Chapter Eleven

Sophia sat down on the edge of her bed, picking at a hole on the knee of her jeans. Her bedroom was the opposite of Piper's bedroom. Sure, she had a bigger room but it was bare. Piper had posters on her walls, pictures of friends and her dad and uncle nearly covering her mirror, clothes strewn around on the floor, names carved into the side of her dresser. Piper even had what she called a "vent wall" where she would draw or paint. It was her own space filled with mementos of her life. Every inch of the space screamed Piper. Sophia's room seemed sterile in comparison. Like someone took a clip out of a magazine and plopped it into their house.

Ed wouldn't tolerate a mess.

She stood up, pacing the floor. She was so angry. Why wouldn't her mom just listen to her? She had always been the daughter that she thought Carol needed her to be. She was always quiet. Always understanding. She was always whatever she needed to be to make her mother's life easier. And in the process of being what her mother needed, she became someone she didn't even know. She felt like a prisoner, not just in her own home but in her own head. She couldn't just be Sophia. She had to be what her mother needed and her father expected her to be. And she felt so cheated that she was angry enough to hit something.

Last night Piper's dad had woken up and caught the boys in the house. They weren't really doing anything but sitting around in Piper's room and talking but Piper knew that they weren't suppose to be there. When Merle had stomped into the room Sophia braced herself for the violence that would ensue. Merle had threatened to string all of the boys up by the balls if they didn't get the fuck out of his house. Sophia had been terrified, not knowing what Merle would do to Piper after the boys left. She'll never forget what had happened next.

Piper had stood up, fists clenched and stormed right after her dad through the house. She had demanded to know why he was being such a "tyrannical ass". Merle had simply shrugged, told her that if she was going to throw a hissy fit like some little girl then he was going to force her to go to school in a dress and then, to Sophia's astonishment he'd laughed at her outrage.

If Sophia ever spoke to Ed like that she was sure he would beat her to death.

Piper was allowed to be Piper and Sophia never had a chance to be anyone at all. Her phone went off, startling her and she smiled at the name that popped up.

"Hello?"

"Dude," Piper said quickly. "My uncle is totally stupid over your mom! This is awesome!"

Sophia laughed. "How do you know?"

"Oh I know. I know the guy better than anybody. I can tell just by the look on his face when he came down. This goofy ass grin. I've never seen it before."

"Well, that's a start," Sophia said with a smile.

"It's more than a start, dude. We need to pop some popcorn and sit back and watch this unfold. I have a feeling things are totally gonna be a lot more interesting around here."

"Good," Sophia sat, flouncing on her bed gracelessly.

~H~

Carol sat alone in the dimly lit kitchen. Sophia hadn't said much to her since her outburst in the car and Carol was convinced that the things that had happened in the last twenty four hours hadn't really bothered the girl as much as she thought they would. She wasn't sure how she felt about that. Most kids would have been scarred from something like that. Her daughter was a lot tougher than she looked, and deep down, the girl was also a lot more angry than she had ever let on. It had her reevaluating a lot.

She jumped when the shrill ringing of the house phone startled her out of her thoughts. She didn't even look at the display before answering, knowing that the only person that had the number was Ed. Thankfully he didn't make a habit of wanting to talk to her because the caller id had shown no missed calls. "Hello?"

"Guess what I found."

Carol's pulse quickened and her body jumped more than a few degrees in temperature at the sound of that husky voice. Memories of that rough timbre in her ear talking about stupid decisions swirled through her mind. She glanced around the room but she was still alone. "My underwear?"

He laughed and the sound of it had her smiling widely. "Nah. Did find your bra though. Somehow it ended up under my pillow. Coulda swore I got rid of that thing on the stairs."

"Are you calling me just to tell me that you found my bra?" She grinned as she leaned against the counter. She could listen to that voice all night long.

"Nope, I got better news than that. I was thinkin' about keepin' that as a trophy anyway so I you can't have it back. Don't even ask. Somebody found your jacket though and left it behind the bar. Your phone was in the pocket."

