Chapter Seven

Oscillation and Pressure

The voices of the excited crowd echoed throughout the unfamiliar gym. The sitting stands were getting fuller and fuller by the minute with anxious parents and cheerful schoolmates. Some had face paints with the colors of the respective school, others, less extravagant, were content to just hold a flag or a poster or even just wearing clothes with the desired colors. The environment was of that excitement typical of sports. The school mascots and the cheerleaders were already on the court, cheering the crowd and being very successful at it.

Sophie was lost in a sea of faces she had never seen before. She didn’t know anyone. She sat in one of the tallest stands, for she was one of the first to arrive. She sat timidly and alone – she hadn’t told anyone she was coming. Not even Adrian, though he suspected. When he asked her, the day before, if she had thought about his invitation, she said she may go but probably wouldn’t. He took that as a yes. And he was right. She knew she was going, she just didn’t tell him because she was still somewhat trying to punish him for bailing on their meeting. She hadn’t even told Charlotte, because she would insist in coming along, but after another week of daily talks with Adrian, she finally felt at ease about meeting him, and she wanted to do it on her own. The only one who knew was Aaron – because she asked him to drop her there.

She sat there in some pretty regular skinny jeans, a long tank-top with a longer thin jacket on top of it, a scarf and a pair of comfortable tennis-shoes, her hair as savage and curly as ever. Absolutely no green. She wouldn’t waste her time trying to impress him again. She felt pretty anxious herself, she was finally going to see him, and in his element nonetheless. Before the game started she watched the cheerleaders with a little knot in her stomach. They were all beautiful and talented – one of them must be the girl Adrian had spent that night with. Looking at the girls, so pretty and flexible, she wished she had made just a little bit of effort.

Soon enough, the teams entered the game field. Her heart could compete in the Olympics as it raced in anticipation and she immediately looked for the home team, searching for the guy wearing the number 7 on his back – Adrian’s number. It wasn’t easy, for as soon as the teams got onto the field, the public all rose up, clapping their hands, calling player’s names, whistling and cheering them on. In between all the heads, bodies and raised arms, she finally saw him – and she immediately sat down again.

She couldn’t believe it. He had been telling her the truth. The arrogant jock had been telling her the truth. She peeked one more time just to make sure she’d seen him right.

Yup. There he was. He was – and there really wasn’t another word she could think of at the moment – hot. Incredibly hot. All her hope and fears were now reality – Adrian was a really good looking guy. Worse – he was painfully aware of it, apparently.

He was taller than her, which wasn’t that difficult since she was considerably short, but still not as tall as Aaron, which again wasn’t difficult because her brother was a living tower. His skin was a beautifully tanned tone and beneath his clothes, she could tell, was an athlete’s body, not too lean, not too muscular, but toned – just perfect. He had an attractive boyish face and bright eyes, though due to the distance, she couldn’t tell if they were blue or green. His hair was dark brown and very messy in a very attractive way and she couldn’t help but get the embarrassing urge to lock her fingers in it. Oh, God.

Damn.

Maybe he lied. Maybe it really wasn’t him. He could be just messing with her. Yeah, that could definitely happen. For all she knew, he could really be the tuba dude (who really rocked it at the beginning in a fantastic solo performance, by the way).

Suddenly, in between all the yelling, she managed to hear a woman’s voice calling, “Adrian!” The handsome guy turned around, smiled and waved at the person who called him. It really was him.

Damn.

His lopsided smile was even sexier than she had imagined.

Dammit! Dammit! Goddammit!

Following his eyes, she managed to find the people he was waving to. It was a beautiful blond woman, her eyes looked as bright as his, and a cute, energetic little boy jumping up and down who looked like a miniature version of him. No doubt, Andrea and Kevin.

Sophie locked her attention on Adrian again. Almost as if he could feel it, his eyes wandered into her direction. She tried to hide behind the large bald man in front of her. There was no way in hell she would ever let him see her now. He was so attractive and she was so… Sophie. It would be a terrible disappointment to him. He belonged with a beautiful girl, just like the cheerleaders. She felt all her previous confidence quickly wash away from her, as if it was scared and running away – which was not such a bad idea, maybe she should follow her confidence, leave the building and hide under her bed.

