Sophie had been cleaning herself up over at Sian's flat when her mobile rang. Her flat was conveniently located close to school so Sophie had gotten into the habit of dropping by. Luckily Sian had given her a key. She stepped out of the shower to see Sian sipping tea in the kitchen. In the last little while the two of them had gotten ridiculously domestic.
"Yer phones ringing, should I answer it?" Sian shouted.
"Whose calling?" Sophie called out from the bathroom. She slipped on her robe and walked over to where her mobile was buzzing.
"Oh Hiya Alex…Yeah…sure we can meet up…aye…but I'm not at my place…I'll text you the addy…OK… 20 minutes…bye…" she hung up.
Sophie noticed that her girlfriend was staring at her. She could be fuming which was never good. Sophie retreated back to the bathroom.
"Who was that?" Sian leaned in the bathroom door.
"Oh just Alex from the school I volunteer at. I told you that he's been helping me," she said moving thru the living room to grab some clothes. She wasn't sure whether to be dress casually or a bit more grown up. Alex was about 5 years older and she liked working with him. Although sometimes she felt like a muppet around him, he was always dead nice about it.
"Yeah he's going to take me for some tea babe" she said throwing on a green blouse. It was nice, but not too nice. "Can I borrow your leather jacket?" Sophie asked remembering that she had forgotten it at home this morning.
"You look nice" Sian said with a bit of a tone that Sophie did not like. Sophie crossed her arms in front of her chest and tried to remember to breathe. She had worked really hard on not getting shouty. Of keeping her cool. But when she didn't understand why Sian was being a mardy cow it was rough.
"Okay what's wrong? Whut have I done now?" Sophie sighed.
"I just think that this bloke is getting a bit too close to you" Sian said as she headed to the kitchen. She put on another kettle as Sophie followed her.
Sophie laughed out loud. This was rich.
"Well at least now that I'm in school again I can understand the definition of irony. Two words for you: Tommy Duckworth" Sophie shot back.
"Hey now! That was about a million years ago and I shut it down before anything happen'd" Sian replied.
"All right then here's another: Jay Garret" Sophie argued back.
"We were on a break!" Sian shouted back.
The teakettle boiled over and started to spout.
"Kettle's boiled" Sophie pointed out. Sian turned around to deal with it. Sophie grabbed her bag and walked around the counter. She knew that she had to settle this or she'd be nothing but nerves. She took a deep breath. Wrapping her arms around the other girl she pecked her on the lips. "Don't be daft. It's nothing and if it was it wouldn't matter because it's you and me babe," Sophie said softly.
If you looked up English schoolteacher in the dictionary you'd find a picture of Alex, all the way down to the sweater vest. He was from the south so he spoke much posher, but otherwise he was all right.
"So it's better to use these numbers here to get to x," Alex pointed out as they poured over Sophie's maths. She really owed him a debt since he managed to make this goobley-gook into something clear. He also didn't make her feel too daft while doing it.
"I really should be paying you for this tutoring" Sophie said as she took a sip of her tea.
"Don't be daft. It's nothing" Alex demurred leaning back in his seat. "Y'know if you wanted to, if you're free that is, we could go get a meal say tomorrow night" Alex tried to slip out casual-like. Sophie tried to stifle a giggle. Do men really think that sort of chat up talk works? It was a bit sad that she'd have to let him down easy. He seemed like a nice bloke. Also Sian would be so hard to handle with the gloating. Sophie will have to hear about it for at least a week. She wasn't looking forward to it.
Sophie cleared her throat.
"I don't think that my girlfriend would appreciate it. Unless it's as friends only" Sophie said as nicely as she could. She had gotten less agro about this kind of thing over the years.
"Oh…I'm sorry…didn't know" he went a bit red but then regained his confidence.
"It's okay…most don't because I don't have the short hair and biker wear" Sophie laughed. And she never would.
"Did I pick you up from your girlfriend's flat?" he asked with his gears turning.
"Yeah here's a pic of her," she said showing him a picture from her phone.
"Pretty" he said handing her the phone back.
"Too good for me" Sophie said putting it away. "I hope that doesn't freak you out. Wouldn't have made it this far without your help" Sophie said softly. She wasn't lying. It had been hard trying to get back into coursework. Sophie didn't like being so old and having it not come as easy as it used to be. At least he never made her feel daft or out of place. It was always a hard moment when you have to tell them that for the first time. Everyone just assumes that you are one way and that's what makes it difficult. It means that you are constantly having to explain yourself to a person, which gets tiring. Sometimes Sophie almost wished that she could wear a sign over her chest that would stop her from having to talk about it. She'd just point to the sign and wait for it to make sense.
"No, No. Can't say I'm not disappointed though" Alex said suddenly very interested in his plate.
"Hey, I can't help it that I'm so hot. Sometimes fate isn't kind" Sophie laughed mockingly. "Friends aye?" Sophie asked.
He nodded that it was okay.
She came back to the flat to find Sian sitting on the sofa watching telly. Sophie flopped down next to her.
"Hey" Sophie said turning toward her girlfriend.
Sian kept her eyes on the telly. Yep, she was still mad.
Sophie put her head on Sian's shoulder. It was stiff for a moment but eventually she felt it relent. They snuggled into each other.
"You were right y'know," Sophie said slowly.
"Of course I was," she said haughtily. Sian always loved winning an argument.
"He just asked me out, which I shut down," Sophie quickly added.
"Well as long as you did that then I won't go and kill him," Sian said shuffling in her seat.
"Good because he was dead nice about it and he can't help it that I'm irresistible," Sophie said hoping to make a joke about it. But to be honest it was nice being on the other end of the stick for once. Sophie knew that she didn't get half the attention her girlfriend did. But then again she was gorgeous so it had to be so. Either way it's nice when someone finds you attractive whether you intend to do something about it or not.
"Oh listen to you my god" Sian said rolling her eyes.
Sophie's mobile buzzed. She got up to take the call in the other room.
Coming back about 20 minutes later she was noticeably happier. She flopped back down on the couch into her previous position.
"Well who was that? Or am I going to have to chain you down with all these affairs your having?" Sian said a bit irritated.
"Oi! As If! Hayley's coming to visit her mum and wants to crash at mine next week," Sophie explained. It was only fair since she had put up Sophie twice already. And it will be a good laugh seeing her again.
"Well I don't know how I feel about your ex-girlfriend staying here while I'm gone" Sian said a bit mardily.
"First of all she was never my girlfriend and where are you going?" Sophie asked. She honestly didn't see what Sian was playing at.
"Have to go to Newcastle for a week and settle the rest of Dad's stuff there. Have to leave tomorrow on the train" she explained with a hint of sadness about it. Sophie knew that all this was hard on the older girl. She tried to be supportive about it but it really made her want to kick off about it. Vinnie had been awful about his only daughter. Now it was up to her to sort out his things only because no one else would.
"I can take you to the station babe" she offered. Sian just shook her head indicating that it wasn't necessary.
They settled into the couch watching TOWIE and trying not to focus on anything but the present.
Sophie awoke with a start. Her chest clenched and pumped as if it'd leap from her chest like a cartoon. The clock flashed 3:00 AM. Thank god she had gone home to sleep in her own bed tonight otherwise she'd have scared her girlfriend half to death.
She didn't know if it was a bad dream (her mind had wiped clean) but what she did know was that she didn't feel good not at all. Her stomach in knots she got up to see if some walking around would help. Between her heart and stomach she could barely stand on wobbly legs.
Something was definitely wrong.