All's fair in love and war

chapter 4 - Sophia

SOPHIA

I HAVE BEEN looking in the mirror for about fifteen minutes, not due to vanity but curiosity; I have never worn this colour before. I wear a navy blue dress, the top half has white buttons going down the middle and stops when the dress comes to a V shape it is tight on my body just above my waist before the dress slightly puffs out and flows down just past my knees. It has a white Peter Pan collar, the sleeves are fairly short and I wear a white pair of gloves. My hair is pinned up with a few loose curls, I wear red lipstick and my eye make-up is dark making my blue eyes stand out. I take one last look in the mirror and walk away.

I arrive at Frederick's and climb out of the cab and walk up a path to a front door. I look again at the piece of paper just to make sure I have the right address and I knock on the door. I wait for a few moments and the door opens.

"Woah, Frederick you scrub up well," I say and he smiles.

"As do you," he says and I return the smile.

****

I have been staring at my closet for the past hour and despite having gone shopping with sophia, I was still no where near decided on my new years outfit. After another half hour of staring, I finally decide on a dress that my mother had bought me for my birthday last year, and has since spent the year in my closet. "I guess you're coming out with me tonight, sugar." I sigh and pull it from its hanger. The dress is actually quite pretty, I don't know why I haven't worn it before now. It is black, almost grey and covered in white checkered patterns, which puffs out slightly at the bottom and falls just below my knees. At the top of the dress sits a loose bow, which I always thought was slightly too large for such delicate dress, but nonetheless, I had decided on that dress and it's what I am going to wear.

I arrive at the bar and step out of the cab, standing near the entrance of Patsy's Bar is Sophia.

"Evelynn," she says as she smiles. "I knew you wasn't going to wear the dress you bought."

"I'm surprised you wore the one you bought," I say and she tilts her head.

"I wasn't too sure about the colour, but I wore it anyway. Purely because I had no time to change." She laughs and I join in.

"Frederick, this is Evelynn. Evelynn, Frederick," she says as she moves her hand between myself and Frederick.

"Nice to meet you, Eveylnn," he says, offering me a smile.

"And you," I say, returning the gesture.

"Sophia, Evelynn!" A deep voice shouts from the background and I see a huge grin appear on Sophia's face and I swiftly turn around.

"Harry," I say and he holds his arms out.

"The one and only," he says. Harry is Sophia's older brother, he used to take us to get ice cream every friday after school. He walks over to me and gives me a hug before moving towards Sophia.

"Hello, Kiddo," he says as he wraps his arms around Sophia and picks her up. "Have you missed me?"

"Who doesn't miss Harry, the one and only," she says sarcastically and laughs.

"I have someone for you to meet," he says. We turn around and standing just behind him is a woman about thirty, she has green eyes and black hair, rather pretty. "This is Katherine, my girlfriend." I notice Sophia look her up and down, but that's expected, they're siblings, of course she's going to make sure she's the right fit for her brother.

"Hi Sophia, it's so good to finally meet you, your brother talks about you non-stop," says Katherine looking at Sophia with a hopeful smile.

"You too, though I don't think Harry has ever mentioned you," Sophia says flatly and Katherine's face falls. I quickly jab my elbow lightly into Sophia's rib and give her a stern look that matches her brothers and she sighs.

"Though I'd love to hear more about you, maybe we could go for lunch one day this week if you're free?"

Katherine's face immediately lights up. "I'd love to, I'm staying with Harry at the moment so just come by any time." Sophia nods and gives the most convincing smile she can manage.

"I'm just going to the toilets," I say, as I walk past Sophia.

"Okay, we'll come inside in a second, we're just waiting for Maggie and Raymond," says Sophia and I nod.

I walk into the bar which is already busy with the young party goers ready to bring in the new year with a bang. I make my way to the bathrooms and walk inside, it's just as busy in here as it is back out in the bar with woman all trying to squeeze themselves into the small spaces in front of the mirrors to check their hair and make-up. A space opens up and I move over to the mirrors and look at my reflection, my curly brunette hair is loose and falls just above my shoulders, I wrap a stray curl around my finger and try to tame it back into place. I wait for a woman to move from behind me and I make my way back out of the bathroom and into the bar, I search the crowds for Sophia and the others and I finally find her sat at the bar surrounded by a couple of Navy sailors, no surprise there.

Sophia notices me standing at the end of the bar and she stands up and walks away from the sailors. I feel my eyes narrow, Sophia, walking away from sailors. Yeah, I've got to say, that's new.

"Evelynn, come on, the others have got us a table down the back," Sophia says and I nod as we make our way through the crowded bar. A tall man steps on my foot and I look up at him and he turns around. "I'm so sorry, Doll." He smiles.
"No that's okay, the bar is so packed I expect my feet to be stepped on," I say and he laughs.

"Sophia, wait up." I lean out and grab her arm.

"Have you got a table?" the tall guy asks and I nod.
"Yes," I say. "Do you need somewhere to sit?" I ask and he nods.

"We do, my friend is just grabbing drinks," he says and I smile.

"You can come join us if you like." His friend turns around and passes him a drink, he is also tall and has dark brown hair and eyes.

"This doll has invited us to her table, this is Charlie, I'm Noah," he says shouting over the music.
"I'm Evelynn, this is Sophia," I shout and Sophia smiles.

We all walk over to the table, and Sophia goes and sits down next to her brother and he passes her a drink. "Didn't think much of the Navy boys then?" he says to Sophia and she shakes her head.

"No, they reminded me far too much of you," she says as she smirks and he rolls his eyes at her comment. I sit down beside Sophia, and watch Noah try to take the seat next to me but is beaten by Frederick, I give him an apologetic smile and he returns it and takes the seat opposite me. Charlie takes the last available seat at our table opposite Sophia as he pulls the chair out he smiles broadly at Sophia and winks. I watch Sophia blush and shyly smile into her hands, I laugh to myself at how innocent she looks.

"Who's your friends?" Raymond asks.

"This is Noah and Charlie," I say.

"I'm Maggie, this is my husband Raymond. Nice to meet you both," she shouts.

"As it is you," Charlie says. He looks back at Sophia and smiles again.

****

It's three minutes to twelve. I look at Evelynn looking at Noah and I laugh to myself at her obvious attempts of flirting. Two minutes to go, we all begin to stand up, with our drinks in our hands, we walk around to the front of the table so we can all watch the clock change together, I stand between Harry and Charlie. One more minute, I look at Harry and see him looking at Katherine, he's actually serious about her. Maybe I should have been a little easier on her.