Olivia's POV
The next morning I woke up alone again, except this time in my own bed surrounded by my own scent; it was lonely, but I felt a little relief. Although, the weight of guilt on my chest was now topped with the guilt from hurting Alex and I felt like it was physically crushing me, like if I tried to stand it would drag me down like an anchor. I thought I had done the right thing by covering my feelings for Alex, but I felt 10 times worse than I had yesterday.

Alex had went out last night and I hadn't seen or heard him come home, I had tried to wait up for him but by 3 AM I was ready to pass out and had to call it a night. I could hear Alex downstairs, rummaging around in the kitchen – most likely tidying up his easel – and I let out a sigh of relief. At least he was home and safe, even if he didn't want to be anywhere near me right now.

I hopped into the shower and let myself relax; trying to rid my mind of all the heavy thoughts and feelings. I remembered that I would see Samuel tonight and instantly I cheered up. He may have put me in the most uncomfortable position ever, but he was still my best friend in the whole world and although we'd only been apart for just over a week, I had missed him like crazy. I really would need him by my side tonight, so, for that, I was thankful.

I got changed into some fresh pyjamas and made my way into the kitchen where Alex was still rummaging around trying to clean up his mess from the day before. He kept dropping things and grunting as the sounds reached his eardrums; he was quite evidently hungover, wearing last night's clothing, with huge bags under his eyes – in fact he looked awful.

I gulped hard and tried to ignore how fragile he looked, "You want some breakfast?" I asked softly, trying not to startle him as I moved towards the fridge to grab some eggs.

"No," he grumbled, throwing some paint supplies back into a box, "...thanks," he added as an afterthought, still upset with me but trying not to make it obvious – but, it was obvious.

"Do you need any help?" I asked politely as I watched him struggle.

"Nope," he muttered, popping the 'p'. He picked the large box up and made his way upstairs with it. I didn't know where he kept his stuff, but the apartment was filled with closets. He gave me a look out of the corner of his eyes as he passed me, it wasn't a happy look or an angry look, it was expressionless, like he was just reminding himself what I looked like.

I sighed deeply as I began cracking eggs into a pan; I knew he'd want some so I fixed him a couple too, along with some toast. I had no idea how to get myself out of the situations, or if I even could. I couldn't help feeling like I'd made the wrong choice.

Alex spent a lot of the day in his bedroom watching TV and avoiding me – which was fair but very uncomfortable. It got to around 4:00 PM and I decided it was time I got ready, since all of us clients had been told to arrive around 6 PM, whilst our guests were set to arrive around 7:30 PM. I curled my hair and applied my make-up. I could hear Alex chuckling lightly, through the wall, at whatever show he was watching and the sound made me smile, even though it had only been a day, it felt like I hadn't heard it in forever and I missed it.

The email we received specifically said that the dress code was VERY FORMAL, which made me anxious but I could imagine Derek thrilled by the idea – Alex and Co. not so much. I slipped into a tight fitting, red wrap dress, with a slight plunge in the neckline. I paired it with glittery Jimmy Choo pumps, a glittery clutch and some silver jewellery.

By 5:40 PM I was ready and had called my cab. "Remember, it starts at 7:30," I yelled up to Alex as I waited for my cab driver to show up. I heard him mumble something through his door but I didn't catch it, not that I think he really cared if I did or not. I sighed as my phone buzzed, telling me my taxi was waiting.

The building was huge and sleek; mostly glass and white panelling, very elegant and modern – I loved it. Balloons and flowers were hanging from every corner, music could already be heard from the outside. I stepped inside and the main floor was huge. This was clearly going to be a reception area but just for tonight they had set up a miniature runway, as well as a little dance floor with disco lights – like you get at children's parties – and a DJ booth. I giggled as I walked in, dancing a little on my way over to join a bunch of the girls I knew from work.

Samuel appeared from a hallway, talking to some fancy looking guy in a suit, looking very very interested in whatever he had to say. He spotted me as soon as the rounded the corner and ditched whoever the suit guy was and ran over to pull me into a hug. "Bitch!" he squealed in delight; the obscenity had always been used as a term of endearment.

"Hey, gorgeous," I cooed back as we untangled from the hug and held each other at arms length, smiling wide. Being with Samuel had cleared my mind of all my previous worries; I was just Olivia with Samuel. Just plain old Olivia who likes to gossip with her best friend. "Who's that?" I raised an eyebrow, flitting my eyes to glance at the handsome man in a suit.

