His Secret [Completed]

Chapter Twenty-Five

With slight hesitation at first, she agreed after the twins gave her a pleading look and she knew she couldn't say no to Sherry's request. The annual opera Alan and Sherry attended on their anniversary each year was only a couple of hours away, but they had planned to stay at a hotel that Saturday night to keep away from the drunk young adults and trashed house they expected to come home to find.

A long talk about alcohol safety and drink spiking later, the twins and Sophia were left in the kitchen alone making plans for the following evening. It was early afternoon and the plans had only been agreed thirty minutes prior, but in that short time the excitement on Facebook had already started and the forwarding of invites had been extended to any and every student that attended NYU. The numbers of attendees was already shocking after that short half an hour, and Sophia knew that it would only increase. The thought worried her a little. How would she be able to keep over two hundred - possibly three hundred - students in line? And moreover, how was she expected to ensure nothing was stolen, or worse, broken! It had been one of the deepest concerns on Sherry's part. Her valuable china that sat on the tall cabinet could easily be knocked off and fall to the ground if a drunk teenager were to fall into it. Her favourite crystal bowls being smashed was another of her worries, but most importantly, she was concerned with the defacing of her most prized possessions: the paintings of her family from when they were children. Little did she know, she didn't need to worry about that in particular as Kelly planned on removing each photograph from their walls and shelves and placing them in the boathouse to save herself from embarrassment.

Jackson and Sophia hopped into his truck the next morning and headed to the nearest store to pick up the drinks while Kelly stayed at home, moving the family portraits into the boathouse, sliding the furniture across the room to create a dancefloor and then she set up the tables with bowls, ready to place the snacks in once the other two brought them back.

As they were driving to the store, Jackson spoke; "You see the responses on the photos Kelly posted?"

"Yeah," Sophia hesitated. "She's a great photographer."

"She is, but I meant... the other comments."

"Oh."

"You know I actually wanted to talk to you about that. I uh, I was thinking maybe we could go out sometime. To the movies or something. Just the two of us?"

Heat rose to Sophia's cheeks at the thought of going on a date with Jackson. He was sweet, kind and caring, but he was also adorable in a younger brother sort of way and she could never see herself falling in love with him; after all, she was still completely and hopelessly in love with Noah and grew more so as the days passed. And that was something that confused her. Noah hadn't been kind with his words on the evening he kicked her out of his apartment, but she still found herself attached to him in a baffling way. It didn't matter that he threw her out of his apartment and life, because he still held her heart. The more she learnt about him from his family, the more she began to question his motives. The things Roger had told her during the car ride to the McKenzie's replayed in her mind and she spent countless nights laying in bed trying to connect the dots. Trying to find the answers so that she can finally get over him and start fresh.

"Jack I'm flattered, really, but I just don't-" He stopped her there, not wanting to hear the impending rejection.

"Enough said. It's fine, let's not say anything more about it." He turned to her with an over the top grin and then focused his attention back to the road. The rest of the car journey continued in silence, and all Sophia could think about was whether she somehow led him on, instantly feeling a pang of regret in her heart. It hadn't been her intention if she had given him mixed signals, but she was sure she had never done anything to encourage those romantic feelings.