Sophia should have been the walking poster child of what spoiled rich kids across the world acted like. She was rude, disrespectful, whiny, and a pain in the ass to boot, just like a lot of the kids I grew up around. When the time came for us to date—something both my mother and hers suggested when setting us up for each other at sixteen—it lasted only a handful of months, ending only because Sophia found a jock at our school who paid her the romantic attention I couldn’t bring myself to. Not because I was less than a man, but because I wasn’t interested in her.
I’d always wanted to thank that jock.
Which was why I wished I had more of a backbone, so I could kindly protest and leave before I found myself stuck in a situation I didn’t want to be in. Mother knew how I felt about her, but that didn’t keep her from trying to press Sophia in my direction every chance she could.
I’d neatly avoided it most times, but it appeared I wouldn’t be so lucky as far as lunch was concerned. I could only hope she’d keep her hands to herself for once. I wasn’t in the mood to be pawed at since Sophia seemed to have the hands of an octopus, sticking them everywhere she could when she latched onto me.
“Hello, Sophia. My goodness, you look lovelier than ever!” Mother cooed as she stood. They exchanged over-exaggerated air kisses that made me want to bolt for the nearest exit and keep running. Instead, I stood, pulled out the chair closest to Mother, and then slid the seat under Sophia as she sat.
Before I could take a step back, she’d snagged my hand neatly in hers, stroking her nails against the pulse point of my wrist. “It’s so good to see you again, Phillip,” she said, letting her blue eyes roam slowly over me, stopping longer than necessary at the zipper of my pants. “I know it’s been nearly a year since I last saw you during that trip in Rome, but my-my how you’ve filled out.” The tip of her tongue darted out to her heavily glossed, pink lips as she met my eyes.
I pulled my hand back, dipping my head in customary acknowledgement, and returned to my seat. “Nice to see you too,” I answered evenly, picking up my menu and trying my best to ignore her. “I thought you’d be long gone to Paris by now.”
“Oh, yes. I did too, but then Daddy had an exciting business deal pull through and asked that I come here and stay until it was announced.”
“Phillip will be starting college this fall, Sophia. Berkley. We’re so pleased he’s taking up a degree that will give him a strong foothold into any number of Fortune 500 companies,” Mother said, laying it on thick.
Never once had I said anything about where exactly I’d end up with my degree. Yes, it was my hope to be hired in with a reputable company. I just didn’t go around announcing it as if it had already happened.
“Well, that sounds very promising, Amelia. You’ll have quite the lineup of potential daughter-in-laws to pick from soon, but really, when it comes to Phillip, only the best will do.” Sophia turned her eyes on me with a look that said she’d take the lead on that outcome.
I felt the tips of my ears heating under her gaze. When she noticed, she lifted her water goblet up in front of her, running a gold, French-tipped manicured finger down the side.
I looked away at once, completely uncomfortable with her eyes on me. If Sophia Kennedy was husband hunting, I’d do well to steer clear of her until her claws were out of my reach.
Mother cleared her throat. “What are your plans this afternoon, Sophia?”
Tuning them out, I focused on my menu. The sooner we ordered, the sooner I could eat and make my excuses to leave them. Whatever Sophia had answered was met with excitement from Mother, because the next thing I knew, she said my name.
Sharply.
Moving the menu lower so that I could see Mother over the top, I quirked my brow, asking, “I’m sorry What did I miss?”
When her brows pulled together, I knew I’d angered her. “I said that you have the afternoon free and would love to spend a few hours with Sophia.”
Giving me a hard glare for a brief moment, her features smoothed as she looked over at Sophia. “Won’t that be wonderful? The two of you getting to spend some time together. Just like old times. And alone too; that never happens with our busy schedules!”
Busy schedules, my foot. She’d orchestrated this little moment from the word go. It was written in the wide smile in her eyes.
“Isn’t that exciting, Phillip?” Mother said, reaching out and patting my hand briefly before laying hers on top of mine with a bone-cracking squeeze.
