the three girls gathered in their living room, ready to see all the guys again, sage obviously excited to see harry. "do i look okay?" sage stressed.

"yes." ivy shook her head, giggling, "you're worrying about nothing."

"i know right," esme laughed, "you look fine, not like you need to be nervous because you've been messaging him all week. you've not stopped talking about him."

"good point," sage smirked, "should be ivy who's nervous anyways," she shrugged, "hanging out with your ex boyfriend mustn't be easy."

ivy shook her head, taking a deep breath in, "si - fucking hell, simon!" she raised her voice, "and i have both agreed to be friends."

"so have you spoke to him this week?" esme raised an eyebrow, staring straight at ivy.

"erm," she looked to the floor, "not really." she muttered under her breath, "you're making me nervous now!"

"sorry!" esme threw her hands up in defence, "i'm just saying." she shrugged.

"it'll be fine," sage wrapped an arm around ivy's tensed up body, "i'm sure when you see him it'll be alright."

"how about i just not come?" ivy sighed.

"fuck off, ivy!" sage yelled, causing the three girls to laugh whilst they booked an uber to cal and harry's.

as they approached the front door, cal opened it wide and greeted the three girls with a hug and a grin. ivy stood anxiously beside cal, walking into the room to be greeted by everyone else. she instantly spotted simon stood by josh, softly smiling at her as she stood by everyone else. but her attention instantly averted when she spotted two familiar faces stood on the other side of josh. "oh my god!" ivy squealed.

"ivy!" freya shouted, bringing her into a warm hug and squeezing her tightly.

"gee!" ivy pulled away, swiftly turning to gee to embrace her, the three girls stood together beaming at one another.

"how are you?" gee asked.

"yeah, i'm good," she nodded her head, "these are my friends esme and sage - esme, sage this is freya and gee." ivy gazed at the girls introducing themselves, her nerves instantly calming as she watched everyone seem to get along. looking up, she spotted simon speaking to josh and shuffled around the girls chatting amongst themselves to speak to him. "hey."

"you alright?" simon nodded down at her.

"mhm, you?"

"yeah, not bad." he ran his fingers through his hair, "sorry, i've not really messaged you this week, been really busy."

"ah right, well friendship goes two ways," she shrugged, "i haven't really messaged you either, so don't worry about it." but that one word 'busy' seemed to hit her hard, she felt some sort of resentment towards it, a word that destroyed everything she loved.

"oh, good." a small smile formed on his lips, "just making sure things aren't awkward or whatever."

she looked to the floor, "nope." she shook her head, "i'm gonna go get a drink." she pointed in the direction of the kitchen, swiftly walking towards it to escape the awkward conversation. she grabbed herself a bottle of cider that she brought with her, leaning against the counter as she cracked open the top of it.

"you alright?" ethan slid beside her, using the bottle opener himself.

"erm, yeah." she nodded slowly, "well, i've been better." she snickered.

"why?"

"just feels really awkward," she turned towards where everyone was stood, "i've probably spoke to you more than i've spoke to simon this week, it just feels really tense and weird." she sighed.

"things might be alright soon," he smiled, "at the end of the day, you've not seen each other for 2 years and now you're suddenly spending time together without much warning. i'm sure you'll both get used to it."

"yeah," she took a deep breath in, turning back to face him, "guess it's just getting used to this whole friends thing."

"you're over him though," he shrugged, "so it should be easy."

"mhm." she nodded eagerly.

the two slowly walked back over to everyone else, ivy standing beside sage and jj having some bizarre conversation she only heard part of, "so where are you from then?"

"manchester." she nodded.

"oh, so you know erm," he pondered, "theburntchip?"

"huh? you fucking what?" she raised an eyebrow, "the burnt who? chip?"

