It was the most awkward silence I had ever encountered in my entire life.

I was comfortable with not talking, but her presence made it impossible to think straight, least concentrate on the road.

I sat straight and tall against the seat, one hand on the steering and other resting on the window sill, fingers curled before my mouth. She was sitting, somehow, with her legs crossed at the ankle in that impossibly closed space, and every now and then I stole a quick glance at those heels.

Every time I opened my mouth to talk, even the slightest sharp inhales, and there, her scent was filling my lungs.

Vanilla.

What could I even say? It was more than inconvenient that I was driving my brother's one night stand to her house and fucking hell, she smelled so good.

Wait what?

"That's my hand." I heard her smooth, ticklish voice circling around my ears then crawling in.

I glanced her way, and she was still gazing outside the window. My eyes travelled down, confused, and–

Shit!

I quickly withdrew my hand that was gripping hers all this while, thinking it was the console. But again, I was concerned why the console felt so soft and squeezable.

Great going Ian.

"I'm sorry." I cleared my throat.

She didn’t respond to my apology, but now that the painful silence was broken, I found my voice which was buried at the back of my throat. And I shot the first question that surfaced my brain.

"How did you meet Niall?" Typical. My voice successfully covered the effect of her presence on me, and my eyes remained on the road. There was a long pause, and just when I thought she wouldn't answer, she did.

"At the bar. Last night." She said, and something about the way she shortened her answers told me she didn't want to have that conversation.

But I did. That was the only way to escape the awkwardness.

"So, you two know each other." I glanced at her, her face shielded away under the waves of her hair blowing everywhere. For a brief moment, I wanted to reach forward and brush it off, for I observed she never did. Like she willingly let those stray strands shield her face away.

"No." She said, still looking away.

I turned my attention back on the road, my brows now furrowed.

This conversation wasn't going anywhere.

"Okay." I dropped it and concentrated on the road. I didn’t like pushing people so much into conversing if they were not comfortable. Not even during therapy. Never, actually.

For the next fifteen minutes I drove and drove, wondering where the hell she was taking us, until she told me to stop, and I pulled over before a hotel. A...cheap, two-story building that didn't look like there were people inside it.

She was staying in a hotel? Since when? Till when? I wanted to ask, but of course, I didn't. It was none of my business.

She climbed off the car and shut the door even before I could step out to open her door for her. I thought, by her closed and distant behavior that she would just walk away but surprisingly, she walked around to my side and leaned forward, leveling her face to my window.

"Thanks Ian."

I almost passed out hearing my name rolling from her lips. Especially the way thar n stirred down to a hum in her throat. As if I had heard it before, and my ears were just waiting to hear it again. But I knew it was the first time since we met that she has said my name.

"You're welcome..." Adams? My voice trailed off, suggesting I did not know how to address her. I still didn't know her name.

Should I ask? I guess not.

She blinked, a little smile ghosted her lips afterward. Just a twitch at the corner of her mouth. And it was just now that I was seeing her eyes; big brown, amused eyes. They were just as beautiful as the rest of her, if not more. And I was not guilty for appreciating someone who was so beautiful.

"Maeve." I heard her say, and blinked back to earth, seeing her eyes still trained on me. I felt the weight of the name rolling off her lips as she said, “Maeve Adams.”

Right. Beautiful name.

She extended her hand through the window, and without hesitation, but almost hastily, I took it, eager to touch her, in any little way possible.

You’re going to hell, Cole.

I know.

"Maeve." I nodded, as if I had just found out the reason why my heart was pounding in my stomach. And my blood was rushing to somewhere uncomfortable in my veins. Her fingers, soft and warm, wrapped around mine and shook my hand. I liked it. Liked the way she was looking straight into my eyes while her grip on my hand was firm.

I liked her. I mean, generally. Of course.

I dismissed the disappointing sting when she withdrew her hand back, peeling the warmth away from me, and turned around. But a question popped in my mind right then, just as I heard her footsteps trail away. I might not meet her again, but if I did, I wanted to make sure the awkwardness didn’t accompany us next time. And before I knew, I was leaning out of the window, with one hand up in the air, calling behind her.

"Hey!"

She stopped, and turned around on my heart... I mean, on her heels. And her eyebrows reached for the sky as she took in my uncomfortable posture. I probably looked like a piece of lettuce dangling out from the other side of the burger when you took a bite.

Here goes nothing.

Everything.

"Did you hook up with my brother last night?" I said, a little too loud I guess, because instantly, her beautiful eyes widened, and she looked around.

Double crap.

She was just getting comfortable and I screwed up again. I did. Didn't I?

I followed her eyes around and luckily, there wasn't anyone close enough to hear what I had said. It was still early in the morning for may ears to heed our rather loud conversation.

I returned my eyes on her expectantly, and she was already looking at me. Focused. Almost blank. A number of expressions passed over her face, so quickly that I had no time to figure them out.

