You Are Ours

Chapter 20

R Y A N

SUNDAY AFTERNOON and I was sitting with Sophie in our favourite diner that we hadn't been to in forever. 'Johnny's Diner' was not far from Sophie's house and we use to come here after school every Friday to get pizza to start the weekend off. The decor was red and blue, with big leather seated booths. It was the stereotypical 1950's diner and I loved the atmosphere here, even the old jukebox that still worked on every table in the place.
   The red and blue seated booths were as they had always been, but it still looked different from the newly painted walls, the new uniforms and decor. The only thing I hoped was the same was their amazing food. They did everything from pizza to pasta, burgers and fries to chicken salad for the health freaks. They did the most amazing thick milkshakes you've ever had and even their all day breakfast was to die for. I ordered my usual - when there was no one to share my favourite pizza with, bacon cheese burger, seasoned fries with extra onion rings and a cherry milkshake while Sophie ordered a ham and pineapple pizza with a lemonade.

"Want a slice?" She asks when our waitress places our plates on the table and walks away.

"Ewwwwww, no!," I smile back at her as I squeeze mayo on my plate to dip my fries in. One thing myself and Sophie argued about was her weird taste in pizza, who the hell puts pineapple on pizza? "So I take it Matthew is M.I.A," I giggle.

"Urgh, I called him five times this morning and nothing, then when I knocked on his door this morning, his dad said he found him passed out in the upstairs toilet in the middle of the night. Seriously Ryan, he's turned into a even bigger party animal than he was in Florida," she says shaking her head and rolling her eyes.

Last spring break Sophie met us and Amy in Florida for a week of fun and sun. Only Matthew took the partying scene a little too far which meant that Sophie ended up in the same room as myself and Amy. It's not that Matthew was loud, annoying or obnoxious when we went out on the town, but he was not the best patient when it came to recovering from a hangover. He would be up all night throwing his guts up, sleeping in bed all day to then go back to doing it all over again the next night. Sophie didn't mind that he enjoyed himself, she just couldn't take the constant smell of vomit.

"Typical," was all I could say with a chuckle because it never surprised me. "So how was the party?"

"It was good. Matthew was the life of the party as always," she chuckles, biting into her first slice of pizza. "I actually thought we were gonna be the sore thumbs with us being older than everyone, but Jackson's friends are really nice."

"Yeah, they're cool. So did you and Jackson get some alone time?" I say with a raised eyebrow.

"Errrrrr...."

Sophie looks around uncomfortably, looking anywhere and everywhere except me. I know she really doesn't want me asking her questions about Jackson, but I want her to feel confident that she can come to me for a girly chat about my nephew rather than hide the fact they like each other. I've known about their on, off relationship since before her senior year and I would never judge her being with Jackson. I love that they both really like each other and they really shouldn't hide it from the people that care about them.

"Soph... you know I want you to come to me and tell me about your relationship with Jackson," I smile, reaching out to hold her hand. "I love the both of you and even though he's family, your my best friend, I just want you to feel comfortable to tell me about your love life."