I Need Something More.

SOPHIA P.O.V:
It was now friday and the week went by quickly. Audrey had left for New York monday night, I was sad to see her go since we only got the weekend to hang out, but she promised to be here for my birthday tomorrow. Most people celebrate February 14th as Valentine’s Day, but I celebrate it as my birthday, and this year, my 21st birthday! Needless to say I’m more than excited for it. Even though it was my 21st birthday I just wanted to celebrate with a small group, nothing big, flashy or extravagant, possibly just Audrey, Lana and myself again. Earlier this week Lana called dibs on planning my birthday, she promised it wouldn’t be too big, but knowing Lana- I highly doubt that was possible, despite my hopes for a little celebration.

The entire week I was helping a local Cali band, named Bearhug record their EP because their producer Greg had a family emergency and had to fly out of town for the week. They were sweet kids, fresh out of High School I believe, but judging from their talent, I would have never guessed. Since I was helping out the band, I didn’t get much time to see Squire and the All Time Low boys. Hannah on the other hand met me every morning by my office with Alex and followed me to another recording room to help me out for a small portion of the morning. She is such a little cutie! Although I didn’t see the boys, that didn’t stop them from sending me the most ridiculous text messages and calling to go out for lunch together, and today was no exception.

“That sounded great guys!” I spoke through the microphone into the recording box while pulling out my buzzing blackberry.
1 new message received.

JACK:
Soapie, I’m hungry!

RE:
Then go get food! ;P

“Hey, did you guys want to check out the track so far--” I started but was cut off by my phone again. Checking the message quickly I saw Jack’s response which read Feed me! (; before continuing my sentence, “--or did you guys want to grab some lunch now?”

All the boys called various shouts of ‘lunch’ and ‘food’ from the recording room causing me to laugh. I put my headphones down and picked up my blackberry and keys before holding the doors open for the boys to file out. I sent Jack a message back telling him I’d meet them in their recording room and I was on my way after waving bye to the boys in Bearhug.

----------

“Soapie!” Jack whined.

“No.”

“But Soapie.” Jack continued extending the ‘e’ in Soapie.

“But Jack.” I mocked back.

“Soapie, I invited you to lunch so you would feed me!”

“I don’t think so Jack.” I laughed drawing my attention back to Hannah and her meal. I cut her chicken strips so she could chew them easier and eat without making a mess.

“Not fair! You’ll feed Hannah Banana, but you won’t feed me? I’m hurt, Soapie, hurt.” Jack joked placing his hands over his heart earning a giggle from Hannah and a laugh from the guys.

“That’s because Hannah is about one-tenth your age, Jack.” I giggled as I shook my head at his behaviour.

“Please!” Jack whined again, making Hannah seem more mature. I rolled my eyes and continued shaking my head.

Alex leaned over and whispered something in my ear, his hot breath tickling me as he did so. I grinned at what Alex had told me and said, “Fine Jack, just one time.”

“Really?!”

“Yes, now open up.” Jack did as I said and waited for me to place a piece of chicken in his mouth. I dipped a small piece in a large amount of sauce and let it bathe in it for a moment before placing it in Jack’s mouth with his fork.

“Bahhhh!” Jack screeched. “Bah! Bah! Water!”

“Daddy, what’s wrong with uncle Jack?” Hannah asked Alex and him giving her a quick response.

The table laughed at Jack’s cries for water and I placed his fork down satisfied.

“Opps, I thought the extra picante hot sauce was ketchup.” I smiled as I lied to Jack.

Jack chugged down his water and his order of sprite before finally saying something.

“Touche Soapie, touche!” He managed to choke out while giving me a nasty glare.

“Sorry Jack.”

He paused for a moment before smirking with a response. “Kiss it better!” He grinned as he ordered a new sprite from the waitress. “Right here.” He continued pointing at his lips.

“I don’t think so.” I laughed. Only Jack would come up with these sorts of suggestions.

“Oh, I think you want to Soapie.” He smirked mischievously, while locking eyes with mine before averting his eyes to Alex and back.

“You wouldn’t.” I whispered across the table.

