Nothing New for Sophie Drew: a heart-warming romantic comedy

by Katey Lovell

  “You were right,” Tawna said, her voice croaky with sleep. “I haven’t been a good friend to you two lately, but that’s going to change, starting now. I know how lucky I am to have you both. Your friendship means the world to me, and that’s not going to change when I get married. Friendship never ends.”

  She looked so serious, even though she’d ended her heartfelt speech by quoting the Spice Girls.

  “We’re all lucky,” I added, “but we need to learn to be one hundred per cent honest. If we can’t be ourselves with each other, then who can we be ourselves with?”

  “True,” Eve affirmed, having regained her composure. She raised her glass of water in a toast. “To honesty.”

  “To honesty,” Tawna and I repeated, holding imaginary glasses aloft.

  “And now,” Tawna said, burying her bleary-eyed face into her pillow, “sleep.”

  “How are you feeling this morning, sleepyhead?” Tawna asked, placing a mug of steaming coffee on the bedside table.

  “Rough as,” I moaned, as she ruffled my bedhead hair.

  “You’ve looked better,” Eve said with a laugh, before clutching her head and saying, “owww.” She couldn’t laugh too long or too hard. Her hair was looking wild too.

  “Shut up,” I growled affectionately, plumping up a pillow and pulling myself into a seated position. Even that hurt.

  I was amazed by how good Tawna looked, fresh as the proverbial daisy, her hair washed and blow-dried, her barely-there day make-up applied to perfection. It was as though the tired, bloodshot eyes of the previous night never existed. “Thank you for opening up to me, and I’m sorry I’ve been such a crap friend lately. I won’t shut you out again.”

  “It’s in the past.” Eve yawned, her mouth stretching into a wide tunnel-like O. “And now we’re all up to date on each other’s lives so none of us need to struggle alone.”

  “Too right.” I made myself take a sip of the coffee. It burned, but as the caffeine jolted through my bloodstream I felt fractionally more human again. Perhaps I would be able to drag my sorry arse out of bed after all. “Although there is something else I need to share with you.”

  I took a deep breath before telling them about Darius and the money. Eve looked horrified when I told her about my middle-of-the-night bank transfer, and even Tawna couldn’t conceal her shock.

  “He never mentioned any of this to me,” she said, “although nothing would surprise me when it comes to Nadia. I’m surprised he hasn’t told Johnny though.”

  “Maybe he has, but told Johnny not to tell you?” Eve suggested, stifling a yawn. “You know Darius. Typical alpha male. He wouldn’t want to admit to being under Nadia’s thumb.”

  “There are no secrets between me and Johnny!” Tawna spluttered. “He’d tell me anything. Maybe you’re right though, Darius doesn’t like to come across as needy. It must show that he trusts you, Sophie, to approach you. That takes guts.”

  “Max messaged me too,” I said quietly, scrolling through my phone to look at the message.

  We need to talk.

  Max.

  Nothing about the message filled me with hope, but I held it up for my friends to read.

  “You were desperate to hear from him, Soph, and now you have. That’s great!” Eve said.

  “I don’t know. It sounds ominous to me.”

  “You wanted him to reach out first and he has. Have you messaged him back?” Tawna asked.

  I shook my head. “I think I’m going to leave it, at least until we get back home. This week’s been traumatic enough without long-distance arguments making it worse. I think I’m going to switch my phone off for the rest of the holiday, actually.”

  Tawna gave me a disbelieving look. “You’d never manage without it. And how would you take photos without your phone?”

  “I’ll pinch yours off Instagram,” I said with a shrug, and then I held my finger against my phone’s power button. When the screen went black, I threw my handset into my suitcase, which was lying open at the foot of my bed.

  “Do you still want to go to The Statue of Liberty today?” I knew that was the one landmark Tawna had her heart set on seeing.

  She nodded, then said, “But let’s get brunch first. I could do with a stack of pancakes drowned in maple syrup to set me up for the day.”

