I Need Something More.

NO P.O.V:

Rian’s words pounded through her head- all Sophia’s thoughts were consumed by those words: we’re leaving tomorrow.

At first Sophia played dumb, maybe Rian mean leaving LA to go to San Francisco or something like that. Rian clarified, and set her anxiety into overdrive. He clarified: we’re leaving California tomorrow.

Upon hearing this her breath caught in her throat as it felt like it was closing. She felt the air become thick- as if she was suffocating. Sophia swallowed hard after processing his words. She knew this day would eventually come, she was just hoping it wouldn’t, and not on such horrible terms.

Sophia sat in her office and it was just after four in the afternoon. Her adrenaline mixed with caffeine was the keeping her awake after the sleepless night she had last night. The same words kept playing back, as if on repeat all night, leaking into the next day.

Sophia had just finished with the monthly system upgrades and was now waiting for maintenance. Her purple heels tapped against the leg of her wooden desk as she clicked away on her iMac. Sophia noted the time with every move that she made.

4:09pm

Opening up the studio calendar with iCal and switching to June.

4:09pm

Grabbing all her post-its hanging on the screen of her iMac.

4:10pm

Oh wait, and the ones on the cork board beside the white wipe board.

4:11pm

Start filling in the dates. June 10th...

Each minute felt like slow torture. Sophia knew what time the boys were leaving, she knew their schedule thanks to Rian dropping hint while he picking up Hannah. Her toes began to curl as her anxiety grew. Next she began to twist locks of her dark brown hair around her finger while her teeth began to check on her bottom lip. All her nervous tendencies were coming into play- her worst habit on the brink of emerging; irrationality.
4:15

Screw it. She thought.

Sophia stood up, straightening out her cream coloured dress as she grabbed the three things she needed. Her car keys, blackberry and wallet. With her necessities in hand she walked as quickly as she could out of her office, and towards the parking lot.

As she passed the secretaries Lauren called out.

“Miss Bendeth, where are you going? The next maintenance appointment will be here in a moment.”

Sophia kept walking as she bluntly responded, “Out.”

Sophia knew her father would understand. He could take car of the studio of one day, she just felt bad she left without warning. Those feelings were quickly pushed aside as she saw her car in view and the anxiety she was harboring earlier returned.

This was it. After two weeks without Alex, Sophia was done being sad. Soon that sadness and rejection she felt would be replaced with misery, if Alex left on such bad terms. The more she thought about it, who was she to think he would return her feelings. They were friends, clearly nothing more, nothing less.

As her irrationality took over, she continued to monitor the time as she eagerly drove. It still four which meant rush hour hadn’t hit yet, but it would soon. Sophia knew if she wanted to catch the boys, she’d have to get there before 5:30, because that is when they’d be checking in and passing through security where she wouldn’t be able to visit them. As Sophia drove toward LAX, her nerves began to rage. She could feel her stomach drop and her breath become shallow as she began to think this through.

“What am I doing?” She thought. “What am I going to say, what if I can’t find them? Their cellphones might be turned off already. What if Alex doesn’t want to see me?”

Sophia’s thoughts were being shot in every direction of her brain, but the one consistent thought was Alex.

----------

Hannah waited patiently, clinging to Alex’s shoulder as they waited beside their luggage at the airport.

“Daddy... how much longer?” Hannah asked feeling exhausted already.

“Soon, baby soon.” Alex sighed. “We’re almost there.”

----------

After dodging the paparazzi outside LAX, Sophia carried herself as quickly as she could in her heels. She cursed herself for wearing them today but kept up her pace, searching.

Sophia looked for gate 54 knowing she’d find them there, or at least hoping they’d still be there. It was ten after five, technically Sophia still had twenty minutes before the boys were scheduled to board.

Gate 56.

Gate 55.

Gate 54.

Perfect.

----------

Alex scanned the crowd, it was something he found himself doing often. As he did so, Hannah began drifting into a quiet slumber in his arms.

Alex made his way towards a bench. He balanced Hannah in one arm and their luggage in tow with the other hand. Might as well sit down if this is going to take much longer, he thought.

As Alex approached the bench, he heard a voice call. It was familiar and against the hustle and bustle of the airport, he could have swore the voice called his name.

“Alex!” He heard again, now stopping at the voice.

Alex turned looking for the owner of the voice in the sea of people.

“Alex!”

He turned to his left, where he saw her.

----------

Sophia stopped dead in her tracks, searching. Looking for a familiar boy with dark hair and a tall skinny frame typically accompanied by an adorable little girl.

Where are they? Sophia thought as she politely tried to weave through the crowd. Sophia scanned each face, analyzing it to make sure it wasn’t Alex’s as she passed them by.

Sophia weaved her way through and found herself surrounded by flight passengers. She turned to her left and there she spotted the messy dark hair, skinny frame dressed in nike high-tops, a flannel shirt and skinny jeans.