The Raving Love (Enemies To Lovers)

by Emma Vikes

  I wanted to linger for a little while but Theo was impatiently waiting to drive me home and during the drive, he couldn’t keep still. “What’s going on with you?”

  He flashed me an apologetic smile. “I have a spur of the moment hot date waiting for me.”

  “Oh.”

  “I’m sorry my love life is more alive than yours.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh at that comment. “Just drop me off quickly. I’m sorry you had to drive me. Had you told me, I could’ve called Amber and asked her to pick me up.”

  Theo shrugged. “It’s okay. It was an out of the blue date, to be honest, at least I know you went home safe.”

  He finally stopped in front of my house and I opened the door on my side to hop off when Theo called my name. “Hey, Audrey?”

  I turned to look at the guy that’s known me for years. “Yea?”

  “When love arrives at your doorstep, you don’t shut the door on its face.”

  I swallowed, aware that he meant the issue that I had with Julian. Theo and Amber, as much as they respected my decision when I told them that I called Julian to tell him that whatever we had was over, didn’t fully agree with it. But they weren’t the ones that got their heart broken. “If it’s love, then why does it hurt?”

  “If it doesn’t hurt, is it love?” Theo countered and added, “Sometimes, it’ll be like that, Audrey. It’s not smooth-sailing, but it’s one hell of a worthwhile ride.”

  Right after that, I hopped off his car and waved him goodbye, his words echoing in my mind over and over. When I came into the house, Amber wasn’t around which was surprising because earlier today she didn’t seem inclined to leave the house to make sure I was alright.

  The moment I realized that I was alone, that was when it hit me. I was alone in a house filled with memories of Julian and I. I slowly moved inside and stopped before I came in the kitchen and the image of Julian standing by the stove, only in an apron, whistling to a tune of a song he kept telling me I’ll hear soon, the memory of him sitting across from me on the kitchen counter watching me as I ate.

  I desperately wanted to hate him, the way that I did before I opened my heart to him. He insulted me in that video- and it didn’t matter whether or not he did so intentionally-, that alone was enough to make me hate him. But why did I feel like it was impossible to do so? Why- despite how his words cut deep- did the pain of ending what we had cut my heart deeper?

  I closed my eyes as my heart began to ache and the tears began to prickle my eyes. I’d held it in for a while hoping that the pain would go away if I didn’t acknowledge it. But that attempt was in vain because no matter how hard I tried to disregard it, I couldn’t deny that Julian left a hole in my heart that I didn’t think possible.

  What was this feeling I felt that made it hurt so bad?

  As I moved further into the kitchen, I noticed that there was a note waiting for me in the kitchen counter as well as a bottle of Möet & Chandon champagne. I poured myself a glass and picked up Amber’s note and moved to the living room, away from the area of the house that held most of the memories.

  Audrey,

  I didn’t leave because you suggested that I do earlier this morning but because someone asked me for a favor. I tried to stand my ground when he came by earlier but a part of me didn’t want you to lose your chance on what might be the greatest love story of your life- and what might also be the last- which is why I did as he asked.

  Your laptop is waiting for you in your office and there’s a drive sitting on it. He made a video for you, not an explanation on what he said in that video. But something that you need to know. I didn’t watch it. He told me what was in it.

  Please give it a chance, Audrey. Give him a chance. I told you before that he’s not that bad of a guy you painted him out to be and you saw what kind of guy he was first hand. He broke my heart- as you keep on pointing out- but it never meant that he will break yours too, no matter how you claim otherwise.

  Maybe all this time it was you and him. Maybe I was meant to be the person that brought you two together, not the one he was meant to be with.

  And we will never know the answer to those maybes if you don’t give this a chance.

  Do it for me.

  Amber

  26

  Audrey

  I stared at the black screen on my laptop. I haven’t turned it on. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see whatever video that Julian had made about me. To be frank, my heart still hurt at the fact that this was just a heartbreak in the making, that it was something I’d always known would happen if I ever risked my heart for Julian Hudson.

  But there was also this part of me that kept telling me, that if I didn’t give this a chance now, just a sliver of a chance, then this could turn out to be my greatest regret. I already turned my back on my music when I thought that I was getting nowhere. And now I wanted to do the same thing with what I had with Julian because I felt like it was a heartbreak in the making.

  I pressed the power button on the laptop and watched as the screen lit up. I inserted the drive on the port and waited for the laptop to read it and automatically open it. The drive only had one single folder in it and I clicked on it, revealing a video that was titled: Dear Audrey Finch, I hate you.

  It wasn’t the title I was expecting but I play it nonetheless.

  Julian showed on the screen, wearing a thin white shirt and his hair all mussed up. He had bags under his eyes and he didn’t look too well if you looked close enough. His eyes almost looked bloodshot, as if he hasn’t slept in a while. He stared at the camera for a while and in the luminescent light, both his eyes almost looked gray, and then he looked away, staring at something at the side.

  “Dear Audrey Finch,” he began to say and then turned to look at the camera again, “I hate you.”

