Aurora

Chapter 7 | Bobby

"I should go to sleep," I mumble after changing into my sweatpants. Sophia and I ordered takeout from a local Chinese restaurant. We didn't talk much about the meeting, mostly because it wasn't that eventful.

"Are you hanging out with Faye again tomorrow?" Sophia asks. The question sounds genuine, but I know her well enough to recognize the undertone in her voice. I don't know if it's envy or disapproval.

After joining two games, Faye started to ask me for a drink. Just me. At first, I felt weirded out, but Sophia was adamant about me going. I went, we had fun, and 'just once' turned into her inviting me to a race – and Sophia didn't like the races so she didn't even want to go.

But I can't help but feel weird. And Sophia's acting weird too. If she wanted to go, or if she didn't want me to go, she could just say so.

"Actually no," I tell her. It's not that I didn't want to tell her about Archer telling me to come with him in the morning, it just didn't come up. The meeting itself wasn't that eventful, but because of that his saying that also got ignored.

"Archer said he wanted to show me something so he's picking me up at 6 tomorrow morning."

Sophia stands up from the couch at the mention of his name. "Archer?" she asks, needing me to repeat it. So I nod to confirm it. "He asked you out?"

"It's not a date." I assure her. That's not what he said.

"He's picking you up and you're going to watch the sunrise." She concludes. I don't even know what we're doing, but the timing sure seems like it's the sunrise. But it's not a date. We haven't talked at all, so I'm guessing this is just his second chance to talk about things because last time he freaked out.

"I think this is just dinner but in the morning." I shrug and look back at Sophia. "He was supposed to talk to me but he didn't last week, remember?"

Her lips are curled into a smile. "Yeah but he didn't make much of an effort then, so I'm glad he is now!"

I try to read her face, but the undertone that she had just a few minutes ago when talking about Faye was completely gone. Sophia likes a man who's tricked me into marriage and then hid it and is now unable to talk to me more than a girl who's shown us around the city and has welcomed us with open arms.

"Why do you like him more than Faye?" I try not to let the judgment that's clouding my brain show in my voice, but Sophia still catches on.

"I just think she has this weird agenda," Sophia says, "I don't trust her." I finish my drink and then stand up to put it in the dishwasher.

"It doesn't matter though." I rest both my hands on the kitchen island as I look at her. "You're my number one and if you have any issue with me hanging out with Faye, you should let me know."

She nods but stays quiet for a second. Then she gets up and she walks to me. I don't know what's going on in her mind, and I wish she'd just tell me for once.

"I'll let you know."

I wake up from a knock on my bedroom door. It's not the one to the apartment, but the one to the outside hallway. Sophia and I haven't used those doors at all, so for some reason, I feel like I'm sneaking out now that we are.

I quickly pull on a shirt and put on some sweatpants before opening the door. "You go to the living room so I change into something better."

Archer stays quiet, and he doesn't move. I quickly step aside for him to signal that he should walk in, but he doesn't. "I think you look fine," he says. His voice is low and raspy, as if he too just woke up.