Mismatched socks

Sophia - Chapter 17: A table for two

I twirl and Elise nods approving. 'I think Renée will love it,' Elise says and gives my outfit another look. 'I hope so,' I smile. My smile is big. It's my birthday and I'm going to a violin concert with my girlfriend. I have a girlfriend! The best one in the world. I check if I have everything in my purse and say goodbye to Elise. I walk down the stairs and wait at the big wooden door for Renée to pick me up.

She's a little late, but I don't mind. Renée would lose her head if it wasn't attached to her body, I can forgive her for being a few minutes late. As I look at my phone to if she messaged me and to look at the time, I hear someone running towards me. 'Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!' Renée says and kisses my cheek in a hurry.

'It's okay,' I smile as she hooks her arm in mine. We make our way to the underground. 'How come you are late?' I ask curiously. Renée bites her lip and looks at me. 'I tried to find the matching sock to my other one. It's a classy concert, I thought they might send me home if I would were different socks,' she says.

'And? Did you find it?' Renée looks down and pulls up her classy trousers she got form Juliette. 'No,' she sighs at het black sock and dark blue sock. 'Do you even own a pair of matching socks?' 'Probably not,' she chuckles and steps a few steps forward to the approaching tube train.

Once we start moving, we take a seat. 'So I looked up the artists playing tonight,' Renée says. 'And, what did you think?' 'I will try my very best to stay awake and entertained,' Renée sighs. I smile softly. 'Maybe you'll enjoy it?' Renée laughs. 'I'll picture it's you playing the violin,' she laughs.

After a few stops we get off the train and make our way to the theatre. Renée takes the tickets out of her fancy jacket and gives them to the employee responsible for the tickets. He nods approving. 'Enjoy the concert,' he says friendly. 'Thank you,' I say and follow Renée. I take a look at our tickets to see our seat. 'Front row? How did you do that?' I asks surprised. 'Believe it or not, but when I ordered the tickets, only three other tickets were sold,' she says. 'It's a shame,' I say and follow my girlfriend.

A few minutes before the concert starts, I am happy to see that more people showed up and the seats are almost all filled. So people do enjoy violin. The lights dim and my attention goes to the artist making his way to the stay. I take Renée's hand and smile at her. 'Thank you for taking me,' I say and kiss her cheek. 'You are welcome,' she smiles back. I hope she doesn't fall asleep.

I stand and give an applause, so do other people. This was one of the best violin concerts I have ever seen. In the corner of my eye I see Renée looking at me with a big smile. I turn to her and hug her. 'Thank you, this was the best!' She mutters something that sounds like a "no need to thank me".

My arms let go of my girlfriend. 'Now, do you want to get something to eat? I'm a little hungry to be honest,' she asks quietly as the artist still is on the stage, letting the applause sink in. 'Sure,' I agree. We make our way outside of the theatre. 'What would you like to eat?' Ren asks taking my hand.

It warms my heart every time she takes my hand. It comes so naturally, she doesn't think about it. She holds my hand like it's part of her existence, like breathing. 'What would you like? You did have to listen to violins for two hours, you can pick what we eat.' Renée is silent. 'I rather have you pick something,' she says indecisive. 'Okay.'

We walk down the street, past some little restaurants that seem to have delicious food. I watch Renée, when she licks her lips looking at a dish someone is eating I stop walking. 'Oh,' she says in surprise, not expecting for me to stop walking. 'We'll eat here,' I says and walk inside. Renée follows me.

A waiter greets us. 'A table for two?' he asks. 'Yes, please,' I say and follow the waiter as he guides us to a table. 'You are lucky, it's our last table,' he says and smiles friendly at us. He disappears for few seconds to grab the menus he hands us with his friendly smile. 'Thank you,' Renée silently says – or whispers.

I take a look at the menu and decide what I want to drink and eat. After a few minutes the waiter is back and we order our food and drinks. Renée smiles softly at me and gets up. 'I have to go to the restroom,' she says quietly. I nod and take my phone out. My eyes scan the notifications from my friends? I click the group chat open.

JENNIFER
Happy birthday Sophia! X

SIMON
Happy birthday! I hope you had
a great day!

I smile at the messages. Riley must have forgotten my birthday, but I don't care. She was very rude and never apologized.

YOU
Thank you guys! x
I had a great day so far :D

JENNIFER
Great! Did you do anything special?
😊

YOU
Renée took me to a violin concert,
it was AMAZING! Now we are
waiting for our food

SIMON
Sounds really fun! I am glad she
makes you happy 😊

YOU
She does make me happy!

RILEY
Happy birthday

As I want to answer, Renée takes place in her seat. I put my phone away and smile at my girlfriend. 'What?' she asks smiling. 'I am just happy.' 'Good,' she smiles and gently touches my hand but lets go of my hand as the waiter brings our drinks. Renée opens her mouth to says something as a loud ping comes from my phone. I look at the screen and see that my nonna texted me.

Buen compleanno, Sophia.

Grazie, nonna x

It is funny how everyone has the whole day to congratulate me, but waits till the evening. 'That was my nonna,' I say to Renée who's patiently looking at me. She smiles. 'How adorable! My grandmother always texts me multiple times a day on my birthday. She's afraid that she accidentally forgot,' Renée chuckles before falling silent. 'Was, past tense,' she whispers. But then she smiles again. 'I think our food I coming,' she says and I follow her gaze.

The waiter puts our food down. 'Bon appétit,' he says. 'Bon appétit,' Renée smiles. I laugh and start eating. Renée wiggles with a smile as she eats her pasta arrabbiata. I start to eat my pasta carbonara and am astonished by how good it is.

After we ate our food, I want to call the waiter for the bill. 'Wait!' Renée says and lowers my arms. 'What about dessert?' she asks. 'I am full,' I say. 'Oh,' Renée says a little disappointed as the waiter shows up with a big bowl of sorbet and a little firework stick on top. 'Happy birthday,' the waiter says and then leaves again. I am glad they didn't start to sing.

'That's what you were doing? When you went to the bathroom?' I laugh. 'Yes, but you don't want it,' Renée sighs and looks at the spoon in front of her. 'No, no. I want it,' I says and squeeze her hand. She smiles and takes her spoon. 'Dig in then,' she laughs. I cannot stop smiling. She really wanted my birthday to be perfect.

When the sorbet is gone, the waiter brings the bill after I waved at him. We pay for our dinner, well Renée pays. She insisted because it is my birthday and she asked me out. I feel a little bad, she already paid for the concert tickets. We leave the restaurant and make our way back to campus.

In front of my building, we come to an halt. Renée plants a kiss on my lips. We both start blushing by her action. 'Happy birthday,' she says. 'Thank you.' I kiss her again and gently lay a hand on her cheek. She chuckles and pulls me closer by laying an arm around my waist. We both know we won't see each other that often during the exams. I know Renée studies with others often, but I have to lock myself up alone or I won't know what I study.

I take as step back before kissing her cheek. 'Good luck with you exams,' Renée says. 'Thanks, you too. When is you first?' Renée is silent, she look guilty at her feet. 'Tomorrow,' she mumbles. 'Tomorrow?! Why would you go out with me if you have an exam tomorrow?' 'Because it's you birthday and I-' she stops talking abruptly. 'And you what?' I ask and take her hand.

Stunned by her own words she wanted to say she looks at me. 'I wanted for you to have the perfect birthday before this month of hell starts,' she says. I smile and kiss her again. 'It truly was perfect.' Renée laughs and hugs me. 'Bye,' she then says and leaves me behind. With a big smile I go to my room.

Wordcount: 1573