Sophie could barely hide her excitement running that short distance to The Bistro. On her way she happened to see Ryan across the street. "Of course," she thought.
"Alright Soph? Did you get my text?", asked Ryan walking towards her.
"Uh yeah Ryan, I'm sort of busy though. Meeting Sian at The Bistro for a.."
"Oh yeah, I probably won't go there," interrupted Ryan looking toward the restaurant. Sophie looked at him. How do you tell one of your best mates you weren't exactly inviting him anyway? Sophie didn't mean to be so blunt, but there's no way he could even think he could come along.
"Okay Ryan, I'll text you later yeah?" said Sophie almost out of breath and mirroring their encounter from a few nights previous. She walked away from Ryan backwards and pointing behind her to The Bistro.
"Oh, alright Sophie," said Ryan quietly. "Ugh, I do not have time to massage your ego right now Ryan!" Sophie thought.
"Ta!" said Sophie turning around, trying not to break into a full sprint to the front door of the eatery. When she grabbed hold of the door she stopped to catch her breath, and tried to open the door as nonchalant as possible, if that was even a thing to achieve. When she walked into the restaurant, she quickly looked at the small bar set up there. She saw Sian looking down at her phone, the bright light from the screen lighting up her face in a bluish glow. She looked up from her phone and locked eyes with a yet again out of breath Sophie Webster. Sian smiled at her and motioned for her to come over. An older gentleman was sitting on the other side of Sian.
"Sophie this is Pete, Pete this is Sophie," said Sian with a look that Sophie didn't recognize.
"Hello Pete," said Sophie sitting down slowly. She was eager to find out what this situation with Pete was, but also just glad to be in Sian's general vicinity. She smiled at Sian and lightly bumped her shoulder against the blonde's. Sian smiled shyly in return.
"Pete is one of the Rover's regulars from before I was born, isn't that right Pete?" Sian said facing the gentleman. She turned around and leaned close to Soph, "Or so he says." She rolled her eyes, "He won't leave me alone, keeps buying me drinks. Help!"
As Sophie was about to reply, Leanne came from the kitchen to the bar in her usual "just heard some bad news" way and glanced at the blushing brunette. "Hi Sophie, what'll you have?"
"A club soda please."
"Whaat? That's not right, get her what I'm drinking, a whiskey and seven," said a disgruntled Pete. He wanted everyone in on the act it seemed.
"Oh no no. I'm not drinking tonight. Been at it too much lately. Thanks though Pete," said Sophie leaning forward to look him in the eye.
"Hogwash! Get this young lady a drink," he insisted. Leanne threw up her hands and started making the cocktail. Sian was still facing Sophie and mouthed the word "Hogwash?" to her and started laughing. Sophie was trying to keep a straight face since she was still facing Pete.
"Thanks Leanne, and thanks Pete," Sophie held up her drink towards the older man. He winked in return. She then focused her attention on the very hot blonde next to her. "Did you work today? Is that where you.. and him 'met up'?"
Sian playfully smacked Sophie on the arm. "Yes I worked earlier and didn't feel like going home yet. So I sat here and decided to wait on a very tardy shopkeeper. Didn't know he would follow me," said Sian motioning over her shoulder.
"Oh yeah, I bet you have your little groupies all over the place, eh? And I wasn't that tardy! Not my fault Dev was late," said Sophie taking a sip of her strong drink. "Oi!" she said as she mixed the cocktail with her straw.
"Weak Webster. Weak," Sian said with a sarcastic headshake. She then put tucked her hand under Sophie's arm and held on to her inner elbow. Sophie instantly felt on fire from her touch. Not in a tingling way, but like full on flames. She wanted to take off her coat but didn't want to disrupt the moment or the gesture. "I'll just roast to death, don't mind me," she thought.
Sian's drink was almost empty and Pete was having none of it and ordered another vodka and coke for her. Sian protested but Pete ignored her and as she turned to face him Sophie took the opportunity to take off her coat. She was sure anyone that was watching her could see steam coming from her body. "Alright Pete but this is the last one. Let me buy you one for a change," Sian offered.
"Women don't buy me drinks unless they want something from me. Do you want something from me?" he asked slightly slurring. Sian quickly shook her head no. "Then I'm buying the drinks young lady."
