Everything's Changing Now

“Ugh, I was really hoping I’d like my job this summer, but I’m paired up with a seemingly unintelligent shrieker,” Sophie complained as she plopped down next to Stephen on his couch that night. They had arranged another movie “date” after Sophie got off.

“That bad, huh? What’s her name? I may know her,” Stephen asked.

“Stephanie, something with an “H”? About my height, blonde hair, fake tan?”

“Haha oh yeah, Stephanie Haight. She’s a fun one. She could beat my brother and your cousin combined at any drinking game, but she’s not good for much else,” Stephen laughed, feeling both amused and sorry for Sophie. “It’s definitely going to be a long summer for you, but a long summer means more time to hang out with me!”

“Woo, one good part that doesn’t make up for my coworker,” Sophie joked, earning a fake glare from Stephen. “What are we watching tonight? Though it should be my turn to pick since you did last time.”

“I thought you liked Wedding Crashers!” Stephen retorted.

“I did, it’s just not fair that you get to pick twice in a row,” Sophie fought.

“Fine. I have a bunch of DVDs in my room, and we have a ton in the family room, hopefully you can find something there,” Stephen huffed, leading Sophie up to his room. “They’re kinda scattered everywhere, so just look around and I’ll try to find some too.”

Sophie scanned over his somewhat messy room, wondering how he could find anything in it. She walked over to his desk where she spotted a few DVD cases, and stopped to look at a picture. It featured Stephen kissing a girl’s cheek, while the girl looked away with a smug look on her face. “Who’s this?” she asked.

“Oh, uh, that’s Leigh. That picture’s really old, I dunno why I haven’t gotten rid of it yet…” Stephen trailed, embarrassed Sophie knew that he kept a picture of him and his ex on his desk.

“She’s really pretty, it only makes sense that she’s a bitch,” Sophie joked. She didn’t generally make judgements of people she hadn’t met, but based on what everyone had said about Leigh, “bitch” was the only appropriate word to use.

“That’s not true. You’re prettier than she is and you aren’t a bitch at all,” Stephen remarked, continuing to look for his movies. Sophie blushed, though Stephen had called her pretty before. She wasn’t sure “pretty” was the right word to use for Leigh, “astonishing” might have been a better fit. Leigh looked like she could walk up to any movie producer, director, or other Hollywood figurehead and grab a lead role right away, while Sophie felt like she was more of the “shy girl” cute, not doing anything to impress anyone but with natural beauty anyways. She shook off the cold feeling she was getting and continued to dig for movies.

“Huh, this looks like a good movie,” Sophie remarked, snickering as she held up The Lion King.

“Hey! That was my favorite movie when I was a kid! Sometimes I like to watch it, but it should really be at Brian’s house…” Stephen said, attempting to defend his masculinity.

“I think it’s cute that you have it in your room,” Sophie chuckled. “It’s definitely one of my favorite Disney movies, but nothing beats Mulan.”

“Now that’s a blatant lie. The Lion King is the best Disney movie of all time,” Stephen retorted.

“If you say so, but you’re obviously wrong.”

“Liar. Let’s watch both, then we’ll decide which is better. I can sing all the songs in The Lion King!” Stephen grinned.

“I can sing all the songs in both, plus fifty other ones. I only watched Disney when I was a kid. And you’re on, I know Mulan can beat any movie about talking animals,” Sophie challenged.

“We’ll see,” Stephen continued grinning, holding his hand out to Sophie to lead her to the basement.