Although most people here don’t like Hetty Lionheart, I became good friends with her. Just like me, she is really crazy about cats, and once you get to know her, she’s actually quite a sweet old lady.

Last night she called me over for dinner. It was a Friday night, but I had no other plans. Alani was at work, and Li Lo started seeing some mysterious dude and she was spending the night with him.

So I went over to Hetty’s to try her newest soup experiment. It was awful. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings though, so I just kept sipping on it while she was chatting to me about her day, and when she didn’t look I quickly picked out all the cat hair she managed to include in the sludgy concoction. Eventually she steered the conversation to my non existent love like, and said she thinks I’m being miserable and should focus more on things that make me happy and not hide in my house like some miserable pariah.

I got a bit emotional, and told her I’m not being this pathetic on purpose, but all the drama in the past couple of months made me a bit more careful. She scoffed, “Screw that! You are young and lovely, you should be having some fun! It’s Friday night and you are sitting here listening to the babbling of a crazy old lady. Off with you to the pub! You might even meet someone.”

I didn’t want to remind her that she invited me in the first place, so I took her advice and went out to the pub to have a catch up with Shaun who can always cheer me up. I wanted Hetty to come as well, but she just waved a hand. “Ah, you are lovely, Abbie, but I’m way too old for late nights.”

The pub was not too busy, so I was just chatting away with Shaun when I noticed Terri from the corner of my eye. She was standing at the other end, death-glaring at me. What have I done now?

I ran into some colleagues and ended up having quite a few cocktails. By the time I realised I should probably stop, I was quite tipsy. But I didn’t care, because I just felt happy surrounded by my friends.

At some point Shaun tapped me on my shoulder. “Hey, isn’t that Gavin?”. He was pointing at a lonely form outside. My heart was racing and suddenly I felt flushed. My knees felt weak. It was Gavin. The same Gavin who broke my heart just a few months ago. But also the same Gavin who made me forget about how miserable I was, who wrote me a love letter, and filled my stomach with butterflies. He was the first guy after my break up whom I could imagine myself with.

I got up from my chair, head spinning and my legs took me outside. He was about to disappear around the corner so I called his name. He seemed a bit unsure – probably thought I’m still mad at him. And I was… I mean if you asked me yesterday, I was mad. But seeing him out there, knowing that he’s no longer with Terri… I could not control myself.

I started running towards him. All that drinking eventually caught up with me and I felt my legs slipping out in the wrong direction. The next thing I knew I was lying in the middle of the parking lot, Gavin staring down at me, his eyebrows raised in concern.

“Abbie? Are you all right?”, he spoke in a soft voice. When I nodded, he held his hand out and pulled me up. “Are you sure? You had quite a spectacular fall”, he squeezed my shoulder.

“I’m fine, I’m fine”, I assured him, still swaying a bit. I didn’t know what else to say, so just stood there in silence, looking into his eyes.

“I missed you.” That’s all he said. I put my arms around him and planted a soft kiss on his lips.

“I missed you too, Gavin.”

We were staring at each other, not quite sure what the next step should be, when from the distance I noticed some commotion. Terri appeared, screaming. She didn’t make any sense as she charged at us, shaking her fist. For a moment I thought she might start a fight, but instead she broke down and burst into tears.

“Let’s go.” Gavin grabbed my hand and led me to his car, completely ignoring the sobbing Terri. He drove straight to my place in silence.

There was no need for words. Every kiss, every little touch felt right.

“Don’t leave me again…”, I whispered in his ear when we lay in bed, his arms wrapped around me, drifting off to sleep.

Gavin stayed. For the first time, he did not walk out on me in the middle of the night. While I’m sitting here with my coffee, he is still asleep upstairs.

I feel at peace.