"It sounds to me like, you should be cautious but also go for it. Does that make sense?" Rosie took another biscuit from the bag lying on the bed. The girls were situated in Sophie's room. Rosie wanted to avoid conversations with both of her parental units, so opted for a quick run up to her younger sister's bedroom.
"I well, uh.." stuttered Sophie. Somehow Rosie-speak went understood with Soph. She knew what her older sister was saying but was curious how to go about it. Sophie wanted to be laid back about it, but also wanted to jump Sian at the mere sight of her.
"I think that like, the pace you are like going, is perf, but also you need to make moves to be seen more. Not just leaving it up to her yanno? But also not to over do it to where she's just over it all. I mean like, how much do you actually know about her? Besides she's well fit," Rosie asked looking down at her nails.
Sophie couldn't help but roll her eyes slightly at her sister, she was trying to help, she just couldn't stop being, well… Rosie.
"Not much actually, but not just superficial things. I know she likes music, Man U, having a drink."
"See there you go! That's enough to get something together. Make a day to watch the next match with her at a pub, something like that. Any concerts you can bring up?" asked Rosie.
"Isn't that a bit forward? I mean I just go into her work…" questioned Sophie.
"Well you obviously forgot one thing she likes Soph. You."
It wasn't possible for Sophie's face to get any redder at that moment.
"Ahh now baby sis, don't get all soft on me," Rosie said with a smile. Suddenly her phone buzzed as Sophie did her best to keep a straight face. "Okay, it looks like that big lug is finally ready to apologise. You going to be okay Soph? You know what to do now?"
Sophie nodded. She knew what she wanted to do, what she should do and how she should go about it, but can she actually manage to go through with it? Do the steps as they should be done, intrigue her, but not totally blow her off. Be around a lot but not to overwhelm her. Just because she knew what to do however, she knew she was not the person to pull it off correctly. And she even found herself doing the wrong things, even as people are telling her not to.
"Okay babe, I have to leave you to your thoughts, I gotta run. I have a grovelling boyfriend to see. Kisses. Call me sometime yeah?" And just like that, Hurricane Rosie was gone. Sophie was glad for the company and a girl's perspective on the whole thing. Even though she was a girl, obviously, she sometimes needed another girl to bounce ideas off about Sophie's impossible women problems.
Sophie showered, and put on her jammies. She wanted to go to bed before her head exploded from thinking too much. And being the first night in a while without the drink, she wanted to make sure her body was detoxed. She walked downstairs for some water, and saw Kevin sitting at the kitchen table. "Alright Dad? Where's mum?"
"She's at the Rover's. Something to do with someone's birthday. You know she doesn't tell me much anymore," said a sadder than normal Kevin.
"Dad? How do you know when to listen to your instincts and when to ignore them?" asked Sophie taking a seat across from Kevin.
"Well I'm hardly the right person to ask am I?"
"Well I know but I mean, how do you know you're doing right by someone and how do you know when it's a lost cause? I mean does it have to hurt so badly?" asked Sophie thinking back to the Erinn debacle. Sophie didn't listen to advice one bit during that time. Now advice was there and from what she could tell it was sound advice but, she still had nagging doubts. Mostly about her actions. She couldn't trust herself not to blow this if she was being honest, and she just wanted to know when to pump the brakes so to speak. She wanted all the opinions she could get.
"That's a tough one Soph. I'm assuming this has to do with why you've been out so much lately and your mood swings? Who is this about then?"
"Oh Dad, nice try. I don't want to say anything to ruin it or embarrass her.. I mean uh, them." Sophie let the "her" slip accidentally and while she normally would be open with her father, she felt like she wanted to keep it all under wraps for now in case it all went bust. "Don't say anything to mum please,"said Sophie mentally kicking herself. She thought that since Sian was the only girl she talked about since that night she slept over, Sally would put two and two together.
"Alright Soph, don't worry. I won't. We don't really talk anyway. I will admit she is a bit worried about you. Maybe you should tell her yourself."
"Daaad..." started Sophie.
"Okay okay maybe not now, but soon. She loves you, and wants to know what's been going on is all," said Kevin raising his hands as a gesture of surrender. "You obviously care about this person, maybe you should just trust your instincts and if it's meant to be, it'll happen for ya. If not, then, well maybe there was a reason for it."
Sophie nodded. "Simple enough," she thought. Every time she thought that, she knew she was being sarcastic.
"Okay Soph, if you'll excuse me I've got to get some shut eye and deal with a very rambunctious boy in the AM."
"Alright then Dad, have a good sleep.. And...thanks," said Sophie sincerely.
"No, kiddo, thank you. Let's talk like this again soon." And with a wink, Kevin bounded up the stairs. Sophie drank her water and headed back to her room. In bed, she dared look at the Snapchat of Sian's again. The dancing people, the loud music, and Sian at the end protesting being filmed. She knew there was a lot to learn about this girl, but not appearing stalker-ish is the tough part. Sophie put her phone on the charger and lay back down. When she woke up, Sian would be back or on her way back and in that moment, Sophie's heart pounded loudly in her ears. While it was invigorating it was also getting annoying how into this she was. Especially after her previous mishap. She had to go about this differently. She just had to. And with that, Sophie drifted off into a fitful night of sleep.
