Careful What You Wish For

Chapter Ten

Beer and Bourbon is pumping tonight.

Sophie and Brianne are too late arriving and miss out on one of their usual spots on the sofas adjacent to the floor-to-ceiling windows. Not only is this the best vantage point to eye each of the arriving patrons, but it also offers the best view of the dancefloor, bar, and street. Instead, they find themselves outside in the beer garden with the smokers.

It's only been a week since Operation Rose Drop, and Sophie is already sick of hiding in her house waiting for more roses to haunt her life. Going out to her favourite pub is step one in reclaiming her independence. Step two is returning to the pool tomorrow. No more fear. Enough is enough.

So, she has an admirer.

Time to enjoy it.

Sophie is celebrating her new devil-may-care attitude by dressing to the nines. With black heels and an inappropriately short dove grey pouf dress, she can feel eyes on her legs every time she goes to the bar and subtle glances each time she flicks her long red hair around on the dancefloor.

For her part, Brianne is drawing her own attention in a black slip dress and bright red lipstick. For the first time, in a long time, Sophie can feel the weight of her life lifting off her shoulders. Vodka and dancing. Be damned with the ex-boyfriend and damned with the creepy admirer.

A vodka soda with lime is now officially the only thing she wants in her life.

Letting Jenna have the house tonight is also on her list of good deeds for the week. It's the least she can do after openly suspecting her boyfriend of stalking her. The idea of Jenna hooking up with Luke in her own house does mildly bother her. It feels a little wrong. But again, she suspects that she owes Jenna a favour.

The more she had thought about Luke stalking her, the sillier and more self-involved it had seemed. She and Luke had dated years ago, for a short period of time. I mean, get the hell over yourself.

The sad part was, if she was being completely honest with herself, she couldn't really understand why anyone was leaving her roses. Evan had not only broken her heart but had completely annihilated her self-esteem. As pathetic and dramatic as it sounded, even to herself, it had felt like something concrete had exploded and left the earth shaking under her feet. Watching her friends continue with their lives unaffected was sometimes still bewildering to her. She knew that Brianne didn't really understand any of it. She tried, but the way she fell for Evan; deeply, intensely, and almost obsessively, it wasn't in Brianne's scope of experience. She was always in control. Just like Sophie used to be. But Evan had a way of drawing you in, quickly and dangerously, and then pulling you under.

Sophie physically shakes herself to rid the thoughts of Evan. The best option at this point appears to be another drink. She yells in Brianne's ear that she's headed to the bar and leaves her friend on the dancefloor. She fans her face as she pushes through the patrons. It's getting busier in here and Sophie is starting to have a lot more difficulty getting to the bar.

She sees some people from her Digital Cultures tutorial and waves and smiles. She feels almost normal again.

And just like that, there he is.

Evan.

It's like he's been conjured directly from her obsessive thoughts.

Sophie's heart drops straight to the floor.

Much to her immediate irritation, he looks ridiculously handsome in a tailored navy shirt, rolled at the sleeves, and perfectly cut grey pants which hug his body as he walks. As she watches him, he casually reaches a hand up to run it through his hair. Good lord, Sophie wants to slap herself.