I'm cheating in this chapter, cause you've already read the first part. But if you were wondering when are we going to reach the meeting at the cafe from the first chapter, this is it. We're finally there and moving forward.
I realized that in the series, the meeting at the cafe happens way after this point, but I already did it this way, so that's how it is haha.

Laurie was still up, finishing an article for the next day when his phone rang. He looked at it quickly but turned to it again when he read "Amy".

"Hi," She wrote. Laurie straightened up and looked at the screen. Then he dialed her number.

Amy left the phone on the nightstand, not really expecting him to answer back, but internally praying he did. Suddenly, her phone rang and it was him. She sat up and accepted the call.

"Hi!" Amy greeted him, trying not to sound too excited.

"Hello?" Laurie greeted back dubiously. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes, it's all good."

"Yeah, I just haven't had a midnight call from you in a while."

"Oh," she laughed nervously but flattered. "I just, I keep thinking... how nice it was to see you again at the party. Emm…. and I… I was just thinking that I missed having you in my life… and I was wondering if you would want to be in it again?" Laurie listened and smiled. "I know we haven't done the friends thing for a while, but maybe we can try again."

"Sure, yes," He answered.

"Ok," she laughed. "Great." They could totally do that, right? They could be friends again, maybe things were never going to be like before but it was an improvement. They agreed to meet at a cafe close to Amy's work.

The day was chilly and grey. And Amy was sitting on a table outside of the cafeteria checking her messages, Meg had sent another adorable video of her little ones. She smiled at the babies babbling. Aside from this meeting, her day had been mostly uneventful.

"Hey!" She heard a male voice calling her. "I got stuck in traffic, sorry," Laurie said a little breathless from running.

"It's alright. I ordered coffee for you," Amy said as Laurie sat in front of her. "So, how have you been?"

"Working, first semester...so far so good."

"You're enjoying it." She stated, noticing Laurie's excited tone. She loved seeing him being determined and finally knowing what he wanted, at least in his career. "I'm sure you'll do great."

"I wish I could have as much faith in myself as you have for me."

"Well, it's easier to see it from the outside." He nodded, knowing that she struggled with that sometimes, too.

"So, how's life with a scholarship?"

"Great, it took a huge weight from my shoulders. I still can't believe it."

"Don't tell me your self-doubt thoughts came back?"

I'll never be a genius, so I'm giving up all of my foolish artistic hopes.

"No, they're gone for good. But it's still quite incredible that I got the only scholarship the Institute gives."

"It is pretty spectacular," Laurie said smiling at her, she replied with a similar warm smile. "You were at home in the summer?"

"Yes, we missed you," Amy said, careful to emphasize we . "Daisy and Demi are the cutest babies."

"Yeah, well, to be honest, I didn't know if it was appropriate for me to go." Amy threw a confused look at him. "I know we agreed on keeping what happened between us private...part of me thought that maybe you would talk eventually, seeing as you were always so close with your family."

"I didn't. We agreed on that. Plus, if I would have talked, I would have told you." Amy reassured him. "Meg can't keep the secret to save her life. And then Jo, Beth, and Marmee would know, and so does Father and your Grandfather…"

"I'd be exiled forever," Laurie said laughing. Amy laughed too.

"I don't think we did anything wrong, complicated yes, but nothing bad. But you know there's normal bad, and there's 'March bad'" Amy responded, taking a sip of coffee. "I thought they'd judge me. You know they can be too preachy sometimes. Most of them expected you to end up with Jo."

"I know. But it took a terrible date to realize how wrong we were." Laurie replied to Amy's last sentence. He also wanted to comfort her on her beliefs about her family's judgment but decided to leave for later.

"Have you talked to her, Jo?"

"Yes, it's hard to find an hour that fits for both, so we go with emails and WhatsApp, mainly." Amy nodded moving the spoon for her cup.

"Of course."

"You don't speak to her?" Laurie asked.

"Oh not really. If she ever finds out about us, I'm pretty sure she'd break my nose."

"It would have fixed it, though," He said, earning an offended (but not really) expression from Amy. They both laughed. "Will you be home for Christmas?"

"I hope so. I have a lot of work to do. Now that I have no expenses for the school, I can save for a trip home. You?"

"I'll try. Will you bring Chase with you?"

"God no!" Amy replied quickly and quite emphatically, making Laurie raise an eyebrow at her. "We're far from that stage."

"How is he?"

"Stressed, school, you know," Amy said knowing Laurie had understood. "It would really help if you two were more civil around one another."

"I'm always civil."

"You intimidate him."

