Me Too

11

Sofia woke me up at eight the next morning. I don't remember falling asleep, but she said I passed out after our take out dinner while she was in the shower- burning hell, I call it. Vaguely, I recollect that I felt her scorching touch on my body as she got in bed and pulled the blankets over herself, hooking her arm around my waist and laying her pounding, firey chest on my shoulder, sleeping on her stomach. She was breathing in my ear when she finally relaxed, and after that, I was dead asleep.

She must've slept in too, because she seems just as new to today as I am. She woke up a few minutes ago, and rolled back on top of me only five moments before she pressed her lips to my cheek.

She hummed in my ear as if to say good morning.

I smile, my fatigue trickling away. I wasn't ready to open my eyes yet, but I was ready to be happy. If She is next to me, I'm going to be happy. Sofia was laying on top of my side, planting kisses around my jaw and neck as if we were lustful teenagers. She was testing me, and for half a moment, I really enjoyed it. By the time I opened my eyes, I knew my pale skin was red from her tugging. "Good morning."

As soon as she saw my green eyes, she kissed my mouth. I wrapped my leg around her thighs and I wrapped my arms around her bust, feeling her back. She didn't care much for open mouth making out, but she parted her lips as if it was a second nature. I don't know why she wanted a first morning kiss, but I ran my tongue across her cracked lips to soothe us both into the daytime. She pressed her body into mine, pulsing her lips against mine, a smirk thinning them as it drew to a comfortable close.

After a few seconds, I took back my tongue and she let go, smiling. She opened her eyes as I did, and she looked so beautiful in the white sunlight glaring from the window. I held her body close and I rolled my head out of my pillow. Her shirt was thin and I felt her chest touching mine; I could feel her very strong heart beat as if it were my own. "I love you."

"I love you too." She set her hand on my right jawline and she rested her head back on my shoulder. "We're leaving tonight."

I nod. "Yeah. I should get ready to go for my audition."

She laughed softly. "Probably. Sometime, but not right now."

"If I don't do it now, I never will."

"Go looking like a beautiful baby raccoon." She kissed my ear and blew soft words into my hair. "Imagine that."

"Right," I scoff. I yawn and shrug. "I don't even want the role, Pam set it up. I need a job, but I don't want to do this one." I set my head against hers before I start to sit up. "Sofia, I'm losing my passion for acting. I don't know how to feel excited about things anymore, especially not work."

She came up as I did. "Do your best still."

"It's just more time I don't get to spend with you if I get it." I bow my head and bring her hand to my mouth. "But I will do my best."

"Go get ready, babe," she whispered.

As I got up, she ran her finger tips down my back, leaving a trembling ice trail in my spine. I picked up my phone from the nightstand. "Cam called last night," I reported, tossing my phone on the bed, stretching, and pulling my tank top back above my cleavage.

"Do you think he was trying to get a hold of me through you?" Sofia asked, quickly glancing down, breaking her stare.

I shrug, grabbing her phone from its charger on my blue nightstand and handing it to her. "Depends on if he believed it or not."

She held her thumb to unlock it and she leaned against the headboard, trying to stay awake. "He was," she mumbled. "He called four times."

"Better see what he needed." I fold over the blankets to look half made. I grab my phone swiftly, and I start towards my room to get ready. I pick out an upcycled dress I designed a few weeks ago especially for the autumn theme, and I find a pair of heels to wear with it. I manage to get my hair brushed out, and I straighten it, running my hands through it and tossing it about. It parts down the center at my dark roots and I leave it as it is. As complex as people think it is to get ready, it is thirty five minutes of my day and then I deal with the outcome. My make up was a bit under done, looking as naturally fresh faced as a pallet of nude shades can produce.

Sofia chatted in our bedroom. I listened in, having nothing better to do as I waited for my eyeliner to dry.

"You can't quit, Cam. What can I do to help you?" She paced the floor, I heard her dragging her feet. "What do you want the message to be? -okay, don't get mad at me! Hold on, relax. What things do you want to capture? That is all directing is, is capturing a message that people need to hear." She came out of the room and she passed by me, taking her call to the living room. She tried speaking slowly, but through a satellite translation, words don't always come across perfectly, and he was hearing nothing but negativity from her. "I mean, a lot of things need to be taken care of in the world, everyone needs something. You need a message you can relate to, it makes it easier if you think of what you've been through and you want to capture and share. You want a documentary, right? Well then you need real stories to document."

I paint my highlighter on my nose as a final touch to my face, and I begin putting my things away. I shut off the bathroom lights and come out. I drape myself over the love seat, swinging my legs impatiently and humming to myself. Impatiently, I demand my love's attention.

She stuffed her hand in her back pocket and rested her weight on her back leg. Her gaze briefly falling upon me and a smile coming to her lips. Sofia quickly picked up her pacing and she painted her hand across the air. "Okay, well, talk with your writer friend and cast about that feeling."

Cameron was panicked and I could feel his stress from here. I can't believe Sofia can be so patient with people. I can'thhelp Can very well because he shuts down everything just like I do- give me advice, I will come up with a tiusand reasons it will never work. It is a symptom of my anxiety, I'm sure; I don't know why Cameron does it. "Do you think it is a good idea though?"

Sofia held her phone away from her as she clicked her tongue and stopped again, putting herself back in her sassy stance. "I know it's an issue, Cam. I've seen a lot of news about it. I think a lot of people need advice, and need to know they're not alone and all, but like I said, it's better to do something you have felt before." I smile at her attentive listening face. Her eyes fixed on the wall and her mouth forming a pout while she thought. "Yeah, talk with your team, see if any of them have any ideas. Find common ground with them. They're people with input too, dude."

"Thanks." I get strands of audio from her crackling phone line. "Bye."

"See ya." She slowly brought her phone into a cradle in her hands. She looked at me, worry plastered on her skin. Sofia wears other people's emotions just like I used to. "I am so proud of that kid. I would have given up by now, honestly."

I don't believe that. Sofia is resilient, even when she gets scared; she might need time to do things, but Sofia Char Carson does not give up. I stand up and allow my dress to sway against my thighs. "He'll figure it out."

"I'm just a bit worried. I'm not much help for him, but something tells him he's got nobody else on his side," she says. "I want to be there for him, but he's going way out of his depth and mine. See, the actors aren't really his problem, he just can't settle on an idea. Thomas was right, he should've figured that out first."

I nod. "But, it's okay. He has those kids to help him. He just has to realise they're there to help him. He could ask them for some ideas, I'm sure thirteen young adults could think of something that would work. He's trying to change the world with his first project; that is a really high bar to reach, I think he should settle with appealing to a mind or two, not the planet."

"He has the power and resources to; he just needs the thought and the confidence to do it."

"Cameron's only eighteen- barely out of high school. He doesn't have a clue how big the world actually is yet."

She stepped towards me, sliding her phone in her pocket. "Do you know how big it is?"

"About five foot four." I smile and reach out my arms, letting her slide between them like thin walls. "My world is right here."