Finally Free

48

C A R T E R | touched by an angel

*mature content warning*

It's been 5 minutes. Where the hell is she?

I'm starting to get worried and my mind automatically fears the worst. I begin to overthink it all. I exit out the same door she did but she's not there. Oh god maybe this was too much for her. She's already fragile enough as is. Maybe I should've gone with her.

Stop overthinking, she's fine, you know she is okay.

I run outside, doing my very best to not panic. "Sophia? Sophia?" I call out into a hallway. "Yeah?" I hear her call back. Relief fills me instantly. "I was worried, where were you?"

I find her sitting with her knees pressed up against her chest, her angelic dress pooling around her. "My feet hurt, so I sat down, then I was too lazy to get up." Her soft voice replies, making me burst into laughter. She pouts her glossed lips at me, "Well you try walking and dancing in four inch heels and then you can get back to me."

I stick out my hand to her, placing one hand on my hip. She narrows her eyes at me. "That pose makes you look very feminine." This comedic, childish mood is sort of refreshing to see. I like seeing the new sides of her.

In response I snap my fingers twice to joke back at her comment, before sticking my hand out again. "Get up love, it's prom and you and your cute little butt are going to dance with me." She gives me a toothy grin, "I do have a nice ass."

She grabs my hand, picking up her dress as she gets up. "Do you want to ditch? Chloe's sulking because she's here alone, Leo and Kia are so awkward it's painful, Maddie and Liam are making me want to throw up, I haven't seen Hunter or Claire in half an hour. Let's go somewhere." I propose the impromptu idea and her eyebrows quirk up, amused.

She leans back against the marble balustrade surrounding the luxurious country club. "Oh yeah, where?" Her tongue drags across the edge of her top teeth making me tense up. She looks so pretty under the moonlight.

"Anywhere we want. We could go to fucking Italy if that's where you wish." I wrap my arms tightly around her waist, pulling her petite figure towards mine. "We don't have a car." She whines. "Are you hungry?" My question seems to surprise her before she bobs her head up and down.

"I've been on the Christina Carrington Diet for three weeks so I could fit into this dress, I need to eat something artificial." I can hear the quiet desperation in her voice, her bright green eyes bug out of her head as she speaks. "There's a convenience store down the block, we're going." Without saying another word I grab her hand, lacing her slender fingers in with mine, and we book it down the marble hall, laughing like children as we do.

"Wait." She exclaims, letting go of my hand to stop. I stop myself from falling when she abruptly throws off the weight. She slips off her heels, a satisfied, giddy smile on her face. "Okay I'm good!" And we're off again.

The neon signs of the store flicker open, the area around us is deserted, except for the solo clerk inside and one car getting gas. A small bell chimes when we enter and an old man behind the counter gives us a polite smile. For a convenience store it is surprisingly clean, it must be relatively new, or the owner is a neat freak.

Her dress bundled in one hand and her shoes in the other, Sophia runs her hand with her shoes over various bags. Walking through aisles of complete junk, chips, candy, and an odd row of tampons and pregnancy tests, Sophia finally settles on the slushie machine.

She pulls out two of the larger cups, slapping one in my hands. "Pick your poison." Sophia fills her cup with cherry slush, while I opt for blue raspberry. She begins to innocently sip from the straw, looking at me through her eyelashes. Sophia also grabs a bag of M&Ms and we hand our items to the cashier. As he's ringing up our items, Sophia fishes a $20 bill from her top of her dress.