2
Sophia
Could that day have been any longer?
Sophia Davies stepped into the fourth floor hallway, running a hand through her thick mane of straight brown hair. It was nearly seven o’clock at night, and she’d been up since six that morning. But, as Grace would undoubtedly remind her if she complained, that was the price you had to pay if you wanted to switch your major halfway through junior year.
She reached the door to her apartment and smiled. At least she was home now and it was the weekend. No more lectures, no more labs, no more early mornings. At least not for two and a half glorious days.
“There she is,” said Hannah as Sophia walked in. “Does that look like a girl who wants to binge drink and make bad decisions, or what?”
Sophia immediately perked up. “Binge drinking and bad decisions?” She let the door close with a slam behind her. “Where do I sign up?”
Grace let out a sigh, even though her expression revealed the enthusiasm was secretly welcome.
Grace Villiers and Hannah Tollman were Sophia’s first friends in university. They met in one of their Introduction to Economy classes, back when Sophia still labored under the illusion that she would be happy as an accountant because she was good with numbers. The trio moved in together off campus at the start of the last semester, despite Darcy’s concerns that doing so would cause her sister’s GPA to steadily decrease.
“Grace was just scolding me for suggesting that the three of us go out tonight,” said Hannah, parked on one end of the overstuffed corduroy sofa. She’d brought it over from her parents’ Malibu holiday home when they first moved in, and Sophia didn’t know what they’d do without it.
Hannah flicked a section of bouncy blonde curls over her shoulder, her sapphire eyes twinkling with mischief. “She says you’ve had a long week and you’re probably too tired.”
“Too tired?” Sophia rested a hand on her hip and stared at Grace in mock dismay. “I’ve never heard such slander.”
Grace was on the opposite end of the couch, knees pulled up to her chest. Sophia noted the abandoned Xbox controller on the side table and the paused game on the TV as she kicked her shoes off and launched over the back of the sofa to slide between her friends.
“Pardon me for looking out for your wellbeing.” Grace rolled her dark eyes, but she wasn’t actually upset. Grace was arguably the most responsible of the three, though she never faulted Sophia or Hannah for their occasional childish antics, just as they never faulted her for the late nights she spent gaming on their couch, shouting colourful insults at the TV screen.
“So what are we thinking?” Hannah asked, nudging Sophia’s leg with her foot. “What about Kara-okie Dokie?”
Sophia let out a derisive snort. “I don’t think I’m up for karaoke tonight.”
“We could always keep it classy and grab a couple beers at the Owl,” Grace suggested.
The Husky Owl had been the girls’ favourite night spot since they first moved in.
“Classy?” Hannah curled her peachy lips into a smirk. “Since when has going to the Owl been a classy move for us?”
“Well it’s better than the wine bar we went to last weekend,” Grace argued. “They let you DJ for one song and you thought you were Skrillex. The next time I saw you, you were talking to some guido about setting up a SoundCloud.”
“That’s an exaggeration. Besides, didn’t I introduce you to that lawyer guy from LA?”
Grace cringed. “The one with that weird pocket silk thing? I wouldn’t brag too much about that match-up. He smelled like a middle school dance.”
Even that couldn’t dampen Hannah’s bright expression. “We’ll find you a different one tonight. A classier one.” She winked.
“Nope.” Grace pushed up from the couch and walked back toward the kitchen. “I’m officially off the menu tonight. I’m going to drink and dance without some guy staring down my shirt every time he thinks I’m not looking.”
“Not fair,” Hannah sulked.
Sophia laughed at her friends’ antics. Unfortunately, this laughter drew Hannah’s attention. The blonde’s eyes sparkled with mischief, and Sophia backed off the couch the same way she came as if she expected the other girl to pounce on her.
Hannah followed. “Oh, don’t be like that, Sophia. It’s been how long since Greg now?”
Sophia gritted her teeth. “Three months.”
Like she even wanted to think about Greg, her on-again-off-again college boyfriend who had been for the past three months decidedly off-again. For good. Greg was a classic example of the kind of thing that happened when loneliness and alcohol coincided with opportunity. He was never particularly nice to Sophia, and he’d turned into a real cow after she gave him the boot just before the start of the semester. She was in no rush to start up a similar drama circus with someone else.
