Adopted by Sophia Bush

Chapter 7

Caitlyn's pov

I gently woke to Sophia whispering as I turned to see who she was speaking to I saw Jesse in the flesh, to be honest the pictures that Sophia has of him do not do him justice! He looks so full of life and smiley and he looks kind. 

As I started to sit up Jesse said 

"hey Caitlyn I'm Jesse"

and outstretched his hand, initiating a handshake i responded by shaking his hand. 

"hey I was wondering if you wanted to go shopping today and we could buy you some new clothes?"

 Sophia kindly said 

"sure, but I don't really like busy places" I hesitantly said 

"that's okay we can spend as long as you like in there and if it gets too much then we can leave, is that okay with you?" 

"Yeah that's good".

30 minutes later we left Sophia's apartment, where we were immediately met with hungry paparazzi trying to get a picture, Sophia could see my distress and held me close while Jesse shooed them away. 

The mall was as expected, bright, loud and full of people I instantly felt anxious, we walked into one store and it was like a free for all! I don't understand why people get so competitive over who can get that last pair of jeans or that top. We looked around and bought quite a few outfits and various individual items, before it all got too much and my ears started to pound, and the lights were hurting my eyes and I just wanted to scream, I immediately clamped my hands over my ears and squeezed my eyes shut.

I then felt Sophia pull me into her safe warm embrace and softly whisper 

"it's okay Caitlyn, I'm here take a deep breath"

after a few minutes of her soft words I slowly opened my eyes and brought my hands from my ears, still in Sophia's embrace she whispered 

"would you like to get something to eat?"

I nodded and she slowly released me. We then walked out of the store with lots of people looking and entered a fancy restaurant. After we had ordered our drinks and sat down, Jesse spoke 

"so Caitlyn what kind of things are you interested in?".

" I really enjoy sport both watching it and playing it

"Jesse spoke again " what sports do you like?"

"I love American sport" I said enthusiastically and then went on " especially baseball and American football!"

Sophia joined in "Jesse loves watching baseball maybe he could take you to a White sox game here in Chicago?"

Unable to contain myself I practically shouted 

"REALLY? You would take me? Wow that would be amazing! I've always wanted to watch baseball live!"

Jesse chuckled and said " go white sox!"

We enjoyed a lovely meal and I felt that my life was going to be very different.
We arrived back at Sophia's apartment and Jesse helped me to carry the never ending amount of bags from our shopping trip.

As he lay the bags on the bed I picked up the t shirt that I had slept in that was his and said 

"Jesse do you mind if I keep this?"

 He looked at me and smiled " of course I don't mind! I would give you all of my t shirts to sleep in if you wanted."

I replied " no thanks, I really love this one, it makes me feel safe" he winked and walked out.

I looked at the bed and saw the clothes and immediately started to panic because I had no idea what to do with them. I slowly lowered myself to the floor and brought my knees to my chest and held them with my arms around them, closing my eyes I started to rock slowly. I don't know why but rocking has always calmed me down.

Time passed and when I opened my eyes I saw Sophia in a similar position to me with her knees at her chest and rocking. I tapped her shoulder and said 

"what are you doing?"

She replied with "I have noticed that you rock when you feel nervous or anxious or when you need to calm down, and that is perfectly normal in my eyes and I want you to know that if you want to rock in a public place or anywhere for that matter than I will rock with you. Don't ever worry about what other people think because they will be looking at me and not at you! So just do your thing okay?"

I nodded and started to tear up, Sophia instinctively pulled me into her chest and started to rub my back, she then asked 

"why are you crying?"

I responded with a waterfall of tears and a blubbery "you are the first person not to make fun of me, the first person to make me feel normal, the first person to understand me, the first person not to bully me."

And with that the floodgates opened and a dam on tears were released, and to my surprise I heard Sophia start to cry and say 

"Caitlyn In my eyes you are perfect in every single way, you inspire me so much because of what you go through on a daily basis, I will always support you."

When I finally stopped crying i lifted my head from Sophia's chest and I saw I had completely showered her jumper in my tears. 

" Sophia I am so sorry, look at what I've done to your jumper"

she looked at me with her caring eyes and smiled " Caitlyn this is a jumper it really doesn't matter! So don't worry!" 

She then lifted me to my feet and said 

"would you like me to teach you how to put clothes away" I nodded and in a matter of no time I had learned how to fold clothes, and how to put clothes on hangers I felt really proud of myself. After this I was feeling quite tired and Jesse said there was a baseball game on television and suggested that we could watch it while laying in bed.

Sophia's pov

After seeing Caitlyn and Jesse bond over baseball it brought me so much joy to see.

'Shit' I haven't spoken to my mom in two days! I dialled her number and was greeted by my mom 

"Hey Sophia! We haven't spoken in two days!"

"Sorry mom, I've been busy the past few days and I have news!"

"Really good or bad news" said my mom intrigued

"Good news! I have kinda adopted but not officially this girl called Caitlyn who is 15 and is from London. She is a little bit different from other 15 year olds, she has Asperger's syndrome and ADHD."

"Wow Sophia I am lost for words! I am really proud of you, and if you need any help just call your father and I and we will be straight there! How is Jesse with all of this?"

"Sure mom I will call you! Jesse is amazing in all of this he is so supportive and caring and understanding of Caitlyn I couldn't ask for more! I am not going to lie to you mom I'm scared! I don't know very much about Asperger's or ADHD"

That's great! Sophia you are bound to be scared its natural, all you can do is your best and I would recommend you to read up and speak to some professionals about her conditions so you can find out the best way to help her" 

" thanks mom! Look I've got to go now but I love you, tell dad I love him too" 

"Bye love you too! Send my love to Jesse and Caitlyn"