Chapter Twenty
Elijah
I hadn't spoken to Sophia for the last few days, but I still felt fucking restless because of it. I saw her around campus, but when she caught sight of me, she would hurry off in the opposite direction. She was a sprinter that was for sure.
It hurt, just a little bit.
Even Logan was happy in his own love life, noticed when I started acting miserable. Then, he saw Sophia’s avoidance routine.
“Dude, what the fuck happened between the two of you?” he asked me on Wednesday as we made our way to class, watching Sophia’s back as she hurried off a distance from us. “Don’t tell me you told her in the end, because that’s stupid of you.”
I sighed. “It wasn’t that, do you think things would be like this between us? This shit doesn’t have anything to do with me. Well, I can't say it has nothing to do with me, but I’m only distantly related to it!”
Logan just frowned at me. “Dude, speak English. I didn’t get any of that.”
I sighed again and trudged forward. “Let’s get to class and sit down, I’ll tell you then.”
Logan shrugged and followed me. We were both early since we’d carried snacks instead of passing by the cafeteria. I wasn’t in the mood to eat anything, but I knew better than to go through a day without proper meals. I couldn’t risk ruining my form so that I could mope around properly. Snacks weren’t the best, either, but at least I wouldn’t go hungry.
As always, most of the students taking the class loitered around outside, and inside, most of the seats especially around the back were empty. We moved to just the right spot so that when the other students came in, they could take the seats in front of us and we wouldn’t seem so far back that the professor called on us specifically to move forward.
“So?” Logan said, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms over his chest, looking at me with a serious expression. “What happened between the two of you, now, huh?”
“Remember how I went out on Sunday because my dad was in town, and I wanted to talk to him?”
Logan nodded, arching an eyebrow, probably wondering where that was where I was starting from.
“Anyway, he wanted to introduce me to my new step-mom and step-sister. Only, as it turns out, I ended up meeting Sophia and her mom.”
I gave him a significant look, and it was a while, but he got it.
“No way! You two are step-siblings now? No wonder she’s avoiding you!”
I growled at my best friend. “I know it already; you don’t have to say it so loudly. You don’t have to say it at all, actually, so zip it!”
“Awe, Elijah, but someone has to give you the truth as it is, you know? Before you get your hopes up or anything. This ship, I’m afraid, has already sunk.”
“Couldn’t you have just said it was on the brink,” I muttered. “Anyway, it’s the last night both our parents are going to be around, so if I’m lucky and she shows up, we’ll get to talk about everything.”
“How are your parents acting about the whole thing?”
“Surprisingly accepting,” I grumbled.
Don’t get me wrong, accepting was good. It meant I didn’t have to fight to get their approval to be with Sophia. When Sophia ran out on us, I hadn't followed immediately, but once I got them to understand, they’d pushed me to go after her, even if it was a bit late.
In the end, she didn’t want to talk to me. She didn’t take my messages, and when she saw me, she went away. I hadn't tried to approach her yet, because she’d asked for space and I wanted to honor that much, but I was getting tired of it quite quickly.
The professor walked in then, and my conversation with Logan got cut short.
I hardly paid attention to any of the classes I attended. I had a break after my mid-morning class, I had one late in the afternoon, so I’d told Dad I’d meet him and Emma at the hotel for lunch. As soon as my class was done, I took off. I knew Sophia should have some time around then as well, so she would probably show up at the hotel, right?
Technically, I had a personal car, but because I didn’t move around much while I was on campus, I mostly left it at home. As I waited for a long while for a taxi to stand in front of me, though, I was missing having my car around.
By the time I got to the hotel, it was some minutes past one, the time we were all supposed to meet. I walked around the lobby of the hotel until I found the hotel Dad had mentioned in his text. There was a host standing behind a podium just to the side of the entrance, and she stopped me before I could walk in. I had her lead me to where Dad and Emma were seating. I was disappointed, but not too surprised, to see Sophia wasn’t there.
Dad noticed.
“She might still come,” he tried to reassure me.
“It’s my last night here, my daughter is very polite about these things,” Emma said soothingly. “She’ll say goodbye to me before I leave, so she should be coming today. If she can be understanding of me, then she needs to know that I understand her, too.”
I smiled a little, but I knew they were hopeful, they didn’t know whether she would show up or not. I wanted to call or text, but I didn’t think it mattered whether I did or not, because it was going to ignore it anyway.
“Why don’t we order?” Dad said, raising his hand to call for a waiter.
“Sorry, I’m late!”
The voice came before Dad could say anything, and I whipped around in my seat, eyes wide as I watched Sophia walk over to our table, breathing a little heavily. She took the only other empty seat, but she wasn’t quite so close to me, since we sat at a square table, and everyone had a side to themselves. Why couldn’t the seating arrangement be just like last time? It felt like she was too far away like this, especially since she wasn’t even looking at me in the face.
“Mom, Ted,” she said, taking in deep breaths. “Sorry to be so late. I had a class, and it ran a little late.”
“We're glad you could make it, honey,” her mom said quickly.
Dad smiled and nodded beside her.
“I didn’t think you’d be showing up at all,” I said, relieved, offering her a small smile.
“Mm-hmm,” she murmured, picking up the menu in front of her.
I lost the smile because Sophia didn’t once look at me. I opened my mouth to call her name, but the waiter showed up at our table at that moment. I looked up at the man with a frown, but kept quiet. We all made our orders, and he went away.
“So,” she said, folding her arms on the table and leaning forward toward her mom, who sat to her other side and smiled at her. “Can I ask where the two of you will be going next? Not back to the Bahamas, right?”
Emma giggled and waved a hand at her. “No, definitely not! I had enough of vacation for a while. We’re not sure where we’re going to be living, though we will technically be moving in together, we’re leaving that alone for the time being.”
I cleared my throat. “Hey, Soph—”
“Ted, hum… I hope you don’t mind me calling you your real name for the time being.” She sounded sheepish, even as she talked over me, and it had to be deliberate.
“You can call me whatever way you’ll be comfortable,” Dad said.
“Well, I just wanted to say, please look after my mom well for me, okay? She’s the only family I have left, and I’ll be devastated if anything ever happened to her. I can see she’s happy with you, so you both get my support.”
They shared glances with each other, then with me, before they both smiled at Sophia.
“That’s so sweet of you, honey,” her mom crooned, reaching for Sophia’s hand and squeezing it lightly.
“I promise to treat your mom well for the rest of our lives,” Dad promised solemnly, then he and Emma both laughed.
The whole lunch went on like that. I was confused, but I noticed the pattern. Every time I tried to say something, Sophia would keep quiet, or interrupt before I could even say it, bringing up her topic. Our parents were looking between us, obviously knowing something was wrong, but I’d already talked to them on Sunday so they would let us take care of this while mess ourselves. They both had some responsibility in it, so it wasn’t something easy to resolve, but I was determined not to lose Sophia.
Still, I couldn’t help getting irritated at her behavior, and I didn’t want to blow up at her in front of our parents, but she was practically ignoring me when I was right there. I also couldn’t help feeling hurt, and by the time lunch was over, I wasn’t in the mood to play nice. I said goodbye to both our parents and headed out early. Last time it was Sophia, now me. I knew Dad would understand, and he’d probably explain it to Emma, too.
She was ignoring me while I was right there, treating me completely like air and not even trying to hide it. No one, not even me with my guilty conscious, would be okay with something like that.
I couldn’t be civil to her right then, so I thought it was wise to get away from Sophia for a couple of days before I resented her even more for her actions.
It’s not my fucking fault our parents got married, Sophia!
I loved her, I could only admit it to myself, but that didn’t mean I could forgive something like this so easily.