Never the Right Time

Chapter 25 Sophia POV

The rest of my day was spent reading on the beach and it was just what I needed. After a while I just ended up laying there listening to music. Sometime in the mid afternoon a shadow had crossed my face. I looked up to find Joel looking at me with a confused look. I took out my earbuds.

"Hey Joel"

"Hey Soph, are you ok? You look like shit." He asked

I could hear the concern in his voice. I nodded my head.

"Where is your friend?" He asked. I could hear the sarcasm in his voice.

"He is gone." I said quietly as he sat down next to me.

"Is that why you look so depressed? I didn't think it was possible to be depressed while laying in the sun."

"Thanks for continuing to tell me how awful I look. Super uplifting." I half laughed at him.

"Hey a tiny smile!" He cheered " but what's going on?"

"We got into a fight and he left this morning" I quietly explained.

"That sucks." He nudged me with his shoulder. "want to talk about it?"

"It's super fucking complicated. His ex is pregnant and I want more than just a friends with benefits situation. We have always had shitty timing. We are finally stopping whatever we were doing for good now. He is going to concentrate on that baby and I am going to move on. Whatever that looks like." I shrugged my shoulder "it is what it is."

"Fuck. Complicated is an understatement. So the other night was you trying to move on?"

"I guess. I didn't expect him to show up. We came to a less dramatic decision to move forward on our own a while ago, but then he surprised me. I didn't expect anything to happen and then he asked me to do friends with benefits. I have always wanted more than just sex with him. So I got super fucking pissed. It was all ridiculous and now I don't even know if we are still friends. Super fucking complicated.  I'm sorry you were sort of placed in the middle of it."

"Hey don't worry about it. I'll happily distract you from all the shiftiness with good sex." He put an arm around me.

I couldn't help but laugh. "You are very good at that."

"Yes!" He cheered throwing one fist in the air.

"Now in all seriousness. When have you eaten last? It looks like you've been here all day."

"I packed some snacks, but I haven't had much today. I was thinking of heading home soon."

He stood up and offered a hand to pull me up.

"Come on. Grab your stuff, we will go get a burger. Food always makes me feel good."

Dinner was spent laughing and talking about random shit. I realized how easy it was with him. I didn't want to start anything serious, but I did appreciate the company.

"So when are you heading back?" Joel asked

"School starts right after Labor Day. So I'm heading back that weekend. My roommate kept the majority of my stuff at her house. So I don't have anything crazy to move." I told him

"Nice! I know we missed out on the first half of the summer, but want to keep hanging out the rest of the summer. I'm not expecting anything crazy like the other night. I genuinely missed you and we always have a good time together no matter what we are doing."

I grabbed his hand. "I'd really like that. I had forgotten how easy it was to just hang out. Are you able to fit me into your crazy schedule?" I laughed.

"Yes most definitely" he said excitedly " you're probably going to have to put up with me falling asleep to Netflix, but I will definitely stay awake as long as humanly possible for you."

"Awww you're so cute." I laughed and poked his side.

Over the next few weeks any extra time either of them had was spent together. At first I was worried that I was overcompensating for the loss of Mark, but as we spent more time together I realized that I  legitimately enjoyed the time spent with him and wondered why we had grown apart the years prior. At first Joel kept his hands to himself. We had a history, but he was being respectful and I appreciated it. As we spent more and more time together, he slowly became more affectionate. While I  didn't let on, I loved the little touches and stolen kisses. It came to the point where it felt like he was always wrapped around me one way or another.

We had been hanging out for about a month at this point and had met at the beach for a picnic dinner. After we ate, I found myself sitting between Joel's legs with my back leaned into his chest. He had wrapped his arms around me and we sat like that and watched the sun set. As dusk started to settle in, I looked up at him. He hadn't shaved in a few days and had grown a decent amount of stubble. I couldn't help but reach up and run my fingers over his cheeks. A laughed rumbled through his chest.

"If I had known that you liked it so much, I would've grown it out sooner."

"I would've told you to if I had known you could grow it."

"Low blow Soph, low blow"  he laughed. '

I laughed, "Sorry it was too easy. But seriously it looks good on you."

He kissed my head and we sat in silence for a while. "Soph, I have a question."

"Yea?" I looked up at him with my eyebrows raised.

"What if I told you that I wanted you to be my girlfriend again?"

"Like exclusively?" I asked

He nodded.

"I think I would want that too" his eyes lit up as I said this.

"Seriously?"

I couldn't help but laugh at this and nod. I pulled him in for an upside down Spider-Man kiss. "I definitely don't want to share you."

" I don't want to share you either" he said before he turned me around and pulled me into a deeper kiss. "We are good together and I don't want to lose you again."

"Me neither"