"No-one...." he responded, coyly, rolling his eyes smugly. I opened my mouth in shock at him and he pushed at my shoulder, "No seriously, I just met him five minutes ago and asked for a tour, hoping I'd get to walk behind him up some stairs," he explained, shrugging as he sipped the pink fruity cocktail in his hand.

I laughed, Samuel was the most flirtatious, forward person I knew, but it was what made him Samuel. "Hey, where'd you get that?" I questioned, faking an annoyed look, referring to the drink he was holding. He laughed and offered to go get me one. I watched as he made his way over to the bar, of course stopping to chat with handsome suit guy first; I rolled my eyes.

"Hey, Liv," I heard a voice say. I turned and was met with Jenny Mitchell, the CEO of the agency. She was around my height but a lot older than me, late 40s, with dark blonde hair.

"Hey," I greeted with a smile. She proceeded to inform me about how the night was going to go and that a lot of head hunters and important people would be turning up and that we all had to be on our best behaviour – especially Samuel. Referring to the runway set up, she told me that me and all of her other representative models would be doing a little catwalk as a way of introducing ourselves to anyone interested in our business – which kind of made it feel like we were being auctioned off, but whatever.

Samuel had finally finished chatting with suit man and returned to me with my drink, just as Jenny was walking away; she gave Samuel a knowing, stern look and he saluted her. "Why does she suspect I'm gonna do something?" he asked, exasperated.

I narrowed my eyes at him and smirking, taking a sip of my drink, "Look me in the eyes and tell me you honestly haven't thought about fucking suit guy in the bathroom later," I challenged him, deadpan.

He looked at me with his mouth ajar; not believing I had such little faith in him. I raised my eyebrows. He shook his head, "fine," he crouched a little to get eye level with me and after a few seconds of looking at me, he looked away and folded his arms, "Okay, fine, I've thought about it," he muttered defeated and I laughed in response.

The hour and a half we had before the guests arrived was supposed to be spent helping everything get set up, but me and Samuel just stood at the bar and chatted; catching up. I didn't have the nerve to tell him anything that'd happened, mainly because I knew he'd flip out – that conversation needed to be had in private.

As soon as 7 PM hit, people began filling in, the buzz and atmosphere of the whole place increasing exponentially. "So, where are your friends getting here?" Samuel asked, eyeing the door – most likely for cute guys.

I turned around myself and had a little look, and as if by magic, Alex & Co walked in. Jack pushed through first, clearly excited to be at a party filled with models and professionally attractive people. He was followed by Cass and Rian; Cass also looked super excited but for more of a professional reason than Jack. Then Amelia and Zack, I could see Amelia already pointing out people and nudging Zack in excitement. My breath caught in my throat in anticipation to see Alex. There he was, dressed in a smart white shirt with a thin black tie; some black suit pants and a pair of pointed dress shoes. He looked gorgeous, even Samuel made a noise when he entered. ...And linking his arm was a girl with dirty blonde hair, wearing a tight black dress, who I had never seen before in my life.

I felt my heart drop to my stomach, I felt nauseous, like I could throw up right here. I blinked a couple of times to ensure I wasn't just having a nightmare, but nope, there they were, laughing together, smiling at each other – I felt like screaming. I had to look away, shaking my head, my eyes closed. I felt tears prickle at my eyes.

"Woah, what's up?" Samuel asked, noticing my sudden change in body language, he placed a hand on my arm comfortingly.

I took a deep breath and ridded myself of any emotion. "Nothing," I faked a smile, "my friends are here," I told him, pulling him to his feet and dragging him over to the group who looked slightly out of place. Samuel still seemed a little worried beside me, but I brushed it off. I would not let anyone know that this bothered me.

"Liv!" Jack exclaimed, quickly coming over and putting her arms around y shoulders, hugging me from behind, "This is fucking incredible," he said, referring to the party. He was right, it was incredible.

I turned to Samuel, "Samuel, this is Jack," I said, nodding my head towards the boy behind me. Jack peeled himself from me to shake Samuel's hand. "And this is Cass, Rian, Amelia, Zack, Alex..." I listened off, gesturing to each one as I went down the line, I stopped at this woman clinging to Alex's arm, "...and this is?" I asked. I could tell my tone was coming off a lot colder than I had wanted but I had no control over that, all of my energy as going into not ripping her hair out.

"Uh... Lisa," the girl responded and a light bulb went off in my head. So, this was Alex's ex? Who he hadn't seen in months and was far too clingy and hated his friends? I mentally rolled my eyes; nice try, Alex, you're not going to get my jealous with someone even you're 4 year old nephew said was less pretty than me.