Inwardly, I fumed. Outwardly, I pasted on a Grammy award-winning smile, hoping my disappointment stayed in check before all hell broke loose with Mother.
Eventually, I’d have to sit her down and tell her that under no circumstances would I ever pick back up where I’d left off with Sophia Kennedy.
“Well, now that that’s settled.” Mother beamed before snapping her fingers at a passing server. She was ready to order.
“I CAN’T BELIEVE THE LUCK of seeing your mother this morning,” Sophia said, worming her arm through mine and stroking her fingers along my bicep. “But I suppose I was bound to run into one of the two of you eventually.”
I quivered under her touch, but not in the good way. Sophia, while very beautiful, was a man-eater, and I wasn’t looking to be her next course.
“Mmmm… very,” I murmured, hoping she’d do what she did best—keep talking about herself until I could find a way to get the hell away from her.
“I’m so glad you agreed to come down to the pier with me. There’s so many to choose from, and I want the right one. One we can both be happy with.”
I came to a halting stop at the word we, mouth hanging partially open before stepping back. Dropping Sophia’s arm in the process, I said, “I’m sorry… what?”
“The pier. You agreed at lunch to help me pick out a boat after I told you that Daddy told me to pick out the one I want,” she answered, poking her bottom lip out as if it would get me to fall in line by feeling bad for not listening to her.
Just like she always used to do.
“I… uh… I don’t think I’m qualified to pick out a boat. Let alone a boat for you,” I said, trying my hardest to backpedal out of the situation. I wanted to smack my forehead. That would teach me for allowing a conversation to rattle on around me without paying any attention. Without interjecting ‘yes, no, wonderful’ and all the other thoughtless comments I’d done while Mother and Sophia chatted away at lunch.
“…and really, you have the best eye for that. With your height, I’d want to be sure the main sleeping cabin had a bed that would—”
“Bed?” Would I ever learn? “What bed?”
Stomping her foot, Sophia’s face turned red. “You haven’t paid a bit of attention to anything I’ve said, Phillip! I told you that breaking up with you feels like a mistake. I told you that I’m ready now. I told you…”
Her words drifted away from me as a sick feeling formed in my stomach. This couldn’t be happening. She couldn’t be telling me that she wants back into my life. How the hell do I get out of this? I don’t want her. I never wanted her.
Looking up from the ground, I tried to catch a breath that kept evading me each time I thought of how neatly I’d almost been trapped. We’d stopped short just outside the basketball court, when the most unorthodox thing happened to catch my eye. There, on the ground, was a bright orange flash of what I’d thought was a basketball, until it moved. It was then I realized it was a person and, whoever it was, they were lying on the hot ground.
I walked around Sophia, ignoring her cry of protest as I made a feeble attempt at an excuse by saying, “I think someone’s hurt themselves. Just give me a minute while I see to whoever that is.”
“You’re just going to leave me here?”
“You can come if you want. I just want to make sure whoever it is, is okay,” I replied shortly.
Sophia huffed. “These are six-hundred-dollar shoes, Phillip. I’m not about to go stomping off through the grass for some random stranger.”
“Then wait here,” I said, trying to keep my temper in check.
The angry stomp of her foot was her only reply as I jogged over the freshly cut grass and came to a stop just shy of where a girl with bright orange hair lay in the middle of the basketball court, staring up at the clouds.
“Hey, are you all right?” I abruptly asked, trying to swallow back the sickness left behind from Sophia’s words.
“Elephant!” she answered, poking her finger up at the sky.
“What?”
She laughed. A full, from-your-toes, kind of laugh that was pleasant to the ear.
“I said elephant, or at least it was.” She turned her head slightly to change the angle of her view. “Now it kind of looks like a stork. Clouds do that though. Always changing their pictures in the sky,” she answered wistfully. As an afterthought, she added, “And I’m fine. Thanks for asking.”
