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Chapter 19: H

Is this love, is this it?
If it is I like it
And if it's love
Please stay love, don't go away love
Don't go away

This isn't love - Jaymay

"YOU DID IT again," Gemma pointed out.

"What?" I asked lifting my gaze from my cell phone screen to look at her.

"You called me Liv," she stated, "I reckon Freud would have made a case study of this by now."

Looking down and away I shook my head, "Sorry, I swear it's unintentional."

"I know it is, that's what makes it disturbing," she beamed, checking on me out of the corner of her eye, "you need to find a way to talk to her, H."

I fall silent and she shakes her head, her pastel pink hair following the movement, "Trust me, I'm not her biggest fan after what she did to you in Paris..."

"Gems, we've already gone through this, she was being honest about her feelings, and you were too hard on her over the phone," I was defending Liv, again. 

"It was your bloody birthday, H!" She lost her temper for a second before breathing deeply and insisting, "but anyways, you should try to talk her again."

I nodded just to appease her and fixed my attention on the road. That was a road that I'd probably driven on over a thousand times; London to my Mom's house. I know every curve and turn and I even recognise some of the trees and houses along the way. I usually drive but this time Gemma insisted we went together in her new car. It's good to enjoy the ride from the passenger's seat every once in a while.

"For the record, I like her better than that Lauren girl," Gemma offered.

"I've already told you I'm not with her, she just showed up at the fundraising and clung to me."

I mean, six months before that I would have probably bent Lauren over the bathroom counter and obliged to her intentions. But I haven't been the same ever since Liv appeared in my life. I tried to date a few girls after she left me, but failed. Nobody was remotely like her or made me feel the way she did.

"That was not at all how it looked like, how about next time try telling her you are not interested, you ruined your one chance to talk to Olivia," she proceeded with her preaching.

"As if I could get anywhere near her with that Ken doll bloody lawyer all over her all night," I spat.

I'm usually a very peaceful man, but the mere thought of that cocky knobhead near Liv turned me into a caveman. When I received the invitation to the fundraising I had one thing in my mind and one thing only:  used the opportunity to talk to Liv. I cleared my schedule, put on my best suit, and went on a mission. The moment I walked into the hotel I spotted her across the room talking to Alejandro Gonzáles Iñarritu, I knew they were friends, so I was relieved. When her eyes found me a spark of hope kindled in me as I watched her smile at me.

I was so focused on her that I didn't see Lauren walking towards me. She and I had an on and off thing for a few years; it was never anything serious and we both knew. Of all nights, she chose that one to attempt to reignite our affair, locking arms with me and flirting unabashedly. The next thing I knew that wanker lawyer was hugging Liv and placing his hand on the small of her back. I eventually managed to get Lauren out of my hair, but it was too late, that Ken doll was clinging onto Liv like a limpet.