Skinny Dipping

The Dress

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Chapter 16

Feeling overwhelmed with guilt, Sophie poured a glass of wine and rang Mickey. Apparently Roger had quite a talent for making foam, a surprising revelation for everyone, and had been working in Beans cafe. Although from what Sophie could gather, Roger might have admitted to his redundancy but he hadn't mentioned anything about working in the café. That was the mystery of the milk solved.

"Okay, something's up," Sophie finally said. "You're usually much chattier, you who can't stop talking. You didn't even comment on Matthew and the ballet tickets for tomorrow. I've been waiting for it."

"What do you mean? I thought you didn't want me to say anything more about the topic."

"So you're bringing a friend tomorrow night," Sophie probed. "Who is he?"

But Mickey practically hung up the phone there and then, it was most perplexing.

After talking to Mickey, she took an even larger glass of wine into Carol's room. She told her all about the situation with her parents.

"At least it's out in the open," Carol said with a shrug.

"Yes, thankfully," she sighed elaborately, and then almost as if the wine was talking she continued to confide in Carol. "Tomorrow night. Matthew. Maybe I should cancel him coming. I think he thinks it's a date. A double date of sorts because Mickey is bringing a friend. A male I presume."

Carol was extracting outfits for Sophie to try on. Clothes sailed through the room like sea spray off the ocean. Carol's head was thrust between hanging clothes, searching the depths of her wardrobe. Carol discarded items over her shoulder.

"I can't believe you didn't guess this earlier." Carol's voice was muffled, but the exasperation rang through.

Sophie looked down at the new, black pinafore she'd worn to work, a little shorter than usual.

"The thing is, how can it be a date when we've had all these swimming lessons in between? I guess it'll only be the second evening outing we've had together. Besides, you invited him, so I don't think it's a date. I thought we'd go just as friends, it would be a group social thing," Sophie finished.

"Boring, boring, boring. Would it be so bad if it was a date?" Carol sang from the depths of her wardrobe. "Thank God I'm home to give you fashion advice. You need to look gorgeous – gorgeous enough to snog."

Sophie sat on Carol's bed, the sole human amongst a mountain of clothes. If she stayed here any longer, someone would have to send a rescue party to find her.

A pair of black jeans flew through the room and Sophie's hand moved like lightning, snatching the garment. Holding the jeans up, she quickly determined that there was no possibility of her fitting into them. They were just too small.

"Matthew's very good looking, and he's meeting you after work tomorrow, to watch my show. You don't have time to do emergency shopping, and don't you dare run late. No time to come home and change. You've got to be seated by seven. And you might as well give him a go. He's a nice guy. What's wrong with you?"

Sophie shrugged. "I dunno."

"He's not like Derek, the cheating bastard. You can see it. We've seen him drunk, he's always swarmed by girls, but he's not a player. He's reliable."