Larissa sat on my bed, which made me nervous, and looked straight into my eyes, which made me more nervous.

"Ivy, I just want to tell-"

"I'm sorry," I interrupted. Larissa sighed, and smiled slightly. "I shouldn't have tried to kiss you. I know you have a boyfriend, and I know you're not gay."

"Why did you try to kiss me?" She asked, and I froze up. I didn't have much experience talking about feelings. "Because you were drunk?"

"Yeah, I guess that's why," I replied. "And you've been so nice to me, and we've had so much fun the past few days. I just thought there might have been something there. The wine just encouraged me to make a move I guess."

I waited for Larissa to speak, but she just kept looking at me. She seemed as lost for words as I was.

"I'm sorry for everything that happened last night. And I completely understand if you don't want to hang out anymore."

"Ivy, I don't want to stop hanging out with you. I feel like I've known you for ages, and I really think you're amazing, and I feel like we were meant to be friends. But that's all it can be," she said. My heart sank at her words, but I smiled against my will.

She pulled me into a hug, and I sighed. I was relieved that she didn't hate me, but I had just been forced further into the friend zone, and i wasn't sure there was a way out.

"How's your nose?" I asked, pulling away from her.

"As good as new," she laughed. "Wanna come see my house?"

I was confused by her question, until I realised that her carpets were fitted today, and furniture had been delivered.

"I'd love to," I smiled. Honestly, all I wanted to do, was sleep, but I followed Larissa out to her car.

She drove to her house, and we both got out of her silver range rover. I was amazed when I walked in. The house looked completely different, and I couldn't believe how much it had changed in one day.

"There's just a few things I need to rearrange, but it's pretty much finished," she said proudly, as I admired her home.

"It's awesome," I smiled.

Larissa gave me a tour of the newly decorated house. I could see how happy she was, as she walked into every room. Her beautiful smile seemed to brighten every room we walked into.

"I'm so glad it's finally finished," she said. "Thank you for helping me, Ivy."

"You don't need to thank me," I laughed. "I was happy to help."

She smiled sweetly, but I noticed she was avoiding eye contact with me. I guessed things would be a little awkward between us for a while, I was just happy she still wanted to be my friend.

"What time are you working until, tomorrow?" She asked.

"I finish at four, why?" I replied curiously.

"Well, I was hoping to have a housewarming party. Not too many people, but I was wondering if you and Rob would stop by?"

"Yeah, of course. Do you need us to come early to help with anything?" I asked.

"No, that's okay, Alice is coming after work. Just be here any time after six."

"Okay, awesome. We'll be here," I promised. "I need to go home now though, I need to be up early tomorrow."

"I'll drive you," she said.

When she pulled up outside my apartment, I opened the car door slightly, then turned back to Larissa.

"Thank you for not hating me," I said, trying not to look embarrassed.

"I could never hate you, Ivy," she laughed. "I was really worried that you wouldn't want to speak to me again, to be honest."

"Why?"

"I don't know, I guess i thought you would be embarrassed about it, and avoid me," she answered. "We all do stupid things when we're drunk. It's not worth losing friends over."

I just nodded, not wanting to comment further on the matter.

"See you tomorrow?"

"Definitely," I said. "Good night, Larissa."

"Good night, Ivy," she replied, as I got out of the car.

I shut the car door, and waved at her through the window as she drove away, then walked up the stairs to my apartment.

"You fuck her yet?" Rob asked, the second I walked through the door.

I ignored him and walked into the kitchen to get some food. I was too lazy to cook so I made a cheese sandwich, and I made one for Rob too, as he was always hungry.

"That's a no then?"

I sat beside him, and passed him the sandwich I made for him.

"I'm pretty sure sex is off the table with this one," I sighed.

"Sex is never off the table, you just need to get her drunk, or make a move next time she argues with the boyfriend" he said, with a mouthful of food.

"Nah, she made it clear that she just wants to be friends, so that's what we will be."

"That's shit. When you gonna fuck the nipple chick again then?" He asked, and I laughed at his nickname for the barmaid.

"I'm not sure, I'll probably text her in a couple of days."

"Cool. Alice called, and said Larissa's having a party tomorrow. You going?" He asked.

"Yeah, she just asked me if we would go," I said, and finished eating the last bit of my food. "Anyway, I'm going to bed."

"It's not even eight o'clock!"

"I'm tired," I moaned, as I stood up and went to my room.

I got straight into bed, and stared at the ceiling for a while, trying to work out what I was feeling. On one hand, I was relieved that Larissa was still talking to me, and I was happy that we would still be friends. On the other hand, she told me that's all that it would ever be. I'm not sure why Larissa was different, or why it was so important for me to keep her in my life. But if the only way I could do that was to be friends, that's what I was going to do.

"I know you're not asleep!" I heard Rob shout from the living room. "Stop moping over Larissa, and come watch a movie."

I rolled my eyes, and knew he would keep annoying me, so I went back out to sit with him.

We watched a movie, but I wasn't sure what it was. I was just consumed with my own thoughts, and didn't really pay attention to anything else. I decided that I needed a distraction. If I was still going to be seeing Larissa a lot, I would need something else to keep me busy. Or somebody else.

I wasn't sure that Amber would be the best person for that, she wanted casual sex, but I didn't know how casual she was thinking. It wouldn't be much of a distraction, if I didn't see her very regularly.

I thought that maybe it would be better to find somebody new. I had a lot of girl's numbers in my phone, who I could call for a hook up, but I never usually went back to the same girl more than once, with a few exceptions. I would just need to find a new girl, the next time I went out.

"Can we go out, on Saturday night?" I asked Rob.

"Sure," he answered, not looking away from the TV. "Where do you wanna go?"

"Just somewhere with girls," I replied.

"That's the spirit," he laughed. "Maybe you'll find one at Larissa's party."

"I doubt it, she said there won't be too many people there."

"Yeah, but Alice has invited a load of her friends from university," he grinned.

"Then I guess we'll see," I said. "I'm actually going to sleep now Robert. Good night."

I went back to bed, and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.