"Amanda…" I said. I looked at Sam and she glanced between the two of us and telling from her raised eyebrow she put two and two together.

"I'm Sam," She said and held out her hand to Amanda. I watched Amanda stare at her hand for a few seconds before taking it in her own, "Amanda," she replied.

"It's nice to meet you," Sam told her. All I could do was watch; I had not expected to see Amanda. But then again I had completely forgotten that her friend, the one she had been crashing with, works in this area. I looked around the restaurant and my eyes caught sight of the blonde hair of Cory. He was looking over here and when he caught my eye he held up his tea cup and gave me a nodded. He had that stupid 'I got you' smirk on his face too; I so wanted to get up and punch it off.

"Lara's never mentioned you," Amanda said to Sam. I turn my attention back to the situation at hand.

"Oh…um we just met a few days ago," Sam explained awkwardly. I knew what Amanda was doing and I wasn't going to let her be mean.

"You haven't been home for me to tell you about her," I butted in. Amanda's head snapped towards me; she wasn't expecting that; usually I stayed quiet.

I caught Sam smile briefly before Amanda turned back towards her.

"Well I'm here now…how do you know each other?" she asked.

Sam looked at me and waited for me to answer. I let out an annoyed sigh before taking a sip of my water.

"We're going to be working together," I answered. You don't treat me that way that she did and then expect to get the answers. But I do have to say that I was surprised at myself; any other time I would have just forgiven her and just let things roll off but today…

I looked over at Sam and saw her wave over the waitress; I reached into my pocket and grabbed my wallet.

"Here," I said to the waitress when she got to the table and before she could even talk to Sam. Sam was going to protest but the waitress walked off with my card before she could even get a syllable out.

"I was going to pay…" she told me.

"You can pay next time," I said. Sam nodded her head before getting up and putting on her jacket. I would have gotten up with her but Amanda wasn't moving out of the booth and Sam and I shared an understanding glance.

"Thank you for lunch, Lara," she thanked.

"My Pleasure," I replied.

"I'll text you when I get everything set up on my end. Oh and I'll have my father send you a revised contact. It should be almost like the original one so you shouldn't have to bore yourself with reading it," Sam said. She gave me a bright smile and a wink before turning and walking out the door.

I smirked at her back; the wink was not accidental and was going to get me in trouble with the girl beside me.

"Here you go," the young waitress said as she handed me back my card and a slip to sign.

"Thank you," I replied. When she walked away I wrote a ten dollar tip and signed the slip. Once I put the pen down I sat back in my seat and waited for Amanda to say something; I could feel her eyes drilling into the side of my face.

"Working with her?" Amanda asked. I just nodded my head and laced my fingers together on the table; I really didn't want to do this right here.

"Working on what?"

"A project," I replied.

"Could you be anymore vague," Amanda snapped under breath.

"You're lucky that you even got that out of me. Quite frankly I don't find it to be any of your business," I answered her after turning to face her.

"Excuse me? None of my business…I would like to know who my girlfriend is hanging out with and will be working with especially if-"

"What girlfriend?" I growled at her. Amanda's words died right then and there; she went completely silent. "Pardon me, I would like to get out," I said.

Amanda just looked at me with shock, "Lara…"

"I have somewhere to be," I ignored her pleading look, "I'll let you know when you can pick up your stuff," I informed her. Amanda got out of the booth, "you can't be serious?" she said as I climbed out of the booth. "You're going to let three years end right here?" she grilled.

I looked at her, "Please Amanda, this ended a long time ago," I admitted before brushing past her and out the door.

Once outside I took out my phone and pressed three. "God…don't you have any other friends?" the person on the other line answered.

"Meet me at the nine bells…you're buying me several shots," I said before hanging up and making my way down to the train to head to the other side of London.

I rushed onto the train and took a seat in the far corner. I pulled out my headphones and plugged them into my ears and let the mix of country and alternative drown out the rest of the world. For the hell of it I scrolled through my pictures in my iCloud. A lot of them were from before Yamatai but there were a few recent ones of Alex, Thomas and Me.

I scrolled further down until I hit the most recent photo of Amanda and me. It was from before Yamatai and right after graduation. Amanda had one arm around my neck and was placing a kiss on my cheek while I was laughing at something someone said. The further I scrolled the more pictures I found of us but the further back they went the more I noticed how unhappy we had become from when we first started.

I couldn't help but feel my heart clench when I landed on the very first picture of us when we became a couple. We were in the library of all places just hanging out. We were leaning against a book shelve; I was smiling at Amanda while she was smirking at the opening book in her hand but the killer part was that when you looked closely you noticed that our hands were clasped together.

After seeing that little detail I turned off my phone and leaned my head back against the glass. Everything was so much easier during University compared to now; everything was so different. I'd be foolish to say that I didn't notice the change in Amanda after University but I'd also be wrong to say that she was the only one to change. I just changed at a different time and for a completely different reason.

