Every Rose

4

As nervous as I was to meet Sofia, I was even more nervous for Arizona to see if Sofia liked me.

"She's just in her room getting changed" Arizona smiles at me, after Lexie and Mark had left, handing the sparkly pink backpack to me on their way out the door.

"Is this her school bag?" I ask, holding up the backpack. "Zola has the same one in purple" sparkles were apparently very cool this year at school.

"Yeah, it is. I've got to pack her lunch and go through her homework; Lexie does it with her, but I always check to make sure she has it" Arizona says, taking the backpack and placing it on the kitchen counter. "After all, I'd say Lexie is more of a help to her actually doing the homework than I am. I just make sure she takes it" Arizona chuckles, unzipping it to fish out a matching sparkly lunchbox and a pink folder with Sofia's name on it.

"What grade is she in?" I ask "the same as Zola?" Zola was in the first grade, but I wasn't sure if Sofia was a year older or younger.

"First grade" Arizona nods, as she flicks through the folder quickly, checking to be sure everything was there "she and Zola were in the same kindergarten class. They cried when they weren't in the same first grade class, but we want them to get used to being apart too. They spend so much time together as it is" she smiles, but her face falls abruptly. "Or, they did" she tacks on, remembering Meredith's absence, sighing as she put the folder back into the backpack.

"They'll be back" it's my turn to reassure her now "and you said it yourself; Meredith is smart. She'll come back when she's ready" I say, much more confidently than I felt.

Somehow, knowing that she believed what I was saying was more important than believing it myself.

I see relief wash over her face, and she shakes the bad mood to replace it with her normal smile. "You're right" she said, nodding "thank you" it's as if she's kind of shaken back to reality by my abnormal words of encouraging positivity.

Without thinking, I lean in and peck her lips quickly, pulling away in case Sofia walked out (which she luckily did not). We haven't talked about what she'd like to tell Sofia, but I knew for a fact that her meeting me as I'm sucking face with her Mom wouldn't go over well.

"You're cute" she whispers, a small blush on her cheeks as I grin triumphantly. She was happy, her temporary cloud officially gone as the sun shined through radiantly.

"I am" I agree with a nod "the cutest" I knew I was being smug, but I was doing it on purpose. I wanted to get a reaction from her, good or bad.

She leans forward slightly, lowering her voice an octave, looking up at me from underneath long, black lashes.

"We'll see how cute you are later on tonight, when we're alone"

I didn't have time to react to her words, and Sofia came bounding into the room, a smile on her face. She was wearing a pair of blue Cinderella pyjamas, her hair was braided behind her back neatly (I assumed by Lexie, but then again Mark had been proving me wrong all day) as she looked between the two of us.

"Sofia" Arizona smiled "this is my friend, Amelia. She's staying for a sleepover for a few days" she explains, and Sofia nods understandingly.

"Hi" she smiles "I'm Sofia" she was all Callie, there was no doubt, but she had Mark's smile.

"I'm Amelia" I introduce myself "it's nice to meet you. Your Mom told me all about you" she nods in response, as if expecting me to say that.

"Mom said I can watch some TV before dinner. Do you wanna watch with me?" She asks, pointing to the living room. She doesn't seem like an overly wild kid, if anything she was a lot calmer than Zola was half of the time.