His gaze passed through her spot and she could see him scanning the crowd, his smile slowly fading, a look of anxiety on his alluring features. She got the feeling that he might be looking for her and she only relaxed once she reminded herself that he couldn’t recognize her. Still, she tried to hide, lest he notice the clouds of paranoia floating above her head, all Sophie-ish.

Sorry Adrian.

After a while, the game finally began and if Sophie was already scared and amazed at his looks, seeing that he was a pretty damn good basketball player didn’t help her anxiety at all. Dear lord.

Why couldn’t he be the tuba dude?

Throughout the whole game, she could not lift her eyes off of him. It was weird attributing an unfamiliar face to the now familiar voice she had heard every day for weeks.

She could tell he was beloved by his teammates and by the public (and cheerleaders) and one of the stars of the team. He could definitely go for a scholarship, as was his wish. Sophie smiled every time he scored, not only because he always pointed to his mother and brother, who always celebrated very enthusiastically, but also because his eyes always ran through the whole crowd – was he really looking for her? She felt stupid then, for not being brave enough to just rise up and celebrate with him, call his name and wave and encourage him. But no matter how much she wanted to, her insecurities and embarrassment just wouldn’t leave, on the contrary, the more he succeeded, the more her fears grew and more and more scenarios involving him rejecting her were born in her mind.

The match ended and the home team won. Almost everyone on the audience was celebrating, the teams were shaking hands and the school’s mascot was beyond excited. Sophie herself was clapping and jumping, like her own team had won. It was a tough match and they didn’t win by that much. They all seemed tired, but relieved that it was over. Some of the players went near the stands, to talk to some of the witnesses of their victory – Adrian was one of them. She saw him holding Kevin as he briefly talked to his mother, before she took the little boy from his arms and walked towards the door. But Adrian lingered, he remained in his place watching and observing everybody. Was he waiting for her?

Alright, it was go time. She couldn’t leave him hanging. She was going to face him head on. No big deal. It was time, that’s why she came. She wasn’t a coward. She was going to do this.

Sophie took a deep breath and forced herself to fake the courage she was severely lacking. She walked to him, slowly, her hands shaking a little. He was not going to reject her. She was not going to be embarrassed. She was doing it. She started to walk faster, afraid that she might lose whatever tiny, weak streak of confidence she was feeling. He hadn’t seen her in the middle of the crowd that was now spread across the gym, but he was going to look in her direction soon. Sophie stepped on people and apologized, bumped into anybody possible and apologized, squeezed in between families and apologized until, faster than she was expecting, she had almost reached him and he was almost seeing her. However, soon enough, she stopped dead on the spot. Someone had reached him first – a gorgeous girl who put her arms around his neck. She still had her cheerleader outfit on and she had been the one doing all the graceful ninja maneuvers earlier. She let go of his neck, only to grab his face and kiss his lips with a devouring passion.

Sophie felt a mixture of things in her that were hard to describe – was it anger? Sadness? Embarrassment? Jealousy? Confusion? Disappointment? Or just the sudden realization that her fears were about to come true at any moment? Maybe all of the mentioned, but also something more… It was like a hell of a punch in the stomach – it hurt, it was painful.

Not wanting to stick around for another second, she turned on the spot and left the building as fast as she could without running. She felt humiliated. What was she thinking? He wasn’t waiting for her, he was waiting for his beautiful, talented girlfriend.

What an idiot.

When she reached the freedom of the outside she saw the best thing that she could’ve hoped for at the moment – Aaron. Aaron had, apparently, been waiting for her all this time. She noticed a few girls, leaving the gym like her, shooting him a few glances and giggles, making Sophie roll her eyes. Aaron wasn’t handsome in the traditional sense, but his demeanor and charm somehow made him attractive to girls. Nevertheless, he seemed blissfully unaware of it, his attention on his cellphone and his hoodie covering up his peripheral vision (hiding the curly hair he hated). He was leaning into his old car, with his headphones on his ears, drinking something that she suspected was a beer. Not having the emotional space to feel shocked at her brother’s lack of common sense and basic responsibility, she could only feel incredibly thankful to him. All she wanted was to get away as fast as possible.