"yeah." he furrowed his eyebrows.

sage let out a cackle, shaking her head, causing ivy to laugh alongside her, "just because i'm from manchester does not mean i know everyone." she smirked.

all eyes turned towards the doorway, spotting vik and his girlfriend walk through the door with drinks in hand. ivy instantly smiled at the couple, watching his girlfriend walk straight over to her, "hi, i'm ellie." she waved, bringing ivy into a hug.

"hey, i'm ivy."

"yeah," she nodded, pulling away, "vik's told me a lot about you."

as everyone settled down, ivy sat herself beside sage and gazed over to esme chatting to ethan, ivy instantly flashing a smile to the two. she slowly turned her head in the direction of simon, speaking to josh and lux on the other side of the sofa. inhaling deeply, she turned back to esme talking to vik, not paying much attention to their conversation about gaming and teasingly rolled her eyes, glancing at ellie.

"i didn't really talk to you last week vik," sage giggled, "but we've played together haven't we?"

"yeah, isn't your minecraft user something stupid like 'sagenonion'," he made air quotes, the two of them chuckling, "i think that's hilarious."

"yeah, my nickname has been stuffing for a while." she nodded, holding back her laughter over the embarrassing nickname people teased her about.

ivy slowly stood up with an empty bottle in hand, leaving vik and sage to speak about nonsense. gazing at the floor, she walked towards the kitchen to pour herself a vodka lemonade, staring at the liquid spilling into the cup, not paying attention to anything else surrounding her.

"boo!" two hands gripped her waist from behind, causing ivy to let out a squeal, practically jumping out of her skin.

"fucking hell!" she held a hand to her chest, swiftly turning her body round only to find herself faced with simon, "you scared me."

"i can tell." he chuckled, shaking his head at her, "you always get scared so easily."

shoving his body with her hands, she sighed, "exactly, you dickhead!" she smirked, grabbing her drink from the side, watching him reach for a beer from the fridge, "i could've made a mess too."

"like cal and harry would care."

"okay, true. but this is the second time i have seen them in a very long time, i'm not making a mess in their flat!" she laughed.

"alright, alright," a smug expression swept across his face, "shots?" he questioned.

"you know i can't say no to that." she smirked as he reached out for a bottle of sambuca resting on the side, pouring out a couple of shots each. they clinked each glass together, pouring the liquid down their throats, "fucking hell." she shivered.

"i know right." he laughed, slamming the final shot glass onto the counter, "gross."

the two walked back over to everyone else with new drinks in hand and ivy instantly caught ethan in the corner of her eye chatting up esme. nudging simon with her elbow, both of their focus turned to the two sat at the table together, "well then," she raised her eyebrows, "seem to be getting along pretty well."

"they do." he widened his eyes, "good thing though, right?"

"hmm." she nodded her head slowly, perching on the edge of the sofa back next to sage. ivy and simon lock eyes for a brief moment whilst he sits on the opposite side of the sofa and she quickly turned to freya and gee sat beside her to distract herself from him, "i've missed you both." she grinned.

"we've missed you too," freya smiled softly, "i've really wanted to message you, but was not too sure, you know? if you wanted distance."

"i understand," she sighed, smiling back, "but i'm back, no worries."

"i'm so glad you're back." gee beamed, wrapping an arm around ivy.

a few more drinks flowed, ivy feeling the effect from the alcohol, but could tell that sage beside her was feeling it more. she noticed that esme and ethan had not stopped speaking all night, barely taking their eyes off one another and could not help, but feel some sort of excitement towards the two. until jj ruined everyone's moments, yelling across the room, "ayo, let's play truth or dare!"

everyone groaned in response, throwing their head back, "we're not exactly young anymore jj." cal shouted back, everyone laughing in response.

"oh, come on man," jj frowned, "it'll be jokes."

"alright, alright." simon rolled his eyes.

"come on, sit together guys!" jj raised his voice, ushering everyone towards the sofa. everyone squeezed together, slumped on the floor or sat around on chairs. placing an empty bottle in the middle of the circle, jj span it. it swiftly landed on ivy.

she sighed, closing her eyes, "truth."

