ᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇꜱᴇ ɴɪɢʜᴛꜱ

𝚃𝚆𝙴𝙻𝚅𝙴

Sophia had had a pretty busy May which was surprising for her. She had Amy's birthday at the beginning of it, which led to a very boozy girls' weekend away to Barcelona. She wasn't sure if her body or her bank account would forgive her for the amount of alcohol and food she had drank that weekend, but either way it was a nice time.

Then in the middle of the month she was actually persuaded to go on a date with Char's boyfriend's mate. She really didn't know if she wanted to go but she had had a talk to herself after seeing Mason in April and this seemed like the best thing to do.

She knew she couldn't really date him; she wasn't stupid. She couldn't abuse her power in that way, he was a player after all. Also, the fact that she was just about to turn 27 and yet Mason was only 21 there was a substantial age difference between them, and she couldn't help but think he should be with someone younger.

She didn't want to even allow herself to fantasise about what life would be like with Mason, what it would feel like to have him as hers, she couldn't bring herself to even dream it, it would only break her heart.

So, she decided she needed to put herself out there, maybe the reason why she had felt so much for Mason was because she wanted someone, anyone, maybe she didn't want him at all.

She ended up getting to the bar 5 minutes early, her mum always told her that being late was impolite so she always got to places as early as she could. She found herself a seat in a small booth and ordered a large glass of white wine from the bar.

She watched the people around her; it was one of the traits she loved, people watching. She could see a group of girls stood by the bar, shouting 'cheers' every time they clashed their cups together, smiling towards one of their phones, held up high. There was a couple of men in suits, looking like they had just come from work, chatting loudly as the discussed the day's work, and the group of girls stood just down from them.

There was another woman sat alone, older than Sophia, typing away on her laptop with a large glass of red by the side of her. There were a couple sat on the table behind her, arguing in low tones, she is sure she heard the phrase 'fucked that skank' as she strains her ear to hear more.

"Sorry I'm late" said George, Sophia's date as he walked up to the table, shrugging his coat off.

"It's fine, you are dead on time" Sophia laughed as her phone flashed up saying 7:30pm the time they agreed to meet and not the time Sophia turned up at.

"White wine?" he questioned pointing at her glass as he looked at her.

"Yes please" she said, thinking she was only half way through this one, having drunk a substantial amount to give her some Dutch courage before he arrived, but it would be better to get one more now so hopefully they would have no distractions.

George walked to the bar, as Sophia watched him. He was good looking, tall, very tall in fact, Sophia thought her barely 5ft 5 frame would look tiny against his. He had a nice outfit on, an open white shirt and some beige pants, he looked smart, he looked mature, he looked like the kind of man Sophia should be with.

After her third glass of wine, they had decided to call it a night. She had learnt a lot about him, more than what she knew before. She had already known he worked in Birmingham with Char's boyfriend, but she found out he was a senior accountant in a major firm, he had an apartment that overlooked most of the Birmingham skyline 'the good part of Birmingham' he claimed, and that he was an avid Aston Villa fan.

He had told her about his love to travel, especially as he had to travel frequently with work so would always tag on some extra days to explore the places he was sent to. He spoke about his love of a good roast and thought Nando's was overrated, which she argued vehemently in Nando's favour. And he spoke about his goals for the next few years, in work, in life, he seemed to have his head screwed on.

"Thank you for tonight" said Sophia with a smile "I had a lovely time"

"Ah me too Sophia" said George as he hugged her goodbye "We'll have to do it again sometime" he said, a throw away comment she thought, but maybe he actually meant it.

He walked her to the taxi as she got inside, smiling and waving as she set off away from him. She felt fuzzy, she felt like you do when you have a good night with your friends, she had had a good time.

But as the car pulled further away along the busy roads, onto the motorway before heading down towards her house near Leicester, that was really all she felt. She didn't feel that feeling that sparks were surging through her body when his fingers grazed against hers, she didn't feel her body come alive when he wrapped his arms around her to say goodnight and she didn't feel her smile reach all the way to her eyes when she laughed with him.

She didn't feel any of this with him. But she did with Mason.