I Need Something More.

SOPHIA P.O.V:
After saying bye to all the boys, staff and Hannah I locked up the studio and sped home. While stuck in traffic I called Lana and told her to get over to my condo asap because a. I was freaking out, and b. because I needed her help getting dressed. Unfortunately the articulation of that phone call was less clear since I was a sloppy mess of nerves from Alex asking me out for diner so I sounded something like,

“You wouldn’t believe, oh my gosh, my condo, meet me there, I need help, clothes. Shit, clothes. I have no clothes!” Lana laughed out of both confusion and understanding to my behaviour and agreed to meet me at my condo. I pulled into my garage and jumbled my keys out opening the door.

I kicked my heels off into my closet and slipped on my slipper boots before running up to my room and chucking my purse on my bed. My blackberry fell out and I noticed a new message from Lana. I opened it and it read, ‘Stuck in traffic, be there in about 15. (: ’ I put my blackberry down and grabbed my towel and robe deciding 15 minutes was more than enough time to groom and take a shower.

I jumped into my shower and out just as quickly once I was done bathing. I slipped on a fresh pair of undergarments before securely wrapping my robe around me. I put lotion on all over my body and put moisturizer on my face when I heard the door bell ring. I pulled on the belt of my robe to make sure it was secure before running downstairs to open the door for Lana.

“Okay, so what is the big emergency?” She joked.

“Alex asked me out to dinner tonight.” I blurted out.

“Eek! Really?!” Lana squealed. “That’s so cute!”

“He’s coming to pick me up at 8pm so need to find an outfit.”

“Don’t even worry about it babes, I’ll doll you up and when he sees you tonight, he’ll want to bang you on the spot.”

“Lanie!” I shrieked pushing her up to my room.

----------

Lana had already dried and styled me hair into a wave of messy curls pulling it into a side ponytail and placing a black headband with a large black flower on it on my head. We both agreed that we should pick an outfit before putting on make-up so I sat on my bed as she raided my closet for dresses, skirts and tank tops.

“Hmmm, so I’m thinking boobs.” Lana blurted out.

“W-wait, what?”

“Yeah, Alex is a guy. And like any, guy he’ll enjoy your rack hanging out.” Lana smirked.

“I don’t want to look like a hooker Lanie!”

“Pfft, you’ll look like a high class hooker, promise!” Lana joked earning a scowl from my direction. “Don’t worry babes, you’ll look tasteful like you always do, now that, I actually promise.” Her response causing me to laugh.

“But seriously Soph, you’ve got a huge rack, I think you should show it off a bit. Hell I would if I was a d-cup!” Lana pouted looking down at her average sized chest.

“Err, ummm... fine,” I caved getting up off the bed and walking over to the closet to join her. She pulled out various outfits but they didn’t suit the occasion.

“Oh! How about this?” Lana said pulling out a dress. It was short and had a v-neck spaghetti strap top with lacy cream coloured trim surrounding the v. Right under the bust was a black water coloured cheetah-looking-print on a light yellow, almost cream coloured base. I agreed and slipped it on over my head. The top clung to my revealing chest and the bottom part hung loosely around my body as the thin silky material rested mere inches under my butt.

“Yes!” Lana called out twirling me around to check. “This is perfect.”

“But don’t you think its a bit... short?” I asked biting my lip as I stood in front of my mirror.

“...Nah! a little cleavage and leg action never hurt anyone.” Lana winked. “Plus in this, you’ll remind him this is a date-date, not a friendly ‘happy-birthday-buddy’ dinner, if he was ever thinking that.”

“Ermm, kay fine.” I reluctantly agreed while continuing to pull up the top half and down the bottom. “I just hope we’ll be sitting for the majority of the night.” I finished flattening out the bottom of the dress and checking exactly how much fabric there was between my butt and the end of the dress.

“Yeah, sitting on him.” Lana snickered. “Make-up time!”

-----------

I bit my pink painted lips as I heard the buzz from my door bell.

“Oh god, I think I might puke.” I whispered to Lana as we made our way downstairs to open the door, while I tried to remember the last date-date I’d been on.

“It’ll be fine! You look stunning babes.”

I took a deep breath before opening door. I immediately smiled once I saw him, what can I say, the boy cleans up well. Alex stood on my doorstep sporting a pair of dark blue jeans, a grey v-neck with a red hoodie under his leather jacket. His hair was perfectly messy and in his hands he held a bouquet of orchids. Even with my high heels on he managed to tower over me with ease. His mouth dropped a bit as he stared down at me. I could feel him eyeing my body as his gaped mouth slipped into a smirk as he stood in the doorway.