“Kiss it better Soapie!” Jack continued to whine. I narrowed my eyes at him trying my luck. “Oh or maybe its because you’d rather kis--”

“Fine!” I cut him off.

I leaned across the table and gave him a quick peck on the lips. It wasn’t anything special, it was the kind of kiss I would give as a greeting to a relative, except in this case Jack’s lips instead of cheek. I pulled back and continued to narrow my eyes again.

“Happy?”

“Incredibly!”

“You’re a sad, sad little boy, you know that?” I said trying to suppress a laugh.

“I know. But this sad little boy got you to kiss him.” He smiled back triumphantly. “Love you Soapie!”

----------

It was about 4:00 in the afternoon and the studio was closing in an hour. Since it’s friday I usually close the studio early since I know the staff along with everyone else could use the early break for the weekend. I sat by the control panel layering the instruments onto the track while waiting for the band’s lead singer Max to get ready. The other boys took a minute to relax and were scattered around the control room.

I told the boys in Bearhug they could just relax for a bit since layering the track would take a little while. I sat there fidgeting with the control boards when I heard the boys in the background.

“You ask her.”

“No you!”

“Dude, you’re the one who wanted to know...”

“Shut up, you’re just as curious.”

“Common man, just ask her.”

I suppressed a giggle as I heard the minor arguing before turning to the boys. “You three know I can hear you right?” I smiled while turning completely to face them. “What’s up?”

The three boys turned various shades of pink before one of them was brave enough to pipe up.

“So Austin here was wondering--”

“Hey!”

“is this really you?” Jon said passing a copy of OK! magazine towards me. “We just saw it on the news stand down the street and wasn’t sure...”

“Umm yeah, that’s me.” I replied awkwardly at yet another photo of Alex and I out to lunch with the name ‘Sophex’ in the caption. “But I’m not dating him, we’re just friends.” I added in.

“Sorry, we just thought it was weird that we know a celebrity.” Jeremy admitted.

I smiled at the innocence of the boys along with their polite manners towards me and the situation. “Don’t worry about it, and I’m not a ‘celebrity.’” I clarified giggling a bit at the end.

“Is he a cool guy, you know with his band being big and all?” Austin piped in.

“Very cool.” I laughed as I heard a faint knock at the door before someone popped their head in. “Actually, he’s right there.” I said pointing then waving to Alex.

----------

ALEX P.O.V:
“Dude! Did you ask her yet?” Jack asked annoyingly as he bobbed up and down beside me waiting for his drink to pop out of the vending machine before the two of us would head back to the studio from lunch.

“I didn’t really get a chance to seeing as she was busy kissing you at lunch!” I shoved Jack.

“Hey man, don’t be jealous ‘cause I got some of Soapie’s lovin’. Plus that was payback from the hot sauce prank.” He joked. “But seriously brah, I was just trying to fire you up so you’d finally ask her. It’s already friday and you still haven’t asked her out.”

“Working on it.” I growled. “Oh and it’s kind of hard to ask her when she’s been working in another studio all week.”

“True say...” Jack paused to take a sip of his vending machine drink. “That and you’ve lost your Gaskarth charm from High School.”

“Pfft! No I haven’t!”

“Haha, yes you have! Dude, if this was Dulaney, you’d already have had Soapie in the sack weeks ago.” Jack laughed. “Face it man. You’ve gone soft.”

“Whatever man, I haven’t gone soft. I just know Sophia wouldn’t fall for that stuff like the girls back in High School.” I said as I recalled the countless girls I bedded when I was known as the king of one night stands. “Sophia is too sophisticated for all the shit I would have pulled in High School, she’s not the type to fall for that crap.”

“True... but you’ve still gone soft, you can’t even ask her on a date.” Jack laughed obnoxiously in my face before opening the door back to the studio.

“Fucker.” I mumbled under my breath as we walked in.

----------

It was about 4pm leaving me with 1 hour before the studio closed and 1 hour before I lost another chance to ask out Sophia. The guys were scattered around the room and Hannah was sitting with me playing with one of her colouring books I bought for her.

“Daddy, when is Sophie coming back?” Hannah asked putting her crayons down.

“Next Monday baby, she needed to help out a friend who was away this week.”

