Chasing Sofia

Chapter 11 - The Cover

I tip toe stealthily up the stairs towards the second floor. Once I reach the hallway, I peek down to make sure Nico isn't there and then make a quick dash towards my room and open the door. I take forever to close it, trying to prevent it from making a loud clicking sound and then lock it. Whew.

I hastily make my way towards the bathroom, dumping my clothes in my closet and turning on the shower. I find myself still rushing around like a crazy person and tell myself to calm down. I didn't get caught so I should start acting normal. Easier said than done.

I manage to get ready by the time I usually would and decide I should head out to the kitchen. Right before I leave, I look around to check that everything looks normal and spot my pristine looking bed. I almost forgot! I go to pull back the covers and shake them up a bit and even toss the pillows around. It feels like I just committed a crime of some sorts and am doing a really bad job at covering it up.

Sighing, I finally leave my room and put on my best poker face. Thankfully no one is there when I arrive, not even Carmen. Our breakfast is served though, so she's probably out doing something else.

I sit down in my usual seat and grab a banana. I peel it open and cut it into small slices, just to give me something to do.

"Hey, princess!" Nico suddenly says behind me and I almost fall off my chair.

"Dammit, Nico! You scared the shit out of me."

He laughs and takes a seat next to me. He's smiling from ear to ear so I can only imagine he had a good night.

"So? How'd it go?" I ask him before he has the chance to ask me anything.

"Really well, actually. I don't want to jinx it, but she already agreed to see me again. You and Adrian were awesome, by the way. She was really glad to you see guys."

"That's so great, Nico. I'm so happy for you," I say leaning in to hug him.

I think it catches him by surprise at first, but he hugs me back and then messes up my hair in typical Nico fashion.

"I'm sorry I gave you a hard time about your outfit last night. I shouldn't have gone off on you like that," he tells me.

I wave a hand dismissively at him. "Forget about it. You were probably right," I say thinking about Ruiz and what he told me. That and all the other problems my stupid outfit caused.

"Why? Did something happen?" he asks me concerned.

I squirm, thinking if I should keep this information to myself. Nico is in such a good mood I don't want to ruin it for him. Maybe I'll tell him after school so he doesn't get into trouble at soccer practice again.

"No, it's just that I don't usually dress that way so it felt kind of weird."

Adrian shows up at that moment and heads straight towards his seat next to Nico without looking in my direction. He doesn't appear one bit fazed and it's hard to believe he's the same guy I just spent the most incredible night of my life with. "Hey, bud. Go okay?"

"Yeah, man. I was just telling Sofia. I think we're gonna meet up again."

"I told you. You were freaking out over nothing."

I watch both boys scarf down their food, feeling relieved Nico hasn't asked us anything about last night. Usually we don't talk much in the mornings so hopefully it'll stay that way.

When we head towards the car, I silently pray that everything is in its place. I had almost suggested we take another car to school, but I couldn't come up with a reason for it and it would have probably raised even more suspicion. I quickly get in the backseat just in case, preventing Nico from sitting back here. Thankfully, he decides to drive so he won't have a chance to look around and stuff.

"Dude, it smells like a wet dog in here," Nico suddenly blurts, scrunching his nose.

Well, there goes that.

"Uh, yeah. I don't know if you noticed, but it was pouring last night," Adrian quickly answers from the passenger seat.

Nico turns the windows down as he drives out towards school. "So, what happened? You hook up with a girl in here or something?"

"Uhm, well not really."

"Not really? C'mon, man. It's a yes or no answer."

"Okay, fine. Yes, I did. Sorry, was gonna tell you about it later."

What? Yes? Why is he saying yes?

"I knew you were hiding something! Was it Clara? I saw you guys talking before I left."

I notice Adrian shaking his head and he hesitates before answering. "Yeah, it was Clara."

"Spill, dude. I thought you said you weren't interested in her, though."

"Yeah, well I guess things change. She just broke it off with her boyfriend and was practically begging for it."

Okay, I don't know if I can hear anymore of this conversation. It's clearly steered away from danger and towards guy talk and as much as I know Adrian is lying it still feels weird to hear him talk like that about girls.

I'm about to put my headphones on, when Nico suddenly punches Adrian in the arm. "Dude, watch it in front of Sofia. She doesn't have to hear about that."

"You just fucking asked me. I told you I would tell you later," he says in defense.

"Yeah well, too much information. How did she get home anyway if you were with Clara?"

Oh, god. Why does he have to choose now to worry about me all of a sudden? Plus, I hate when they talk about me like if I'm not even here. I'm a terrible liar though so I decide to keep my mouth shut.

"She took a taxi home," Adrian says quietly.

"Are you serious? What the fuck, Adrian? You promised you would look after her," Nico suddenly yells.

"I did. She wanted to go home. I offered to take her, but she didn't want to."

What? Oh my god, this lie is just getting more and more complicated. Why didn't he just say he took me home first or something? Even I could have come up with that. Plus, Nico is now on his case over supposedly not taking care of me when it was the complete opposite.

"Why the hell not? What did you do?" Nico asks him accusingly.

"Bro, calm down. I didn't do anything. She just wanted to go home. Nothing happened. She's fine, isn't she?" Adrian says pointing towards me.

Nico looks at me through the rearview mirror, as if suddenly remembering I'm in the back seat. "Princess, did you get home okay?"

"God, will you stop? Yes, I'm completely fine in case you haven't noticed."

"Well, did you at least have a good time last night? Why did you want to go home?" he presses.

I huff in my seat, thinking about the original reason I wanted to go home. I can't tell him about my spout of jealousy over Adrian or my run in with Ruiz. "It was okay. Nothing to write home about. I was just tired," I end up saying.

I see Adrian turn around in his seat to look at me and he seems a bit hurt. It's the first time he's looked at me directly since I left him in the car earlier. Why is he doing this now? He's going to blow the entire cover story he just came up with. I quickly avert my eyes from him and this time I do put on my headphones to avoid any further interrogations and block them both out.

I look out the window and sigh, thinking about the messed up morning I've had. The cop, the half-truths, the lies, the arguing ... Not at all what I was expecting after last night.

I knew it had to be too good to be true.