Waking up, Sophie felt more tired than when she went to bed. She wasn't sure what it was that woke her up exactly. A baby's cry, loud voices from downstairs, a car door closing, or a loud conversation out on the street. Either way, it was not a good start. She decided she was going to keep herself busy until her work shift that evening. Dev had asked her to take on a lot of work lately, and she gladly took it. She was saving up money, but for what she didn't know. A trip perhaps, a tattoo, a shopping spree, her own flat. It changed almost daily but she wanted to make sure she had enough money to do any of those things. Maybe even two of them! She started in on her closet and put all the clothes she didn't wear anymore into piles. Things that could be worn again, things that are too old to wear anymore, and things she was keeping. Sophie decided she was going to give the ones that can be worn again to the charity shop she volunteered at a few years ago. She always felt charitable but she could use all the good karma she could get now. Sophie was a huge believer in karma. She was Christian for a while of her own accord, but after so many conflicts the churches she went to had with homosexuality, she decided to follow the Golden Rule. Treat others as you would like to be treated. Karma came in later when she would notice things eventually catching up to bad people. Others would debate that it was how the world works, do bad things, you will eventually get caught, but to our Soph what you put out is what you get back. It was simple and easy to believe in.
Sophie went downstairs when she couldn't hear her music over her stomach growling. Also, the piles of clothing were getting almost as tall as her. She hadn't checked her phone once. She didn't want to be let down by the lack of texts and anymore photographic evidence of Sian's big night back home in Southport. If she wanted to do this right, she couldn't base things on jealousy. When Sian came back to Weatherfield, it will go (hopefully) back to where they left off.
When Sophie reached the kitchen, she saw Sally doing some breakfast dishes. "Well you're up early on a Sunday. Going back to church, eh Soph?"
"No mum, just organizing my closet. Going to give a lot to the charity shop."
"Oh that's great Sophie, real nice," Sally said almost absently. "So is there… anything you...wanted to tell me? I mean I'm here for you, and if there's anything ANYthing you want to talk about you know you can trust me don't you?"
Sophie popped some toast in the toaster, and didn't get Sally's tone until she was done talking for a few seconds. "Why, what have you heard?" Sophie turned around to look at her mum. "Geez Dad, it had only been 11 hours, and you're already at it." She knew he was trying to get back into her mum's good graces, and she could totally see Kevin sharing a bit of information to Sally to encourage a "normal" conversation.
"Well not much, but I hear it's a bit of a heart to heart style conversation. I don't have time to talk now, Carla's got us putting in overtime today because Kirk… and something to do with an order shipping to the wrong place, and well you can guess the rest. Honestly I swear that place sometimes…."
"It's not that serious mum, it was just about some doubts I had going forward with something. It's mostly sorted now. But I swear I'll let you in on the next crisis, yeah?"
"I shouldn't be too long today anyway, so maybe before you work, we can talk?" Sally was really trying, but as she knew her mum so well, she didn't want this as a discussion piece of her and Gail's and Rita's, or worse yet Norris's two cents.
"Um maybe, we'll see." Sophie made a mental note to leave early for her shift to avoid that discussion. She loved her mum dearly, but did not want to be Weatherfield's next "one to watch".
Sophie watched her mum leave over the rim of her mug of tea, and sighed. She would have to think of a back up story to tell her, in case Sally tried to make her talk again.
After grabbing some bin bags to put her clothes in, she decided she needed a shower and that she was going to zone out with some mindless mid-morning telly. She wanted a fresh clean slate and not worrying about Snapchats or Instagrams. Sophie was going to check them of course, and with great attention to detail, but she needed some time to herself to be ready for disappointment or pangs of jealousy. It was no easy feat being Sophie Webster, that's for sure.
Sophie headed into work a bit early to avoid her mum, like she had planned. She walked over not sure how she was feeling, a tad bit of anxiety, mixed with sleepiness, and a dash of nausea thrown in for good measure. She was hoping she wasn't coming down with something after all those nights out. Sophie went from 0 to about 100 when she saw blonde hair out of the corner of her eye. She looked across the street and saw Sian with her head down walking into work. Before Sophie knew what she was doing, she was speaking.
"Alright Sian?" she said with a slight crack in her voice. Sian lifted her head up.
"Hiya Sophie," Sian replied softly with a small smile. She put her head back down and kept walking to the Rover's. Soph stopped and watched her walk in. Not really the hello she was looking for but, she still smiled right? She chalked it up to Sian being a bit rough from the night before and tried not to take it personally. "Remember to play it cool Webster," her inner voice chided her. Looks like a trip to the Rover's was on the agenda again for our Sophie.