“I miss Sophie.” Hannah frowned resting her small blonde head against my chest. “Daddy?”

“Yeah baby?”

“Can we invite Sophie over for diner soon?”

“I think your dad would like that a lot.” Jack snickered joining the conversation earning a dirty look from me.

“Me too!” Hannah squealed.

“Hannah Banana, Uncle Rian has Kara on the phone, she wants to say hi.” Jack smiled pointing to Rian in the hallway waving Hannah over.

“I’ll be back daddy!” Hannah beamed jumping off my lap and running towards Rian.

“So, Squire says there’s no point in trying to mix the song now since the studio’s closing in one hour, but he’ll do it first thing monday. Him and Zack are just going to practice the next song.”

“Mmm alright.”

“So since we’re not doing anything here...”

“Yeah...”

“I think Soapie might need help in the other recording room.” Jack hinted.

“She might,” I played along. “I’ll go drop by and check.”

“You do that.” Jack smirked as I got up. “Aren’t I the best wing man ever.”

“No comment.” I laughed leaving the room.

I was walking down the halls trying to remember which room Sophia was in when my iphone started ringing in my pocket. It was a private number but answered it anyways.

“Hello?”

“Hi, is this Alex?”

“Yeah, who’s this?”

“Oh it’s Audrey, Sophia’s sister... I kinda stole your number from her phone when she wasn’t looking.”

“That’s alright, what’s up?” I laughed.

“I’m actually calling to invite you and your friends to the party we’re throwing for Sooie’s birthday tomorrow night. I know it’s really last minute but we just booked the place last night and--”

“We’ll be there.”

“Oh really, good! Listen, she thinks its a small thing, so don’t tell her you know about it, kay?”

“Sure thing.”

Audrey gave me the details and hung up. I smirked now coming up with the best excuse to ask out Sophia. I finally found the recording room and knocked on the door before popping my head in to make sure I wasn’t interrupting anything. Sophia was turned over to three of the boys in the band she was working with and pointed before waving over to me.

“Alex, I’d like you to meet three quarters of Bearhug.” She smiled gesturing at the teenaged boys in front of her. She introduced me to each of the boys before they went back to practicing and Sophia drew her attention back to me.

“So what brings you here, usually you’d just spam my inbox.” She giggled. “Not that I don’t enjoy your presence or the spam for that matter.”

“Well I came here to see if you needed help producing, I thought you’d be lonely.” I teased.

“Awe, thanks Alex. Some help would be lovely.” Sophia said pulling me into a side hug.

----------

“Alright boys, I think the last one was perfect. You guys can wrap up for the day.” Sophia buzzed into the booth.

The guys in Bearhug packed up their things and offered to help Sophia close down but she declined telling them they could go home. Sophia and I said our goodbyes to the boys prior to shutting everything down and collecting the cords. Being the pussy that I am, I tried multiple times to ask out Sophia but I ended up just opening my mouth then closing it a second later. Since this is my last chance for the night, I finally convinced myself to wing it.

“So, I was thinking.” I started as the smirk on my face grew.

“Mmhmm...”

“Since it’s your birthday tomorrow, how about I take you out for dinner tonight, to celebrate.”

“Oh umm, r-really?” She stuttered caught off guard. “l-like a date?”

“Oh umm.. yeah. Unless you’re busy, or if you have other plans... then just forget it--” I started rambling when Sophia cut me off.

“I’d love to.” She beamed before furrowing her eyebrows. “But who told you it was my birthday?”

“Right, your sister did... last week when I met her at her show.” I covered.

“Oh... well it sounds perfect, Alex.” She smiled bending down to grab the last few cords.

“You’re perfect.” I muttered practically drooling as she was bent over. The front of her shirt lowered a bit so I could see her lacy zebra print bra and what I estimated to be her c-cup maybe even d-cup chest. I am such a dirty little skeeze, but fuck did she look good. I swear if she’d let me, the things I would do to that girl...

“What was that?” She asked standing up straight again pulling down her skirt that rose up a bit.

“Erm, umm n-nothing.” I lied mentally slapping myself back to reality and out of my unholy thoughts.