𝐄𝐮𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚 || 𝐉𝐨ã𝐨 𝐅.

1

Morning sunlight crept through my window, waking me up. I had spent all night trying to remember all the muscles in the leg for my upcoming exam, and I was convinced I was going to fail. Groaning, I stood from my desk and shut my textbook, the sound echoing breaking the quiet of my tiny room.

Coffee. I needed coffee.

I shuffled to the kitchen finding my younger sister, Tatianna scrolling on her phone eating cereal. Her hair was up in a messy bun that somehow looked perfectly effortless, something that if I tried would look ridiculous. I walked over to the coffee machine and made myself a mug.

"Stayed up late again?" She asked not looking up from her phone.

"Only until, you know, two a.m" I muttered stirring the sugar into my coffee. "I wouldn't wish sports medicine and dietary nutrition on my worst enemy at this point."

Tatianna scoffed, "You say things like that then get an B or better. You're naturally smart, you just like to stress yourself out."

I gave a tired laugh, taking a sip of my coffee. "Well, if I didn't stress out, I'd probably fail for sure."

"You're helpless." She said with a grin. "Just stop overthinking it and you'll do fine"

I rolled my eyes, not bothering to respond. She was right, of course. I did overthink everything, but it was how I operated. I had to. With university, exams, and the pressure to take care of her. I couldn't afford to be any other way.

After breakfast, Tatianna left for school and I filled our Pomeranian's automatic food and water dispenser before leaving for University. University was mostly a blur for me these days, lectures that felt like they went on forever and assignments that never seemed to end. The one class I always looked forward to though, was the one class I had with Aurora.

Aurora was my best friend and to be honest we were complete opposites. She grew up in that typical rich Italian life everyone dreams of, private schools, vacations in exotic places you only see on Instagram, getting to go on a yacht in Monaco every year. Compared to me, my life was pretty normal, except for when it wasn't. My parents fought a lot. My mom was Russian and my dad was Italian, both insanely stubborn.  How they ever got together will always be a mystery to me but I guess love doesn't always make sense does it?

Aurora leaned in, her eyes shimmering with gossip. She clasped her hands together as if she was about to tell me something important. "So did you hear that Javier and Lily broke up because he was cheating on her with her best friend the entire time?" she said, her voice filled amusement. "I mean, I don't even know why Lily would date him in the first place, knowing he's her friend's ex. It's like she was just asking for trouble, right? Broke girl code, totally deserved it."

I let out a small, humorless laugh. "Seriously? That's insane. How do people find the energy for so much drama?"

She leaned closer, "I heard from Alice, who heard from Avery, who heard from Lilly that she was gonna fight her old bestie"

"That's dumb" I scoffed opening my computer. "Fighting over a man, I could never"

Aurora laughed. "Same. But you know, drama always finds a way to follow people."

I nodded absently, trying to focus on my notes. But I couldn't quite shake off the words she said. Fighting over a man? I could never. It was such a ridiculous thought, but sometimes, I wondered if it was something I should care about more— relationships, love, all that. I hadn't had much time for it in the last few years, not with school, my sister, and everything else.

Once the lecture ended, I hurried home, the thought of everything I had to do was stuck in the back of my mind. The quiet of the flat greeted me as I stepped inside, my eyes scanning the room for any sign of Tatianna. She had a habit of leaving things scattered all over the place—books, papers, random shoes in the middle of the hallway. But today, there was nothing out of place, for now. She has extra football practice after school today, leaving me with some peace for a bit. I walked around looking for our Pomeranian, Nastya, our mom had gotten Nastya for us when we were younger despite our dad not wanting her. I walked into my room and found her chewing on one of my slippers.

"Nastya! No!" I said pulling the slipper out of her mouth. "Come we're going on a walk." She ran towards the front door after hearing the word 'walk'. I followed her and grabbed her leash and clipped it to her collar. We walked out and started walking towards the richer side of town, the dog parks there were more like dog parks. The sun was beginning to set and there was this orange and pink hue in the sky.

Once we got to the park I unclipped Nastya's leash, it was almost dark out and I didn't see anyone near so I let her move around. I followed her as she ran from one side to the other, then I got a notification on my phone, it wouldn't hurt to check right? I opened my phone and read a text from Tatianna.

Tianna

bro
where are you

At the dog park walking Nastya

can I order wingstop and pizza???
please I'll wash the dishes for a week

Okay just make sure you don't spend over 60

thank youu 💕

Just so you know I would've said yes even if you weren't gonna wash the dishes

you bitch

😭😭😭

I closed my phone and looked up and couldn't see Nastya. Instant panic flowed through me as I looked around calling her name. The darkness making it hard to look for her small figure. I stopped calling her name once I heard a faint sound of the bell on her collar. I walked toward the sound and found her playing with another dog, a dachshund. I saw someone I assumed was the dachshund's owner standing nearby.

"I'm so sorry for my dog, I got distracted and she just ran over here." I said walking to Nastya and scooping her into my arms

The man with the dachshund smiled kindly, shaking his head, "it's alright, my dog does that sometimes too." I looked up at him, I'd be lying if I said I didn't find him attractive, he was tall, had dark fluffy looking hair, and his voice had a slight accent that I found hot. I felt as if I've seen him somewhere though something to do with football, I remember seeing his picture with Tatianna.

I smiled, a little nervous. "She's always running off. It's like she has a mind of her own sometimes."

He laughed, the sound genuine. "That's what dogs do, right?" His eyes twinkled with amusement. "I'm Joao, by the way," he added, extending a hand.

"Sofia." I replied shaking his hand

guess who's back to writing 😜
-yas