"Me? He's taller than me and bigger!"

"Yeah, but still. You were the guy who used to fuck his girlfriend."

"Is that how you describe me to your friends: 'the guy who fucked you'"

"No, of course not. But that's the only thing about you that he really cares about. Anyway, I think he's been getting bored of me, lately."

"Why would you believe that?"

"Because that's what he told Carina." Laurie widened his eyes. "I don't know...he sometimes wants to try stuff that I don't feel comfortable in trying…" Amy stopped pondering if Laurie were the best person to have this conversation with. Two years ago, it would have been easier. "I mean, we never did anything crazy or weird, right? Was it boring?"

"No!" He blurts out and even he surprised himself with how fast it came out. "No, I think we did everything we wanted." He smirked.

"Be serious," Amy said, smiling and kicking him lightly.

"I'm sorry. But, it's true. We never did anything that made any of us uncomfortable."

"Exactly." Amy paused for a moment. "It was different with you, though," Amy said thoughtfully, remembering snippets of their time together.

"Different how?"

"It's too tight?" He asked her from behind. "No, it's fine," Amy said adjusting the tie covering her eyes, her breathing already heavy.

"It's just, I didn't have to worry about you taking full control. I knew you wouldn't ask me to do anything that upset me or hurt me. I trusted you."

"You don't trust Chase?"

"He's alright, I guess. Maybe I'm too traditional, but..."

"If you don't like it, you don't like it. He should have known you better, honestly. You have no obligation to satisfy him."

"Sometimes I wouldn't be in the mood, and you never made a big fuss over it. Put on a movie or just go to sleep. With him, it's like...it can get into an argument."

"But he does stop, right?"

"Yes! Of course, he does." Part of her was happy with how worried he said that. "It's just I have to take care not to offend him." She explained. "With you...it felt real, but Chase...I don't know. It's like I'm acting a part. Funny, because I was never the best actress in the plays." Amy said. "So, what he's not getting at home, he might want to go find it somewhere else."

"He's an idiot, then." He said with a sympathetic smile.

"You won't tell anyone about this, will you?"

"Who do you think you're speaking to?" He said and Amy smiled, knowing he could be totally trusted.

"It's nice to see you again."

"It is."

"Alright then, let's talk about something else. You have plans for tonight?"

Amy's friends received Laurie gladly. Some of them were familiar and others were new. The old ones greeted him even though they haven't spent almost any time together. A couple of times, they all hang out. But normally, the ones who could go back home like Carina and the others had other plans. And in the end, weekends were the only days where Amy could be with Laurie so she tended to reserve those days only for him. They knew they had dated, but only Carina was aware of how deep their feelings came to be and how it ended. And if it helped, no one really had made a strong friendship with Chase.

Actually, it looked like her friends, one, in particular, liked Laurie too much. Marianne was a nice girl, very sociable. She asked about him, and Amy not wanting to appear jealous or anything she said there was no problem. But internally, she felt a punch in her stomach. She saw them talking and laughing at a reunion. Oh well, there it was.

"I have your essays graded. Some were excellent, a lot were good, and a few needed a lot of work. People, you're in a Master's degree. If you still have trouble with writing, please, do yourself a favor, talk with whomever you trust the most, and ask for help." Everyone laughed, but internally Laurie was praying he had done well. He worked hard on this. At the end of the day he had graduated with honors from college, he should do good in Masters.

Turns out Laurie was one of the excellent ones, a few details but overall it was the best in the class. Laurie smiled at the screen with his grade. He worked on that thing for days, making sure that everything made sense and agreeing with the instructions. A nice feeling of satisfaction filled him. And apparently, everyone learned about his grade. It was weird because for weeks he felt like a fish out of water. Surely some classmates might have commented on his lack of knowledge on social sciences. But now, they respected him, even agreed with his opinions.

"You look very pretty when you concentrate," Chase mentioned as Amy worked on a canvas. She usually painted alone and focused, but Chase arrived and they haven't had much time to go out alone, so she supposed his presence would be fine. However this was a very important delivery, the teachers would choose the best of the classroom and their paintings would be exposed in a salon. As always, there was some expectation/obligation for scholars to be there. So, she just smiled at him and went back to her canvas.

"The other day, we were at the park and this guy..." he kept talking.

"I really need to finish this. Tomorrow I have tutorship on this." She interrupted him. He looked at her and gave in. Amy didn't want to sound harsh but sometimes Chase was too much. Like she told Laurie, she had to take care of not hurting his feelings for things like this. Why couldn't it be easier with him?

