Careful What You Wish For

Chapter Nine

Sophie groans loudly. The sun is filtering through her blinds and full on her face. She rolls over and groans again as her head pounds painfully.

"Ohhhhhhhhh."

Attempting to protect herself from the hangover Sophie curls her body up into a little ball and shuts her eyes tightly. For one blissful moment, there is nothing, and then she sees the red rose under the toilet door and Luke holding Jenna's hand, and the headache blazes back in like a knitting needle injected into her brain.

Prolonging the struggle, Sophie disentangles herself from the bedsheets slowly and pushes her aching body up into a sitting position, slinging her legs onto the ground. She waits a moment for the room to stop spinning. There is a foul taste in her mouth carrying a memory of Brianne upturning a bottle of butterscotch schnapps into a long row of shot glasses. Sophie lets out a long breath. So stupid.

There were a lot of emotions running around last night after she and Brianne had left the bar; surprise, shock, bewilderment, anxiety. Mostly anxiety. Not just for Sophie either, Brianne was looking completely unnerved by the mystery rose drop and kept checking over her shoulder the entire walk home. A pattern of behaviour that only increased Sophie's growing alarm.

Sophie had waited in the bathroom at the club, staring at the innocuous rose like a braindead zombie until every last person had left the bathroom. Why? Why hadn't she flung open the door immediately and identified this person who was tormenting her? She had frozen in complete surprise and fear. Who the hell had been in the bathroom?

Sophie rose slowly, comically slowly, willing her headache to vanish. Unfortunately, she and Brianne had made the juvenile decision last night to ease their anxiety with alcohol. After having devoured whatever they could find in the house, there was little left to do but pass out. Where was Brianne?

Splashing cold water on her face, Sophie plods slowly down the stairs. In the kitchen, she downs two full glasses of water before switching the kettle on and wandering into the lounge room. Brianne is gone, leaving her blankets strewn across the sofa and dropped on the floor. Sophie manages a smile imagining Brianne stumbling out of the house in search of real coffee.

Her smile quickly fades when she hears the water running upstairs. Jenna is home. Sophie's heart sinks. She is not ready for this awkward conversation. She makes herself and Jenna an instant coffee and waits in the kitchen tensely. Luke Davis. Not a name she dreamed she would ever hear again. Luke. How in the world did that happen? Sophie thinks back on their short-lived relationship. It was at the very beginning of their senior year. They didn't have any classes together, a mutual friend had introduced them. With an instant attraction to each other, they had begun dating immediately. It took Sophie a month to realise that they had nothing to talk about, another two months of trying to find things to talk about, and then another month of figuring out how to break up with him.

With a sharp pang in her chest, Sophie remembers the look on his face when she had told him she didn't think they would work out. Oh no. How had she forgotten? Or been so cavalier about it? He had been surprised, and she could see the hurt in his eyes. Sophie takes a deep measured breath, her hand on her chest. How many times had this happened? She didn't remember being upset over any relationship she had been in before Evan. Before Evan. Her heart twists painfully. Had there ever even been a time before Evan?

Was Evan retribution for her carelessness with other people's hearts?

Sophie hears Jenna's feet on the stairs and abruptly snaps out of her downward spiral. Sophie isn't entirely sure what she is expecting, but she knows she needs to give her housemate an explanation, not the least for disappearing last night without her. She hears Brianne's voice unbidden in her head.