I faked a smile at her and turned to Samuel, "Lisa," I said, giving him a look which he evidently did not understand as he reached over to shake her hand too.

"It's so nice to meet you all! I've heard so much about you guys," Samuel gushed, smiling and sipping on his drink. Amelia complimented some part of his outfit and they then became engrossed in a conversation about this month's Vogue, which I couldn't deal with right now. I pulled out my phone; pretending I had messages – which I didn't, and walked back over towards the bar.

"Liv," I heard a voice say, an arm wrapping around my shoulder and bringing me to a halt. It was Jack; he looked concerned, "Hey," he said, a sympathetic smile on his face, "Look," he was whispering now, despite me not being able to hear him at normal volume over the music, "I don't know why Lisa's here..." he trailed off.

"Oh, I do," I laughed sarcastically and rolled my eyes.

"You do?" he questioned, furrowing his brow.

"Let's just say, I ended things with Alex yesterday and clearly he's just looking to make me jealous," I respond, my head movements fast and aggressive.

"Ohhhhhhhh," Jack breathed, finally realising something, "thank FUCK!" he exclaimed, gaining some odd looks from people stood around. I glanced around us with a sympathetic smile to those we'd disturbed and then looked back to Jack, confused. "I thought they were getting back together or something, I'm soooo glad it's just to make you jealous," he sighed in relief. I gave him a look, "Oh, no," he corrected himself, "No, I'm not happy he's doing that, I'm just happy- yano what?" he cut himself off, realising he'd dug himself a hole, "I'm gonna go get a drink," he muttered before flitting away.

Samuel made his way back over to me, dancing a little as he moved, "That Amelia girl is so nice," he gushed once he's met me on the dance floor, still swaying slightly to the rhythm.

"Girl," I sighed, "I need to talk to you," I admitted, giving him a serious look. He tilted his head in confusion at me and I just scoffed and dragged him away into an empty, unfinished office room, hoping nobody would find us.

We sat for a good half an hour as I spilled everything out to him; everything that had happened between me and Alex; everything to do with me maybe moving to New York; about how I'd ended things with Alex and now he was attempting to make me jealous with his ex. Letting everything out felt so therapeutic, I think maybe I would've cried if I hadn't been wearing expensive lashes.

After I'd finished spilling my guts, Samuel took a moment to take in everything I'd just told him, he looked confused and sad and just a mixture of different emotions which I couldn't quite pinpoint.

"Olive..." he said quietly. I was sat on a little spinny office chair, in front of a plain white desk which Samuel had been sat on – these were the only two things in the room. He moved from the desk and knelt in front of me, holding one of my hands tight and looking me straight in the eyes. His eyes were filled with sympathy and sadness, and I felt like a child under his gaze, "you need to do what you want to do," he told me gently, a sweet, sad smile.

I sighed and rolled my eyes, "I'm sick of people saying that to me..." I exhaled through my nose, "It's not that easy," I told him, meeting his gaze once again.

"Baby," his eyes and smile were the sincerest I had ever seen them; everything was a joke to Samuel and so to see him so serious was a little strange, "Not everything is going to be easy in life, but some things really are worth the struggle," he explained, rubbing my hand with his thumb, "Do you really like this Alex guy?" he asked. I nodded like a child, the urge to cry getting stronger and stronger. "Then you have to go for it, before it's too late," he explained, "also... he's really fucking hot," he added, making me laugh – typical Samuel.

Samuel was right. I couldn't just keep taking the easy way out because it was easy. I had to do what was right for me. But I felt like I'd really messed things up with Alex, and plus he was here with another woman. Just as we left the small little office room, I notice Derek step through the door wearing a full, grey suit; blazer and all.

Despite the talk we'd just had, Samuel and I made our way over to him and greeted him. He pulled my into him and kissed me hard; this was something he regularly did at events like these, but he definitely wasn't this affectionate behind closed doors. Samuel coughed after a few seconds to grab our attention, not that I had been lost in the moment or anything. Derek pulled away and grabbed my hand, "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?" he asked, expectantly.

"Uh, yeah, sure," I responded, giving Samuel an anxious look; he reached over and squeezed my free hand comfortingly and walked with us as we approached the rather large table that Alex and Co. were seated at. I could tell by the look on Alex's face that he had seen Derek kiss me; he looked extremely sour towards us, as we stood in front of them, Derek's hand gripping mine far too tightly.

I went down the line of everyone at the table and introduced him to the all. I watched as they all shook hands and smiled; excited to finally meet the guy I'd been speaking about – except Alex. Alex's handshake was much to firm; I could tell just by watching, and his eyes seethed anger as he spoke to Derek, though luckily Derek didn't seemed to notice.