  I couldn’t decide if that sounded amazing or awful. Pancakes would normally be my dream breakfast, but my stomach was still lurching up and down as though I was riding the Cyclone rollercoaster at Coney Island.

  “I’m up for that. My stomach feels as though it’s been hollowed out.” Apparently the mere mention of pancakes was all that was needed to get Eve stripping off and preparing to get in the shower. “Aim to leave in half an hour?”

  I groaned. Having to force myself out of my pit wasn’t appealing when my head was having its own private disco.

  “We’re in New York!” Tawna reminded us, punching the air. “The best city in the world. Surely you don’t want to waste our time here lying in bed.”

  “You encouraged it by getting me rollicking drunk.” I smiled, but her words hit home and I swung my legs out from under the covers. It’s not every day I wake up in one of the greatest cities in the world. “You said it yourself, I’m a lightweight.”

  “Maybe we should stick to just a few cocktails tonight,” Tawna said thoughtfully. “Can’t have you feeling this rough in the morning. We’ve got an early start tomorrow.” She clamped her hand over her mouth then mumbled through her fingers, “Oops, I shouldn’t have said that.”

  My eyebrows slid down my face into a frown, mystified by her secrecy. “What do you mean?”

  She lowered her hand then jutted out her chin. “Never you mind. You’ll just have to wait and see.”

  I knocked back what was left of my coffee. It was no longer scorching enough to make me feel like I was being burned alive from the inside. “Nothing bad though? You promise?”

  “Of course it’s nothing bad! It’s a treat for my two best friends. You’ll love it.”

  “Hmm.”

  The glimmer of a smirk on Tawna’s face left me wondering, but as Eve stepped out of the bathroom wrapped in a fluffy white towel, followed by a hazy mist of lemon-scented steam, I didn’t have the chance to dwell on it for long. I needed every ounce of energy I had to drag myself in the shower and sober up good and proper.

  My earlier coffee sloshed in my stomach, my hands gripping the silver railing that lined the deck of the boat taking us to Liberty Island. The sensation wasn’t pleasant, but it could’ve been worse. A boy further along the deck was throwing up into a brown paper bag. At least my pancakes had the decency to stay down.

  Lady Liberty stood tall and proud on her tiny island at the southern tip of Manhattan, and it struck me how surreal it was that the monument I’d seen so many times in films and on TV was right in front of me. Her turquoise frame looked smaller in reality than it did on screen, but no less impressive. As the sun reflected off her body, she glowed.

  “I can’t believe we’re here,” Eve breathed. “Back when we were kids I used to dream about coming to New York but never imagined it would actually happen. Look at us now. Here we are.” She scooped our hands, Tawna’s with her right, mine with her left. “It’s incredible. And there’s no one I’d rather be here with than you two.”

  A sigh of happiness escaped Tawna’s lips and as I caught Eve looking up at Liberty, her eyes full of awe, I had no regrets about this trip. Yes, it was an expensive holiday and using the money to pay off my debts would have been the more responsible thing to do, but I’d still transferred more than the minimum payment to the credit card company, even with the unexpected expense and giving Darius the money for Summer.

  Being with my girls on a once-in-a-lifetime trip was worth it anyway. Who knew where we’d be in the future? Tawna and Johnny were already settled in their nest and it wouldn’t surprise me if they quickly took the next step and filled it with fledglings, and Eve had mentioned she was hopi
ng for promotion at work. Her boss was nearing retirement and when the time came for looking for his replacement Eve would be there waiting to fill his empty lab coat. And I’d started making steps towards changing my own life for the better, even if I still had a way to go.

  “Besides my family there’s no one who’s been in my life as long as you two,” I said, pensively. “Let’s cherish every minute of this holiday. Squeeze every bit of magic out of our time here.”

  “Too right.” Eve nodded, and as the boat docked, the three of us linked arms, stepping onto Liberty Island as one.