“What’s with the face? You look scared or something,” he told her as soon as she got closer to him.

“Nothing,” she quickly lied, “let’s just go, please.”

“Did something happen?” he insisted, “You look like mom, whenever she walks into my room.”

“Nothing happened, Aaron.” She sighed and opened the car’s door to get inside.

Aaron shrugged, tossed away the drink and entered the car as well. Once they were driving away, the music so loud Sophie could barely hear herself think, he said (yelled) to her, “I’m going to the mall before I take you home.”

Sophie nodded. “Cool, I’ll look around for a part-time job there.”

“What?”

She drastically lowered the music and repeated her last sentence, to which he nodded as well, before he changed the volume back to its agonizing maximum. Sophie looked through the window, thinking. She could still see her in his arms, their lips locked. He told her it had been just a one night thing. Well, apparently it hadn’t. Why didn’t he just tell her? She felt so stupid.

No liar, my ass.

She tried to concentrate on something else, to get distracted, but not even the loud music was enough to take that image off of her head. She lowered it again. Conversations with Aaron usually had a relaxing effect on her.

“Thank you.” She smiled to her brother. “For waiting for me there.”

“Yeah, I’m a pretty cool bro, aren’t I?” He smiled. “Maybe you should remember that on my next birthday.”

“What do you mean?”

“A notebook, Sophie? Really?”

“I told you, it was for you to write your lyrics on, I thought it was perfect for you.”

“I’m just saying, if you don’t want to get a pencil on your birthday, maybe you should be a little more generous next time.”

Sophie went back to the main topic, “Why didn’t you tell me? We could’ve watched the game together.”

“Nah, I thought you might want to be… alone with… someone.” He seemed to have a hard time accepting the idea though, it was like it hurt him to say it, “I thought it would be better to stay anyway. Just in case.”

“Thanks.” She smiled again.

“Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Yes, I’m pretty sure. Don’t worry about it.” And with that she raised the volume again. Maybe she should leave conversations for another time.

“Oh, shit!” He looked at his reflection on the rearview mirror and brought his hand to his hair. “I really need to cut my hair.”

After a few minutes, the siblings arrived at their destination – Aaron as relaxed as usual and Sophie with something that resembled a nervous breakdown, not only because the image of Adrian’s arms around the blond girl wouldn’t leave her head, but also because now the scene had a loud soundtrack to go with it, thanks to Aaron’s music that seemed forever imprinted on her brain. Aaron wanted to go to his favorite music stores and Sophie planned to just walk around the whole place, looking for work. They agreed to meet two hours later, because Aaron in a music store was like a girl shopping for clothes.

The dark haired girl walked around the building, occasionally entering a coffee-shop, a snack bar, a clothing store, electronics store, book stores and toy shops to ask if they were hiring. The answer was always the same – not looking right now, but feel free to fill in this form and leave your contact.

She felt frustrated enough and tired, and the fact that her cell wouldn’t stop ringing didn’t make matters any easier. It was Adrian - he had been calling her numerous times ever since she arrived at the mall and for the first time ever, since the night when she misdialed Charlotte’s number, she really didn’t feel like talking to him. She needed time to process what she had seen first.

As if her day hadn’t been confusing enough, life decided to throw another adorable swing at her.

“Sophie!” She heard someone call. She recognized the voice immediately and shuddered. At that moment she decided: life is definitely a bitch sometimes.

She turned around and there he was behind her – Mark.

Damn! Can’t a girl get a break?

“Hi Mark.” She sighed.

“So, what are you up to? Are you alone?” He seemed exited and looked around eagerly.

“More or less.”

“What do you mean?”

“Aaron is around here, somewhere.”

