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Caven walks into the café. His jaw is set, his hands are in fists by his sides and he has a determined look on his face.

This cannot be good.

I shoot a panicked glance at Pippa. She gives me a tight smile and and then conveniently finds something to do at the front of the café.

Helpful.

By the time I turn back around, Caven is stood in front of the counter.

'Morning,' I greet him, keeping my voice even. 'Can I get you anything?'

He nods stiffly. 'How about some damn answers? What the hell happened yesterday, Lily? We never agreed to be exclusive.'

'I know, we didn't,' I reply calmly. 'But I'm still not interested.'

Over the top of Caven's shoulder, I can see Zane and Pippa talking at his table. He's looking over here, his eyes narrowed in concentration. It's blatantly obvious that he's interested in our conversation. At least, from over there, he can't hear us.

'Why not? You were before,' he demands. 'We never agreed on anything. It was only physical between Marta and I, I'm pursuing you not her. I'm interested in you, not her.'

I rub my lips together as I try to think of a way to calmly and cooly snub this. I want him out of here ASAP without causing a scene.

'I'm not interested in anything you have to offer, Caven. I don't mean to be rude, but I don't want anything to do with you. I know we didn't agree to be exclusive, but I wouldn't sleep with someone else whilst dating someone. There is nothing wrong with you being that type of person, but it's not someone I'm interested in dating.'

He sighs heavily and runs his hands through his hair.

'Seriously?' He asks angrily. 'It was nothing, Lily! It was just sex. It's not a big deal. I don't know why you're acting like we're married and I cheated.'

I frown.

That's not at all how I am acting.

'I'm not acting like that,' I respond, desperately hanging onto every shred of patience that I have. 'I'm simply not interested, Caven. Please buy a drink or leave.'

He sneers at me, looking me up and down with distaste.

'Whatever, you're not all that anyways.'

My eyebrows shoot up to my hairline as he spins on his heel and marches out of the café.

Bye, Caven, you bloody waste of time.

Some other customers come in, not giving me time to dwell on our awkward conversation. It isn't until closing time that Pippa and I get to actually talk about what happened.

Pippa splutters and chokes on air when I relay our conversation to her.

'You aren't all that? You aren't all that? Sorry, has he even seen you? He's not all fucking that. What a dick, I hate him.'

'I hope he leaves me alone now,' I tell her. 'I'm a bit sick of his face, if I'm honest.'

'I'm a bit sick of his fucking existence, if I'm honest,' she retorts and snorts loudly. 'Tell me that you're up for a drink tonight?'

'Are you kidding me? Hell yes. Come round to my house?' I offer.

'Yes, please! Should I text the girls?'

'Yeah. Invite them for six and I'll cook for the four of us.'

'Amazing! Let me know if you want me to bring anything.'

'A bottle of wine would be nice.'

'Bring one each?'

I smirk at her. 'Damn right.'

'Awesome. See you later!'

I walk home by myself, mentally planning what I'm going to make tonight. When I get in, I evaluate my options whilst standing in front of the fridge.

I choose a pasta bake because it's nice and easy, I won't have to keep checking on it and it uses up some of the food that I've bought.

The girls arrive just before six. It starts civilised. We sit and eat in my dining room. The pasta bake tastes alright, considering I whipped it up last minute.

After the second bottle of wine is opened, it all starts to go downhill. We move to the living room and end up sprawled across my sofas, giggling and sharing horror stories of exes and bad experiences in the bedroom.

I tell them about my ex and my ex-friend and I practically have to stop them from bearing arms and hunting the duo down.

It feels amazing to have such good friends around me, especially ones that I've only known for a short period of time.

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On Monday morning, I wake late in the day, hungover and groggy.

After showering, eating and getting my life somewhat back on track, I risk leaving the house. With my make-up covering how shit I look, I step out of the front door and trip over a bunch of flowers.

Red roses are on my doorstep. I pick them up and a card falls out. I drop down, retrieve it and read the contents.

I scowl at the card and shove it back into the bouquet. I lock up my house and start walking into town.

I was only intending on doing some window-shopping and treating myself to some hangover-cure ice cream, but I decide to stop in on Pippa.

She spots the flowers straight away when I enter the café.

'They're nice,' she comments.

'They're from Caven.'

Immediately, her nose turns up. 'Ew. Why do you have them here?'

'I don't want them, but they're perfectly good flowers. I was wondering if you wanted to put them in the window or something?'

'Good idea. Pass them over and I'll grab a vase. Thank you, Lils.'

I tell her what it said in the card whilst she arranges the flowers in a vase from the back room. She scowls and snorts and scoffs, expressing her opinion of Caven entirely with her facial expressions.

'What a spoon,' she mutters. 'Tell me you didn't message him?'

'No, I didn't,' I reply. 'But does that make me a bad person? I don't want to be that dick that ghosts someone.'

Pippa gives me a deadpan look. 'When the person you're ghosting is a dick, it doesn't make you a dick for ghosting them. They have already claimed the dick-hat. You're fine, girl. You told him no. It's not your fault that he didn't take the hint.'

'I guess,' I reply unsure, feeling uncertain about the whole thing.

Caven might not be a good person, but I try to be.

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Tuesday is uneventful in the café. Thankfully, Caven doesn't come in. He does text me, however.

I ignore it at first, but cave and reply on Tuesday evening.

He doesn't reply to that text, thank God.

On Wednesday, Pippa and I open the café. After helping me set everything up, she has to leave it all up to me at 9AM. She has to take her grandmother for a check-up, leaving me manning the fort alone.

Wednesday's aren't that busy for us, which is good. A few regulars come in and we have a chat. I've been working here consistently enough that I'm forming relationships with the clientele. I love it.

Just after half nine, Zane strolls in. A wide smile reflexively appears on my lips at the sight of him. It is only when he smiles widely back, that I realise how much I'm nearly grinning at him.

It takes me a moment to notice something is different. He's not wearing his hoodie or his beanie.

The weather is hotter today, nearing 21 degrees. He's wearing a black t-shirt and jeans. For the first time, I get to see his physique.

And oh, what a physique it is.

Why on Earth does he hide in those clothes?

A man this attractive should be showing all of this off.

His arms are muscular and tanned. His hair is such a dark brown, it is almost black. It is offset by his bright green eyes.

I knew he was handsome, but I didn't realise he was going to be this handsome. Who knew that taking off a hoodie and a hat could make such a difference?

'Morning, Zane.'

'Morning, Lily,' he replies smoothly. 'How are you?'

So polite.

'I'm really good, thank you. Looks like it's going to be sunny for the rest of the week, so I'm happy. What about you?'

He nods and runs his hand through his hair. A blur of dark ink on his inner arm catches my eye, but he moves too quickly for me to distinguish what the tattoo is of.

'I'm alright, thank you,' he says, his voice husky and far too sexy for this early in the morning. 'Could I have a mocha and a croissant today, please?'

'Of course, you can. I'll bring those over for you in a minute. It will be £4.50, please.'

Once I've taken the payment, Zane takes a sit in his usual spot and gets his laptop out. I start to work on making his mocha.

This is the most excited I have ever been about making a coffee.

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