It wasn't easy to end something that has taken so much but I do feel some relief, if that's even the right word. I stood up when I noticed the scenery of the familiar train stop and waited for the doors to open. I head up the stairs and out into the open; the bar was only a block away.

I was immediately hit with the musky smell of the bar when I opened the door. I couldn't help but smile when I walked in; the place hadn't changed one bit since I left. It was still dim and the ' were still on the same football channels.

"Croft….coming to get your job back," I heard. I looked over at the bar and saw my former boss. He was an Irish man that would hassle my 'posh' upbringing. I rolled my eyes at him, "Never…" I replied.

As I walked up to the bar I was waved at by several people that I had served for years. Even now I could probably still remember each and every one of their drinks.

"How you doing, Garry?" I asked when I took my seat at the bar.

"Not bad…not bad. And you? What brings you back into this place this early in the day?" he asked.

"I am in need of a very strong drink," I answered. Garry studied me for a second before turning around towards the liquor shelf and grabbing something off it. I watched him pour liquor from several different bottles into one small rocks glass.

"Here…this should suit your needs," he said as he handed me the glass. I looked at it as I took, "What's in it?"

"That's for me to know and you to never know. Just drink the damn thing…" he demanded. I hesitated before tipping the whole thing down my throat. Garry watched me the whole time, even as I started to cough a bit. I felt the alcohol burning the entire way down my throat.

"Bloody Hell! What was in that?" I choked out after catching my breath.

Garry just smiled; I saw his eyes focus on something behind me. I turned around and saw Alex making her way towards me.

"Alright….what is so important that I have to buy you several shot and had to drag myself away from my very sexy girlfriend?" she asked while taking a seat next to me and signaling two shots from Garry.

"I'm attracted to my employer's daughter…." I started

Alex rolled her eyes, "we already k- "

"…and I broke up with Amanda." I interrupted. Alex snapped her head towards me.

"Holy fuck…really?" she asked. I just nodded my head.

"Garry make those doubles and put us on a tab," Alex told him, "We're getting pissed tonight," Alex said me.

And pissed we got. I can hardly remember the night; I remember Thomas and Rebecca joining us sometime later and by then I was already three sheets to the wind. Trying to open my eyes to answer my ringing phone was very difficult and I was struggling. The shining sun streaming through my window was causing my head to pound more than it already was.

I finally decided to not bother trying to get my phone and just lay in my bed with my eyes shut. It took about 10 minutes of me opening and shutting my eyes before it became somewhat bearable to keep my eyes open. But it took even longer for my eyes to adjust and the room to stop spinning and when it finally did stop spinning I felt very nausea.

I quickly got up and ran to my bathroom and vomited everything from last night. My head was pounding, my throat burned of bile and my eyes were watering…this was the worst fucking hangover I've ever had.

I shut the toilet lid and flushed the toilet. I walked over to the bathroom mirror and took a dreaded look at myself. I looked like absolute shit. I went to open the cabinet to grab the Visine for my bloodshot eyes when I noticed that I wasn't wearing a shirt and I had a massive hickey on my neck.

"What?" I said. I leaned closer towards the mirror and examined the large mark. It was dark and larger than a quarter. During my close inspection I noticed that I had a few more along my shoulder blades and some of them included teeth marks.

Shit…what happened last night? I don't remember bringing anyone home with me or even talking to someone. I glanced at myself in the mirror one last time before turning away and digging into my hamper for a t-shirt. I had to say that I was somewhat relieved to see that I had pants on already.

After I tugged on a simple white t-shirt I started towards my bedroom. I slowly crept my head though the door and saw the elegant figure of a female lying on my bed and she was completely nude. I rested my head on my door frame and wracked my brain on who this girl was and what the hell I was supposed to do. I've never had a one night stand so this was a whole new adventure for me.

I thought about texting Alex but I realized my phone was still in the bedroom and I really didn't want to risk waking this girl up yet before I thought about what to do.

I let out a deep sigh before shutting my door and going into my kitchen to put the kettle on. I leaned against the stove and struggled to remember any detail that would tell me who this girl was. I looked around my apartment for anything that might be from last night but there was nothing. I guess we just went straight into the bedroom.

The kettle went off and I made my tea and just sat at the kitchen table watching the steam come up. I was so lost in thought that I didn't even hear my bedroom door open or the sound of bare feet on the hardwood floor.

"Your phone keeps going off," the voice startled me to the point that I nearly spilt my tea.

"Shit," I said as I jumped up from my chair and turned to stare into clear blue eyes.

"Sorry didn't mean to startle you," she said.