"if you could get with any guy in this room, apart from simon, who would you get with?" jj blurted out.

everyone's eyes widened, including ivy, as she stared at jj with her lips parted. no one could believe he would ask such a question, but they could also sense why with the many drinks he had already consumed and typically did not care about whatever spilled from his mouth. taking a deep breath in, ivy glanced around the room, "can i just not answer it?"

"nah, you have to, it's the first one." jj insisted, raising his eyebrows.

"fine." she huffed, glancing over to simon for a brief moment who sat looking at the floor, not wanting to pay attention, "probably ethan." she shrugged, "probably wouldn't be weird."

"prove it then!" jj yelled causing the tension to fade into fits of laughter.

"fuck off, jide!" ivy yelled, shaking her head at him. glancing opposite her, she spotted simon sat awkwardly, not joining in with the laughter, clearly not finding whatever had been said amusing. taking a deep breath in, she quickly leaned forwards to spin the bottle, attempting to take everyone's attention away from whatever had just happened. the bottle span, ivy's eyes fixated on it, not wanting to look up at simon.

"truth or dare, bog?" ivy questioned, looking over to the boy sat on the floor.

"erm," he scratched his chest, "dare?" he sounded uncertain, nervously taking a deep breath in as he clearly spotted a twinkle ivy's eye.

her eyes flickered to sage sat beside her, then back over to harry, a smug expression forming on her face, "i dare you to kiss the hottest girl in the room."

"erm," he stood up, "i mean, there's not very many option's." he laughed awkwardly, but his attention instantly turning to sage.

"well then." sage folded her arms over her chest, throwing her body backwards into the cushions, "i see how it is." she raised her eyebrows, glaring up at harry with a smirk.

"shut up." he laughed, awkwardly stepping towards sage. shuffling upwards, sage sat upright beside ivy and ivy gazed at harry cup sage's face with his finger tips, pressing a sensual kiss on her lips which she instantly melted into. as they pulled away, both their faces burned red from the embarrassment, ivy gazing at them with a grin.

"cute." ivy whispered into sage's ear, nudging her with her elbow as they both watched harry stumble back to where he was sitting, harry unable to comprehend what had happened. he quickly span the bottle, which landed on jj.

the game soon enough came to an end, everyone distracted by one another and their own conversations. sage had moved from beside ivy to over to harry and ivy gazed at esme perch herself beside her, "so." ivy raised her eyebrows, giggling.

"he's cute, right?"

"honestly, i love ethan," ivy nodded, "he's a great lad, he literally tried so hard to glue simon and i back together when it went to shit."

"really?" esme pulled out her bottom lip, cocking her head, "he's lovely and a laugh."

"i know," ivy grinned, "look at my new friends getting along this well with my old ones, it's great." she laughed, taking a large gulp of her drink.

"are you okay with it? you know, incase you actually didn't want anything to do with simon." she whispered.

ivy cleared her throat, swirling her nearly empty drink around in the bottom of the cup, "yeah it's fine. there's no issues between simon and i, why would there be?" she muttered under her breath.

"just checking, it must be strange for you."

"it is," ivy breathed in deeply, "just got to learn to deal with it." she poured the rest of the drink down her throat and stood up from the sofa. her vision felt hazy from the amount of alcohol consumed as she made her way towards the kitchen, resting against the counter as she slowly made herself another drink.

in the back of her mind, all she could think about were the days simon and her used to drink with everyone. they were a couple, nothing ever felt awkward or tense for the two as they would be having a laugh together, most likely ending the night having drunk sex or rubbing the other persons back as they threw up into the toilet. but being faced with him after their break up, not seeing him for two years, she yearned for things to feel like it once was, it just did not. and it was obvious as to why, but she hated it.

"what you thinking about?" ethan caught her attention, pulling a drink out of the fridge.

