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

XXXIX. Nosy Girl

"What was that all about?", someone interrupted Ava, while she was returning to her office, still holding the untouched cup of coffee Julien gave her.

"Excuse me?", Ava was still a bit dazed, Julien's last question still plaguing her thoughts, making her unable to recognize the voice of the person hiding behind the wall in the hallway.

"You and... you know, the new shareholder!"

The accusatory on that last comment made clear who was the person talking to Ava.

"Clarisse... You again.", Ava complained.

"Did you and Julien Bardi...?"

"Why do you care?", Phoebe appeared just in time to join in.

Ava was still shaken by her encounter with Julien, unable to control herself she took a step toward Clarisse and blurted out: "Why wouldn't she? It'll be easier to live with herself if she can find another person as vile as she is."

Phoebe giggled.

"That's my girl", Phoebe thought out loud. She then turned to Clarisse and admonished her: "Just back off. You aren't getting any gossip out of her. Ava is nothing like you, she didn’t get where she is on her knees!"

"How classy, but that’s to be expected from the likes of you.", Clarisse rolled her eyes up and, as always, acted like the annoying princess she thought she was. She brushed past the two friends and walked away like she had won the argument.

When Clarisse was finally gone, Phoebe dragged Ava back to her office.

"I think Clarisse has been following me around", Ava complained. "She was skulking around in the hallway, conveniently in the best place to hear my conversation with Julien."

"Wait! Conversation with Julien?", Phoebe was getting worried.

"Nothing happened", Ava said in a hurry to calm her friend.

"Ava, you left him. Didn't you?"

Ava sighed and a shy smile appeared on her lips. It was finally getting a little easier to talk about the breakup.

"Yes", she confessed.

"Ava, something made you leave him. I know you; you don't just do things without a reason. I know you are still hurting, and the pain of a breakup always brings out confusing thoughts, but you have to remember why you left him. That's how breakups work, and how you can move on with your life."

"And If I was wrong about breaking up with him?"

"Oh dear..." Phoebe opened her arms to hold her friend. "Don't let your feelings cloud your vision. Besides now he is a shareholder, you know how things work in the business world. We never date our superiors; it usually gets messy."

"I can't lie to you...", Ava interrupted the hug. "I wish you were wrong. I miss so many things about him, about us..."

"Like his dick?"

"What? No..." Ava giggled, flustered by the unexpected question. "I mean... It's still overwhelming think about what we had and lost when we just..."

"I know, hun."

"Sometimes I can't even say the word..."

"Ava, if it came to an end, it's because the good wasn't enough to overcome the bad."

Hearing that made Ava feel, for a brief moment, that old familiar pressure in her heart.

"The good...", Ava repeated. "You meant the love we had wasn't enough..."