Chasing Sofia

Chapter 1 - Homecoming

I certainly don’t want to go down there, but I really need to get my things in order for tomorrow. I open the door to my bedroom, stepping out towards the hallway, and immediately smack against a warm, sweaty body and helplessly fall to the floor.

“Holy shit! Princess? Are you okay?”

I look up and to my absolute horror, Adrian is crouched over me, his brown eyes piercing into mine as he picks me up from the ground. I think all the air got knocked out of my body as I feel my heart contracting painfully against my chest.

I don’t know how but suddenly I’m on my feet and I’m staring right at his naked torso. More specifically, at his six pack where my vision decides to wander. Every single dent and curvature of his muscles seem to flex in front of me as drops of moisture make their way towards the loose gym shorts encasing his hips.

Why must he torture me by not wearing a goddamn shirt? I shake my head and attempt to look up towards his face, but of course this causes me to lose my balance and I stumble against the wall.

“Easy there,” he says steadying my shoulders.

I shut my eyes closed as my head is literally spinning and cover my face with my hands in embarrassment.

“Sofia, are you alright? I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you …”

“I’m fine,” I lie, waving him off. Jesus, kill me now.

Next thing I know I’m being picked up and somehow end up sitting against the headboard of my bed. I open my eyes and his worried expression fills my view. God, he’s even more beautiful than I remembered. I realize it’s been a long eight months since I’ve physically seen his face and not just in my dreams.

“Sofia …” he prompts again. All I see are his lips moving, but I don’t seem to hear the words. I wonder what it would be like to kiss him for what must be the millionth time. I open my mouth to tell him exactly that, but my brain has a different idea and decides to shut down.

“Dammit Nico, I already told you. I was coming back from the gym and ran into her by accident. She passed out cold when I brought her to the bed.”

“Shut up, she’s moving now.”

“Princess? Can you hear me?” A warm hand tugs my hand and I feel another colder one on my shoulder.

I open my eyes and see both Nico and Adrian hovering over me. To my utter disappointment, Adrian is now wearing a white t-shirt and Nico doesn’t look very happy.

Shit. Please don’t tell me I passed out. “What happened?” I manage to say.

Neither of them answers my obvious question and Nico is suddenly shoving a bottle of water in my face. “Drink this.”

I grab the bottle from him hesitantly, but take some long sips from it.

“When was the last time you ate, Sofia?” Nico asks harshly.

“This morning. Lay off,” I immediately respond defensively. I knew it was a matter of time before he brought this up. I’m still trying to gain back the 15 pounds I lost since he last saw me.

“A piece of lettuce? You need to fucking eat,” he barks back.

I really only ate a banana, but I’m not about to tell him that. I’ve simply lost my appetite and I find it especially difficult to eat in the morning as I usually wake up feeling nauseous. When I don’t answer after a few minutes, he jumps off the bed and storms out of the room, muttering something about me needing some nutrients under his breath.

I turn to look at Adrian to see if he shares the same judgment, but his expression is unreadable and he’s incredibly quiet. We stare at each other for what seems like forever until I can’t take it anymore and look away.

He backs away from me and the warm feeling from my hand disappears. It isn’t until then that I realize he was holding it this entire time.

“You okay?” he asks me after clearing his throat.

“Yeah,” I nearly whisper.

When I turn to look at him, his gaze is traveling down my body in what must only be disapproval.

He shakes his head and says, “I’m really sorry, Sofia. I didn’t mean to knock you over like that.”

“It’s fine,” I assure him. “I didn’t see you either.”

“I was just on my way to my room, and I didn’t even know …”

“What do you mean your room?” I interrupt him. Am I missing something? I look around just to make sure we are still, in fact, in my house.

“Nico didn’t tell you?” he asks incredibly.

“Tell me what?”

He sighs and looks at me nervously. “Of course. He didn’t even bother telling me you were coming back today so why would he even ...” he trails off.

“Just tell me, Adrian. I think I can handle it.”

His expression tells me he doesn’t believe me. In fact, he’s looking at me as if I’m going to break any second and I hate it. I don’t want to be that girl. At least not to him.

“I live here now.”

I try to process his words as he says them. I literally feel all the color draining from my face and I think I just might faint all over again.