"things." she shrugged, handing the bottle of lemonade to ethan for him to put in the fridge.

"like what?"

"i just need to get used to everything, don't i?"

"wanna talk about it?" ethan cocked his head, placing the bottle opener back down.

"nah," she shook her head, "i'm fine, honest." she sighed, flashing him the fakest smile possible. leaving him stood alone, leaning against the counter, she slowly wandered to the toilet.

resting her head against the wall, she stared down at her drink sighing to herself, waiting for the bathroom to no longer be occupied. she then looked up at the ceiling, unable to hold her weight on just one leg and keep her balance as she impatiently swayed on the spot. suddenly, she listened to the door unlock and instantly stood straight, only to find simon walk out, "you alright?" he muttered.

"mhm, you?" she smiled softly.

"yeah." he huffed, slowly walking away.

"simon," she shouted after him and he quickly turned around, "in truth or dare earlier, about ethan, i don't like him or anything like that."

he shook his head in response, "no, i know." he sighed, "don't worry about it."

"i'm just making sure." she bit her bottom lip.

"it's fine." he raised his eyebrows, the corners of his lips turning up into a faint smile and he slowly walked away from the bathroom door as he watched her close it.

the time had definitely surpassed 12am, some people began heading home as they had things to do the next day. ivy sprawled out on the sofa, her and cal waffling nonsense to one another whilst sage erratically danced around the room, teaching lux and harry tiktok dances as a joke and esme rested her head on ethan, falling very giggly beside him. ivy sighed to herself as she spotted gee, josh, freya and simon talking to one another in the kitchen, wishing she could have his attention all night like she once did without any awkwardness, she never felt like that around him until now.

cal limply threw an arm around ivy's shoulder, drunkenly resting his head on hers, "so glad you're back." he mumbled.

"that's what everyone's said." she giggled, her cheeks burning red.

"because it's true," he moved away from her slowly to look down at her, "you're a great lass and i understood why you basically ignored everyone," cal slurred, "but we all definitely missed having you around."

"aw," she hummed, "i've missed you guys too, you were like family to me." she sighed.

"it's a shame it all went to shit." he muttered, resting his head against hers once again, "i liked you guys together, didn't notice how happy you made him til you weren't together anymore."

she huffed, not knowing how to respond to that because for her, it was more or less exactly the same. all they knew was each other, since they were teenagers, so separating for so long and then suddenly being brought back together unexpectedly brought back so many unexpected feelings for the two.

"might head home." she sighed, pulling up her drunk body, "sage, esme," she shouted across the room, "you coming home?" ivy first glanced to esme, sat under ethan's embrace, innocently shaking her head, "alright then." ivy sighed, "sage?"

"erm," sage's eye's flickered over to harry, then back to ivy, "i'll see you in the morning?" she cocked her head, awkwardly smiling.

"alright." ivy sighed, "looks like i'm going home on my own then." she mumbled to herself, pulling her phone out to book herself an uber. "thanks for tonight cal," she hummed as they both stood up, embracing one another, "it's been great."

"no worries," he hummed into her ear, "glad you came."

she pulled away, letting out a long sigh before walking over to everyone else, bringing them into a hug before finally gazing up at simon, "i'll see you later then." she exhaled.

"yeah," he nodded his head slowly, "are you sure you'll be fine going home on your own?"

"yeah." she smiled up at him.

"alright." he instantly wrapped both arms around her, holding her tightly against his body, taking her by surprise, "i'll make sure to message you more." he whispered down into her ear.

"as i said," she pulled away, grinning up at him, "goes two ways."

"well, let me know when you get home safe."

as she said her final goodbye's, she sighed to herself before stepping out of the front door. although she was extremely happy for esme and sage, even if they were just having a bit of fun, she felt envious of them, which was very unlike ivy. she wished she was spending the night with someone, rather than heading home to an empty flat.