  I breathed in a lungful of Liberty Island air, still heavy with sunshine but free from the pollution of the city, as I gazed across the bay to the Financial District. Freedom Tower dominated the skyline, a giant splinter of glass piercing the island of Manhattan. The neighbouring skyscrapers were comparatively unimpressive – office blocks, apartments, meeting places – but they all served their own purpose and were all important in their own right.

  “Let’s do this,” I said, leading our human chain in the direction of the ticket and security checkpoint, but not before buying three foam crowns so we really looked the part. Like typical tourists, but like typical tourists having the times of their lives.

  I hugged Tawna and Eve close, drinking in the moment, because days like these didn’t come around very often, and when they did you had to savour them.

  It had been a mad trip. After our jaunt to Liberty Island (where Eve threw up when we reached the plinth, her hangover combined with her longstanding phobia of heights winning out over her strong constitution), we’d treated ourselves to a hideously overpriced buggy ride around Central Park, where the horse had a severe bout of loud and pungent flatulence; followed by a guided bus tour around the key sightseeing spots, where Tawna insisted she spotted Julia Roberts walking down Fifth Avenue.

  Tawna had made us get off the bus to stalk her but, four blocks later when we finally caught up with the red-headed woman, she looked nothing like the famous film star and Tawna’s feet were ripped to shreds from running in her heels.

  Our third day in The Big Apple had begun with Tawna’s big secret – which hadn’t gone down well with Eve – a helicopter ride over Manhattan for the three of us. The back of my hand would probably be permanently scarred by the crescent-moon-shaped marks Eve’s nails had left as she clung on to me for dear life.

  Thankfully the evening had been more enjoyable (and less painful), taking in a Broadway show. That was fabulous, actually, and we did get to have a group selfie with one of the actresses at the stage door. She wasn’t Julia Roberts’ level of famous, but she’d starred in a few well-known films.

  There’d also been food and lots of it. We’d eaten our body weight in salted pretzels from food carts on the street and more pizza than necessary at John’s Pizzeria, as well as sampling the restaurant Tawna had been so keen to try out. She’d probably eaten more carbs in the time we’d been away than she had in the previous year.

  That along with the drinking – way too much drinking, even though we’d said we were going to pace ourselves after our first eventful night – was Tawna’s hen do in brief. It had been emotional and exhausting and wonderful, but the time had come for us all to return to our realities back in the UK.

  As we sat at the airport, waiting for our flight to be called, we enjoyed one final holiday cocktail in the bar. That was when I switched my phone back on and an influx of messages popped up on the home screen. The name that flashed up on the screen over and over again caused me to catch my breath.

  Four new messages from Max.

  Did you get my last message?

  Max

  Please, Sophie. Call me when you get this.

  Max

  Sophie, it’s about Darius and the money.

  Max

  I guess you don’t want to talk about it. I’ll leave you alone.

  Max

  I read the messages three times, trying to make sense of them. How did Max know about Darius and the money?

  I clicked to make the FaceTime call even though that’d enable him to see me in my post-holiday state. My skin was a sallow shade from lack of sleep and bad dietary habits and deep dark rings circled my eyes. I’d tied my hair back in one of those messy buns which look chic when celebrities wear them, but just looked downright scruffy on me. But none of it mattered. I needed to speak to Max.

  “Sophie,” he said, and I thought that maybe, maybe, something like longing lingered in his voice. “I wanted to talk to you.”

  “I wanted to talk to you too,” I blurted, “but I’m still in New York with the girls. We’re about to board the plane home. My phone’s been off for days so I’ve only just picked up your messages.”

  “Yeah, well, there are a few things I think you need to know. I’ll meet you at the airport, if you like? Drive you all back.”

  “We’re flying into Manchester, not Newcastle,” I said with regret, as a tannoy announcement let us know our flight was ready for boarding. Tawna and Eve tried chivvying me along, but I batted away their attempts to get me to hurry.

  “So? I can still come and pick you up. What time do you land?”

  We’d reached the gate, a smartly-dressed flight attendant checking our boarding passes and passports.

