Weeks passed and every night since, Sophie battled with her wondering thoughts before sleep took over about that night. Part of her wished she could go back and stop herself, another part allowed her to make the mistake. She was old enough now to understand the consequences of her actions and she was torn between being out of character and the fact it was what a lot of adults did and there was nothing wrong with it.
It was consensual. Both parties agreed so nothing illegal happened. That eased Sophie's mind. What didn't ease Sophie mind was how uncomfortable it made her feel when she thought back on that night, knowing she knew nothing about the girl she jumped into bed with.
Sophie Webster knew Louise Kane's body before she knew her heart and it didn't sit well with her. It was unlike her to do such a thing. In past relationship, it was at least a month before anything like that happened. She didn't agree with sex so early between meeting someone new. She liked to know she and the girl she was seeing were both interested in each other before it headed upstairs, she couldn't remind herself enough.
Slowly but surely she was forgetting about it and focusing on other things like spending time with her little brother and seeing her friends more often because they were forgotten about when she was in a relationship.
However there was the time, alone at work, when it was quite and she walked into the backroom that she was reminded of Maddie Heath.
As she leaned against the kitchen worktop with a cup of tea in her hand, she remembered the times the two of them would sneak into the room and talk about their future plans, holding each other in their arms.
Maddie's departure was sudden to say the least. Why would God, if he really did exist, take away her source of happiness? Why would He take a good person out of this world when there was so much evil? It made Sophie angry, she wanted to react but she knew none of it was Maddie's fault. It was an incident of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
What upset Sophie the most was remembering that week before her death, they were planning their future together. They were going to get their own place, Maddie wanted to holiday because she never had the opportunity to as a child, it was going to be Maddie and Sophie against the world but that was taken from her too soon.
What would have happened if there was no fire on Victoria Street and Maddie hadn't agreed to go home and tell Jenny? Would she still be here or would she have ran into the flats to save Amy like Kal did because although she was fond of Simon and Amy picked on him, she still would have helped her because she wanted to be the hero of the hour? Was death the faith Maddie Heath was supposed to meet at a mare eighteen years old?
Maddie was a fighter. She fought her whole life but sadly, she lost her battle fifteen hours after the explosion. Her body couldn't pull through the head trauma and Sophie found herself planning a funeral for a girlfriend would was only in the early days of her adulthood.
Sophie believed she gave Maddie the send off she deserved. It was hard but seeing how many residents of Weatherfield agreed to come filled her heart with glee. For the wake, Sophie contacted the homeless shelter where she met Maddie on that Christmas Day and a few girls agreed to come and it was nice for Sophie to catch up with them, too. The hard person to call was Ben, Maddie's little brother. Breaking the news to him was one of the hardest things Sophie would ever have to do. How does someone tell a ten-year-old, who lives hundreds of miles away, his sister has died?
It broke Sophie's heart and the send off was an emotional one. She didn't want to let go of Maddie—how could she? She avoided going back into their room for a while and moved back in with her Mum's to help her grieve but she knew she had to be strong for Maddie, she would have hated to see her cry.
Sophie wiped away the tear that fell from her eye. How embarrassing, crying at work. What if someone walked in and saw her in a state?
It happened all so quickly, and it still hurt to think about, even half a year later...
Maybe that was what was worrying Sophie so much about Louise—she saw Maddie as The One. They made future plans and the last person she did that with was Sian and it took her nearly a year to get over her and even her relationship with Jenna had a build up to it. Sophie never had one night stands.
She was grateful when she heard the bell above the door of the corner shop rang, meaning someone was coming in, meaning she didn't have to think about Maddie or Louise again for a moment.
"Ay up, chick! How's it going?" Sean said cheerily as he walked in.
Billy rolled his eyes before walking towards Sophie. "We're here for milk, Sean."
"I know," Sean spat back, headed towards the fridge area.
"He's happy because we're going somewhere other than church tonight."
"Oh, yeah," Sophie asked. "Where you off to?"
"Gay club," Sean said as he came back, he placed his pint of milk on the counter. "It's been a while; we thought we'd enjoy a night out."
"Hey, you should come with us!" Billy pointed.
Sophie held her hand out for Sean's change. "I dunno..."
