enduring love | miniminter

2

"ivy? erm, hi?" simon's lips parted as he stared at his ex girlfriend sipping on a cocktail with her friends. he stood by the edge of their table, holding his gaze on her with a pint in hand.

"simon? hi." ivy grinned up at him, slowly placing her drink down on the table. "how - how are you?" she could barely string a sentence together, her eyes locking with his perfect blue ones. oh, how she could never forget about those.

"i, erm," he scratched the back of his neck, "i'm good." he sighed, "so? what are you doing in london?"

"oh, i live here now." ivy bit her bottom lip, almost feeling guilty for not informing him sooner. "yeah, these are my friends, sage and esme." she gestured to the two girls sat with her.

"wow," he inhaled deeply, "right." nodding his head slowly, he turned his attention to her two friends, "yeah, hi," he waved awkwardly, "i'm simon."

"simon minter? your ex boyfriend?" ivy's friend, sage, turned towards ivy, staring at her with wide eyes.

"mhm." ivy nodded slowly, focusing back on simon, "who you with?"

"oh," simon glanced back over to his friends, "josh and ethan." he shrugged.

"no jj?" she frowned, pulling out her bottom lip.

"jj going out drinking is so bait," he chuckled softly, "so, yeah, sadly no jj."

"oh, fair enough," ivy smiled, "anyways, erm," she began to fiddle with the rings on her finger and stared down at the table in front of her, "we should hang out sometime or something. well, we don't have to, i - i just think it would be nice to catch up and see each oth -"

"yeah, i'd love to." simon cut off ivy's waffling, "i'm gonna go back, but erm, was nice seeing you." he nodded, "and nice to meet you guys." smiling at ivy's two friends, he waved, "bye, ivy." he sighed.

simon strolled back over to his two friends, his heart pounding out of his chest as he slid himself in opposite josh and ethan, "she - she lives here now." he furrowed his eyebrows, staring down at the table in front of him.

"surely you knew that right, i mean she's practically an influencer now." ethan responded. simon slowly brought his head up, visibly stressed and confused.

"i don't really pay attention to what she does." simon shrugged his shoulders, "i guess i don't like to."

"because you still like her?" josh questioned, his eyebrows raised.

"nah," simon cleared his throat, "she's just my ex, you know? just not something i pay attention to." he huffed, glancing behind him as he spots ivy laughing with her friends, "wasn't expecting to see her."

"she's definitely only moved recently," josh sat scrolling through her instagram, "and lives with those two girls," he nodded his head towards ivy's table, "sage and esme."

"oh right," simon exhaled, "well she asked to hang out sometime or something."

"and will you?" ethan cocked his head.

"maybe." simon shrugged, "i don't see why not." he quickly gulped down the rest of his pint, eager to head elsewhere, anywhere away from that bar. in the moment, he did not know how to feel, he hadn't see her since the break up and he thought he was completely over her. but he was left questioning himself.

ivy's eyes fluttered, watching the three boys she recognised walking in her direction, "josh, ethan, hi." she smiled softly, standing up to bring both boys into a hug.

"you alright?" ethan grinned.

"mhm." she nodded slowly, sitting back down, "how are you guys?"

"yeah, not bad," josh nodded, "we're leaving anyways so we'll see you around, we can try plan something."

"yeah, we should all catch up at some point. i'd love to see you all again." ivy smiled softly.

simon stood beside his two friends awkwardly, his eyes flickering up and down ivy's body. nothing much about her had changed, which was surprising to say she had given into the influencer lifestyle. she just appeared to look older, more mature, her outfit perfectly hugging her body. and he now began to understand why everything had failed with every single girl he had tried to talk to.

"sounds good." ethan nodded, the three boys waving goodbye to the girls. ivy instantly slumped backwards into the seat, letting out a frustrated groan as she glared at the three figures she recognised so well leaving the bar.

"i knew i shouldn't have moved to london." ivy mumbled under her breath, taking a final gulp of her drink.

"i thought you were over him?" esme raised an eyebrow, lifting her cup to her lips.

"i am, i am." ivy sighed, "just weird." she couldn't bring herself to give into the feelings overwhelming her. although ivy expected to see simon at some point, now that she lived in london, she wasn't expecting to so soon, having only been living there for 3 weeks.

becoming an influencer took some time for ivy, but once she was comfortable with it, she felt confident that it was her path. coming across esme and sage online was possibly one of the best things for ivy, knowing that she had found two incredible friends and flat mates. however, it took a lot of convincing for ivy to move to the capital, simon constantly living in the back of her mind and having not seen him since the break up, she couldn't mentally prepare herself for what she could be faced with.

but seeing him again sparked all the feelings she felt around him when she was young. the bewilderment, the frustration, the regret alongside with all the familiar feelings of love that she felt for years. he looked as though he had barely aged, apart from a better trim and appearing more mature. believing she was over him raced around her mind. it had been 2 years, surely she had to be?

"it'll be fine," esme cooed, "if you're over him, there's nothing to worry about." she shrugged her shoulders.

"yeah," ivy nodded hesitantly, "i am over him. just weird, sometimes i find myself stalking his instagram, watching his video's. i know it probably doesn't help things, but i guess it's me trying to tell myself i'm over him. and i am," she cleared her throat, "i definitely am."

"it's fine if you're not," sage shrugged, "you can tell -"

"i am!" ivy insisted, sitting up, "i honestly am."

"tell that to all your failed talking stages." esme teased, taking a sip of her drink.

"shut up!" ivy giggled, shaking her head at her friend, "they just weren't the one."