I Need Something More.

Sophia P.O.V:
I woke up to the sound of my alarm obnoxiously blaring at me. I hit the snooze button and laid in bed. I really, really didn’t want to get up, my blanket was so soft and warm, my mattress felt perfect under my body and the sun was shining through the cracks in the curtains leaving a warm beam of light on my exposed shoulder. Mmm, the perfect morning, minus getting out of bed in a few minutes. I sat there for the next fifteen minutes until I had to get out of bed or I would be late for work. I forced myself out of the cocoon of bed sheets and blankets I made and started grabbing clothes to wear. I threw the sheets over the bed leaving it sloppily made and stepped into the bathroom. I peeled off my pj’s and stepped into the shower quickly. I washed my hair and rinsed my body before turning off the warm water and wrapping a towel around myself. I slipped on the short cream coloured dress with a large blue water color print of flower pedals on it that I picked out and tied the string belt around my waist. After wiping the mirror from the mist left from my shower, I dried my wet hair quickly so it fell into a slight wavy, then placed two clips in my hair, one on either side to keep it half up half down. I quickly dabbled on some mascara and lip balm before running out of bathroom to grab my blue swede heels and purse before continuing out the door to the office.

I parked my car in its usual spot and opened the door to the studio. I placed the trays of coffee and brown bag of breakfast on the receptionists desk as I do every morning with another post-it morning greeting for the staff. Everything seemed ordinary this morning, until I stepped into my office.

I was sipping on my latte organizing the studio schedule when my blackberry rang.

“Hello?”

“Hey babes, its Lana!”

“Hey Lanie, what’s up?”

“Okay, so like, I know how LA is with the tabloids and the weirdness of our lives. And I know you wouldn’t do something like that but like, I wanted to find out from the source not the back handed way through the grapevine you know?” Lana rambled. She only rambles when somethings wrong, which got me a bit worried.

“Lanie, you’re rambling, what’s wrong?”

“Okay so don’t flip out.”

“But...”

“But, I just need to know...did you cheat on Evan?”

“What?! No, never, where did you hear that?”

“See I knew you wouldn’t Soph, I just wanted to hear it from you, with all those picture of you with that guy, I just --”

“Wait, what guy? what pictures?” I started to panic, what was going on?

“Awe sweetie don’t freak, its just that I passed by a magazine stand this morning and about every cover has a clip of you and some guy, who is majorly hot by the way, all cozy and cuddly with a caption insinuating you were cheating on Evan and not the other way around.”

I was speechless. There was a burning sensation building in my stomach which scorched its way up to my throat keeping me from making a sound. I felt disgusting, how could they say those things about me, they didn’t even know me. I was taught better than that, and I hoped that that was the impression I gave, but obviously not.

“Babes?... Soph?... Awe baby! Are you okay?”

I stayed silent as I heard Lana trying to get me to talk to her. I couldn’t get any words out, and my eyes began to swell with tears. I’m not like that, I’m not! I started to cry silently holding the phone to my ear.

“Soph? If you’re still there, I’m coming to the studio now! Awe, baby, I’ll be there as soon as I can!” Lana finished before the line went dead.

I put my phone down and cried into my hands with my back towards the door. I sat in the chair sinking into it, feeling low. I felt dirty and ashamed, where would they even get such an idea? Everyone who reads those must think I’m a terrible person, but I didn’t do anything. I sat in my office crying to myself and ignoring the buzzes I got from the secretaries, my office lights were off and the blinds closed, the only light in the room was from the computer screen and the cracks in the blinds. I heard a faint knock at the door but ignored that too. Even if it was Lana, I didn’t want to see any one right now. I heard the knob turn, knowing that Lana would try and pry her way in despite my ignoring her, she was one of the few friends I had, and one of the four of people I could trust. I wiped my face quickly trying to straighten myself out and twirled the chair around when my name was called, but not from who I expected it from.

“Soph? Are you in here-” Alex called pausing midway through his sentence when his chocolate brown eyes met my flustered face.

“What’s wrong love?” He said kneeling down in front of me after I lowered my head since I didn’t want him to see me like this. I kept sniffling trying to let out words expressing I was okay, but I just started to sob quietly again. What would Alex think of me if he saw those accusation on the cover of those gossip rags? I let out a couple sobs and Alex instantaneously wrapped me in his arms tugging me up so he could hold me closer. I buried my face into his chest and tried for what felt like eternity, to speak.

“I-I-I’m ok-okay.” I stuttered out.

“No Soph, you’re not, or else you wouldn’t be crying like this.” He responded bluntly, but with no trace of harshness in his voice, only concern.

“What happened? Whose ass do I need to kick?” He asked causing me to giggle in between sobs.

“See there’s the Sophia everyone loves to see.” Alex smiled as I giggled. I stayed in his arms, they never leaving me while his hands softly rubbing my back as he placed a soft kiss on the top of my head. Alex managed calm my breathing within a matter of minutes and I had stopped crying long before. He kept me in his arms and was waiting for me to let go but I didn’t, I just wanted to stay here with Alex, like this, for a while longer. I finally got the nerve to pull my head out from his chest and look up at him. Alex looked down at me, his eyes automatically connecting to mine. Alex looked into my eyes like he did last night, but this time, I could tell what he was doing. He was searching mine for answers, to see if I was okay. A small smile formed on his lips and he leaned his forehead against my own, his eyes never leaving mine.

