“Like you really are my boyfriend and not some fake date arrangement,” she says, placing her hands on her hips. “Like you showed up here to surprise me?—”
“I did show up here to surprise you.”
She holds her hand out in front of my face to stop me from talking.
“Like you showed up here to surprise me,” she repeats and I smile at her annoyance. “And found me making out with some guy behind your back.”
I say nothing and she stares at me, widening her eyes in annoyance.
“Say something.” She pushes at my chest and laughs.
“You shushed me.”
“Like me shushing you is going to stop you from saying whatever it is you want to say.”
“You’re really cute when you get irritated,” I tell her and she rolls her eyes.
“You should see what I do when I’m pissed off.”
“Do you stomp your feet?”
Her eyes narrow and I try to hold back, but it’s impossible. Instead I hook my arm over her shoulders and pull her in for ahug. “Come on firecracker, I brought lunch from Kelly’s Cafe’.” It’s a small little place that is only open for lunch in Hudson. Home cooking at its best, southern style everything, and the girls love the place.
“Fried green tomatoes?” she asks as I guide her to the table.
“And banana pudding,” I add, leaning over her shoulder and pulling the bag across the table to place it before her. “Or you could take off now and catch up with Phillip.”
I don’t have to see her face to know she is rolling her eyes, it’s her go-to, whenever she is annoyed. So instead I smile, sit in the space next to her, and watch her remove each item from the bag. By the time everything is out her smile has returned and I realize that spending time with Sophie is actually something I look forward to.
She is a breath of fresh air, with a side of sass. It may take some time, but I make it my mission to rid her of the timid nature she has no business possessing. I don’t think she realizes just how beautiful she is.
CHAPTER TEN
Sophie
“How did lunch go today?”I turn around and find Adley with a knowing smile on her face.
“So that was you?”
“No, that was him, all his idea. I just told him where to find you.” With a shrug she spins around and goes back to painting the trim in her bathroom. “He said he’s been trying to set up another date with you and you keep dodging him.”
“Because they are fake dates and I don’t have a clue how to fake date anyone. Apparently I don’t have a clue as to how to real date anyone either. I have no idea how I got myself into this mess in the first place.”
“Do you want me to be honest with you?” she asks, pausing to turn around once again and face me.
I nod.
“I think that Finn needs this distraction, maybe a little more than you. I think that maybe he is looking for something outside of the heavy crap that he has going on with his parents. And I think a girl, a friend, that is coming out of a shitty situation that may need a little fun herself.”
“So I’m not a project?”
“Sophie no, you are a sweet girl that deserves to feel appreciated, and needs to focus on having fun instead of worrying about what-ifs and all of that garbage. Finn or none of the guys ever truly liked Ryan. And they’ve been forced to sit around and watch you struggle through that mess. I’m sure all of them wanted to throttle him but Finn is the first one to step up and decide that Ryan needs to have all his mistakes thrown back in his face. The biggest being an idiot for not realizing just how amazing you are.”
“I feel like a charity case, like he’s throwing me a bone and I’m this silly little dog picking up scraps.”
“We all know that Finn doesn’t do anything he doesn’t want to do. Like I said, I think there is a whole lot more to this arrangement than he’s putting on.”
“And I think this life you have with Rory has made you soft and delusional,” I tell her and she only shrugs as if she doesn’t disagree.