On a Wednesday afternoon, Amy and Laurie were studying in her living room. Yes, now they did that sort of thing where they could spend time in complete silence studying for their subjects. It felt good. Amy stopped reading her book and looked at him.

"What does it feel like?" She asked. "To be the top of the class?"

"I could ask you the same question."

"No, but seriously. At this rate, you could graduate with honors again."

"I don't know. It's not really that complicated. Most people get into the classroom without doing the readings and then they just participate saying a bunch of deep reflections with confidence."

"The thing is that most of the time, I have no idea what I'm doing. It's annoying that they do that, but I wish I could be that confident. I've been trying to find my place since I came to Concord."

"Doesn't seem like that, from the outside."Amy pointed out. She knew it had been difficult for him to adapt to American lifestyle, but after he started hanging out with her and her sisters, he seemed alright. He definitely had no trouble getting friends and girlfriends. He was popular. But maybe he decided to hide his insecurities, a little bit like her.

"Do your friends know what happened between us?"

"No… Only Carina, but she's not saying anything."

"Would you care if they know?"

"Yes. I prefer to keep that privately. I just… it's not the nicest thing."

"I always wondered if I should have come back if you'd have received me."

"I don't know," Amy said. She thought about it for a long time. It broke her heart when Laurie stopped calling, although she knew she couldn't expect him to beg forever. But still, it hurt. And then he never tried to visit her. Most probably, she would have forgiven him. "Yes, probably."

"Jesus Christ, Laurie!" Amy was crying now. She covered her face.

"That was really the first time I had a big fight with someone. I guess I struggle with commitment. I know it's a shitty thing men say all the time, but it's difficult for me to make important decisions. I don't know why, I just been doing what my grandfather expects me to, what everyone expects my life to be. Really, the first time I felt in control of my life was after I was in Paris with you." Amy's eyes were puffy. "I'm really sorry, Amy. Please believe that I never meant to hurt you."

"I forgive you," Amy said quietly. "And you weren't the only one who screwed things up. I was scared that they would judge me, that Jo would be angry. Wha we had felt so good. I didn't want to ruin it with family drama."

"I understand."

That conversation with Laurie changed a lot of things for Amy. Her father always told her that there was power in forgiveness and every time it proved to be right. As soon as she said it, she realized the grudge she held and then how quickly it left.

"I don't think we should see each other anymore," Amy said, kind of out of the blue, although she had been thinking about it for weeks.

"What?"

"I'm sorry."

"Where is this coming from?"

"Seriously? Chase, you're the one who keeps talking about us to everyone else! If you didn't like something you should have told me, instead of making it public!"

"When, when could I talk to you. You're always busy!"

"That's not true! I sometimes need time to complete my projects. But we spend time every day or we text, whatever. If it's not enough then I'm sorry but my studies come first."

"Wow, so this is how it is?"

"You told Carina, you were getting bored." She sighed. "Listen, this is clearly not working. I'm sorry."

"Ha? Ok." He grabbed his coat and left the apartment.

"Thanks for the lift," Amy said as she and Laurie walked towards his car.

"It's ok. Where's Chase?"

"We broke up. I don't want to talk about it."

"You broke up with him on New Years? God, you're brutal."

"I just had to say something… Oh God, it's really shitty, isn't it?"

"Was this party his only option?"

"I hope not."

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine... surprisingly." She said. "Weren't you going to pick up Marianne?"

"No, why?"

"Mhm, just you two have been cozy with each other?"

"Cozy?!"

"Come on, Laurie. We're adults."

"We saw each other a couple of times, but ahh, it's nothing serious."

"Mhm"

They arrived at the party where his friends were already there, even Carina was able to be there after convincing her parents that it was okay if she spent New Years with her friends. She had already been there for Christmas anyway. Laurie went to put the bottle he brought to the bar, while Amy went to meet her friends.

"Hi!"

"Uh, you look great," Anette complimented her.

"Are you ok?" Carina hugged her. She had already texted her about the breakup. Amy said she was fine.

"Of course she's fine. She just lost pounds of boredom!"

"You're horrible!" Amy exclaimed. "I shouldn't have done it today."

"He'll be fine," Xavier told her.

"Laurie came?"

"Yeah, he's somewhere."

"Probably Marianne found him," Anette said conspiratorially.

Usually, Amy liked parties, but this one was a little heavy. Maybe it was the drinks she had. Her mind was somewhat lost and her vision was not the best. Still, she looked around trying to find someone.

Finally, she found him talking with a friend on top of the stairs.

"Hey," Amy approached and his friend interpreted that as his sign to leave.

"Drunk already?"

