𝕒𝕣𝕞𝕤 𝕦𝕟𝕗𝕠𝕝𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘

Chapter Two

Two Weeks Later.

Sophie danced to herself as she sang along to the lyrics of Dua Lipa's 'physical' that was playing through her earphones, sliding the glass door as she walked into the kitchen. Her heart stopped, as she realised Josh had been sitting at the kitchen table that had a direct view into the sitting room. He had a amused expression on his face. Sophie's pale complexion flushed into a red rosy colour to match her long, straight ginger hair. She put her head down in embarrassment as she walked towards the fridge, grabbing a bottle of water. ''Some singer.'' He teased behind her.

Sophie bit down on her bottom lip, turning to face him. ''Why're you here? If you're gonna make fun of me you may as well do it with my brother.''

Josh's face dropped, realising she was hurt. ''Oh, no, I was only joking. Sorry.''

''Mhm.'' Sophie hummed, taking a swig of her water before screwing the cap back on and placing it onto a counter. She grabbed a dog treat from a small press in her kitchen before opening her back door to let Harlow in, who was happily jumped up at her. She smiled at him, scratching the back of his two ears before getting him to sit, give his paw, and be gentle before giving him his treat. He walked off, wagging his tail behind him as he ran into the garden. Harlow had a weird habit of stashing his treats and saving them for later. Sophie closed the door, ''Tea?'' she asked Josh, before walking to the kettle to prepare herself a cup.

''No, Thanks.''

''Where is he anyway?'' She spoke over the boiling kettle.

''Warren?''

''Uh,'' Josh let out nervously, searching around for a excuse to back his mate up.

''Probably in the lanes smoking weed.'' She said, mocking her brother.

''You know?''

''Fairly obvious. Plus, he comes home stinking.''

''Oh, yeah, I suppose.'' He laughed. ''You wouldn't tell your ma or anything would ye?''

''No,'' Sophie reached for the tea bags and placed one into her favourite mug, grabbing the carton of low fat milk out of her fridge. ''I don't really care.''

''Grand, thanks.''

''Why don't you go out with them?''

''To the lanes?''

Sophie nodded, pouring out the hot water into her mug, squeezing the tea bag tight before throwing it into the bin and pouring a small amount of milk and stirring it with her spoon.

''Me house is behind the lanes, my nan and granddad would kill me if they caught me.''

Sophie laughed, sitting on her kitchen counter top and taking a sup of her tea.

''I've smoked weed a few times. It's alright, just not into it as Warren and Chris.'' Josh confessed, crossing his legs and he sat back in the chair.

''So you just put up with being sober while they do it?'' she asked curiously, wrapping her hands around her mug.

''Pretty much.''

''Fair play. I'd get annoyed having to put up with someone high.''

''Ye, it's a bit annoying sometimes I guess.''

''I wouldn't put up with it, to be honest.''

''Ah, they're alright. They're me mates, so...''

The door between the kitchen and sitting room slid opened, revealing Warren. Josh scratched his nose with his knuckle, looking up to Warren. ''You's done?''

Warren looked over to his sister, noticing they were having a conversation. He gave her a dirty glare, his eyes a bit strained, before returning his attention to Josh. ''Ye, Chris is outside, Hannah and Roisin want a lift. You right?'' Warren nodded at Josh to leave, and walked out the door. Josh got up and followed after him, stopping in his tracks as he played with his car keys in his hand before turning his head towards Sophie.

''See ya later, Sophie.'' He nodded at her, and she blushed lightly. Sophie can't remember anyone being nice enough to say goodbye to her. ''Bye, Josh.''

Sophie spent the rest of the day lounging in the sunshine with Harlow in the back garden, blaring music on her speaker whilst reading her book. Her mam didn't come home till around 6pm, pestering Sophie to help her bring in the shopping.

''What's for dinner?'' she asked, stacking the frozen items into the freezer.

''I just bought you's some frozen pizza, stick it in the oven for yourself.''

''I'm not really in the mood for pizza.''

Her mother sighed, giving Sophie a stern look as she stopped going through her bag of shopping. ''For god's sake Sophie, I'm working all day I don't have the energy to cook. Deal with it.'' She scoulded, throwing a bag of dog food beside the back door and throwing out the old bag.

Sophie decided to stay quiet, she understood her mam had it rough at work putting up with old people, and wasn't in the mood to have another argument. She took out a box of the Papa John's pepperoni pizza and put it into the oven.

At 11pm, before she went to sleep, Sophie picked up her phone and looked through peoples stories on Instagram. She held onto the screen when she went onto Hannah Joyce's story. Hannah was Warren's girlfriend, they had been dating since fourth year when she moved to their school. Hannah was always nice to Sophie, but she knew she pitied her. That's just Hannah though, she's nice. She always wondered how someone like her ended up with someone like Warren. It was a boomerang of Hannah, Warren, Chris, Josh and Roisin in the sunshine, the location set to Bray head. Sophie's eyes fixated to Josh, her face softening. She thought about how nice he was, and like Sophie, was too nice to be around people like Warren and Chris. She appreciated it. She blushed as she stared at him for a little bit, exciting the story to go onto his profile. She hesitated before pressing follow, but decided to just do it. She wouldn't die if she did. She shook the thought out of her head and left the app, putting her phone down beside her as she closed her eyes.

Her phone buzzed loudly in the bed, and she picked up her phone.

''JoshClarke02 has requested to follow you.''

She smiled, accepting his follow request and having one quick look on his profile before turning her phone off and falling asleep.