"No, I didn't." She said, and I caught—just a glimpse—of an actual, amused, heart racing smile, before she turned around and walked away. Like she hadn't just pressed a button and left me stuck there, hanging out of the window of my car. Fazed.

I watched her step into the hotel, and then disappear somewhere inside, and I finally slid back into my seat. A ridiculous grin was plastered across my face, as I turned on the engine and stepped on the gas. I was feeling all bubbly. Maybe because I did something my brother couldn't do back at the house. Make her smile. Or maybe because she confirmed the fact that they hadn’t fucked last night.

But why did that make me feel better?

I drove in a comfortable silence, feeling so many thoughts filling my mind, and just then, my phone went off over the dashboard, pulling me back to the present. I reached forward to grab it and my grin haunted to split my mouth into half as I read the caller ID.

"Chloe." I chimed, and put the phone on speaker before sliding it back over the dashboard. "What's up?"

"Bro, what the fuck?" My little sister yelled from the other end of the call, her usual shrill voice which I was so used to, filling my ears.

"Yeah, it's good to hear from you too, Chloe." I chuckled. She was surely excited about something. I could tell by the tone of her voice and the hurried footsteps. "What’s happening?" I asked, turning around to park at my clinic.

"No, you tell me what's happening? You're here in Miami and you didn't think to tell me?" She groaned again and my brows furrowed as I undid my seatbelt.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't pretend Ian. I saw you, just a few minutes back. Where in the world did you disappear?"

The car beeped as it locked behind me, and I walked inside the clinic. Miss. Kennedy smiled from the reception counter, her wrinkled eyes squinting further to flash the brightest smile possible. I smiled at her and mouthed a “Good morning” as usual.

"Okay, I have no idea what you're talking about, but I'm already in the office and I have tons of stuffs to take care of. So you better jump straight to the point." I returned my attention to Chloe as I entered my office, settling my work bag down on the table and taking a seat on the couch. The line went silent on the other side. All I could hear was some shuffling and then something like a camera click.

"Chloe?"

"Yeah, yes I'm here. Uh, is your girlfriend, what's her name...." She clicked her tongue irritably.

"Olivia?"

"Yes, that one. Is she around?" She asked, and I couldn’t tell why her voice suddenly went from excited to nervous. My own voice faltered

"Uh, No, she is out of state. Chloe what's wrong?" I loosened my tie, suddenly feeling it choking me off air. Because Olivia and Chloe didn't exactly appreciate each other's company, and it was all good until they were put in the same room, without me around. I had experienced it first-hand not too long ago.

There was a pause again. What is she doing?

"Ian…?" Her voice lowered carefully.

"Yes."

"I think I saw Olivia. Just now. Here."

I paused. What? I glanced down at my watch.

"Chloe, Olivia is probably already in San Diego, with her mom. What are you talking about?"

I didn’t know why I was the one who sounded nervous now. Perhaps, I was just confused. Because first, she said she saw me. Now, she said she saw Olivia.

"Ian, she is here, in Miami...with a guy."

My eyes dropped down to the rug under the table, feeling like someone had pulled it from beneath my feet.

No. No no no. It clearly couldn't be. She could have mistaken someone else for Olivia. She surely did.

"Chloe, I don't think..." I started in defense but she cut me off in urgency.

"I sent you a picture. Have a look and please, please call me back, okay?" She said, and before I could even reply, she hung up.

The phone remained there, at my ear as the line went silent, and her words floated into the air then dawned on me.

Olivia—Miami—A guy—

Impossible. Chloe definitely had been mistaken because she didn’t take much liking towards Olivia since the first time she had met her.

My phone buzzed against my ear, and I brought it down slowly, almost uncertainly. Despite my confidence in Olivia, I didn’t want to see it. Whatever it was. I had no clue what she had sent me, but I didn’t want to see it.

My fingers hovered over the message.

I don't want to.

I clicked on it.

I don't want to.

It loaded.

I don't ....

But as soon as the photo flashed over the screen, and my eyes took a second to focus on it, I saw. I saw three years of my life spent and wasted and shattered. I saw most of my time I spent with my girlfriend, and the rest of it trying to make her happy with everything she ever wished for. I saw her, but not with me.

And what I saw, I wished I never did.

Olivia was clinging onto a guy’s neck. Her blonde hair washing like waves over his tanned chest. Like the waves of the beach behind them. She was grinning. She looked carefree. She looked happy.

I didn't realize for how long I stared at that image. At her smile and her tiny figure in nothing but a two-piece bikini. She looked as beautiful as ever. But her eyes sparkled, with something I had never seen in them.

Never when she was with me.

She looked nothing like she ever looked with me. And that realization left a bitterness seeping down my throat and spreading through my insides like poison.

My phone went off again, sliding the image downward and flashing Chloe's name on the screen.

But my ability to swipe across the screen and attend that call was knocked off. I was still looking at the image in my mind. It had imprinted itself on the walls of my brain in those few seconds that I had seen it and it was clawing at my heart, until I was sure it was bleeding.