Chapter 7
NeverMind © 2004
The girls woke up to the smell of coffee and the sound of men’s voices. Sophia slowly opened her eyes to see Nila across from her sitting on a sofa with her head in her hands.
“You look as good as I feel,” she commented as
she slowly eased herself into a sitting position.
Nila slowly raised her head and smiled at her.
“I’m painfully reminded why I serve alcohol and don’t drink it.”
“You haven’t been that drunk in
years boss,” Luke chuckled behind them. He was standing in the doorway of the
kitchen.
“Doesn’t this cross some employee/employer
boundaries?” Sophia asked.
Luke grinned and handed her a mug of coffee.
“Don’t you see the resemblance?” He sat next to Nila and put his face next to
hers.
Nila weakly swatted his head away as Brent came
in to hand her a mug. “Luke doubles as my bouncer and my pain in the arse baby
brother,” she explained.
Sophia nodded and looked at Brent. “And who are
you? A distant cousin of some kind?”
He laughed. “I’m Brent. I went to Uni with
Nila.”
“Ah so you only hire family and old friends.”
She nodded. “They’re safer and easier to work
with I find.”
“Besides, she needed an excuse to boss me
around,” Luke joked.
“You’ve about reached your quota for annoying
me today.” Nila’s voice held a warning tone but her eyes had a smile in them.
“Which means it’s my cue to leave,” he laughed.
“Would you like a ride home Sophia?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I actually drove here last
night so I’m hoping my car will still be there.”
“We’ll check before we leave,” Brent assured
her with a smile. “Don’t do anything strenuous today ladies,” he added with a
smirk.
“Yeah, yeah, we’re soddin’ idiots,” Nila
mumbled. “Both of you get out of my sight.”
They could hear them laughing as the door shut.
“I think I need to go home and face the music,” Sophia said.
“I guess you can’t avoid it can you?”
She shrugged. “I could try but it’d be a pain
in the arse.”
Nila stood up and walked her to the door. “Good
luck then Sophia,” she said, giving her a hug.
“You do realise that if I resolve my conflict
I’m going to force you to resolve yours,” Sophia stated into her shoulder.
She laughed, “I expect it love.”
Five days later, Dom showed up at Sophia’s
door.
“Sophia, love, I need help,” he said, after
knocking and letting himself in.
“I’ve been trying to tell you that for years
Dom,” she said sarcastically.
He came into the kitchen and kissed her cheek.
“I’ll have what you’re having.” He indicated the food she was making.
“Of course you will.” She always made enough
for at least two because she never knew when Orli would just show up, or other
miscreant friends of his for that matter.
“You’re sore?” Dom asked indicating the message
taped up to her wall.
“I’m not the one who sent that so I’m assuming
who ever did will be ‘sorry’ tomorrow,” she said, “At least he better be after
making me wait this long.”
“He’s making sure you won’t hate him.”
“I’ve never hated him.”
“Good to know. Now on to my problem.”
He would have continued if the phone hadn’t
rung. Sophia held her hand up to answer it, “Hello?”
Dom couldn’t hear what the person on the other
end was saying, but he could see Sophia bristle and her jaw set in a firm line.
It must be something about Orli.
“This is, who are you?” she asked. “Good for
you Rose Phillips,” she repeated the name hoping Dom would clue her in, but he
just gave her a confused look.
She nodded. “Of course you are,” she said
sardonically, already moving to the base to hang up the phone.
“He did, did he? I don’t know how you got this
number Rose, but I have the bobbies on speed dial so I’d advise not calling
again,” she made to hang up then stopped.
“What did he tell you?” Dom was staring at her,
bursting at the seams, wanting to know what the hell was going on. Sophia just
shrugged.
Sophia’s stunned expression was almost comical.
She opened and closed her mouth a few times before finally getting words
together to make a sentence, “Who the hell are you?”
