Chapter 6

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It’s 4:30am when someone knocks on the edge of my bunk. I try to ignore it, but it’s persistent and there’s no way I’ll fall asleep with a constant light tapping near my head. I pull back the curtain expecting to see one of my brothers or my sister, but come face to face with Sophia instead.

“Hey,” she whispers. “I couldn’t sleep.”

Truthfully I couldn’t either, until about five minutes ago when I finally reached the point of exhaustion that no amount of hurt feelings, anger, or regret could keep me awake.

When I don’t say anything, Sophia continues. “Can we please talk?”

I could pull my curtain shut and try to get a little bit more sleep before wake up call, but I’m the curious type. “Okay. Talk.”

“Not here,” she says. “We’ll wake up your family. Come to my bus? It’s only a couple more hours to the next stop…”

The last thing I want to do is be trapped with Sophia if we’re mad at each other, but I’ve also lived with my family long enough to know that Sophia and I giving each other the silent treatment for a couple of hours is better than waking up any of them without enough sleep. I slip out of bed in my pajama pants and t-shirt and follow Sophia to her bus. I tell our driver to let my parents know I’m on the Line Drive bus when everyone wakes up, because I know they’ll be worried.

In Sophia’s room, I sit on the chair and she sits on the bed. No one can hear us in here, which means we could get into a screaming match and not bother anyone. I don’t think either of us are in the mood to scream though.

“So,” I say. “You wanted to talk?”

“What you did wasn’t nice,” she says. “But I think I kind of deserved it.”

“I think so too.”

Sophia rolls her eyes. “Ross, I’m sorry about what I told Rory. You have to know that I’m not using you just to put your name on a song. Well maybe at first I was, but you knew that. It was the deal. Now I actually started to believe we’re friends…”

I lean forward. “Then why did you say that shit to Rory?”

“I didn’t know you’d overhear.”

“That’s no excuse!”

“I know,” she sighs. “I told you that Rory likes me as more than friend. He hates it when I hang around other guys. He gets really jealous and really mean. I only said that stuff to get Rory off my back, because he thinks I’m in over my head. With you I feel happy.

“The guys tend to suffocate me. They want me to hide my voice, pretend I’m not a girl with crazy emotions running through her. You let me be me. It was different, scary, and exhilarating at the same time. I want to continue writing with you because it might be the only chance I have to really get my voice out there. I told you that Line Drive won’t let me sing the songs I write, but when we talk about the song I’m writing with you they’re all really excited, including Rory even though he’s not always keen to admitting it. This is my chance to sing something I really care about, and I need your name on the song to do that. But I also need you to write with me because… I really like spending time with you, Ross. A lot.”

It’s so early and I’m so tired that I might be imagining this entire thing, but I really hope it’s not a dream. “I really like spending time with you, too, Sophia Lynn,” I say quietly. She laughs, a little out of breath, and I grab one of her acoustic guitars. “Let’s write.”

“Now? It’s like 5am.”

“I could write any time of the day with you. You’re inspiring.”

She blushes. Or maybe I’m blushing. Probably we’re both a little red in the cheeks, but neither of us care. I play some chords, she sings some lyrics. And we finish the song we’d been working on.

At 7:30am when it’s time to go to a radio interview and other press related things before the show, I stand in the doorway of the Line Drive bus and looks at Sophia standing in front of me. No one can see us. I steps forward, our heads almost level because Sophia is elevated while I’m on the ground, and I touch my lips to hers. Before she can say anything, I smile and whisper that I’ll see her later before heading to my own bus surrounded by the glow of happiness I’ve missed since long before Hannah broke up with me. 

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