Bad Desire: New Beginnings - Fast Forward

Part 4 - a reminder of how toxic Brighton was

With the darkness now falling on New York city, the lights from the surrounding buildings looked like an array of stars lighting the sky. Central park remained busy with the hustle and bustle of tourists visiting the city at it's most beautiful, making the most of the festivities this time of year brought.

 With Christmas fast approaching, Sophie and Felix were keeping to tradition and making the most of the ice rink located on the east side of central park. Each year they came along with Mitch, Jace and a few of their friends, to spark that childlike excitement in them all once again.

This evening was one Sophie always appreciated as it brought her so much happiness and contentment. There was nothing like gliding across the ice with a man and friends she loved, while having the beautiful sights of NYC right in front of her. 

"So how long are you going for?" Felix asked as he took a seat beside Sophie on the bench and pulled the ice skates onto his feet.  

"I don't know yet but I might be spending Christmas there." Sophie trailed off with an offish tone which was instantly picked up by her friend. He didn't need to be the most observant person in the world to realise how unsure she seemed about the idea. 

"You always spend Christmas here though! You're just going to ditch this city at the best time?" Felix teased, purposely over exaggerating the situation yet knowing that it was probably how she was truthfully feeling.

"Yeah, with Jace's family. I need to spend it with my own for once... and he wants to visit Brighton anyway, so it makes sense."

"Well by the sounds of it, you don't really want to."

As Felix raised his eyebrows in a knowing manner, Sophie couldn't help but smile. While she had been trying to act subtle about it and appear more placid on the matter, Felix had picked up on the truth and wasn't scared to say it out loud.

"I do want to go back but I don't know... I don't speak to any of my old friends there and I don't even know how I would face them." Sophie muttered, finally being truthful about what was bothering her.

Jace was fully aware that Sophie didn't speak to any of them now however, in his mind, that shouldn't matter. They were all adults and if they bumped into each other then they should just be civil. However, he also wasn't quite aware of the drama that come along with Brighton and how much shutting it out of her life had impacted Sophie in the best way.

"What happened with your old friends?" Kacy suddenly leaned around Felix to get a better look at her friend.

Kacy was one of Sophie's first friends since moving back to New York. She had lived in the apartment across the hall and due to the amount of times they had bumped into each other, their friendship was always destined to blossom.

"Yeah, why has it made it so awkward?" Felix added as he looked across at Mitch, who was engrossed in conversation with Jace and his friends.

There was so much laughter among the group however, Felix immediately noticed how Jace's eyes soon drifted over in Sophie's direction. He was watching her in pure admiration, as though he had seen her for the first time. 

As her bestfriend, Felix couldn't feel more grateful that Sophie had met someone who had loved her and treated her like she needed and deserved. He had brought out a very different side to her that had been hiding away due to the inner frustrations she had spent years fighting against.

"It was kind of stupid but it was all to do with Aaron..." Sophie began, letting out a long sigh, as all the memories came flooding back from a particular conversation.

It was definitely something that could have been prevented however, at the same time it would have been at the cost of Sophie's own security in herself.