  I felt my heart sink to my stomach the moment I heard the three words spoken out loud and with such firmness. Maybe Julian tricked Amber and this was the last bit of revenge he planned for me to suffer. I wanted to call Amber but Julian’s gaze trapped me and forced me to focus on him on the screen.

  “I met you five years ago, maybe six, the university I went to but dropped out of to pursue the career I have now,” Julian continued and his eyes looked a little blank as he spoke, “and I met you through Amber Shaw, a girl I dated and planned to dump a couple months later because I was never serious about that area of my life.”

  “But before Amber and I broke up, you always made your dislike clear and evidently the feeling became mutual,” he shrugged his broad shoulders, “because why would I like someone who hated me with such passion. Someone who hated me so much that she threw me out of the hospital Amber was admitted in when all I wanted was to make sure she was okay, to ease the guilt that I felt, and continually blamed me for what happened to Amber.”

  I could feel each word slice through my heart because they rang the truth. I remembered when Julian confronted me, when he told me that I was blaming him to appease myself of the guilt that I bore with what happened to Amber. I had the audacity to be mad at him for speaking of the truth and even when I was technically the one at fault, Julian apologized.

  But now I knew there wasn’t any apology that would follow this one.

  Maybe this was just an open letter of how much hated me, in video form. Maybe he could convince Amber because my best friend was a hopeless romantic. Maybe I deserved all the hate that I would get from him in this video. But…but why did the pain ache differently? As if it was clawing at my heart and breaking my heartstrings.

  “But five years later, Audrey Finch comes back in my life in high heels and in a power suit and demands my band to sign with her company, the very same company that rejected us five years ago,” Julian licked his lips and ran a hand through his hair again, “and I thought I had the upper hand in the situation but I hate you, Audrey Finch, because you made my heart flutter.”

  There was a pause in the video and all I could do was stare at the screen at Ju
lian’s face as he seemed to struggle to find the right words. “When you called me and told me that you wanted whatever we had to end, I wanted to respect your decision even when I honestly didn’t want to. But you always called me out on being a shitty guy for not respecting women enough because I kept on breaking hearts.”

  He focused on the camera again. “I wanted to respect you but then…then I spent the entire weekend out of limbo and no matter how I tried to distract myself, it fucking hurt…and…and…”

  Julian’s voice trailed and he closed his eyes for a moment and then looked at me, his eyes filled with pain. “And I didn’t think that love could hurt this way and I hate you because I love you, Audrey Finch, I love you too much that I can’t allow you to put an end to this without even trying to fight for what we have because I know it’s worth fighting for. Because you’re worth writing for.”

  “So please, my dear Audrey Finch, let’s create our own world filled with our music and write our love story in lyrics.” Julian looked at the camera again and as he stared at me, I could feel the weight of his gaze, the weight of his love. “Please take the risk. Please let me love you.”

  I hadn’t realized that I was already crying by this point and I was trying to wipe the tears away but I couldn’t really stop them from flowing. My heart hurt, and for some reason, it didn’t hurt in the same way it hurt earlier. It hurt because I realized that he wanted me the same way that I wanted him but I had put a barrier between the two of us for fear of a heartbreak that may or may not happen.

  When love arrives at your doorstep, you don’t shut the door on its face.

  We will never know the answer to those maybes if you don’t give this a chance.

  Please take the risk. Please let me love you.

  I gasped and wiped away my tears and it was only then that I started to hear it. Outside, there seemed to be someone playing a guitar and curiously, I opened the window in my office and my heart soared at the sight of Julian. His hair was a mess, as mussed up and curly as it had been in the video. He was wearing the same shirt and he looked like he hadn’t slept in days.

  Quickly, I rushed out of my office and opened the front door and the moment that Julian caught sight of me, there was a small smile that formed on his lips and he began to strum his guitar, the sound echoing throughout the neighbourhood.

  I was a Casanova in pursuit of breaking hearts

  Didn’t care about the trail of broken hearts that followed me around

  But it was one voice that changed my perspective,

  A voice that my heart seek to find

  And for a while, I kept on losing track

  But somehow, the higher ups led me back

  It was surprising to hear his voice shaking when he sang. If there was anything that Julian was always confident about, it was singing. But now it was as if he was nervous and when our eyes met again, I watched as he took a deep breath and began the chorus that he had me listen to almost a week or two ago.

  You’re the only right in a symphonies of wrong,

  Put my heart in paper and every beat will write you a song

  I’ve searched for you everywhere, wherever and now here I am,

  Right where I was always meant to be,

  Here in this moment, here and now.

  The next verse that came was the one that he first sang when he sang me this song and I stood there in my doorstep, watching him in awe. I understood why he chose to sing because music was our language and he wanted me to listen to the context behind the lyrics because those were the things that he wanted to say but couldn’t put it into words so he sang them instead.

  And in the instant my lips met yours,

  My soul burst into flame,

  You’re addicting and satisfying and baby, I crave

  Stay with me right here in this moment,

  Stay with me in this lifetime

  I’ll be yours for how long you’ll want it

  Be it in this lifetime and even in the next one

  For the last time, he sang the chorus and took a cautious step closer to me and ended the song by saying the last part. “Here in this moment, here and now.”

