Life With Lacey

13. THAT CALL, THO...

Lacey

Travis has a saw and is hacking away at my formerly perfect tree. He's gotten some awesome branches off. I'm just waiting for Toby to get back with his next offering. I'm still pretty shook that he's Nicole's "guy," the one who hooks her up with all of those hard-to-come-by items.

I'm kneeling on the floor, next to Travis, holding down the tree so he can saw through it. His back pocket starts to vibrate, which he ignores.

"Is that your phone?" I ask him.

"Yup."

"Are you going to answer it?" I ask again.

"Nope." Travis just keeps sawing away.

"What if it's important?" I press. "It could be Luc." If Luc is calling, there could be trouble, something could have happened to them. Sophie is not in her right mind.

"I already told him I wasn't bailing his butt out of jail. He's on his own."

"What! What the heck is he planning if you told him that?"

Travis stops sawing and looks over at me, an exasperated look on his face. "You saw. He kidnapped her and took her to his place. The rest is up to them."

"Oh crap! Not a good plan!" As I'm shouting, Travis' phone begins to vibrate again. I reach into his pocket and pull it out.

"Stay out of it, Lace. It's not worth the drama."

Ignoring him, I answer the call after seeing the caller is indeed Luc. "Hello?"

Expecting a response, I sit quietly for a minute, only hearing silence, but it's muffled. It's almost as if his phone is rubbing up against something.

"Hello?" I say again, but am met with the same strange silence. That's when it suddenly occurs to me what has happened. "Oh my gosh, he butt dialed you." I'm relieved that there isn't some big, new problem that I'm forced to deal with.

Until I hear Luc speak.

"Sophie, please just explain this to me. If you don't want to move in with me, fine. But why do you feel the need to break up?"

My heart breaks a little as I hear the pain in his voice. This is really messing him up. I know I should end the call and give them their privacy but I'm just as confused as Luc is. Maybe this is a way to get some answers.

"Hang up, Lace," Travis tells me, clearly irritated by the entire world at this point.

"He's talking. Sophie won't tell me anything. Just go with it." I push at his shoulder to leave me alone.

"Well, then at least put it on speaker so I can hear," he says. That's my boy. I tap the speaker icon just as Sophie starts talking.

"Because you'll see it eventually. We can't go on like this forever, living in our own places and dating. We'll either take the next step or break up. And once we do take the next step, you'll break up with me anyway. Luc I've explained this already."

"No. I still don't understand what's so horrible that will make me break up with you! I don't care if you're a slob, Sophie. I'll hire a cleaning lady, problem solved."

"That's not the problem, okay! I'm not a slob!"

"It's okay, Soph. I've seen your ice cream sweatshirt. I know you can get messy. You don't have to hide it."

I hear Sophie let out a huge breath, like whatever she's going to say is too hard for her. "That's not what I'm hiding. The sloppy part is the cover, what I let people see."

There's silence for a while. Then Luc pleads with her. "Just tell me, let me deal with it. Don't give up on me."

"I'm just afraid when you find out, you'll give up on me," she adds quietly.

He doesn't respond, but I can imagine that he must have taken her hand.

"My apartment is neat. Really neat. Like slightly crazy, neat. All of my cans are in alphabetized rows. I measure the distance between hand towels on the rack, and the top sheet from the headboard. When pillows on the couch get moved slightly, I have a panic attack. A real one."

Silence.

"I've been in therapy, because my parents didn't know what to do with me. They got me this apartment when I was sixteen so I could control my own space. I can't let anyone over because first, they might see how off my rocker I am, and second they might trigger my panic attack."

"Jeez, Sophie. I had no idea, baby. But doesn't it bother you at my place? I'm kind of disorganized."

"No. That's why I spend so much time at Lacey's. I can actually relax in other people's homes, just not in mine."

I feel so terrible, never realizing what Sophie had been dealing with. That thought makes me decide to hang up and let them finish their conversation. Before I get to the button, I hear Luc.

"I'm not letting you go, Soph. But if I promise not to touch a thing, will you show me?"

I wait for her response before ending the call. It takes a while. Then I hear her whisper, "Okay."

I put the phone in Travis' pocket after I end the call. We are silent, both taking in her revelation. Just as we quietly return to sawing the branches, Toby speaks up. I hadn't even heard him come in.

"A devil girl, that looney kidnapper and a neat-nick. Y'all got some goofy friends," he says while shaking his head.

Yeah, tell me about it. Now what?

^^^^^

Hmmm... do you understand Sophie a little better? I wonder how they might deal with this.

A little heavy, but the next one will lighten up, plus, Clickbait!! 💋🎄