  “Three thirty-five in the morning. Honestly, it’s the middle of the night. Don’t come, please. It’s too far.”

  “I want to. There are things you need to know, and it’d be better talking about it in person rather than over the phone. I’ll be waiting for you at the gate.”

  As I settled into my seat on the plane, crammed between Tawna who’d bagsied the window and Eve who preferred the aisle so she could stretch out her long legs, I replayed the call over in my mind. Surely he wouldn’t have offered to come and collect us if he hated me? In fact, would he have messaged at all if he was that upset?

  Seeing Max on screen made me realise how much I liked him. He was gorgeous, and not just on the outside. When the flight took off I wrapped myself in a blanket and although I didn’t sleep – my mind being too full of thoughts of Max – I allowed myself to daydream; to wonder if he’d be waiting at the arrivals gate like he’d said he would.

  Chapter 25

  He was there, looking sleepy and cute as he leant over a barrier holding a sign saying “Tawna and Hens”. If anything was going to win Tawna around, it was that.

  Seeing him in the flesh was like receiving a sucker punch to my stomach. Before the trip I’d been aware of the attraction between us, but now the thought of us not being together set off a very real pain in my chest. All I could think was please, please, please, don’t let him hold the kiss with Darius against me, not when I’d finally accepted there was only one man I wanted, and he was right there in front of me, his hair mussed up like a scarecrow’s and his oversized jumper drowning him.

  My body ached terribly, the activities of the trip combined with the onset of jet lag wiping me out as we clambered into Max’s vehicle, but as I tilted my tired head back against the headrest, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Max.

  His hands were firmly wrapped around the steering wheel as he drove, his eyes focused on the road.

  Tawna snored away on the back seat, her animalistic snorts drowning out the low hum of the Motown classics playing on the radio. Eve had her headphones on, most likely listening to the science podcast she was devoted to.

  “How does it feel to be back?” Max asked, eyes still fixated on the motorway.

  “America was incredible, but it’s good to be home,” I said, before softly adding, “It’s good to see you, Max. I’d been wanting to phone you, but I was scared. I thought you might not want to see me again.”

  I longed to reach out and touch him but was afraid of distracting him when he was driving. The hug he’d given me at the airport had been so tight I’d felt the air being squeezed from my lungs.

  “I saw you and your ex at the festival.”

  I could feel my cheeks heating
up, and I was glad it was still dark outside so I could hide behind the night’s veil.

  Max looked over his shoulder to the back seat of the car. When he was happy my friends weren’t eavesdropping on our conversation he added, “I was jealous, and angry. So fucking angry! Do you know how much it takes for me to trust people?” He laughed bitterly. “Of course you don’t.”

  A fire I’d not seen before burnt in his eyes and there was tension in the way his fingers coiled around the steering wheel and the rigidity of his jawline.

  I spouted my pre-prepared lines about how the kiss with Darius hadn’t been planned and how it had only happened because I’d been vulnerable and upset about Fred, but even to my ears they sounded like something from a low-budget soap opera.

  “And it had to be him, of all people,” Max continued, all but spitting the words. “My brother, Chris, knows him. They’ve got some friends in common, what with them working in the same field. In fact, Chris’s business partner is with Darius right now. In Vegas. They flew out yesterday for Johnny’s stag.”

  He turned to look at me and the harsh motorway lights reflected his eyes. They looked steely and cold.

  “Darius isn’t going on the stag do.” I was talking slowly, but still tripping up over the words. My mouth was bone dry. “He told me at the festival. He’s giving the money he was planning to use to pay for the trip to his ex, instead – for his daughter.”

  “He’s in Vegas now,” Max insisted. “The photos are all over Facebook.”

  I instinctively reached for my phone before remembering Darius and I were no longer connected on social media. But me and Johnny were…

  I clicked on Johnny’s account, scrolling past his profile picture and personal information. And sure enough, group photos from the stag do confronted me, eight inebriated men standing in front of the iconic “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign. And right at the centre of the group, posing next to the groom-to-be, was Darius.