Even if it had been three months since she’d gotten laid.
“There’s probably a tall dark stranger waiting in the night for you right now!” Hannah exclaimed, flinging her arms out dramatically. “All we have to do is go find him.”
Grace was still watching from the kitchen, lips pursed in thought. “I’m curious why you’re Jane Austen’s Emma all of a sudden,” she said. “Usually you’re too wrapped up in yourself to notice which guys are doing the orbit around us.”
Hannah was quick to respond, and she put her whole heart into the answer. “Come on, guys! I’m trying to help you here. Sophia, when was the last time you had a crush? Like a real, honest to goodness crush? One that makes you all tingly and bubbly just because?” She sighed. “I’m just doing my civic duty. You both seem like you could use a little pick-me-up.”
It was obvious to everyone in the room that Hannah was full of it. Whatever scheme she had cooking in her head had nothing to do with wanting her friends to experience the wonder of a crush. Still, Sophia couldn’t help but reflect on Hannah’s question. The last time she’d had a real, honest-to-god crush wasn’t Greg. They’d ended up together after a one night stand that turned into a several nights’ stand. And the relationship had continued about as romantically as that.
Sophia hadn’t had a proper crush since she left Pine Bay behind for the much sunnier Berkeley, California. Nate Redman had monopolized most of her dreams growing up and still made a surprise appearance now and then.
Back when Nate and Sophia’s sister were sophomores in high school, he was the kind of lanky sandy-haired kid who in the late nineties would have been considered the ultimate babe. The older he got, the more he grew. By the time Sophia was in her final year of high school, Nate was six-foot five inches tall, muscular as hell, and capable of charming the pants off a frozen stick of butter. He also had the cutest dimples and the nicest smile Sophia had ever seen.
It wasn’t just about how hot he was, either. Nate had always been funny and approachable, and even though they’d barely talked, every memory she had of speaking to him was resoundingly positive.
Up until about three months ago, Sophia had always thought in the back of her mind that one day her and Nate’s paths might collide and she’d get a shot to make him fall in love with her back. It had never panned out though. Then, Darcy found a naked stranger on the beach by her house who needed a place to crash for a while. That stranger had become Darcy’s boyfriend Gabriel, who carried around secrets like candy. Three of those secrets in particular were doozies.
First, he was a trained assassin for hire. He’d since abandoned that vocation though.
Second, he could turn into a shark at will. That one had taken a bit of convincing on Gabe’s part for Sophia to believe. He hadn’t shown her the full transformation, but he had shifted his eyes and teeth for her once. She never doubted him again after that.
Third, there were other shark shifter assassins too. Nate Redman was one of them. Darcy had told Sophia this in the hopes she’d steer clear of the guy, but it didn’t really bother Sophia. If it was fine with Darcy that Gabriel had been a sea assassin, she was sure she could forgive Nate for it too.
Not that it mattered anyways though, since Sophia was in Berkeley and Nate was back in his real hometown, Seattle. He’d recently moved back there after many years in Pine Bay, the little Washington town Sophia and Darcy grew up in. Sophia didn’t know why he’d moved back to the city—she’d always thought Nate looked perfectly at home in the sleepy seaside town.
Sophia’s crush on Nate was dead in the water. So hell, maybe she would meet a tall, dark stranger tonight and develop a new crush, but like hell she’d be letting Hannah do the matchmaking.
“You sure you’re not trying so hard to set us up so that we won’t notice that you’re not talking to any guys?”
Grace’s question brought Sophia back to the present.
“What? No!” Hannah looked just a little too appalled.
Grace tipped her head back and laughed. Her thick mane of tight black curls shook with her mirth. “I know what this is about! You want us to go out because you know that a certain handsome pizza deliveryman is working tonight.”
Hannah, now totally flustered, bunched her fists at her sides. “If you don’t want to go out, just say so. You don’t have to be a bitch about it.”
“Oh, babe,” Grace cooed, pulling Hannah in for a hug. “We do wanna go out tonight. Just please don’t try to hook either of us up with greasy lawyers from L.A.”
Sophia shook her head with a bemused smile. “Hey, speak for yourself.”