This is L.o.v.e. like it should be

XII. Sidewalk

"See you tomorrow", said Phoebe waving one last time, before turning and walking away in the opposite direction.

"See you tomorrow", Ava replied, in a low tone.

It was the end of another day and Ava wasn't particularly thrilled to be going home. Lately, the end of a day would just trigger a wave of sadness in her. It felt like she had nothing to do at home and she needed to keep busy, to feel like something she did mattered.

She sighed.

"Time is just passing by, and I’m getting dragged by it, like I’m drifting...", Ava thought. "Stop being stupid. Take control of your own damned life!"

Ava placed her hand on her chest, to soothe the sudden pain she felt in her heart.

"Where did all the excitement of living go?", she asked herself, knowing the answer. "I pushed it away..."

Her eyes were getting on the floor, when she heard a brief, familiar laugh, she looked up and in that same instant she saw Julien.

There he was. Just across the street, as tall and handsome as she remembered him, walking like the typical player he was.

"Julien...", Ava couldn't believe in her eyes, she wondered why he was there, right next to her office.

Julien was smiling and looking at the girl walking at his side, while she was touching his arm. They seemed intimate, too intimate.

The pain in Ava's chest threatened to become unbearable.

"Maybe she’s his cousin...", she thought, trying to look away, but failing. She just couldn't avert her eyes, like she had been hypnotized by his charming smile and all of the overwhelming questions she just couldn't stop asking to herself. Could this new girl be his girlfriend? Had Julien moved on so quickly? "We were together for three years, it's not possible he already forgot me, us..."

Julien was getting closer, and Ava wouldn't move.

"I'm in their way", she thought, and just at that moment, Julien's eyes met with hers. His expression changed, all signs of happiness and contentment, suddenly, faded away.

"Is he upset because he saw me?", she asked herself. She was wondering if he was at that particular street, at that particular time just to see her, and maybe to make her jealous and get a reaction. When they were a couple, she had let him see the fire she was keeping underneath the skin of an introvert girl, so he knew deep down, Ava was a fighter.

For a moment, Ava pictured herself stepping between Julien and the new girl and confidently asking him: "Hi Julien, what are you doing in my street?"

But, before she could even move, she felt a warm and firm hand on her waist. At that same instant, someone kissed her gently in the cheek.

Ava's eyes closed, as she inhaled the stranger’s perfume. She stepped aside, a bit dazed, and saw him clearly. It was him, the mysterious individual from her office.

He smiled at Ava.

"Why?", she asked in a low tone, still dazed. Then, she looked back at Julien and it dawned on her why he suddenly seemed upset.

Julien clearly had seen the mysterious individual approaching Ava.