowly, she gazed at him stand up and reach a hand out to help her up. she gripped his hand tightly, although she felt fragile, she no longer felt sick and wanted to make her way back to the party. taking a large gulp of the water, she softly sighed, "thanks."

"don't worry about it." a small smile formed on his lips.

"i'm just gonna brush my teeth," she cleared her throat, "i'll be back soon."

he nodded his head slowly and made his way out of her room. ivy turned to glare at reflection in the mirror, she was clearly still drunk and that was obvious when she began to sloppily brush her teeth. pulling the hair tie out of her hair, she ran her finger tips through it and stumbled back to the party.

it was as though she had just been given a new lease of life, making her way into the kitchen to make herself another drink, "where've you been?" ethan questioned, watching her pour a glass of water down the sink.

"for a tactical chunder." she chuckled, pouring herself a drink, but with much less alcohol this time around.

"do you feel better now?" he asked, leaning against the kitchen counter whilst he took a sip of his drink.

"i feel great." she shrugged her shoulders, "gonna take it easy on the drinking though, this will probably be my only one now." she pointed to the glass whilst pouring lemonade in it.

"yeah, good idea." he laughed, nodding his head in agreement as she spilt some drink onto the counter.

"oops." she slurred, attempting to clean it up, but her coordination was completely off. the two made their way over to everyone else, both sage and esme staring at ivy in a questionable manner, "what?"

"you, being sick." sage shook her head, "i'm disappointed."

"shut up." ivy smirked, "i'm fine now." she span around in a circle, almost tripping over her own two feet and laughter emerged from everyone around her, "you need to get on my level."

"we are basically on your level," esme took a sip of her drink, "we're just not being sick."

"yeah, yeah." ivy tutted, "i was saved by simon, it's all good." she glanced at ethan and esme talking to one another and turned her attention back to sage, "having a good party anyways?"

"of course i am," sage wrapped her arms around ivy, "it's amazing, thank you." the two girls began to dance to the music, laughing and egging one another on to do ridiculous dances which others get involved with them including harry, cal and lux.

time ticked on, some people had gone home, but the flat was still somewhat full. a very drunk jj wrapped his arm around a very drunk ivy, grinning down at her, "i love you, you know?" he chuckled.

"aw," she smirked, "i love you too, jide." she laid her head on his chest briefly, before bringing her head back up, "feels good to be hanging out with you all again."

"feels good to have you back." he slurred, "but i have a question."

"go on." she pulled away and cocked her head.

"you know when you were at mine? what did you and simon talk about?"

her breath hitched in her throat, being reminded of that day, "erm, n - nothing important." she stumbled over her words.

"i know that's a lie," he giggled, "i walked in and you both looked bare depressed and simon was really weird afterwards."

"hmm," she began to play with the rings on her fingers and glanced over jj's shoulder, spotting simon talking to josh and tobi, "well, it was kind of important, but i'm too drunk to talk about it." she softly smiled.

"that's fine," he nodded slowly, "but i'm always here to talk, you do know that don't you?"

"of course i do."

the three girls found themselves extremely drunk, practically on the verge of blacking out. they could barely hold themselves up, esme definitely looked like she was ready to throw up, sage was waffling nonsense in harry's ear, but he was more or less doing the same to her and ivy had face planted the floor multiple times. with only cal, ethan, harry, simon and jj remaining, they knew they needed to do something about it.

"come on," cal raised his voice, "you three need to go to bed."

"nah," sage shook her head, glaring at him, "we're grown adults, you can't tell us when it's bed time."

"yes we can." ethan chuckled, glancing at the three girls. ivy was already curled up on the sofa beside simon, in complete silence as her eyes began to flutter shut.

"well, who's gonna lock up the flat?" sage raised an eyebrow.

"you all have a pair of keys right?" ethan asked.

"hmm." esme nodded her head slowly, resting on ethan's shoulder.

"we'll just take a pair of keys with us." ethan shrugged his shoulders.

"okay." esme slurred.

ethan slowly stood up from the sofa and esme's head flopped against the cushions, "come on you." he held a hand out for her and she slowly took it, wandering to her bedroom with him.

"not going to bed, i bet all the alcohol hasn't been drank." sage folded her arms over her chest.

"you three have nearly drank it all, i dare you to stand up." cal laughed, pulling her up from the sofa. as sage stood up, it was obvious that the room was spinning and she could barely hold herself up.

"i'll just sleep on the sofa." she shrugged as she threw herself back down.

"nah," harry shook his head, "come on." he pulled her up, wrapping an arm around her as they made their way to her room, profanities and refusal spilling from sage's lips.

"ivy." simon cooed, softly stroking her arm.

"hmm?" she grumbled, slowly lifting her head up from the sofa to look at him.

"come, i think it's your bedtime." he chuckled, taking her hand in his own and wrapped an arm around her.

"m'kay." she slurred, stumbling under his embrace until they finally made it to her bedroom. ivy flopped straight onto the bed, letting out an elongated sigh of relief. whilst she stared up at the ceiling, simon knelt down and pulled her shoes off her feet.

"where's your makeup remover?" he questioned.

"can't be arsed." she mumbled.

"ivy." he responded sternly, "you used to argue with me all the time when you slept with your makeup on."

"fine." she huffed, "it's in the bathroom."

as simon returned with the makeup remover, ivy sloppily pulled her body up, gazing at him sit beside her. he poured the makeup remover onto a cotton pad and placed a finger under her chin so that she would turn to face him. sighing, he pulled her fake eyelashes off causing her to wince and softly wiped the cotton pad over her face. for simon, this moment genuinely felt like the past had made it's way back to him.

after finally removing her makeup for her, he stood up and gazed at her, "please can you get me a hoodie from my wardrobe." she murmured quietly.

"sure." he nodded, opening her wardrobe. he was surprised to notice a couple of t-shirts he had previously given her and old sidemen merch, he thought she would've thrown away every memory of him. it only made him think about their relationship more.

"thanks." a small smile formed on her lips after he passed her a hoodie, "and can you unzip my dress too?" she steadily stood up from the bed.

"god, do you want me to dress you as well?" he teased.

"shut up." she laughed, shaking her head. simon pulled down the zipper, gazing at the dress fall from her body and onto the floor before she swiftly pulled her hoodie over her head, "thank you." ivy turned to look at him.

"it's fine." simon nodded his head, watching her tuck herself beneath the covers, "want me to get you some water?"

"you don't have to." she shook her head, looking up at him. wandering out of the room, simon poured her a glass of water and made his way back to her room with it, "aren't you nice." she chuckled.

"i am very nice to be fair." he smirked, watching her sit up against her headboard.

"come here." she opened her arms wide, he slowly made his way over to her before she finally embraced him, "i'll always be grateful for you." she whispered into his ear, sending a shiver down his spine.

pulling back, he could feel his throat closing up. why was he emotional right now? "good night, ivy." he sighed, trudging in the direction of her door.

"good night, simon."