The strangest, most inviting grin spread across her lips, easing my rattled nerves a bit, and coaxing my own smile to answer in reply.
A second ticked by, and then I blurted, “Your hair is orange.” I furrowed my brows, kicking myself as I wondered why that, of all things, came out of my mouth. Probably because it wasn’t a color you’d see in someone’s hair every day.
“And the sky is blue,” she answered, shielding her eyes with her hand, making no move to get up from the ground. A hoard of stringy bracelets in all different colors covered her from wrists to mid-forearm… something I’d only ever seen kids on the beach wear.
“To be quite honest, I thought you were a basketball at first,” I told her, making her laugh.
I squeezed my eyes shut, wondering why I felt compelled to continue talking to her. Maybe because it was safe. Maybe because Sophia was just a short distance away, and this was my only excuse to get away from her. Either way, I was glad for the short reprieve she unknowingly offered.
“Not such a bad thing to be, I suppose,” she replied, jutting her finger up in excitement. “Look, it’s a man riding a sled!”
Tilting my face up to the clouds, I searched for whatever it was she was seeing, but found exactly what I expected. Clouds.
I scratched my head. “Did you hit your head when you fell?”
“I didn’t fall,” she said, turning a warm smile in my direction.
I felt my eyebrows pull together again. “You didn’t? Then why are you on the ground?”
She twisted her face at me. “Haven’t you ever lain down to look up at the sky?”
“No, I can’t say that I have.” I held my hand out to help her stand.
She ignored it and kept her eyes skyward. “Well, then you’re missing out on something pretty amazing.”
I wasn’t sure why, but that sort of bothered me. Maybe because I truly couldn’t see what she was seeing. Or maybe because I wasn’t as free as she was. Free enough to use my time how I wanted and enjoy the simplest, most pleasurable parts of life.
“I can’t say that lying on a dirty basketball court counts as amazing for me,” I quipped, taking my eyes off her for the first time since I’d walked up. The residual effect of Sophia’s annoyance was still there as irritation flushed my skin. Was anyone watching us? Seeing a girl lying on the ground while I stood over her without helping her up?
I flicked a glance to her feet at that thought, seeing for the first time the old, worn pair of roller skates with rainbow-colored laces. At one time, they must have been bright white, but time had changed them to an off-white color, except for the new wheels.
“You have roller skates on your feet,” I said, immediately wishing I would have just let that go. It seemed to be the day for me to make a mockery of myself by stating the obvious to a girl I didn’t know. But then again, I never claimed to be smooth with the ladies.
Her gaze followed mine, and the heartwarming look that came over her face shifted something inside of me. Hair notwithstanding, she was beautiful. A timeless sort of beautiful. She had deep blue eyes that seemed as endless as the ocean. Quaint cheekbones that accentuated the plumpness of her lips, and a petite nose that held a small stud that flashed against the sunlight.
It was mesmerizingly honest, her face, with no trace of a hidden agenda shielded firmly behind a masked smile. No shame in being exactly who she wanted to be. Her happiness was genuine, and I felt the tremors left from Sophia’s admittance sizzle out as I smiled at the uniquely strange girl in return.
I’D MET BOYS LIKE HIM before.
Rich. Bored. Always wearing a silver-spooned smile.
But there was something different about him that piqued my curiosity. The way he looked down at me, like he was staring through the bars of a gilded cage he’d never left. Like he was one breath from suffocating beneath a mound of responsibilities. He was different from the rest because he didn’t wear his money, his money wore him.
I just wasn’t sure he knew it yet.
“Do you like them?” I asked, looking down at my roller skates.
His eyes went blank and his mouth froze shut. He rubbed at the back of his neck, looking mildly uncomfortable. It took him a full twenty seconds to answer me. I knew because I counted. It was almost as if he had to process the words. Latch on to the fact that I just asked for his opinion.
“They’re nice,” he finally said, but he didn’t sound like he meant it. Just that it was the right thing to say. The proper thing.
I was going to have fun with this one.
