Voice Addiction

Chapter 4 - Sound Effects

Chapter Four

Sound Effects

“Let me guess, you’re at the coffee shop.”

“Yup.” She smiled, as she took a sip out of her iced, apple and cinnamon flavored tea.

“And, as usual, no coffee.”

“Nope.” She smiled again.

“You don’t like it?”

“Of course I like it, I love it.”

“I just assumed you didn’t, since you never order it.”

“That doesn’t mean-”

“And when I asked you if you were getting coffee the other day you answered ‘God, no!’”

Sophie let go of her tea cup and started playing with her pen as she explained, “I love coffee. The thing is, coffee makes me want to smoke and I quit smoking months ago. I’m afraid I’ll get back to it if I drink coffee again.”

“You used to smoke?”

“Unfortunately.”

“But you don’t, anymore?”

“No. It was just a phase I went through last year. It was Aaron’s fault.”

“Your brother?”

“Yeah. Well, not really, but I was curious since I saw him and his friends do it and I wanted to fit in with them so I could hang out with Chester.”

“Who’s Chester?”

“One of his friends.” She giggled. “I had a major crush on him at the time.” She blushed.

Adrian snorted. “Did it work?”

“Hell, no. Aaron was his usual self and constantly kicked me out of wherever they were.” She took another quick sip of her drink. “Especially since he found out about said crush.” She laughed at the memory of her brother’s outraged expression as he found Chester’s picture on her cellphone and read their exchanged messages.

“So, he was okay with you smoking next to him, but dating one of his friends is off limits?”

“He wasn’t okay with me smoking, he just figured it’d be best if I did it with him than by myself later. That was actually the same kind of reasoning that made him buy me my first alcoholic drink – without me asking him, I might add. But he really came through on his older brother duties after: he hit me in the head any time he saw me smoking and kicked me in the shins when he smelled it on me. It kind of motivated me to quit. And he grabbed my hair when I threw up on my first hangover – courtesy of the drinks he gave me – and only made fun of me for a few weeks. Also, he showed the pictures he took of my drunken figure to his friends, which also motivated me to avoid getting in that sad state again. I think he honestly believes he’s helping me.”

Adrian was laughing. “I can’t decide if your brother is awesome or just batshit insane.”

“He’s both.” She smiled. “What are you doing?”

“Waiting for Coach to arrive.”

Sophie looked at the watch in her wrist. “Isn’t it early for your practice, though?”

“Coach decided that our practice should start an hour earlier from now on.”

“Oh, so shouldn’t you be doing warm-ups or something? Running, jumping, whatever you guys do before playing?”

“Yeah, but I figured I could spare a few minutes to talk to you anyway.”

Sophie faintly blushed. “Aw! You’re being nice to me again.”