selfish | salia

Chapter 13

"We should FaceTime her, see how she's doing before her EP is released," I suggest on June 9th. There was currently less than ten minutes until midnight, meaning ten minutes until we would get to hear Sophie's songs for the first time.

"Sounds like a plan," Simon agreed, reaching over for his phone. I was comfortably snuggled into the crook of his neck, and had been for the last hour or so. I know I had my own room, and a perfectly comfortable bed, but I much preferred having the comfort of Simon next to me.

He held his phone in front of his face, and I was visible just at the top of the screen. She picked up almost instantly, and greeted us. Well, just Simon.

I shifted a little so I was more visible to the camera, unsure of whether or not she could see me. I first noticed something was up when her face reddened a little. Simon looked back at me, unsure of what was going on.

"Simon! Say hi to stream!" She spoke loudly, emphasising the word stream.

Now it made sense. Simon rolled over, so he was now facing my face, but the camera was facing opposite me. I closed my mouth, not wanting to make any noise.

"Hey Sophie's stream!" he greeted, waving his hand on screen. His smile made me smile, and also made me feel incredibly lucky, because I got to see it nearly every hour of everyday.

"Just wanted to say good luck on the EP release! Everyone in the house has got it on standby, we are all ready to give it a listen! I'm so proud of you!" he spoke, and his words, although directed at his sister, made me tear up.

He was telling the truth, too. Eloise and Vik had spotify on refresh, Josh and Freya were the same but with Apple Music, and JJ was waiting for the official link in her bio.

Sophie said goodbye to him, and the call ended. Both of us let out a large breath of relief. That was a close call.

"We're lucky your sister can think on her feet," I laughed, laying on my back, staring at the ceiling. "We need to be more careful."

"Yeah," He mumbled back, but it sounded kind of forced and strangled. It sounded like something we needed to talk about, but not now. Tonight was Sophie's night, this conversation could wait until the morning, or whenever else fit.

Midnight came, and her EP was now officially out on all streaming platforms. We listened through the songs on shuffle, and I was in awe of her voice. She was talented, we all knew that, but we didn't realise she was this talented.

The songs were raw, you could tell that, and very catchy.

"Holy shit," Simon spoke, after the fourth song came to an end.

"Holy shit." I agreed, the two of us practically speechless after finishing listening to it.

"Well, at least we know where all the talent went in the family. She has so much that there was none left to share, that has been made very clear," He joked.

"You're talented!" I protested.

"Oh yeah? At what?" he challenged, turning inwards to face me.

"i - uh - you're talented at..." I drawled out, trying to think quickly. Come on, Talia. Say anything. Literally anything. "You're talented at being the best boyfriend?" I posed it as a question, cringing as the words left my mouth. "Don't say anything - I mean it, I hated it as soon as it left my mouth."

"I'm glad you're self aware!" He teased me, reaching out to pull me closer towards him.

"I love you," I blurted out, the two of us freezing exactly where we were.