Sian could barely stifle her laugh, and quickly turned around to Sophie and hugged her. She laughed over Soph's shoulder as if it would be quieter and while it was fun and games for Sian, Sophie was dying in her arms. DYING.
After the embrace, the girls then started chatting about their days, how their respective families were, just general chit chat with jokes thrown in by Sophie to lighten the mood. Again they were getting closer and more touchy as the night went on. Sophie wasn't drinking that fast and Sian wasn't paying attention anymore, and after a good while they noticed Pete had left. The girls could have been on their own planet for all they knew, they were so into each other's topics of conversation. Sian kept crossing her legs in a way that had her knee resting on Sophie's lap and Sophie would place her hands on Sian's leg. Totally natural. Sophie was in heaven.
"I absolutely hate, HATE when people cover Beatles songs. I do. To me, the songs are already perfect. There's no way anyone could make them better. Yes there are good tributes, but they are rare. Joe Cocker, Earth Wind and Fire, Frank Sinatra.. but that's it Sian. THAT'S IT! No exceptions!" The girls had been chatting for 2 solid hours, with only bathroom breaks as the sole interruption.
"Alright steady on Soph, I thought the Aerosmith version of…"
"No Sian, NO!" said Sophie playfully poking her. Sian couldn't help but giggle.
"Okay what about Manc bands then? Madchester? Hacienda and that…"
Sophie's heart swelled at Sian's musical knowledge and thought she could literally talk her head off about it, so she refrained. "Yeah, New Order, Joy Division, The Smiths, Happy Mondays are solid. Saw Morrissey last year actually.. but uh, I hate to change the subject um but.. I'm getting hungry. Are you?"
"Yeah I could eat," said Sian rubbing her nose (adorably Sophie thought).
"We could eat here or I think the chippy is still open. Fancy some grease?"
"Oh go on then," said a smiling Sian grabbing her leather jacket.
The girls walked out of The Bistro in good spirits. Sophie had to fight the urge to grab Sian's hand but instead linked arms with the blonde. They walked by Sophie's house and she nervously looked at the front door, hoping and wishing that nothing out of the ordinary was going to happen. She could just imagine Rosie in a skimpy outfit walking out or her parents having a very loud row. Sophie quickened her pace until they were out of earshot.
"What Sophie? What's wrong?" asked Sian.
"Oh just avoiding an embarrassing situation."
"I know your family, nothing to be ashamed of. You haven't met my folks. NOW THAT is an embarrassing situation," said Sian. Sophie made another mental note to ask about her family situation later on. She didn't want to make it awkward since the night was going so well.
After ordering and receiving their food they moved outside across from the Rover's and sat on a green bench. Sophie sighed and looked away from Sian. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she was at her most relaxed just then. In that moment she was the most anxiety free she had been in a couple of weeks and maybe it was the whiskey and maybe it was being full of food, but she was about 99% sure it was Sian. Sian made her both anxious and relaxed. Sophie didn't want to over analyse it but this was different than how it was with Erinn. Erinn only made her feel anxious, which looking back, yeah that was part of the appeal, but this side of being with someone she wanted, the relaxed part, was all new. It was like she could be herself and all her anxiety was from her own insecurities, it wasn't Sian at all. She was just so mysterious it was confusing at times. And she wasn't going to lie, it was nice for a change. Nice to have a bit of confidence and nice to feel like her company wasn't a burden.
"Oi Sophie, you're always zoning out! What is it this time?"
"I was just thinking why I decided eating all of that was a good idea," answered Sophie with an embarrassed laugh.
"I know, you haven't said two words since we started eating," replied Sian.
"Alright, I need to concentrate! Don't make fun," said Sophie in a fake angry voice.
Sian leaned closer to Sophie. "I'm sorry, can you forgive me?" Sian gave her best pouty look and put her arms around Sophie's shoulders.
