CHAPTER 2
As she lay there, warm bubbles surrounding her and the faded sounds of the city filled her ears, she thought back to exactly how she had ended up where she was right now..
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"Oh Katy, please stop going on!" She whined, closing her eyes and letting her head fall back against the leather booth.
"Come on Soph, you're twenty-five. You can't play the field forever" her friend insisted.
Sophie's eyes shot open and her head returned to its previous position as her mouth bobbed open, a little offended. "I don't 'play the field'! I date," she corrected. "I go on dates. It is allowed."
Her friend raised her eyebrows, "you haven't gone past a third date since uni."
The older brunette shuffled in her seat, "it's not my fault there was never a spark."
Katy smirked and rolled her eyes, "oh so sleeping with them on the first date means there's no spark?"
Sophie sat up straight, she hated this conversation and she'd felt the same every time she'd had it with her mates. Always trying to explain why she'd chosen to be single for so long. "Uhh, I don't sleep with everyone I go on a date! But, yes sometimes, Katy," she exaggerated the other brunettes name, "sex helps you figure out if there is a spark or whether you're only gonna be wasting each others time."
Her friend was about to speak but she felt the need to continue her side of the argument.
"We're not all lucky enough to find the love of our lives at sixteen and live happily ever after."
Katy smiled to herself as her fiancé came to the forefront of her mind and she couldn't help but glance down at the rock on her fourth finger.
"See! That's it! That's what I want" the brunette pointed.
Katy was shook from her thoughts and looked at the girl opposite her a little confused.
"I want someone that makes me feel like that. Just the thought of their face making me grin like a loon" Sophie explained picking up her wine glass.
"Hey!" the younger woman cried. "I am not a loon."
"Yeah, okay" Sophie sarcastically assured as she sipped from her glass.
The other girl giggled, "well if you want it, you have to look for it."
"Yes," the brunette agreed placing her wine glass back on the table. "Hence, the dates."
Her friend rolled her eyes once again, this time at the other girls sarcastic tone. "Someone's mardy. Still hungover from yesterdays Birthday shenanigans?"
Sophie thought back to the previous day, she had turned twenty-five and her friends had surprised her with cocktail making, wanting to make a fuss of her turning a quarter of a century. "No, just bored of having the same talk you nag me with every time I see you" she clarified.
"You're gonna have to settle at some point."
"But that's it, I don't wanna just settle" the brunette urged. Contrary to her dating history the brunette was a hopeless romantic at heart. But she didn't believe that you met someone and eventually you would learn to love them. She imagined proper love to be like a lightning bolt, not necessarily love at first sight, but a conversation at least where you'd realise you wanted to talk to that person more and more. She imagined meeting someone and her heart knowing they were the one and her mind just having to play catch-up. She wanted the whole fairytale love. She knew they weren't real, but she believed that someone could make you that happy without it having to be a fairytale. She wanted life-changing, can't live without them love and she was never gonna settle for anything less.
Katy sighed, "well you're getting to that age where all your mates are having babies or weddings."
"I'm twenty-five Katy," she pointed out. "Let's not write me off as a spinster just yet eh?"
She hated that. The pressure women her age were put under to settle down and have kids. Twenty-five for fuck sake, not fifty-five. There's plenty of fucking fuel left in my tank for fuck suck. We're not all in the 'PJ's and Slippers by 9 in time for Love Island' stage of our lives.
Wanting to move her attention elsewhere she scanned the bar they were sat in, it was one of those modern cocktail bars that Sophie and Katy would meet at regularly once a week for their happy hour. They'd share a bottle of wine and put the world to rights, instead of a roast dinner this had become their new Sunday tradition and they loved it.
They'd been friends since school and had kept close and been there for all of each others milestones; passing their driving tests, receiving their A-Level's, getting into Uni. Sophie getting her stomach pumped after one too many drinks and Katy being the one that had to explain exactly how their daughter got in that state to the Websters.
They'd been with each other through thick and thin. Through different jobs, trauma and anything life threw at them. All the dating drama's that Sophie had had Katy had been there to listen, and every fight she had had with her fiancé Sophie had been the same. They met once a week religiously on a Sunday and would phone each other mid-week to vent how their days were panning out. No matter what was going in their lives separately they always made the time for one another and neither of them could imagine the other not being there.
Sophie's eyes fell on a pair of tanned legs, one crossed over the other as the owner of them sat on one of the bar stools. She couldn't help but admire the site as her eyes travelled higher. Before she had the chance to see the person's face though, another body came into vision and blocked her view.
"Can I get you anything else?" came a voice above her. The barmaid had come over to collect their empty glasses and bottle but made a point of directing her question solely at Sophie.
She locked eyes with the red-head before looking to Katy, "want another?"
"Not for me babe" she said picking up her coat that had been laid next to her.
Sophie looked up again at the barmaid, she was cute. Her hair was in a messy bun, make-up was slightly gothic but nothing too over the top. She had tattoos on her arms and a nice figure. She had bitten her bottom lip waiting for the brunettes reply, and got a little excited that she was clearly checking her out.
