The ceremony was quick and lovely. I feel like most girls in my position, with a promise ring and being promised an engagement ring, would enjoy weddings and be planning their own in their mind, but now all that's on my mind is my music... well that and the fact that I have to see Fernanda soon and I think she's upset with me.
João grabs my hand squeezing it, sensing my nerves, I imagine. He leads me to our table and we take our seats. I pull my phone from my bag turning it on.
"No work tonight," João says snatching my phone.
"I need that," I whine.
"You do not," he states, "you can have it back at the end of the night."
"João, you can't just confiscate my phone," I protest.
"I just did," he shrugs, sticking my phone in his pocket.
"You're insufferable," I whisper.
"You love me," he whispers back.
The bride and groom make their rounds greeting all their guests. I got to meet the adorable couple, the groom was a friend of João's.
They served dinner and I made conversation with João's family ignoring João as much as I could, he was annoying me. We finished eating and João pulled me out onto the dance floor with the rest of his friends. I greeted them all, and danced with them for a bit.
I spot Antonio, and slowly dance over to him. "Let me borrow your phone," I say. I've known him longer, his loyalties should lie with me.
"No," he says.
"Antonio," I whine.
"Why do you want it ?" He asks.
"I don't know," I sigh, "but there's this sick feeling in my stomach," I admit.
He gives me a small smile shaking my head, "trust your gut, Sofia, you have no business being online now."
"What do you know ?" I ask.
"That you shouldn't be on social media right now," he states.
I huff, this day couldn't get any fucking worse. I walk back over to João, "phone, please."
"No," he says.
"What the fuck is going on ?" I whisper.
"You don't want to know," he says, "I promised you to take your mind off of things and I'm trying."
"This is worse," I groan walking off to the restroom.
I walk in, locking myself in a stall, I don't know what's going on but I don't like it. First, Fernanda and I have perhaps a bit of a spat, and then I can't find a single recording studio available, and now, I know there's something wrong and not knowing is worse than knowing, I feel so sick.
"Hello," I call out, but no one says anything.
-
TW: mentions of throwing up.
Knowing I'm alone, I lower my face onto the toilet and empty the contents of my stomach.
-
"Sofia ?" I hear as I flush the toilet.
I wipe my mouth walking out of the stall. I walk over to the sink to wash my mouth.
"Hey," Fernanda gives me a weak smile, "you okay ?"
"I'll be fine," I wave her off.
"You don't look fine," Ivone says.
"I didn't say I was, I said I'll be fine, there's a difference," I say. I place my hand a few inches away from my mouth and blow. "Gross," I groan, "either of you have gum ?" I ask.
"You look sick," Ivone says digging a gum from her purse.
"Ivone," Fernanda says in a warning tone, "do you want us to get João ?"
"I'd rather not see him now," I say, silently thanking Ivone for the gum and popping it in my mouth.
"Trouble in paradise ?" Ivone asks.
"Can I borrow your phone ?" I ask ignoring her question, "either of you, I'm extremely desperate."
"I'm sorry," Fernanda says forcing a smile.
"We're on strict orders not to let you," Ivone says, "what'd you do ?"
"Nothing," I shrug, "a loophole, one of you look my name up on twitter and tell me what's being said."
"Sofia, no," Fernanda says.
"I know you hate me, you must be relishing in this," I scoff looking at Ivone. "Name your price, I'll double it."
"I don't hate you," she sighs, "and no, I'm not relishing in you driving yourself crazy. Sofia, get a grip."
"Ivone," Fernanda warns again.
"I'm being honest, she already knows what this is about," Ivone states. Hayes. I swear I'll kill him. "João's not trying to be an asshole and you know it," she tells me, "he's trying to protect you, stop fighting it and enjoy the night."
I push past her rushing back out to where João is dancing with his friends. "Phone, now," I grit.
"Where'd you get gum ?" He asks trying to change the subject.
"What the hell is he saying about me now ?" I whisper.
