Sophia, who art thou?

14. AVERY

7th January, 2018

Oh good. Sophia's best friends are here. I can hear them all the way up in my bedroom. I shake my head, trying to focus on what the nice lady on the phone is trying to tell me.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that last part."

"I said, Roman Asher put in a request to cancel his flight and is staying in New York indefinitely."

"When did he put in the request?"

"Just a minute. I think I should have it on file. Would you please hold?"

"Yeah, I'll hold."

"Okay, here it is. It says he put in the request the afternoon of the second of this month. I remember HR was pissed because they had to approve it on an off day and-"

I don't hear anything she says after that. I don't have much to go on but I have to make an already paranoid Drew even more paranoid. His fiancé's old flame cancelling his flight back home and deciding to stay close to her the day of her engagement? I inhale shakily. We'll be lucky if we even make it to their wedding day.

"Okay, that's great, Sandra. Thank you so much."

"Oh, I almost forgot to ask. I didn't quite get where you were calling from."

"Sorry? Your voice is breaking, Sandra. I can't seem to hear-". Call dropped. And that's how the professionals do it.

I quickly do a double take in the mirror, tucking a strand of loose hair behind my ear. Everything looks perfect. Putting on my highest heels, I walk down the stairs, smiling politely as I'm greeted by a laughing trio.

Let the games begin.

*

It's been about an hour since Jade and Olivia arrived. We're still waiting on Sophia and Drew. We're all sipping the chardonnay Jade brought, trying not to make the comfortable silence uncomfortable. I take an extra sip every now and then because if my mouth isn't occupied doing that, it's going to want to ask about Roman and Sophia. It's a forbidden topic in this household. No one really likes Drew and Sophia together but we love Drew and we love Sophia so we suck it up. I open my mouth to ask Olivia about her interior designing business when Theo walks in.

"Hello, ladies. Are the happy couple in yet?"

Everyone goes a little stiff at the mention of 'happy' couple. It's no secret things have been strained between Drew and Sophia off late. I clear my throat. "I just got a text from Drew. They're five minutes away."

Olivia chimes in. "Well, let's start arranging the gifts so they're surprised when they come in, yeah?"

I feel a smile tug at the corner of my lips as I see Jade squeeze Olivia's hand. "That's a great idea, babe. I'll go take out another bottle of wine. I doubt they'll be happy this empty one."

Everyone laughs politely as Jade leaves the room. Okay, let's face it. Jade was the only one keeping everyone in this room from fighting about what they made of Drew and Sophia's relationship.

I pounce at the opportunity. "So, Olivia. Did you know Roman's in town?"

She smiles. She definitely knew this was coming. "Oh, you mean the guy your brother screwed out of having a chance with your sister in law? Yeah, I knew."

Mother goes still at the mention of Roman. She's never known everything but she's known enough. She knows how Sophia was supposed to end up with Roman but then Drew, her then friend, convinced her that Roman wanted nothing to do with her. Broke her heart just to get in bed with her and now marry her. I hate my brother sometimes, but I still defend him. I don't know Roman. I know Drew.

Its Theo's turn to play the role of mediator. "Come on, guys. We're here to celebrate Drew and Soph. Can we please just stay civil for three hours?"

"Like you don't have anything to say, brother."

"I walk out for two minutes, and everything goes to shit." Oh good, Jade is here too.

Ding dong. That's our doorbell. I groan. "I'll get that."

Mother says something to me for the first time this morning. "Smile, Avery."

'Yes, mother."