"Oh hey," Jack greeted, rejoining the group with a drink in his hand, "who's this, Liv?" he asked politely, referring to Derek with a smile, although I knew he felt just as awkward as Samuel, Alex and I did; all knowing the underlying situation.

"Olivia," Derek corrected, holding his hand up to Jack in a way to say stop, before masking his look of disapproval with a smile and shaking Jack's hand. Jack shot me a confused look. I head Alex scoff loudly and watched as he got to his feet and stormed away, heading for the bar. I gave Jack and Samuel a questioning look and they both shrugged.

Derek was lost in conversation with Zack and Rian about God knows what and Samuel and Jack slowly fell into a chat about some of the models at the party and so I decided to follow Alex to the bar. He was alone at a stool, drinking. I slipped into the seat beside him and ordered another cocktail, he turned to look at me, immediately recognising my voice. "Hey," I said sweetly, trying not to convey how nervous I actually was. I knew I had some explaining to do, but so did he.

"Hey," he responded lacklustre, raising his eyebrows in disinterest as he sipped his beer.

I swivelled in my seat to face him, "You have every right to be mad at me," I said.

"Yeah, I know," he interrupted, looking into his drink, avoiding eye contact.

I rolled my eyes and sighed, "I'm sorry for what I said," I reached out to touch his bicep which was flexed in anger, looking like it might rip through his shirt.

"I have a date waiting for me..." he flashed me a fake smile and walked away. I watched him leave and let out a deep breath – yeah, I deserved that.

About a half hour had passed; I had been stood chatting with some of the modelling girls, chatting about what we did at the weekend, when out of the corner of my eye I saw something which made me feel as if my soul had left my body. Alex was sat in his seat at his table beside Rian – who was still chatting away with Derek – and attached to Alex, by the lips, was Lisa. I got up instantly, seething, and stormed over to the table. I could see Samuel and Jack shaking their heads furiously at me, trying to deter me from doing anything stupid.

I could've pulled her by her ratty extensions off of him and smashed her face into the table, but instead I grabbed his arm and yanked him up and away from her. "I'm sorry, I need to borrow him for a minute," I said through gritted teeth, trying my best to seem relaxed but I'm sure Lisa had grasped I was being fake. I pulled him around a corner and into an empty hallway, as he questioned what I was doing, trying to free his arm. "What the fuck?" I spat at him, shaking with anger. It hadn't occurred to me that Alex had every right to kiss whoever he wanted – we weren't together and I was engaged.

"What?" he questioned me back, looking pissed, "Last time I checked, I was single..." he pulled a cocky smile at me and I had to resist the strong urge to slap it off his face. "But... you, however, are not," he reminded me, raising his eyebrows.

"Why did you even bring her here?" I seethe, unable to camouflage the hurt look in my eyes, "Did you just want to hurt me? Because guess what? It fucking worked! Good job!" I yelled, clapping sarcastically.

He pinned my hands together with one of his own much stronger and bigger hands; stopping the noise I was making. He looked around, trying to be cautious about people seeing us and pushed me further into the dimly lit, quite hallway. "Okay, fine," he gave in, sharply exhaling, "I did just bring her to hurt you," he gulped, his eyes softening a little but he still looked pissed, "and it was pathetic, yes, but did you really expect me to sit here alone whilst you fucking cuddled and kissed that fucking asshole?" he barked back, motioning behind him in referral to Derek.

"He's not an asshole..." I defended, rolling my eyes.

"He's over there talking 'bout which girls in here he'd fuck!" Alex exclaimed, his hand movements aggressive as he spoke, "The guy's a fucking pig!"

"Whatever," I didn't know whether or not to believe what he was saying, but it struck a cord with me.

"Seriously? What do you see in him?" Alex pushed, smirking obnoxiously, "is it the money?" he tilted his head questioningly, smiling smugly.

"Wow..." I breathed, truly hurt. I couldn't believe he really thought of me like that, he really thought I was that shallow and pathetic. Was that how he saw me? I shook my head, my forehead wrinkled in disbelief, "I can't fucking believe you!" I yelled, getting in his face a little, "I can't believe I thought you were a fucking good guy!" I grimaced before stomping away infuriated, what a fucking ass.

I collected my coat and purse and hailed a cab, not letting anyone know where I was going or what I was doing. I couldn't believe I was that close to ruining my stable engagement for someone who sees me as nothing but a gold digger. I was truly hurt, and I would be lying if I said I didn't let a small tear escape my eye on the drive back to Alex's apartment.

Notes