“Oh.” He seemed relieved, but only a little. “Do you want some company then?”

Sophie widened her eyes in panic. “Oh, uh… No, you don’t have to, I mean you probably have things to do, somewhere to go and I’m not really doing anything interesting and-“

“Nonsense. I’m not doing anything either. Let’s walk together.”

“Alright, whatever.” She felt too tired to argue anyway.

They walked into the closest elevator and Sophie pressed the button to the second floor. They waited in silence for the doors to close. A couple of other people walked in just in time and finally they were taken upstairs. The whole time they kept silent and it was very awkward. The noise of Sophie’s insistent cellphone was the only thing that broke the silence and, tired of it, she rejected the call and put the little object on silent mode.

“So, how are things going between you and that friend of yours?” Mark suddenly asked.

“Good,” she said without looking at him.

“Was it him calling just now?”

Sophie didn’t answer. The elevator finally stopped and she immediately jumped out of it, walking aimlessly through the large corridors, Mark following her.

“You didn’t take the call... Did something happen between you two?” he insisted, “What’s his name? How did you meet him? How come I don’t know him?”

“I think the real question here, Mark, is…” She suddenly turned around to face him. “How come you’re so interested in my life all of a sudden. You didn’t seem so keen to be with me when we were dating. You didn’t even seem interested. What makes you think you deserve any answers from me now?”

Mark was silent for a few seconds. He let his hand massage his hair before sighing deeply. “I- I’m worried about you, that’s all.”

“Worried?” she scorned, “Now? Too little, too late.” She turned around from him and walked further.

“Sophie!” He kept following. “I know I was a lousy boyfriend.”

“Were you? I never even noticed.”

“But, but I know now and… and I miss you. You know, sometimes we only know what we have when we lose it and… well, if you would give me another chance-“

“Are you serious?” She looked at him with a mix of shock and some anger. “You have some nerve. Do you really think I’m that stupid?”

“What? Of course not! I-I’m being honest here, Sophie. I know we didn’t end well and that a lot of it was because of me but… I’ve changed. You’ve changed. Maybe now we can make it work.”

“It’s been a couple of weeks. You’re not that changed and neither am I.”

“We’ve learned from it, maybe we could give it another go, you know.”

Once again, Sophie didn’t answer and kept her attention on a clothing shop’s window.

“Sophie,” he insisted, grabbing her arm and forcing her to look at his chocolate eyes that still made her heart race. “I really like you and I’m sorry if I forgot to show it to you. I guess I just… took you for granted.”

She kept looking at him and trying to ignore her sudden will to hug him. Maybe he was being honest with her, he seemed sincere. Maybe he was right and they both learned from the previous failed experience and were now ready to try it again. Maybe that’s the way it was supposed to be - Adrian together with his beautiful girl, she and Mark together as before. Adrian and she would continue as friends, although she had the feeling that he would never approve of her even thinking about going back to Mark, but it was not his decision to make. Now that she thought about it, he didn’t really have the right to question her relationships, just as she didn’t have the right to question his. The truth was, she and Mark had a history together and to be perfectly honest, she did miss him. It was difficult to just erase everything all-together.

Sophie took a deep breath and, still indecisive, answered, “I don’t know…”

“Let’s take baby steps then, okay?” Mark said, his eyes glowing, “Let’s start off as before-“

“As friends?”

“Sure!” He seemed excited. “Friends on a date.”

“Well… I guess we could try…” He beamed with relief and that reaction made her feel like she was making the right decision. “But only as friends!”

“That’s good enough for me!” And with that he took her hand and walked her in the opposite direction. “Do you feel like taking a cup of coffee?”

Her smile immediately vanished. “Uh, Mark… I don’t drink coffee anymore.”

“Oh right, the smoking thing…” he quickly remembered, “then how about an ice-cream? Soda? Tea? Whatever you want.” He smiled.

She nodded and gave him a small smile in return. At least he ‘quickly remembered’.

“Whatever is worrying you, I hope you know you can count on me to help.” He smiled at her again. Sophie nodded again and her smile grew a little wider.