  I wasn’t really sure what I was meant to say because if I opened my mouth to speak, I may choke on my tears and sob in front of him. “I love you, Audrey Finch, and I-,”

  I didn’t let him finish and I grabbed him by the shirt and pressed my lips hard against his, tasting my own tears as they continued to fall down. I felt Julian set aside the guitar between us and pull me closer, his hand slipping on my neck as he pulled me even closer- as close as we could get- and my fingers tangled in his hair.

  I gasped when I felt him bite my lower lip, his tongue gaining full entrance in my mouth. I felt his hand on my waist, palm splayed and gripping me tightly and by the time that we pulled away, I rested my forehead against his, sighing contentedly in Julian’s arms.

  “Julian,” I began to say as I met his eyes. I could see the dazed look in his heterochromic eyes as he stared back, “I’m sorry that I believed the video. Anthony must’ve pressed your buttons and I was the one who swore you to secrecy and I-,”

  “I love you.” Julian said suddenly but I continued yapping.

  “And calling you to tell you to end things between us was such a dick move for me to do. I should’ve listened to what you were going to say. But I was such a coward-,”

  “I love you.”

  “And I thought that you were always just meant to break my heart and I thought that I was being smart by ending things early because in my head it was a heartbreak in the making-,”

  “Shut up and tell me you love me, Audrey!” Julian exclaimed, looking at me slightly annoyed.

  My mouth hung open for a moment, surprised that he raised his voice with me but knew that he only wanted me to hear the three words. I grinned at him playfully and snaked my arms around his neck and stood on my tiptoes to whisper in his ear and I could feel Julian anticipating. “I love you too.”

  I was wrapped in Julian’s arms when I heard clapping in the background and we pulled apart. Amber came out of the bushes, clapping and wiping away tears as she stared at us in awe. “I’m so happy for the two of you!”

  Julian scratched the back of his neck. “I forgot you’re still here.”

  Amber rolled her eyes as she looped her arm in mine and I stared at her and then back at Julian who was looking at me sheepishly. “In your note you said you left.”

  She shrugged. “Someone had to give Julian the heads up that you’re inside and watching his video.”

  I looked at my best friend suspiciously. “You were inside the whole time?”

  Amber rolled her eyes and then pulled Julian towards us. “Yes because lover boy over here begged me to. Like he was on his knees begging me.”

  “I called you on the phone,” Julian protested, defending himself but he looked a little flustered.

  I held a hand up to stop them both from talking. I turned to look at Amber. “You just breached our best friend contract by colluding with him.”

  “Okay, like I said, he asked for my help and Julian sounded so desperate that it was honestly surreal,” Amber began and Julian seemed to be hiding behind his guitar in embarrassment as Amber recounted to me everything that happened, “and he came here and explained to me everything and then gave me the flash drive that contained the video you just watched.”

  “Audrey, you already forgave me, does it matter what happened earlier?” Julian whined behind me but I liked making him squirm so I let Amber continue.

  “And I respected the fact that you were pissed at him and wanted nothing to do with him- I understood that perfectly because everything he said in that video made him an ass- but I didn’t want you to miss out on something great.”

  Amber’s eyes were brimming with unshed tears when she said that and I pulled her in for a hug. “You risked our friendship so I could have a relationship with him.”

  She was wiping away tears when I pulled a
way and then she joked, “Well, our friendship is kind of weird now considering that you, technically, are dating my ex-boyfriend. That’s breaking girl code right there.”

  I bit my bottom lip and I could feel Julian tense behind me. “Amber…”

  Amber let her name linger in the air for a moment and then she burst out laughing as she pulled me close again, looping her arm with mine and then the other with Julian. She began to skip to the front door, her joy radiating off of her and then she turned to me, her eyes glinting with sincerity.

  “I’m kidding. You deserve the world, you always have. And you deserve the kind of happiness that love brings and if it’s with him, then so be it.”

  Epilogue

  Julian

  “Play me like you do your guitar,” Audrey whispered to me and I felt chills run down my spine when I felt her long nails scratch my chest as she straddled me. She was in a leather one-piece lingerie with gold buttons glinting under the dim orange light of the hotel that we were staying in Philadelphia. She surprised me earlier when I arrived for a tour with the band because I thought she had a business meeting in Florida. Apparently, I was the client she was meant to meet.

  I smirked as I switched our position roughly and pushed her down the soft bed. “Let me teach you the chords.”

  On the parts that weren’t covered with the lingerie, I positioned my fingers the way I would position them for a chord. “This is G sharp.”

  I murmured close to her ear as I placed my hand on her thigh, inching closer to her core as I switched into another chord until my hand could cup her pussy. Sensually, I placed my fingers on her pussy like I would on a guitar for an A chord and Audrey mewled beneath me, writhing at the pleasure as I put pressure on her pussy with my fingers.

  “Now to strum,” I whispered to her ear as I pulled my hand away from her pussy for a moment and then teasingly brushed my two fingers against her clit and Audrey hissed, glaring at me as she gained dominance and somehow pushed me on the bed and straddled me again.