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"wait, and who is this one?" ruby asked, her lips pursed.
"oh you're about to find out who i am." bella hissed.
ruby looked at dele, who was staring at sofia expressionless, and back at bella again. she went to speak but bella cut her off.
"i'm not ready for you yet." dele's face dropped. he knew what was about to come. sofia did too, but she didn't know how she felt about it.
"you." she looked at dele. "you meet her on her first day in england, act all nice and get her number, KNOWING you have a girlfriend. and then you text her and meet her a couple of times, lucky for her nothing other than anything friendly happened. can't deny the fact your texts were flirtatious however. and then she finds out you have a girlfriend, and you shut her down in the worst way possible and ghost her for over THREE MONTHS."
"you wait until she's finally happy, back in italy with her brother until you want to pop back into her life with that 'i'm single' bullshit (sure looks that way!) you invite her to see you play at one of your games, plan to meet up with her after and when she finally finds you, you're here, cuddled up to your supposed ex and acting like she's 'paulo's friend.' this is exactly why i don't like you, why i was hesitant for her to talk to you again but i thought i'd give you the benefit of the doubt. my instincts have always been right. you're a pig." she spat.
nobody knew what to say. dele's mouth opened and closed repeatedly, like a fish. sofia was staring at the ground, she felt like a fool but she also felt love for bella, knowing she had someone who was there for her was amazing. paulo stood there with an amused smirk on his face.
"you don't understand." dele muttered.
"help us understand then!" paulo practically shouted.
"i can't... right now. and i can't explain why i can't tell you but i promise it's not how it seems."
"so, you're not back with ruby?" sofia chimed.
"i mean... i am but-"
"that's all i needed to hear." sofia nodded and walked away, feeling defeated.
"i thought you were better than this, man." she heard paulo, his voice full with disappointment.
she heard a smug cackle and then bella with an angered tone. "you think this is funny?" she questioned.
"bella." sofia spoke in a soft tone.
bella growled. "you think this is funny now, but it wont be funny when the next time he speaks to another girl he does more than just flirt over texts. if i was you ruby," she spat "i'd leave him. fast."
"well you're not me, are you." ruby spat back.
"no, thank god i'm not." bella replied with the last word, and then walked away to catch up with sofia and paulo.
---
"i'm sorry fia." gazzaniga muttered when they were in his car, on their way back to her dorm.
"it's fine. i just want to forget about him now." she replied. he nodded in response. bella didn't know what to say. she'd already said enough.
"so... what are we gonna do about food? i'm starving" paulo asked.
"chinese?" becca winked, nudging sofia from the bank of the car.
"our favourite takeaway. i could murder that right now."
"chinese it is then." paulo agreed.
"pizza and chinese all in one day? we're treating ourselves today, sof!" bella laughed earning a faint smile from sofia.
it took them a while to get back to the university housing due to the traffic, but as soon as they got into sofia's dorm she slumped onto her bed. today had been a mess. she was so happy to be back with lo and for him to meet bella. even with all the drama, they'd still manage to flirt with each other every now and then. it made sofia happy. they're both amazing people and they both mean so much to her, it would make sofia so elated to see them together.
"hey bella, summer just texted me. she wanted to see if we were up for going to lunch tomorrow?"
bella and sofia met summer at university, just before they left for italy. they'd planned to meet but hadn't had time to see each other since, due to going away.
"yeah i'm down. will you be up for it?"
"of course i will bella, i'm fine. nobody died, i didn't deal with a breakup and i'm not heartbroken. obviously i was angry and hurt but it was not that big of a deal. i want to see her, she's nice."
"settled then. lunch tomorrow with summer." she smiled.
the three of them spent a lot of the night talking and watching films. sofia had a blow up bed made on the floor for paulo if he decided to spend the night. he was propped next to bella on it whilst sofia laid on the bed, slowly falling asleep. she hurt bad and she wasn't sure why, it's not like she was with dele, and although they'd known each other for a while they didn't speak for half of it. nothing ever happened between them so she couldn't understand why she felt the way she did. but she couldn't shake that feeling.
before she fell asleep one last thought popped into her head. "i wish i could find someone good." she sighed and closed her eyes.
