Sometimes, I worried about my best friend. He was spiralling and cared more about women and the fast lifestyle than he did stepping into his destiny.
But I guessed that was why we got on so well. They said opposites attract. And boy, were we opposites.
“Sophia.” Another shrug, but he didn’t say anything else. Instead, he pulled the girl down for a kiss.
Sophia? Instantly, I was on edge. It had been a month since I had seen her last. In fact, I had been actively avoiding coming over anytime I thought she might be around. It was childish, but I just couldn’t handle seeing her yet.
She was engaged to someone else. She wasn’t mine. What we’d had, had been nothing but a brief fling, and now she was going to be someone else’s.
“I didn’t realize she was home.”
“Want me to rub your sunscreen in, Matteo?” the girl to my left said when Gio didn’t answer me.
I shook my head and then thought better of it. Sophia was engaged. I wasn’t betraying her. Even if that’s how it felt.
“Sure.” I rolled over onto my front. Resting my cheek on my hand, I barely noticed her climb over me.
“You’re not listening to me.” Sophia’s voice rose up from the house. She sounded angry, although that didn’t quite cover it. She sounded furious.
“I don’t want to go back to school.”
My ears pricked up. She didn’t want to finish her degree? That made no sense. She had been so excited to finish her education.
“I mean, what would be the point? I’m not going to use it.”
I could almost hear her eye roll.
“You’re making me marry a man I don’t even know.”
“You do know him, Sophia, and it’s a good match.” That was her father’s voice. “He will look after you.”
Something smashed inside the house.
“You’re not getting it,” she screamed. “I don’t want him to look after me. I don’t want to get married to him.”
My eyebrows lifted in shock. She didn’t want to get married? I knew it had been a shock to her, but I had always presumed that she would just accept her fate. After all, she had always known that this was a possibility for her. Women in her position didn’t get to choose.
Men like me didn’t, either.
We had power, but love wasn’t an option for us. The best we could hope for was a match where we didn’t hate each other.
“Did you even once ask me what I wanted from my life? Maybe I wanted to marry for love.”
“Sophia.” Her mother groaned. “That’s just a…”
“I’m in love with someone else.” The words tore themselves out of Sophia’s throat, and I couldn’t help it. My head snapped up.
Had I heard her right? Was she in love with someone?
It took me a second to realize that she was talking about me.
Sophia was admitting out loud that she loved me.
“Not that it matters to you, does it?” she screeched. “Because you don’t care what I want. You don’t care that my heart is breaking.”
The back door slammed, and her eyes found me instantly. Hers were swimming with tears. They dripped down her cheeks.
For ten whole seconds, she stared at me. I didn’t know how it was possible that she could look so stunning with tears and snot on her face, but she did.