"Urrm.. I may have one more, but I'll sit at the bar if that's alright?" Sophie suggested as she eyed the red-head.
"Perfect" she replied smirking.
Katy watched as the exchange took place in front of her and smiled with a slight shake of the head. That's our Sophie.
The two other girls continued their eye-lock for another moment before the third girl broke them from their gaze. "I'll be off then" she tried.
Sophie looked over and was met with her friend wide-eyed and eyebrows raised. And a small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.
"I'll have your drink waiting for you" the barmaid said as she gave her one last look before leaving the two friends alone.
"Well as if I need to ask what you've got planned for the rest of the night" Katy mumbled as she slid out of the booth and onto her feet pushing her arms into her coat.
"I dunno what you mean" the Webster girl uttered before standing in front of her friend.
"Just call me on your lunch tomorrow" she ordered as she kissed her friends cheek before turning and leaving the bar.
Sophie picked up her jacket and placed it on the hook under the bar as she pulled a stool away from the wood. The barmaid had kept her word and there was a glass of chilled white wine waiting for her. As she hopped up onto the stool she glanced around her again, now seeing the face that went with those long tanned legs she had been admiring minutes before.
Sophie watched the blonde clearly deep in thought as she twisted her wine glass by its stem over and over on the bar, her forehead slightly creased. She was leaning her chin on her free hand but Sophie could tell from what little she could see that she was a looker. She couldn't make out the colour of her eyes as she wasn't looking at the brunette and her smile was missing too as she looked thoughtfully at the liquid in her glass.
The girl sat two stools away was blonde, her hair not much shorter than Sophie's and stopped just under her shoulders. She was wearing a powder blue blouse and a black pencil skirt. She couldn't help linger her eyes over her legs once again.
The blonde was sure she could feel eyes on her so much so that it pulled her from her trance and she glanced over her shoulder and then to the right. Her eyes fell onto the brunette sat two stools over and as the seat next to her was empty she had full view of the woman that sat only a couple of metres away. She wore her hair up, held in place by a hair claw clip, but 2 strands of hair falling either side of her face. She donned a mock-neck white top that had faded pink roses placed over it and her legs were covered by the black trousers she wore.
Sophie could feel eyes on her and darted her own from toned limbs to the face that was now watching her. Both women locked eyes and the brunette was sure her breath hitched slightly as she was taken aback by the blue pools that were staring into hers. Wow. She was sure she'd never seen a blue like that before. Stop staring and smile! Stop. Staring. And. Smile. She offered an awkward smile to the woman knowing full-well she'd been caught eyeing her up.
The blonde offered a small smile back before turning her attention to her drink once again. Was she checking me out? She reached up scratching the back of her neck using the opportunity to glance back at the brunette over her arm who was now removing her phone from her pocket and scrolling through it. As if. She gently dropped her arm back to the top of the bar and sighed, she couldn't deny the other girls beauty. Her face was tanned and oval, her make-up natural and her eyes had shone brightly for the few seconds that they had been locked with her own. The blonde had noticed the way the other girls lips were perfectly curved and how cute her button nose was. Were you checking her out? Ha! Yeah, that's all you need.
Sophie nibbled at the inside of her bottom lip as she got her contacts up on her phone and pressed the plus sign to add a new number. She looked back over at the blonde but just as she opened her mouth to speak an older man sat on the stool beside her blocking her view.
"Top up?"
Sophie leaned back slightly so she could see the blonde once more but since their last staring match the blonde was now stood and watching the phone that played out the ring tone in her hand. "Huh?" Sophie mumbled, paying no attention to whoever was talking to her. She continued to watch the other girl who now had the phone to her ear and was putting on her coat.
She couldn't understand the curiosity that had come over her about this blonde. She was stunning obviously, and her figure looked amazing, her pencil skirt hugging her hips perfectly but the way she was staring her down was almost shameful. Sophie didn't understand the feeling that had come over her or the need for her to talk to this girl. With other women she'd been confident, relaxed, not caring whether they really liked her or not, but she felt the urge to at least have one conversation with the owner of those beautiful sapphires for eyes. It could've been about the weather, she didn't care, she just wanted to capture her attention again.
"Do you want another?" the barmaid questioned again, a little irritated with being ignored the first time.
"Yeah, just put your number in there" Sophie stated mindlessly as she pushed her phone in front of the barmaid, the contacts screen still open and her eyes still focussing on the blonde as she walked out of the door. You're not chasing her down for fuck sake. Don't even flaming well think about it. Get a grip. Disappointedly Sophie sat up straight in the stool.
"There ya go gorgeous, I thought you'd never ask" the red-head joked handing the other girl her phone back.
"Thanks.." she glanced at the name that had been entered in her phone "..Abbie"
The barmaid smiled, "did you want that top up?"
The brunette looked down at her almost full glass knowing the barmaid had just used it as an excuse to come over and initiate a further conversation.
Pushing to the back of her head the sexy blonde that had just left, she crossed her arms and leant on the bar. "How about.." she started as she glanced down at the opposite girls lips, "you give me an idea of what I could do for you."