I gripped the back of my chair and waved a hand at her, "No…I was lost in thought," I told her. She smiled at me and took a few more steps towards me to hand me my phone. I was glad to see that she had some clothes on even though they left little to the imagination. Her blue thong barely covered anything and her white t-shirt stopped just above her bellybutton and left her arms bare. The lack of clothes allowed me a view of her hidden tattoos that I didn't see the first time at the tattoo parlor. She had a large black tribal traveling up her calf to her thigh and a few more tribal tattoos on her ribs and lower back.

I felt the heat rising to my cheeks as I continued to look at her so I took that as my cue to look away and grab the phone from her hand.

"Thank you," I muttered.

She smiled at me once again before walking past me to the tea kettle to pour herself a cup of tea. I watched her for a second then looked down at my phone to see four missed calls from Amanda. I rolled my eyes and cleared my notification; I had no interest in talking to her.

"Anyone good?"

I glanced up from my phone, "No," I answered.

She studied me for a second before taking a seat across from mine. I took my seat again and we sat in silence for a few minutes. I spent that time trying to remember this girls name; I knew who she was and I remember her clearly but I can't remember her name or how she ended up here.

Our little silence was broken by the buzz and ring of my phone. I flipped it over and saw that it was a text message from Alex.

You alive?

I didn't want to be rude to the girl in front of me and reply so I hit the back button and it brought me to my previous screen which was a certain contact.

"Sarah…" I muttered under my breath as my screen went black.

"Still trying to figure out what happened?" she asked when I looked back up at her blue eyes. She had a smirk on her face and looked to be amused.

"Trying but it's not working," I answered truthfully. That got a small chuckle out of her.

"Do you remember who I am?" she asked. I nodded my head, "Sarah…" I whispered

"We got one thing down…"she started. She then proceeded to tell me that I called her around 8 last night and invite her to the pub. We all kept drinking and one thing led to another and I invited her back to the flat.

"We were both extremely pissed and quite frankly I'm surprised I remember last night," she admitted.

"I don't remember a thing…I just remember going to the bar and Alex coming in," I said. While she had been explaining what happened I had let my eyes wander and I saw a few faint red marks near the outline of her t-shirt near the her breast.

"You were pretty much gone when I got there…and it didn't take me much to reach your level," she said.

I smiled gently at her before asking a question that had been nagging me.

"I didn't force myself on you or anything like that?" I asked.

Sarah laughed and shook her head.

"No…not at all. If anything I was more of the aggressor in the beginning until you took over."

I couldn't help but blush when she mentioned I took over and she noticed this.

"I have to say Lara I was very impressed with your performance even thought you were completely drunk," she snickered.

I hid my head in my hands in embarrassment but chuckled along with her. "Bloody hell…I can't believe I got that pissed…" I said.

"It seemed like it was very much needed," Sarah said.

"Yeah…it was," I agreed. I looked back up at her and saw her looking at me with soft eyes. We held eye contact for a little until it was rudely interrupted by the annoying ringing tone. I groaned because I thought it was my phone but when I looked down at it there was nothing going on.

"It's mine…it's my alarm," Sarah said as she lifted her phone on to the table, "I have to go to work."

I nodded my head and then watched her get up and head back into my bedroom; I figured she was collecting her clothes. I took it upon this time to grab another cup of tea since my other one got cold.

It wasn't long before she came out again fully dressed and looking a little more refreshed. "If you need to shower or anything you can use my bathroom," I offered since I didn't know what else to do.

"It's alright…although I did use some of your mouthwash but I'm heading home to change anyways before work," she told me.

"Okay," I replied awkwardly. I followed her as she headed towards the door. When we got to the door that's when it really became awkward; I didn't know what to say.

"Umm…I..uh," I stuttered. I was at lost as to what do. Sarah giggled before placing her index finger over my lips stopping by babbler of words.

"Shhh…I'm not expecting anything nor am I looking for anything…but…don't hesitate to call when you get lonely, looking for a good time or just want some company." With those words Sarah removed her finger from my lips and replaced it with hers.

I was in shock for a brief moment but it quickly snapped out of it to respond and open my mouth to allow entrance for her tongue. I felt my back hit the door frame as the kiss deepened. I wanted to pull her back into the apartment and go further but I started to feel her pull away before I could do anything.

She pulled away and walked into the hallway, "Have a good day Lara," she whispered before turning to head down the stairs.

"Bye," I said. I stayed in the doorway just replaying what had happened; I hadn't kissed another girl since before I started dating Amanda. The feel of someone else's lips on mine felt nice and surreal; it felt nice to kiss someone without it being forced.

I walked back into the apartment when I heard my phone going off to grab it. I looked down at the screen and once again saw Amanda's contact. I ignored the call and went to settings to block her calls until I was ready to talk to her again.

I was just about to walk away when my phone went off again. I never received this many call in one morning and quite honestly I wasn't enjoying it. I grabbed my phone with the intention of ignoring whoever it was but I couldn't when I saw the name. With a smile I pressed the phone to my ear…

"Sam…"