Page 93 of Hitting the Goal Line
Sophia’s smile dwindles a bit, becoming faint, as she reaches up and takes one of my small curls between her fingers.
“I’ve missed you too,” she says, almost in whisper.
“Then come back to me, Soph. Come back to me. I want you back. I want my best friend back,” I say, the words almost escaping me like a plea.
I feel Sophia shift under me a bit and then her hand sliding into my hair, grabbing onto me like I’m her saving grace, but that isn’t what has my attention.
What has my attention, is how her other hand comes up and cradles my cheek all the while her eyes fill with tears.
“I want to,” she starts, her voice shaking in the process. “I want to come back.”
A tear escapes from the corner of her eyes, and I’m quick to wipe it away with my thumb.
“Then do it. Come back to me and our nights will be just like this one. Filled with laughter and memories that we will remember forever. You just need to come back.”
“It’s not that easy,” she says, more tears making their way out.
“Why not?” I ask, caressing her cheek just like she is caressing mine.
“I have to do something first, but after I do that, I will come back to you. I will come back to you and give you everything that I am. I promise you. I just need time.”
I take a second to look into her eyes and to comprehend her words. I go through everything she just said at least three times, but I still don’t understand it.
As much as I don’t want to, I pull away from her and sit with my back to the couch and watch her as her eyes follow each one of my movements.
“What do you have to do?” I ask, hoping that it’s easy, and it’s something that I can help her with. Because I meant everything I told her. I want my best friend back. But not just my best friend, I want her.
I want her laughing beside me as we create memories and maybe then I will get the courage to tell her that she owns every inch and ounce of my heart. Maybe then, even if it takes time, I will be able to make her mine for good. If she will let me.
She crawls over to me, taking my face in her hands so that I’m able to look straight into her eyes and see the conviction and the strength that is radiating off her.
“I’m going to break up with Elijah.”
It takes me a second, to fully understand what she is saying.
“You are?” I ask, just to make sure.
She gives me a nod. “Yes. I need to.”
“What do you mean by that? Why do you ‘need to’?” I ask, my hands itching to reach for her and bring her closer to me. Bring her closer to me and kiss her like I’ve been dying to do since last June when I last got a taste of her.
More tears form in her eyes, but they don’t escape. “I just do.”
As she says the words, I can’t help but to think that she is doing it just because I’m telling her I want her back. That she feels like she has to do it because I want her to. I want her to be happy and if he makes her happy then we will be able to move past whatever is going on between us and get her that happiness.
“Soph,” I say, bringing my hand up and placing them over hers. “Don’t it for me. Don’t break up with him because I told you to come back to me. Don’t let me sway your decision.”
“I’m not.” She pauses, taking a deep breath before continuing again. “I’m doing it for me. I’m breaking up with Elijah for me because I want to do it and because I want to live a life where he’s not in it. I don’t love him. I never did and I never will.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
SOPHIA
3 days before present day
It should have never gottenthis bad.
At the very first sign, I should have walked away and never looked back. But I lived in the thought process that it was going to be a one-time thing. That he had apologized and that meant that he meant it and it was never going to happen again.
