𝙳𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚌𝚝 | 𝙱𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝟷

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝙵𝚒𝚏𝚝𝚢 𝚃𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎

𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚟𝚎

☆═━┈┈━═☆

Coach offered to give me more time off.

But the truth is, I didn't want to sit in my apartment without Sofia. Being here gave me something to do. And it was different, being around our friends was nice, and their concern for my wellbeing was great. But the truth is, behind the kind words and the sympathetic smiles, they were all breaking too. Sofia was the glue that held us all together. Mickey, Curtis, and I were able to function without her, but Elena and Julianna relied on her, both were shy, and both caved in on themselves. Julianna and Sofia had so much history, from best friends growing up to something like enemies in high school, only to grow back and Julianna being inseparable from her after Logan and her split.

And Elena, the poor thing, I don't think she's ever had a real moment in Jade Lake where she wasn't able to hide behind Sofia, Elena used her as a security blanket, and she was drawing without her best friend being around. Mickey did his best but were all so new on the relationship front that none of us knew how to keep them afloat. Twenty-four hours feels like a lifetime when the person who makes your world spin is gone.

And that picture, she was so scared.

Sofia doesn't spook easily, not by many people at least. I was the one to torment her but she always knew I was safe, I would never really do anything to hurt her. But I recognized the fear in that picture, with one of my best friend's fingers in her mouth, tear-soaked eyes meeting his camera, Logan's arms wrapped around her waist, and caging her into her old best friend. A part of me died when that photo came in because I was so naive, Bucky knew I wouldn't risk taking Sofia anywhere near him, so he played on my sweet girls' curiosity, and my anger.

I don't remember much after receiving that photo.

I remember Alexander being the one to pull me from my thoughts, his hands on my shoulders shaking me while Curtis and Mickey tried their best to comfort the girls who had collapsed on the floor. I remember meeting eyes with Elena, watching her spring up and run into my chest because we were the two who felt the pain the deepest. I remember looking at Mickey while I held the girl he was going to marry and his pain mirroring mine. Not because of Elena, never because of Elena, because of Sofia.

I remember Ethan, my father, and George all showing up, I remember getting up and slamming George into the wall when he made a snide comment about Sofia, saying that she planned this, she wanted to get Bucky's disappearance off her tail. I distinctly remember telling him to go to hell and my father pulling me off the only other man I was close to. I remember Michelle Moor's face as she realized this wasn't a cruel joke, her broken cry that her only child was gone, and I remember Officer Hill finally showing up.

I remember him cracking from his professional demeanor because Sofia wasn't just mine, she was all of Jade Lakes, she was my wife, a public figure, and a daughter. And she was gone, gone at the hands of George's son, the very boy I grew up with and would've trusted my life with.

I think I slept in my car last night, it's all a blur.

"Batter up!" Coach yelled, efficiently pulling me from my thoughts as I set my phone down for the umpteenth time today, Sofia's sleeping face greeting me. God I missed her, I didn't know what love was until she pushed me out of her orbit and sucked me back in so fast I couldn't comprehend what was happening. One night away felt like six years apart. "Rogers," Coach was behind me, my back instantly straightening while I shook out my shoulders, turning to face him, "take your phone on the field today, just in case." He stepped closer to me, his hand on my shoulder squeezing it like a father showing support for his son, and it took everything in me not to break, no one comforted me yesterday, because Sofia being taken hit everyone deep, but I loved her, I loved her in a way none of them did, she was my world, and she was gone. "She's going to be found Rogers," a gentle shove towards the field when I pocked my phone, "I know it."