"Thanks guys," he mumbles to the girls who are behind me.
"Sorry," Fer mumbles.
"One dance," he says raising his index finger, "one dance and I'll give it back, I swear."
I sigh, "you don't even know how to dance."
"You taught me," he smirks, "you questioning your skills as a teacher ?"
"One dance," I sigh giving in.
They begin playing a slow song and he pulls me close wrapping his arms around me. I release a breath, feeling safe in his embrace and wrap my arms around his neck. We sway for what feels like forever, two songs, to be exact, he didn't let me go after the first and I didn't want him to, if I'm being honest.
"As promised," he says reaching into his pocket for my phone as he pulls away. It rings in his hand as he hands it over. I check the caller ID, but it's not a number I don't recognize.
"Hello," I say taking the call walking to the restrooms again.
"Hi, I have a missed call from this number," the woman on the other side states.
"Um, give me a second," I say putting her on speaker and looking through my call log. "Yes," I say, "hello ?"
"I'm here," she says.
"I was calling to see if you have any openings in your studio tomorrow," I say hopeful.
"Unfortunately, tomorrow is considered a holiday, we're closed," she says.
I sigh, accepting defeat at this point. "Okay, thank you so much for your time."
"Wait," she says before I hang up, "you an up and coming artist or... ?"
"Uh no, I've been doing this for a few years now," I admit, "I don't know, just a last minute project I thought of."
"Sell it to me," she says.
"I'm sorry ?" I ask confused.
"Truthfully, I have nothing to do, if it's good, I'll open up for you," she says.
"My ex is all over social media talking shit about me, portraying himself as a victim when he cheated on me possibly throughout the entirety of our relationship," I state, "I'm done being the bad guy, I guess."
"Sofia ?" She asks.
"How'd you know ?" I ask.
"Lucky guess," she says, "my kid is a fan. Does this project have a deadline ?"
"Well no..." I trail off.
"But ?" She asks.
"I'd like to get it done tomorrow," I admit.
"Can I bring my girl ?" She asks.
"I always love meeting fans," I say.
"What time do you need me to open ?" She asks.
"You don't have to," I say, "I've accepted defeat," I admit.
"I'll send you the address, doors will be open at 5AM," she states.
"Are you serious ?" I ask.
"I don't like cheaters," she says, "and my daughter loves you."
"Oh my god, thank you so much," I say dabbing my eyes with a paper towel trying to stop the tears from falling.
"See you at 5," she says hanging up.
I take a second to compose myself, not feeling the need to check my phone anymore, even though it's blowing up. I walk out of the restroom looking for João who pulls me back; he was standing outside the restroom door, waiting for me. I hand him my phone.
"You okay ?" He asks.
"Eh, I still have no fucking clue what's going on," I admit.
"You don't want to know ?" He asks.
"I have studio time, that's all I care about," I admit. "Besides, a loud birdy told me you're trying to protect me, I'll count my losses and see what all the chaos is tomorrow, right now, I want to enjoy my night with you. I love you."
"I love you so much more," he says pulling me in for a kiss. "Can I get a proper kiss, please," he pouts.
"I'm sparing you," I admit, "I threw up, the gum can only do so much," I laugh.
"Are you okay ?" He asks.
"Fine," I say, "knowing people are speaking ill about me on social media but not knowing what is being said is not ideal."
"I'm sorry," he sighs kissing the side of my head.
"Your heart was in the right place," I smile at him placing a hand on his chest. "We dancing or what ?" I ask.
"Yes please," he smiles at me pulling me onto the dance floor.
We spend the rest of the night enjoying the company of each other and his friends and family, dancing the night away. After the reception, João's dad drove us home once again.
"Let's get a nap in before the game ?" João asks as we walk into his room and he shuts the door.
"Yes," I say struggling to unzip my dress.
"Let me help," he says unzipping my dress. I remove the straps and the dress falls to the floor. I walk to the restroom to slip his T-shirt that I was wearing earlier back on and my spandex.