“Hey Alex.” I finally spoke leading him into my condo. I felt a bit awkward at first knowing that he was staring at me with a slight trace of lust in his eyes, but drew him into a hug despite the feeling. I convinced myself it was just his male hormones reacting since some of Lana’s and my guy friends would check us out in the same manner whenever we’d get dressed up like this.

“Wow, you look gorgeous Soph. Oh and, these are for you.” He smiled sincerely as his eyes averted back to mine while he handed me the bouquet.

“Orchids! Oh wow, thanks they’re my favourite. And you look quite dashing yourself.” I giggled, until I heard Lana cough from behind me, reminding me she was still here. “Oh Alex, this is La--”

“Lana. We’ve already met.” He smiled tightly before extending a hand towards Lana.

“Oh really?” I asked as walked into the kitchen placing the flowers in a vase with some fresh water. The only time I knew they would have met was when I was crying in my office the other week, but even then, there were no formal introductions.

“Oh, umm yeah, last week w-when I--” Lana started.

“When she brought your key over to Squire, he introduced us quickly.” Alex finished.

“Right, good old Squire.”

“Oh yeah? Well we should get going... err.” I started looking around me for my purse. “Umm... I think I left my bag upstairs, wait here, I’ll be right back.” I told the two before going up the stairs.

----------

ALEX P.O.V:
Before Lana or I could respond Sophia was half way up the stairs, leaving us in an awkward silence, since the last time I was alone with Lana she told me to stay away from Sophia.

“I’m sorry I said that stuff before.” Lana blabbed catching me off guard.

“W-wait, what? oh, right. Yeah. Ugh... don’t worry about.” I replied uncomfortably.

“No, I’m really sorry about what I said Alex. It was stupid and uncalled for. I’m just really protective of Soph-- I just didn’t want her to get hurt again, and you staying away from her seemed like the right solution. It was nothing personal, I swear.” She rambled, which I thought was humbling of her.

“It’s okay, I get it.” Not knowing what else to say.

“I hope you don’t think I’m this huge bitch now.” Lana scoffed looking down.

“Nah, just a protective one.” I joked trying to lighten the mood.

“Oh...” She said realizing my humour. “And thanks for not mentioning it to Soph, she probably would have spazzed.”

“Not a problem, it would have been twice as awkward if I did.”

We both smiled at each other before Lana spoke again.

“Take care of her alright. She’s a lot more naive than you might think.” She started before climbing half way up the stairs, “Babes, I’m going to head out now! I’ll see you tomorrow, text or call if you need anything, I’ll be picking up Audrey later!”

Sophia met her half way down the stairs and gave her a hug before Lana left.

“Okay, I think I’m ready now.” Sophia giggled before linking her arm to my extended one.

----------

“Awe, that’s so cute!” Sophia cooed as I recalled the story of what happened with Hannah just before I left. I had to get Hannah to sleep before I left. But Hannah knew I was going out with Sophia, so instead of going to bed, she clung to my leg for half an hour so I would have to bring her with me.

“She has a fixation with you, not in a bad way. Han is just... attached to you I guess.”

“Its probably because she sees me everyday.”

“That, and I think she sees you as... for lack of a better word, as a mom.”

“W-what? You think?” Sophia stuttered.

“A bit, I mean you take care of her, play with her, feed her at times...” I paused to think of what else could be on the list.

“I’m sorry Alex, I didn’t mean to be imposing at all.”

“What? Don’t be crazy Soph, the last thing you’re doing is imposing. She loves you! and I’m happy she has you as an example and not a bad one.” I thought bitterly as the bad influence I was referring to was Jenna, Hannah’s birth mother.

“Oh! I-umm, thanks, that’s good to know.”

We continued eating our dinner at Beso while I kept thinking about Sophia’s impact on Hannah. I mean what’s going to happen when recording is over and Hannah and I leave to go back to Maryland? I think its safe to say at very least Sophia and I will stay friends, but what about Hannah? I can’t just bring people into her life then take her away from them, what kind of father would I be? I sighed at the thought of finishing recording in LA, it was just a couple more weeks, three I think, than we’re off to Butch Walker’s studio in Malibu, then New York. I hope Hannah won’t hate me for having to take her away from Sophia when this is all over.

“Alex, something wrong?” Sophia asked placing her hand over mine.