“Are you... okay?” He spoke carefully, as if the wrong word would break me.

“I-I am now.”

“Soph-- what happened?”

“...”

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, I just want to help you, Soph.”

“I-I w-want to tell you, b-but I just, I just don’t want you to think--”

“Sophia? Babes you oka--”

Alex dropped his arms and I turned around to see Lana standing in the doorway. After Alex let me go Lana ran up to me and wrapped her arms around me resuming the position Alex held just seconds before.

“Lanie, I’m okay now.” I said embarrassed by the entire situation.

“Sophie, you had me so scared!”

“Sorry, I-I just freaked out.”

“It’s okay baby.”

“... Sorry to interrupt, but I’m just going to head out. I’ll be in the studio if you need anything Soph.” Alex said awkwardly then left as I thanked him.

“Who was that?” Lana winked changing the subject.

“O-oh that’s Alex, he’s in one of the bands recording here.”

“Ohh... he’s a hot one! He looks kinda familiar though...”

“Maybe you’ve seen him on MTV or something.”

“Maybe... Oh SNAP! I know where I’ve seen him.” I tilted my head to the side furrowing my eye brows in confusion urging Lana to continue.

“How could I be so dumb, he’s the guy in all the pictures with you.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, genuinely confused.

“Here!” She said pulling out ‘Star’ Magazine and pointing to a photo of Alex and I from the last night.

“Oh. My. God!” I shriek, mortified that Alex was the one I was insinuated cheating with. I cannot believe this! Not only was my name tarnished all over the gossip rags, but Alex was being dragged down with me, this was just too humiliating!

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ALEX P.O.V:
I walked out from Sophia’s office completely baffled by her behaviour, what happened? Sophia’s always happy and cheerful, she’s a complete sweetheart to everyone, why would anyone do that to her? The only time she’s ever been upset since I’ve met her was when she was dealing with Evan. ... Evan. Just the thought of that kid pisses me off. I still can’t believe the ungrateful bastard cheated on her. She’s perfect, what more could he possibly want?

I walked back into the studio where Zack was tracking. Jack was on his iphone, Matt was on his MacBook, Rian was sitting with Hannah who was napping on the couch and Squire was messing with the tracking board.

“Did you find Sophia?” Squire asked.

“Yeah, she’s in her office.”

“In her office? She busy or something?”

“I guess...” I paused, not sure if I should mention earlier. “Some girl popped in, a friend I think.” 

Squire nodded and refocused on the tracking board. I sat beside Rian and put Hannah on my lap.

“How long has she been sleeping?”

“Not long, just a couple minutes before you came in.”

“Mmm, she’s been tired a lot, do you think we’ve been keeping her up too late?”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed that too... maybe.”

“Tonight I’ll put her to bed by 7, I don’ t think most 2 and a half year olds say up later than that.”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

Hannah stirred a bid in my arms then readjusted herself, moving in closer to my chest and grasping the fabric of my shirt in her tiny hands. I watched my little girl as her mouth hung slightly open and just stared down at her with a smile on my face. Her mother may have been a huge bitch, but I love this little girl more than anything and couldn’t be happier that I didn’t have to share her with that bitch.

----------

Sophia sat with Squire messing with the sound board and playing back Zack’s tracks. Sophia walked back into the room as if nothing had happened, she smiled and laughed like she usually did, but somehow I could see right through it. I could see something was still bothering her, and the fact that she seemed like she was avoiding me didn’t help. What happened? Usually she wouldn’t get tense when I’d speak to her, or even be around her. Something was up.

It was after lunch and Jack took Hannah to Pinkberry for dessert. The guys were still in the lounge and in the studio remained Squire, Sophia and myself.

“Yeah so I think we should scrap the other one, and use this one.” Squire finished.

“Agreed, this one just sounds so much better.”

“Alex, what do you think?” Squire asked.

“Yeah, the second one sounds better.” I said focused on Sophia more than the track.

“Alright. So... there we go. Perfect.” Squire said standing up. “I’m gonna grab some grub, I’ll be back later.”

Sophia snapped her head up from the control board when she heard Squire. She knew he was leaving, meaning it’d be just her and I in here. Squire left and I could see Sophia fidgeting with the controls doing anything to relieve the tension she was causing. This was driving me crazy, why was she acting like this? She never did before.

“Soph?”

“Y-yes?”

“What’s wrong?” I asked sitting beside her where Squire sat moments before.

“N-nothing. Nothing’s w-wrong.”

“You’re lying.”

“N-no, no I’m not!”

“Yes you are. Soph, why are you avoiding me?”

“I-I’m not Alex, I’m just, I’m just a little distracted.”

“Was it because of earlier?”

“...”

“Soph, you know if something’s wrong you can tell me. I’ll be here for you.”

“I’m... I’m... afraid.” She admitted looking down at her hands letting her hair cover most of her face.

“Of what? ... me?” I stroked her hair behind her ears and cupped her face. A girl as beautiful and genuine as her should never be this upset.

“I-I’m afraid of, of what you’ll think of me... and what other people will think.” She clarified.

“Soph, you’re perfect.” I said looking straight into her eyes, hoping she’d believe it herself. The moment I said that her bottom lip began to quiver and her eye brows furrow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her more upset.

“No Alex, I’m not.”

“Soph...”

“Alex... I-I have to go.” And with that Sophia jolted out of her seat and out of the studio, leaving me more confused than before.