Sophie reached out and put her hands on Sian's sides. "Well okay. THIS TIME. You get one of those Powers. ONE!" she said with a laugh. Sophie was trying not to explode from happiness and stopped breathing when she realized Sian was leaning in closer. Soph froze on the spot, and before she knew what was happening, Sian was softly kissing her lips. Despite Sophie's awkward positioning on the bench, she kissed back timidly. As Sian was pulling away, Sophie reached up between Sian's arms that were still on her shoulders and cupped the blonde's face and pulled her back in. Sophie had been waiting for this moment for days and sure as heck wasn't going to let it pass her by. Sian smiled at the gesture and the two of them kissed each other not in a rough way, but in such a way that showed the feelings they had for each other. Sophie knew she was good at this, she had been told before a few times, and stopped to reposition herself on the bench. She knew this was a good time to go deeper with the kissing and the next time she attached herself to Sian's lips, she lightly introduced her tongue. She heard a slight whimper from Sian and she swore her ears were going to burn clean off of her head. At this point she didn't care if anyone saw them or if anyone was around or if the world was ending, she reached up to put her hand through the blonde's amazing hair. This moment was everything. The world turned, the sun shone, the stars burned brightly and this. Sophie did not want to lose this moment. She also didn't want to ruin it, so she kept it light. She didn't start reaching for Sian's anatomy or try to disrobe her. She had one hand in Sian's hair and the other on Sian's lower back. The girls pulled apart with the biggest grins on their faces. Sophie looked around quickly in case her relatives or Norris or Ryan could see them.
"That was nice Sophie. Like really nice. You're incredibly cute you know that?"
"You're not so bad yourself," said Sophie after clearing her throat. She didn't want to overwhelm Sian with how amazingly drop dead gorgeous she thought she was, so she downplayed it a tad.
Just then Sophie heard a buzzing and Sian slowly put her hand down from the back of Sophie's neck and reached in her pocket for her phone. As she looked at the screen, Sian's face dropped as well as her other arm from Sophie's shoulder. "What is it Sian?"
"Oh nothing but…." Sian didn't finish her sentence. "I don't know, it's weird. Have you ever got a text from someone you haven't heard from for a while? Like just randomly?"
"Yeah, it's weird when it happens," said Sophie trying not to just float off into the night's sky from happiness. Sian put her phone away but still looked puzzled.
"I mean there's a reason why we don't talk anymore. I wonder what he wants," Sian said. Sophie's bubble burst and she came crashing back to Earth. She was guessing Sian was thinking aloud, and probably didn't know she was doing it.
"Who?" asked Sophie with a slight crack in her voice.
"Oh no one. No one important. Anyway where were we?" asked Sian looking into Sophie's eyes but without the same feeling as before. Soph noticed Sian was slightly distracted. Whoever texted her spooked her a bit, and Sophie was annoyed that they had destroyed their great moment.
"I was going to ask if you had plans tomorrow actually," said Sophie trying to steer the conversation back to her and them, and what had just happened.
"Yeah I have a day off of the Rover's and was going to head back home to see my mum. She's also been harping on me to come spend time with her. It's weird. When I'm there, they want me gone, but now that I'm gone, they want me there. Both my mom and dad are guilt tripping me."
"Want to trade? Haha," Sophie was trying to keep it light and also trying to hide her disappointment that she wouldn't be seeing Sian the next day.
"Let's just share your parents, deal?" replied Sian with a smirk. They sat there in a comfortable silence for a few mins, then Sian not so successfully stifled a yawn.
"Aw you tired babe? We can go now if you want," Sophie hadn't meant to say babe like that but it just sort of came out. Sian acted like she didn't notice at first but as Sian stared straight ahead over Sophie's shoulder, she slowly smiled.
"Yeah I should get home. Thanks Sophie, tonight was really nice."
"I had a great time Sian. Have fun tomorrow yeah? She at least wants to see you, that's a good thing right?"
Sian shrugged. "Yeah I suppose."
"Text me sometime. I mean... if you want. That wasn't an order or anything," said Sophie, feeling a blush coming over her face.
"Incredibly cute Webster, incredibly cute," said Sian as she leaned in for another kiss. "And I will text you…. Babe."
Sophie kissed back but couldn't help laughing at Sian's usage of the word back to her. They pulled out of the lingering kiss and Sian winked at her. "See yas Sophie."
"Yeah I hope so. Bye Sian," Sophie said as Sian walked away towards her house. Sophie looked up at the sky and noticed the stars were shining extra bright tonight. "Thank you," she said to the sky. She stood up and headed home.