Saving Sophia ✔️

s e v e n t e e n

She pushed him away as she wiped her mouth of the taste of his lips.

"Ouch," he muttered, watching her.

"Wh-why did you do that?" She looked at him in disbelief.

"Hell if I know," he answered, running his hand down his face in frustration. "Hell if I have any fucking idea why."

"I-I have to go now." Sophia said, standing up and slowly walking away.

"Sure, go, just keep running like you always do Sophia!"

She hesitated a moment before continuing on. It wasn't long until she felt his hand grabbing her arm.

"Sophia," he breathed, "please, talk to me. Stop running away from me. Just let me-"

"Leave me go," she breathed, pulling from his grip. He tightened it.

"No, I will not let you run again. All I'm asking is for you to talk to me, tell me what's going on in that pretty little head of yours. Sophia, I'm begging you, just let me in. Even if it's only a little bit, just, let me in."

She gave up. Her tense position gave way, her arm falling limp in his grasp.

"Thank you," he whispered, running his lips ever so softly on the side of her head. "Thank you."

Not quite can hour later, Sophia securely wrapped in his arms, a sobbing blubbering mess, came to the realization she let her guards down. She revealed everything to him. Every little detail of the incident, every little detail of everything that lead up to the incident, and every little detail of what happened because of the incident.

He knew it all.

Several minutes of silence passed, with exception of the lingering sobs escaping her lips every so often. He was speechless. For once in his life, he was speechless.

"I-I don't know what to say," he finally said. "I'm sorry, so so sorry."

She pulled back slightly, looking him square in the eye. "Please don't say that. That's all people can ever say to me. And nobody actually means it. I mean, it's all my fault anyways. All that happened? Yeah, it all happened because of me. So many lives changed, because of me. I ruined-"

"Sophia," he cooed, stroking away the remaining droplets of water from her rosy cheeks, "you didn't do anything wrong. He should have never t-"

"Shh," she said, pressing her finger against his lips, "do not finish that sentence. Can we just, just forget I said anything?"

His lips kissed her finger softly, "sure," he whispered. "If that's what you want, then sure."

She nodded, pulling her finger away. He smiled, pulling her into his body again.

"Can I kiss you?"

She nodded.

With a smile, his fingers delicately ran down her cheek, over her lips, down her neck, before snaking around and pulling her flush against him. His lips gently pressed against hers, savoring the taste of her strawberry chapstick. Savoring the taste of her.

✦ ✦ ✦

"Thanks for the ride," Sophia smiled, reaching for her bag and opening the door.

"Not," Zane smirked, reaching for her hand, "so fast." He brought her small hand to his lips, ever so lightly caressing them, "call me later?"

She smirked, shaking head.

"Please?" he whined, pulling her arm gently back.

"Fine," she huffed, breaking his grip. "I'll call you later."

"Bye Sophia Layne."

She hopped out of the car and watched as his car disappeared into the distance.

"That's the third time this week he's brought you home," her mother smirked from the doorway. "If I didn't know better, I'd say he's rather sweet on you."

"Mom, that sentence alone just aged you ten years."

Her mother laughed, pulling her into a hug. "I'm happy you found somebody," she whispered into her hair. "And he seems like a really special somebody."

And that he was.

At least for now.