I walk back out to his room lifting my dress off the floor and placing it on a hanger in his closet... I'm slowly taking over. I sit on his bed and when João walks in, I stick my feet out for him to remove my heals.
"Do you know how hard it is to put on spandex with these things," I groan.
"You could've asked me to take them off before you walked to the restroom," he laughs. "Hugo says he'll wake us up," he says rubbing my feet.
"Mmmm, you're too good to me," I smile.
He unbuttons his shirt, taking it off and then his pants, throwing them on a chair and putting some shorts on. I crawl under the covers and he joins me wrapping his arms around me. We drift off to sleep for an hour or two.
Hugo wakes us up and we quickly get dressed to play. We all get into João's car and he drives us to their old school. Apparently, as is tradition, we climb the fence joining the friends that are already there.
We step out onto the field greeting everyone and as we wait for the rest to arrive, we play a quick game of one two. When everyone else arrived, we played a quick game.
"I want a rematch," Miguel says, "you guys were up a man."
"Maybe some other time," I say checking the time.
"Yeah, definitely not today," Neves says, "good game."
"Hey, Sof, do you want to get ready with us later ?" Fer asks.
"Uh, I don't think I'll have time," I admit, "we have to go," I tell João.
"Now ?" João asks, "you've gotten like an hour of sleep."
"There's no way I'm making her wait for me," I tell him. "She's agreed to open the studio for me, I'm gonna take advantage of it, besides, I've done more on less sleep."
"You have to eat something," he says.
"Yeah, drop me off first," I say.
"You're recording new music ?" Ivone asks.
"More like re-recording songs I've put on the shelf for so long," I state. "We gotta go," I remind João.
We say our goodbyes to the group and get into the car.
"You're stinky," João says.
I receive a text from her. "Running late, let's meet, 5:30," I sigh, "okay, I have time for a quick shower."
"Good," he says driving us to his house.
I text her back telling her 5:30 works. João drives as quickly as he possibly can to his house. He parks the car as soon as we arrive and I rush inside taking off my clothes as soon as he closes the door to his room.
I hop in the shower not even caring about the temperature of the water. I take a quick shower, and turn off the water grabbing a towel and drying off. When I step out into the bathroom, I see a comfortable outfit laid out for me, god I love him.
I quickly change into what he picked out for me brushing through my hair and then my teeth. My mouth finally feels clean again. I walk out of the bathroom, ready to pick up my dirty clothes, but João has already beaten me to it.
"Ready ?" He asks sitting up on the bed, keys in hand.
"I love you," I smile at him.
"I love you more," he says getting off the bed and pulling me into his proper kiss he had asked for earlier.
We walk downstairs and back into his car ready for him to drive me to the studio. I give him directions, putting the address into the GPS. A few minutes after we arrive, I see a black Camaro pull in to the parking lot. I watch on as a young girl and who I assume to be her mother step out of the car.
The two women proceed to walk over to the door of the studio and unlock the doors. I step out of the car, as João follows behind. I open the door of the studio walking in.
"Hello," I call out.
"Ah, you made it," the woman smiles at me, "I'm Beatriz, we spoke on the phone," she says extending her hand out for me to shake.
"Sofia," I smile at her shaking her hand, "and this is my boyfriend João."
João smiles at her shaking her hand.
"This is my daughter, Carolina," she gestures to her daughter who shyly waves at us.
"Huge fan," she says, "of the both of you," she smiles.
"Let me just set this booth up and I'll get you in," Beatriz smiles at me.
"It's so cool of you to let me hang in here while you record," Carolina says.
"So cool of your mom to open up her doors to me," I smile at her.
"I'll go get you guys some coffee and something to eat," João says pecking my cheek.
He takes our orders and heads off.
When he comes back, I'm halfway through a song. I know what to do and what I need to do so basically I'm on my own for the most part. I finish the song and sit down to eat. Beatriz offers João a couch where he can nap after we finish eating and I get back to work.