"Oh! That's great. I wasn't sure how I was going to explain that one."

"You want me to bring it by?" He asked suddenly.

Carol chewed on her lip and then sighed. "Yes, I do but not with Sophia here. After everything I don't think it'd be a good idea for her to see us..."

"Then I'll bring it later. Trust me, she won't even know I'm there."

"How much later?" She asked, glancing at the clock.

"I'll just wake you up if I have to."

"I'm not leaving my door unlocked," she said quickly. She looked up as Sophia entered the room.

"Don't leave it unlocked," he said casually and she could almost see him shrugging nonchalantly.

"Okay..."

"You want me there?" He asked but his voice sounded like he already knew the answer to that.

"Yes," she said, not hesitating.

"Then I'll be there."

"How?"

"You can't really talk right now, can you?"

"No, I can't," she said with a smile, her eyes following Sophia as she rummaged through the refrigerator.

"You know, I can wait and just give it to Piper and she can pass it on to Sophia at school."

"Is that what you'd rather do?" She asked, knowing that that wasn't what she wanted him to do but she wasn't going to grovel and beg him to come see her.

"No," he deadpanned. "I'll see ya later, Carol." With that, he hung up.

"Who was that?" Sophia asked once Carol sat the phone down.

Carol wasn't going to lie to her. Well, not really. "Daryl. He found my phone."

Sophia leaned against the counter and eyed her. "You like him a lot?"

Carol blew out a breath. "Yes. I like him. If I didn't like him then..."

"Then you wouldn't have slept with him?" Sophia quirked an eyebrow at her.

Carol felt her face flush. "That isn't what I was going to say."

"I met a guy that I like," Sophia said suddenly.

Carol stared at her for a few long moments and then she smiled. "That's nice. Where did you meet him?"

Sophia shrugged. "School. His dad is a member of that club. Him and Piper and a few other guys grew up together. I think you'd like him."

Carol wasn't sure what to say. Sophia was old enough to be interested in boys but she'd never shown any interest before. Ed had rules about things like this but Carol wasn't about to tell her that she couldn't date. Not after what she had done. "You should invite him over."

"What about Ed's rules?" Sophia asked, her eyes guarded.

Carol hopped up onto the counter, her legs swinging back and forth. "I thought about what you said today. And I think that things around here really do need to change. I can't tell you that I'm leaving your father again. Not yet. Things are so much more complicated than you realize. But this week has been..." Her voice trailed off.

"This week has been great, mom," Sophia said softly.

Carol nodded. "It has. I feel like this is the first time we've ever been able to just be ourselves. We've had fun together. I think things need to stay that way."

"Ed won't ever let that happen."

Carol nodded. "He won't like it. It'll be hard at first but I think he'll get used to it."

"And if he doesn't? You say this now but I know what's gonna happen when he comes here. It's all going to go back to how it's always been."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. I just want to know, if you've felt this way all along, why haven't you said anything to me? Why mention it this week, after we've bought this house?"

Sophia hopped up on the counter next to her. "Because I don't want to make things harder on you. I know how hard things are already and I don't want to make it worse. I'm just tired. I'm so tired and I'm too young to feel this tired."

Carol placed her hand over her daughter's. "Sophia, it isn't your job to take care of me."

Sophia nodded. "I know that. But I also know that you've kept him away from me for all these years. What kind of person would I be if I made it worse?"

Carol smiled. "You would be a teenager, Sophia."

"And I also know that you think that whole thing with Daryl has me upset but it really doesn't. I want you to be happy."

Carol felt guilt settle in her chest but she smiled through it. "You are really something else."

Sophia snorted. "Yeah, I'm starting to think maybe I get that from you. Who would have guessed that my mother was a cougar."

Carol's mouth dropped open. "Seven years isn't that much. It isn't like he's twelve!" She used his own words.