Dom was getting antsy to know what was going
on. “O-uh-kay.” She rattled off Orli’s new cell phone number and Dom’s shock
increased. “Now of course…” she started to say, but the person on the other end
must have cut her off.
“I, um, you too,” Sophia finally managed to
say, “Cheers.” She stared the phone in her hand.
“That was bloody surreal,” she said.
“Who the hell was that?” Dom finally spoke,
surprised that he didn’t interrupt her while she was talking.
“I have no fucking clue,” she shook her head.
“She’s American or something and obviously knows Orli.”
“Interesting. He hasn’t told me about any new
bird in his life.”
“Me either.”
“Weird. Anyway let’s get back to the problem at
hand.”
“Yes,” Sophia agreed, “Lets. Ground rules,
though. If I tell you anything about Nila you have to tell me about Elijah.
Deal?”
He shook her hand, “Deal.”
“You first.”
“Fuck off.”
“Fine. Nila really likes you.”
“How do you know?”
“Nope, first give me something on Lij.”
“He really likes you.”
Sophia swatted him. “Fuck off! Give me something better than that!”
“Ow! Like what?” Dom asked, rubbing his arm.
“Like why did he move out?”
“Thought you needed some space to work your shit out.”
Sophia got quiet and a pained look came over her face. She’d thought he hadn’t been listening to her. “He said that?”
“Yeah, he said that. Now give me something. Why did Nila push me away?”
“She doesn’t think she can cope with your celebrity.”
“My..? Fuck, that’s infuriating. I wish I’d never made those damn movies.”
“Don’t say that, you know it’s not true.”
Dom sighed heavily. “I know. It’s just, fuck, I don’t know.”
“I know. Your turn.”
“Lij thinks you’re easy to talk to.”
“He does? I guess my ignoring him didn’t work so well.”
“Guess not. You next.”
“Nila doesn’t want you to let her push you away.”
“She doesn’t?”
“Hell no. She wouldn’t have drunk herself into oblivion last week if she did.”
Dom looked at Sophia in amazement. “She never drinks,” he said softly.
“That’s what Luke said.”
“Fuck,” Dom muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Me next,” Sophia said, going to the fridge for some beers.
“Okay, um… Lij thinks you have great lips.”
Sophia touched her fingers to her lips. “Really?” Dom took the beers from her and cracked them open. Sophia came to herself and tried to think of what to tell him next. “Uhh… Nila really likes your crooked smile.”
Dom gave her a crooked smile. “Cool.” They both took sips from their beers. “What else do you want to know?”
“Is he ever coming back?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Can’t say.”
“Can’t say or won’t say?”
“Both.”
“Fuck you.”
Dom raised his bottle to her. “And you.” They sat in silence for a little while; both lost in their own thoughts.
“What should I do to not let her push me away?”
“Flowers seem to be working for me,” Sophia said, indicating the five roses on her mantle.
“I don’t know what kind of flowers she likes.”
“Gerberas.”
“How do you know?”
“She has pictures of them all over her apartment.”
“I don’t want to steal Lij’s idea.”
“What is his idea?”
“I told you, I can’t say.”
Sophia gave him a stern look. “I think you’re getting more out of this than I am.”
“What’s your point?” Dom asked.
Sophia stuck her tongue out at him. “Tell me I’m at least going to be won over.”
“Won over, overwhelmed, completely and utterly swept off your feet.”
“You takin’ the piss outta me?” she demanded.
“Never.”
She eyed him suspiciously.
“Swear to god,” he said, holding up his hands.
“Fine. I believe you.”
“So help me out here, Soph.”
“You really don’t have any other female friends, do you?”
“All the other ones can’t keep their hands off me long enough to do me any good.”
“Ha, ha,” Sophia said and rolled her eyes.
“Don’t make me go to them, Soph,” he pleaded.
“Fine. How much money do you have?”
“I’m willing to spend everything I have aside from however much it will cost to get me to Italy for my film.”
“Good. Here’s what I think you should do…”