A Story Of Love And Struggle (Liam Payne)

CHAPTER FOUR

Ariana bid her boss goodbye and walked towards the bus stop trying to take in the events of the day.

She had genuinely felt mortified when she saw his expression at the mention of his ex-girlfriend. Thankfully he had been gracious about it and acted like he didn’t care, except Ariana knew he cared.

She recognized the same expression of contained pain in someone’s eyes when they talked about a failed relationship. She knew it because she had felt that way, not so long before.

She shook her head as the memories of her own ex-boyfriend started to invade her thoughts again, like they did every week. She would give anything to talk to him again, even kiss him again, but he was in Colombia and he had ended their relationship when she had gotten her scholarship and decided to move to London.

Nothing of the happily ever after she imagined with him at some point. Just a cold break up and that was it. It seemed funny how she used to picture the rest of her life with him when he was just looking for an excuse to break up with her.  

Ariana fixed some of her lose curls behind her ear and fastened her scarf around her neck. She took a deep breath, feeling her tired muscles and wishing she could just go home and sleep, but she knew she couldn’t miss that night’s class and she was desperate to talk to Jonathan and Brian.

The bus ride was long but she took advantage of the traffic to review some notes for her class. Nearly an hour later she got off the bus and was ready to get into the nearest tube station when she heard a car beep several times from across the street.

She turned around, recognizing the sound of the claxon. As expected, she saw her friend Brian, waving at her from the other side of the road and urging her to cross the street. She crossed the street and got into his car with a relieved smile on her face.

“Hey!” She said

“Hey boo… Figured I’d catch you on our way to school” he said with that classic dashing smile of his

“Lucky you” She said

“How was your first day?” He asked in a more serious tone while he started driving again

“Alright… Thank God he’s not very messy… It wasn’t very hard to clean around the house but… oh you have no idea…I asked him if it was just him and his girlfriend living in the house…” She said pausing to create expectation

“And…?” Asked Brian

“He hasn’t got a girlfriend… He broke up with her recently” Said Ariana “He looked sad when I asked him… I felt soo bad… I just wanted to bury my head in the ground”

“Ouch…” Said Brian “On the other side… He’s free” He said

“Free for what?” She asked raising an eyebrow

“Free to date you” Said Brian giving her a cheeky smile

“Oh stop it! Stop it… I’m warning you… No more jokes about dating my boss… not gonna happen… Ever” She said shaking her head

“Why not?” He asked

“Because I still have feelings for my ex-boyfriend…” She blurted out

Her friend was silent, clearly not knowing what to say to the first time she admitted why she had never gone on a date since she had arrived in the country.

They were getting closer to the university campus and Ariana had resorted to look out the window, ignoring her friend.

“I didn’t mean to upset you…” He said “Listen… Johnathan is not coming to class today… He needed to visit his sister down in Brighton, so why don’t we head out for something to eat after class and you can tell me all about these… Repressed feelings of yours”