"Oh, c'mon!" Sean moaned. "You should. The last time I asked you to come out with me, you bailed because you were 'tired'," he finished with air quotes.
"That was the night we met," Billy nudged Sean's shoulder. Sophie remembered. She wasn't tired at all—Kevin was out, Sophie had the house to herself with Maddie, she took advantage of that.
She suddenly frowned. She was thinking of Maddie again. Damn it.
"Okay, I'll come with you."
The sound loud R 'n' B music was the first thing Sophie heard when she walked into the club behind Sean and Billy, along with effect smoke and bright lights and there was the smell of alcohol in the place, all the things Sophie hated about clubbing in a nutshell.
"Billy, why don't you and Sophie go find us a spot, I'll get the first round of drinks in," Sean said, looking around the crowd of people for the bar.
It was Sophie turn to get the drinks in. Honestly, she wanted to go home. Already she had two straight men came up to her asking if she was interested in a threesome. This was a gay bar, do they not understand that almost every girl in the room was not going to be interested in getting off with a bloke? Obviously not.
She pushed past the dancers getting hot and sweaty and managed to make it to the bar.
"You alright there, love? I'll be with you in a minute," a waiter shouted over the beat of the music, he was busy putting ice in a tall glass to serve.
"I got it, Ty!" his female colleague shouted back. She turned around, a smile plastered on her lips. She moved towards to wooden top, leaning forward on it. "What can I get ya –hey! Don't I know you?"
Sophie squint her eyes. She was thinking the same thing. She recognised the short brown curly hair. Scanning her eyes down the brunette's body, Sophie stopped at the arms. The waitress was wearing a short-sleeved white shirt. She noticed the rose tattoos straight away. She caught her breath.
"I remember! You're Sophie, right?"
Sophie swallowed the lump in her throat, her feet glued to the floor. The girl standing in front of her was Louise from the other night. The words going through Sophie's mind in that moment were enough to take her to hell.
"Can I just get three vodka and cokes please?"
"Sure thing," Louise turned around and did her job. Sophie took her money out—making sure it was the right amount of change—and placed it on the bar so she avoid contact with the other female.
"How do you remember me?" Sophie asked after Louise gave her the drinks. She put the straw in her hands into one of them and started sipping on it, hoping it would calm her nerves.
"You were the cute girl from that club. I never forget a cute girl," Louise winked, picking up the money and putting it in the till.
"Do you work here?" Sophie asked slowly and Ali nodded. "Why were you at AXM the other night then?"
Louise shrugged. "Change of scenery? Check out the competition? Bit of both."
"Oh..."
"What about you? Didn't you tell me this wasn't your kind of thing?"
"I'm here with some friends," Sophie chewed on her bottom lip. She did everything she could to avoid eye contact and picked out a straw from the pot in front of her and rolled it between her fingers. "They think the experience is good for me."
"Wait, does that mean you're a baby dyke? That's not what it seemed like to me the other night," Louise leaned over, confidence gleaming in her eye. Sophie wished she had that.
She didn't understand what the curly-top brunette meant by 'baby dyke'. Was it lesbian slang that she wasn't aware of? Sophie was very much someone who lived in her own bubble. She didn't need to know the ins and outs of the community. She assumed it meant inexperienced and went with it.
"I'm not."
"So you're not straight either?"
"No," Sophie breathed out. "Look, thanks for the drinks, yeah, but I need to get back."
She smiled briefly before picking up all three drinks between her hands carefully and carrying them back over to her table.
"There she is!" Sean exclaimed, nudging Billy. "We were starting to think you had coped off with a girl already and I was saying to Billy that you're not like that," he laughed.
Sophie chuckled nervously. She picked the drinks down on the table before standing up straight.
"Guys, I'm going to go," she shouted over the music.
"But we just got here!" Sean groaned. He grabbed his drink before slumming into his seat, putting the straw in his mouth and taking a small sip. Billy rolled his eyes at his boyfriend.
"Are you sure?" Billy questioned. Sophie nodded and he didn't question it further, he could see by her body language she wasn't comfortable. "Do you want us to call you a cab?"
"No, it's okay, I can manage," Sophie waved it off.
She glanced over her shoulder and could see Louise looking at her. She looked away immediately. Giving a quick wave to Billy and Sean, she made the quickest exit out the club.