"Shouldn't you be with Marianne?"

"She's not at the party."

"Oh… she's pretty."

"So are you." Amy blushed, even more than she already was due to the alcohol. She walked near him. "Do you know you have perfect proportions?"

"Sure," he laughed.

"It's true, like a Greek sculpture. Probably why I'm so attracted to you," she said as she ran her hand through his hair. He laughed nervously, the way she was looking at him was causing his lack of breath. And then her mouth was on his and it only lasted a few seconds but it was good.

"There's a bed upstairs," she whispered.

"We are upstairs, Amy," they laughed.

"Come on," she pulled him to go to the room.

"Not tonight. You're wasted."

"Does that means you don't want to?"

"No, Amy…" He said looking at the floor, knowing that if he looked at her he'll give in. How could he tell her how much he wanted her. "You should go to rest."

"Please. Just kiss me," to that, he did comply, even if it was just a quick one.

"Goodnight Amy. I'll be here in the morning." Laurie said, kissing her temple and getting out of there as fast as he could.

"Morning!" Laurie is standing next to his car, and he throws a bottle of water to Amy.

"Thanks." She said, taking a sip of it. Her eyes are still trying to adjust to the sunlight, and she places a hand on her forehead to cover her face from it.

They both get in and back to Amy's apartment. "I'm really sorry."

"It's ok," Laurie said instantly, looking at the road.

"No, it's not."

"You were drunk, Amy. It happens."

"I feel like an idiot and a hypocrite. I scold you last year for drinking and now you have to pick me up like this." She said raising her knees and hugging them, while her head was down.

"Well, to be fair, you're not always drunk like I used to. Once every now and then is not a big deal." Laurie said, wanting to address what Amy said at the party, but not sure how to.

"How much did I embarrass myself?"

"You don't remember what you said last night?" Amy raised her head and looked at him worried.

"Do you remember?"

"Well, yeah." He turned to look at her momentarily. Amy made a remorseful expression and dug her head deeper between her legs. He laughs. A second later he was placing his hand on her knee, unstintingly. "It's alright." Once he noticed the intimacy of his touch, he retrieved his hand back to the wheel.

"Well, I'm sorry if I made things weird. I know you're seeing Marianne."

"We've barely gone out."

"Still, it was disrespectful of our friendship."

"I didn't know you were that close."

"No, our friendship," Amy said pointing at the both. "Agh my head is killing me!"

"Here," Laurie said, opening the glove compartment and taking a box of aspirins from it. "Have one of these." Amy thanked him for the pills and swallowed one. "Are you hungry?" Amy nodded strongly as she was starving. Laurie stopped at a red light and grabbed a Tupper from the back seat. He offered it to Amy. It was the cold leftovers of yesterday's meal, just some pasta.

Twenty minutes later they were in front of her residence. Having eaten almost all of the pasta and with the effects of the aspirin alleviating her headache, she realized something. "You brought me water, food, and aspirins." She stated in a tone of astonishment and incredulity.

"I just knew that you'll be thirsty, hungry, and with a headache," Laurie explained. Amy looked at the building and closed her eyes for a moment. She just needed a second to think about how special Laurie was. He didn't need to do all these things. He wasn't her boyfriend, he had no obligation towards her.

"You want to come up." She said, putting her hand over his on the wheel.

"No," Laurie shook his head. "Go, take a shower. Who knows what was on that floor." He said straightening some of her hair that was a mess for sleeping on the floor of the bathroom. "Get some sleep. I can over tonight." Amy nodded at his suggestion and smiled. He had kept his hand on her hair so he used it to pull her head and kiss her. It was a quick one, the kind couples give to each other every day.

"Brush your teeth." He joked, making her laugh; although she quickly covered her mouth. Her breath must stink.

A few hours later, Laurie came back. Amy looked better, she was clean and well slept. She might have slept too much, and just grabbed a shower before he came. She was still in her robe and she was drying her hair.

"Feeling better?"

"Yeah," she answered. "I need to finish drying my hair." She went back to the room while waiting in the living room. He looked around, it had more things than the last time he was there. It looked more like a home, which wasn't a surprise since she and Carina had been there for a year already. Finally, the sound of the hairdryer disappeared. Amy walked back to the living room and stood in front of him. They looked and told each other a dozen things, but the important one was that they both wanted each other. He gently took her hand and pulled her to sit on him to kiss her. It wasn't fast, they wanted to take their time. Slowly, he opened her robe and kissed her chest and breast while she moaned.

Notes:

Let me know what you think!

I know it's shitty to break up with someone during Holidays.