heartless

~two~

Sophie soon learnt that her dreams of seeing her childhood friends would have to be postponed, as everyone who she could possibly remember seemed to be out of town someplace or another. So, for the week before school began, Sophie found herself focusing on redoing her childhood bedroom, so that by Sunday morning it was almost entirely unrecognisable. The only thing that remained were the heart-embroidered duvet sheets, as she hadn't been able to source new ones in time. Sophie was lying on top of them, scrolling through messages from her friends back in London, when the doorbell rang again. 

She crawled out of bed, hair rumpled, and grumpily descended the stairs, knowing that she was probably the only person awake to answer it. Barely two seconds passed after she pulled the door open before she found herself wrapped in someone's arms and enveloped in the smell of freshly baked bread. 

'Sophie! I missed you so much. I can't believe I didn't know you were back. I would have come earlier.'

Sophie stumbled backwards and found herself staring at two people. The boy, the one who had just grabbed her, she recognised. The girl, who was staring curiously at her, she didn't.

'Cayden?'

'You do remember me! You look so good Soph. Long hair suits you.'

Cayden Spencer. Somerville, Massachusetts' resident nice guy. One of Sophie's oldest, closest friends. Sophie looked him up and down, realising that he had barely changed in the seven years since she had last seen him. His bright blue eyes still gleamed beneath his shock of fluffy golden brown hair, and his smile was as bright as it had been when he was just a little boy. He wasn't a little boy anymore though. Sophie guessed he stood at around 6ft tall now. Suddenly, she noticed that his tanned fingers were intertwined with those of the girl standing next to him. 

'Who's this?'

'This is Taylor. We've been dating for a year now! How cool is that? She moved here almost right after you left. I wanted her to meet you'

Taylor smiled, and waved shyly with her free hand. She was gorgeous. Ginger waves tumbled past her shoulders, and her pale skin was barely visible beneath the thousands of freckles pinpricking it. Sophie decided that she liked her almost immediately.

'Nice to meet you Taylor.' Sophie suddenly became conscious of the fact that she was wearing a crumpled t-shirt with tartan boxers, and that her hair was sticking out in all directions. She hurriedly smoothed her hair down and grinned awkwardly. 'Do you guys wanna come in? I can make coffee or something.'

Twenty minutes later, Sophie had been updated on almost every moment from the beginning to the end of Taylor and Cayden's relationship. She didn't mind though. It was sweet. Cayden chatted away, the happiest she had ever seen him, and Taylor seemed like the perfect girl for him. 

'So, how was London anyways? I couldn't believe it when you said you were leaving.'

'It wasn't bad actually. Britishers are pretty cool.'

'Did you make loads of new friends. Do you have a new best friend? You better not. Lola would be so pissed off.'

Sophie laughed. 'No, she doesn't need to worry. How is she anyway? Her mom told my mom that they were in Boston.'

'Yeah, she's coming back tonight. She'll be so excited to see you. I'm not going to lie to you, Soph, she took it pretty badly when you left so randomly.'

Sophie felt her mood drop a little. She had always been worried about what her disappearance would do to her childhood best friend, Lola, but had managed to push her worries away once she had gotten swept up in her new big city life. But Lola's less and less frequent FaceTime calls, culminating in them not having spoken for almost two years now, had always made her feel slightly guilty.

'How about Tristan? And Gabriel? How are they?' Tristan was Lola's twin brother, but Sophie hadn't been that close to him. She had really asked about him only to not seem too eager about Gabriel. 

When Sophie said Tristan's name, Taylor and Cayden cast a dark, knowing look towards each other. But when she said Gabriel's, Taylor's expression turned downright stormy, and Cayden's eyes dropped towards his feet.

'They aren't bad.' said Cayden, still refusing to make eye contact with Sophie. She had never heard him answer a question in those few words in her entire time knowing him. 

Sophie didn't respond, and Cayden let the awkward silence linger for a few seconds before bursting out;

'Things aren't exactly the same as the way you left them, Sophie. I mean, we're not all ten years old anymore. And Tristan and Gabriel, they've changed loads. I mean, we don't really all hang out, you know, like we did when we were younger.'

Sophie stared in confusion at Cayden's guilty, borderline fearful face. He hadn't really expected her to think that everyone would be exactly the same as they were seven whole years ago, had he? 

'It's fine Cayden, I get that things are different now.'

'No, you don't really understand what I mean.'

'What do you mean then?'

'He means,' said Taylor, who still looked slightly angry, 'If I were you, I would stay away from Gabriel Garcia.'

i swear you'll actually get to meet gabriel next chapter. i hope you enjoyed meeting taylor and cayden though. bye!