“Nothing I was just thinking, that’s all.”

“Something’s bothering you. I can tell.” She continued now rubbing her hand over mine reassuringly. “If you need someone to listen, I’m here.”

“Thanks Soph, but it’s nothing to worry about, I’ll sort it out.” I lied. Sophia gave me one more skeptical look before a small smile tugged her lips.

We continued our dinner changing the subject completely. The mood lightened back to how it was at the beginning of the date. Sophia and I both finished our meals and I paid while she excused herself to the restroom for a minute. I waited by the bar ordering a bottle of water for the road. I stood by the bar waiting for Sophia when I noticed she’d been taking a while; it had been almost fifteen minutes. I made my way across the bar when I found her pinned in the corner of the bar with a man I didn’t recognize suspiciously close to her. The man looked young, about our age I would assume, he was wearing a suit like he just got off work or something. He had his face was mere inches away from hers whispering something in her ear and had one of his hands roughly on her waist and the other moving over her ass and towards the trim of her dress. The look on her face was all I needed to see before I pulled the man away from her, and stepped in between the two letting Sophia hide behind my back.

“Hey man! What the fuck?” The stranger slurred.

“Don’t touch her.”

“I think that’s up to her. Right baby.” He said stumbling as he advanced again. Clearly this guy was drunk.

“Don’t touch her.” I repeated as I shoved him out of our way and ushered Sophia in front of me as we left the restaurant.

We walked out of the restaurant surrounded by a few paparazzi as we were when we first arrived but now, there were less. They called out comments and questions about the two of us and kept insinuating that we were dating. Sophia kept quiet for most of the time except to deny certain questions. I held her close to me with my arm around her thin waist as we left the cloud of paparazzi and walked down the street. At the beginning of the evening Sophia and I called a cab instead of driving since we both assumed we’d be drinking. So when we kept walking instead of calling a cab, I immediately became worried about Sophia and what happened inside.

“Soph... Soph, you okay?”

“...”

“Soph,” I stopped her from walking and pulled her over to a bench to sit down. “What happened?”

“N-nothing.” She said quietly looking at her hands in her lap before rubbing her arms from the night air.

“You’re freezing, aren’t you?” I sighed pulling off my leather jacket and wrapping it around her leaving me in my hoodie.

“Thanks Alex.”

“Soph, what happened in there. Did he hurt you?”

“...”

“Did he touch you?! If he did I will personally go back there and beat the shit out of him!”

“No he didn’t hurt me, or touch me... much.”

“I’ll rip his head off!” I growled, becoming fired up by the thought of that scum laying so much as a finger on Sophia.

“No don’t! It’s not worth it.”

“If he hurt you in anyway it’ll be worth it.” I said with venom in my mouth.

“Alex...” Sophia started as she tugged lightly on my sweater sleeve so I would look at her. “He didn’t hurt me... it’s nothing I’m just being immature.”

“Soph...” I said while giving her a look to let her know I wasn’t buying her story.

“I’m just embarrassed.”

“Soph, you can tell me.”

“H-he umm, he touched... erm he grabbed my butt--”

“I’ll knock his face in.” I cut in.

“Alex please don’t, its not worth it. I-I’m just being overly sensitive about it. I mean, this happens all the time right?” I knew she was right, and that she was most likely just sensitive about the issue, but I felt like there was more. I may not know Sophia the best, but I like to think I do know her a bit, and I can tell him grabbing her ass wasn’t the only thing he did.

“Soph, that can’t be the only thing upsetting you, please just tell me so I can make it better. ”

“...”

“Soph, I can’t help you unless you tell me. You can trust me.” I spoke softly placing my hand on top of hers rubbing it reassuringly as she had done at dinner.

“I know I can trust you Alex, it’s... it’s just so humiliating! I mean, I’ve never...” She jumbled her words.

“Soph, what is it?”

“O-okay, he- he said...”

“What did he say?”

“He said he wanted to take me home and ‘fuck me brainless’.” Sophia blurted quietly putting her face in her hands hoping to hide her embarrassment. My mouth just hung open as she continued. “Oh my god, I cannot believe I just told you that. This is absolutely mortifying!”

“Sophia...” I began chuckling a bit.

“Alex it’s not funny!” She cut in.

“I know Soph, I know...” I continued to laugh a bit. Sophia on the other hand crossed her arms and gave me a scowling look.