“Just nice?” I repeated back to him in mock-offense. “They’re custom-vintage Chicago roller skates with Betty Lytle white leather boots, a fresh set of wheels, and rainbow-themed strings. I’d say nice is an understatement.”
His lips pulled down into a sliver of a frown as he shifted on his feet. “Very… vintage? Eclectic?” he drawled out in an unsure manner, looking to me for some sign of what to say.
His parents must really have their hooks in him.
“I traded my bicycle for them,” I said, moving the conversation forward. I tilted my head to the side in thought, clicking my toes together. “I definitely think it was an even trade.”
His mouth sort of dropped open. “You traded your bicycle for those?”
I wasn’t sure he believed me.
I blinked for a second, and then giggled a little to myself. “Yeah. Why not?” I said with a small shrug. “I’m the one who came away with the steal. Eight wheels for the price of two. Besides, bicycles, in my opinion, hold you back from seeing what’s around you. I mean, once you get going, everything just kind of blurs away, and who wants that when you can skate to and from and enjoy the scenery?”
He stared at me as if I had just landed in a shiny, round object with flashing lights and asked him for directions to Venus. Which would be kind of cool.
“But we’re surrounded by grass,” he stated, his eyebrows furrowed as he stared down at me.
I couldn’t help but notice that it was a cute look on him—confusion.
“I know,” I replied with a crooked smile. “Thank God for sidewalks.” I stuck my hand in his direction. “Help me up?”
Wiping his hands quickly against his pant legs, he took my hand and pulled me to my feet, waiting a moment to ensure I found my balance. When I did, he let me go and took a step back, his hands falling neatly back to his sides.
I could never stand so perfect… so still.
“Are you residing here?” he asked, watching me intently as I began to skate around him.
“You could say that,” I said, smiling as he turned around to watch me skate. I liked the way he looked at me with every pass I made around him—with a blended mix of intrigue and bewilderment.
“What do you mean by that?” he asked, turning again as I circled around him. He looked like a ball of yarn unraveling, and I couldn’t help but be amused.
“I stay on the grounds as hired help,” I said, knowing this admittance would surely cork up his inquisitive demeanor. Yuppies never spoke to the help. Never even looked our way.
But he
didn’t leave. Didn’t even backtrack.
“What do you do here then?” he asked, finally giving up on following me as I continued to skate circles around him. “I haven’t seen you around yet.”
A small bubble of laughter rose up and escaped past my lips. I eyed him over. He wouldn’t have seen me around. He didn’t look the type to be over sixty and into disco music, costume parties, and a very rich version of bingo.
His lips twitched a little. It was a very small, almost unperceivable twitch that most probably wouldn’t notice. He wanted to ask me to stop. To stand still and answer him in a good-mannered way. To not laugh without sharing the joke.
And I almost wished he would, just to see him step out from that cage, but he refrained from doing it, probably because it would be impolite.
“Well,” I said, “aside from running the nightly senior citizen entertainment, I do everything and anything. I’m a servant of life.”
“Servant of life?”
“Yes,” I replied simply. “We’re born to live, and that’s what I intend to do. Let the universe surprise me with all she has to offer. Let my angel watching over me guide me in the right direction.”
My circle grew wider around him as he scratched at his head. Tilted it to the side. “I don’t—I don’t think I’m following you.”
I almost felt sorry for him. “Most can’t,” I said, spreading my circle farther and farther, noticing the distant, dark clouds rolling in from the sea. My father would be home soon, lugging in the sea’s offerings for the day.
If I closed my eyes, I could almost smell the fishy tang when the catch was ported in and dumped out for the local markets to take their pick from. Could almost feel the salty grime that would rub against my skin when rinsing off under the small, outdoor shower.
“Well, in my defense, you haven’t given a fair enough explanation for me to understand,” he said, finally with a little irritation in his tone. “If you would… If you would just stop for a moment and speak to me like a normal person.”
Love Always, Page 2