Mark took her to a small, but charming coffee-shop inside the mall. It had a soothing blues music playing on the background that contrasted greatly with the loud, thumping noise that inhabited the building and Sophie’s mind. The warm, intimate environment of the small coffee shop helped her to finally relax and put her mind at ease and, surprisingly, Mark’s presence only enhanced that feeling.

“I never thought you could find such a quiet place inside the mall,” she said.

“Well, I came here the other day and I immediately thought of you.” She looked at him questioningly and he continued, “I thought this would be the perfect place for you to sit and write, like you love to.”

She smiled and gave a hungry sip of the hot chocolate he bought her and he mimicked her with his coffee.

They spent at least an hour there, talking about everything they could think of, remembering some of the funniest moments they spent together in the past and laughing. It was very pleasant and, for a few moments, Sophie almost forgot how and why they had broken up. This felt just as good as the first few weeks of their relationship, it was familiar, comfortable and felt right. Sophie had almost forgotten that not everything about them together had been bad, they had spent good times with each other.

In the middle of one of Mark’s funny stories on how he and Fred had accidently set free all the living frogs from the biology lab, Sophie felt a presence looming in behind her. Mark stopped talking and locked eyes with that person and his face went from smiling to one of slight worry. Sophie could guess who it was immediately – Aaron. Turning around, her guess was proven right.

“My God, Aaron, why do you always have to creep behind me like that?” She smiled.

Aaron didn’t smile back though, he just looked at Mark with an angry glare and then at her with reprehension. He was clearly disapproving of this unexpected meeting.

“Hey, Aaron, what’s up?” Mark tried to sound cool and stretched his arm to give her brother a handshake.

Aaron shamelessly ignored him and spoke to Sophie, “Where’s your phone? I’ve been trying to call you forever.”

“Oh, sorry, I put it on silent…” She took the cellphone from her pocket and confirmed the six missed calls from Aaron. Another four were from Adrian, who apparently had given up for the last hour. She felt terrible for ignoring him, she felt childish and her stomach felt like she had swollen a big rock.

Aaron rolled his eyes and grabbed her arm. “Let’s go, I’ve had enough mall to last me for at least another six months.” He had bags on his hands that seemed to agree with him, he certainly had enough CDs, vinyl, magazines and music books to last him for half a year.

“Okay, let me just say goodbye to Mark and I’ll be right out.”

The older boy rolled his eyes again and, looking pissed, got out of the coffee shop. Sophie returned her attention to the brown haired boy at the table.

“I had a great time,” she told him.

“Me too. Maybe we should… do it again, sometime?”

“Sure.” She shrugged, smiling.

“Great! I’ll call you.”

Sophie nodded and got up from her chair, Mark doing the same.

“Bye, then.” She waved, but before she could turn around from him completely, he grabbed her arm and hugged her. Then he whispered in her ear, “Thanks for giving me another chance. I promise I won’t disappoint you.”

He let go of her a little and, faster than she could realize it was coming, he gently pressed his lips on hers. It was an innocent, sweet kiss and it was enough to make her heart beat as fast as a hummingbird’s wings. He had never kissed her like that before.

“Sorry,” he said when it was over, “couldn’t help myself.”

When she met Aaron a few seconds later, her brain was upside-down in a knot and her face was warm and red, she looked flustered and breathless. He spared one suspicious glance at her and said, “I hope that face doesn’t mean what I think it does.”

She avoided his eyes and looked down, embarrassed. Aaron sighed and shook his head before walking towards the stairs. “Yeah, you should be ashamed,” he told her.

Yes, she should. What was wrong with her?

Sophie was back to Aaron’s loud car just minutes after, still unable to look at him in the eyes. This time, the loud thumping music that reigned inside Aaron’s car was nothing when compared to the inside of Sophie’s mind.

Author's Notes - So... maybe Mark is not that bad? Or maybe Sophie's just too soft with him. Maybe both. Not much of Adrian in this chapter =/

Thank you so much to everyone for everything! ;) Talk to me.