“Soph, I just think that was a drunk man’s translation for ‘you’re beautiful.’” I smiled trying to calm her down earning a small chuckle from her. Even being as gorgeous as Sophia is, I don’t think she was ever exposed to such drunken vulgarity in her life. My theory is probably because she’s too classy to even be around guys who drunkenly blurt out that they want to fuck her while pinning her to a bar.

“I-I just can’t believe he said that, and with such ease.” She chuckled lightly again. “Do drunk boys really say things like that?” She asked me. Honestly, the answer to her question would be yes. I was guilty of doing it countless times when I was seriously off my face. But then again, that was the party scene back in high school. ‘Fuck me’ was all I’d have to say to the right girl at the right time, and she was mine. But if Sophia ever knew that side of me, I doubt she’d ever want to me be around her ever again.

“You want the truth Soph?”

“Oh my god! They do say that.” She said in disbelief. I swear, some times, her innocence eludes me. With Sophia’s looks, how did she manage to stay so sheltered in high school? The guys back at Dulaney would have ate her up. But then again, her naiveté just adds so much more to her appeal.

“I’ve seen it done before.” I twisted the truth earning another giggle from Sophia.

“Does it actually work?” Her curiosity getting the best of her.

“You’d be surprised.” I laughed.

“Ew. Gross, no way!” She answered completely astonished.

Luckily the conversation lightened and she began laughing and smiling again. We decided to wander down Hollywood boulevard until we found ourselves outside a gated park just on the edge of the downtown LA scene. I offered to jump the fence and open it from the inside but Sophia said we’d probably get in mass amounts of trouble and the last thing the two of us needed was to be arrested for trespassing, so we finally called the cab instead.

The two of us filed into the cab and waited for it to stop at Sophia’s condo first. We sat in a comfortable silence with her head leaning against my shoulder eyes closed as she had her arm wrapped around mine leaning close to me. I smiled down at her resting form and enjoyed every minute of the ride home. The cab stopped outside just after midnight. I woke Sophia and helped her out of the cab and to her door.

I walked her to her door and she fidgeted with her keys, giggling to herself as she found them.

“Déjà-vu.”

“Except this time you actually have your keys.”

“And you’re not carrying me.” She laughed.

“So, I guess I should say goodnight now. Goodnight Sophia.” I finished about to give her a hug but she stopped me to return my jacket before continuing to pulling me into a hug. Sophia wrapped her arms around my back and my arm hung around her waist. She held me tight against her and I could feel her chest push against mine. Without even trying this girl is making me want her more than I already do, if that’s possible. She loosened her grip and snuggled closer leaving virtually no room between us.

“Could we...” She began, her voice barely audible as she shifted her head to look up at me. “Could we just stand like this for a little while?”

“Sure.” I breathed trying to remain calm. I didn’t mind being close to Sophia, hell, I fucking loved it. But as much as I loved it, it was becoming harder and harder to keep resisting her. Any other girl in this situation, and it would be different. I’d kiss her right here and we’d be making our way up to her room now ripping off our clothes as we went. But Sophia is special, she’s perfect. I can’t pull half the shit I would with any other girl on her, which is making it that much harder to hold her like this. My body wants nothing more than to kiss her and hold her closer, but my head is screaming not to. Honestly, I don’t know how much more restraint I have left in me.

I felt her sigh against my chest and looked down at her. Her head leaned back so she was directly looking up at me with a smile on her face. God she’s beautiful. My grip became slightly rough as I felt like I was succumbing to her seductions the more I stared into her gorgeous green eyes. My hands gripped her back as my head started leaning down. It was too late for my brain to stop me, my body was reacting automatically. My hands moved from being wrapped around her back to her waist holding her as close as I could. My face inched towards hers, slowly. She didn’t flinch or move at all for that matter, Sophia remained still holding her breath. Her eyes lowered from my gaze to my lips before flickering back up to my eyes. And with the swift motion of her eyes I was caught off guard, breaking all senses. I leaned down closing the space between us as she closed her eyes. My lips were pressed against the tip of her nose and lingered there for a moment. I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t let myself do it. Sophia deserves so much more.

I heard the breath Sophia was holding escape her lips snapping me out of my thoughts and reminding me my lips were still pressed against her nose. I pulled back and let her out of my grip.

“I-I had a lovely time tonight Alex, thank you.” She spoke lightly with a small smile on her lips that I was so close to kissing moments before.

“I did too, Happy Birthday Sophia.” I forced a smile and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before turning away.

I have officially fallen for Sophia Annalynne Bendeth. Shit.