Everything's Changing Now

Somewhere around seven the next morning, the girls were awakened by loud shrieks, the banging of various objects, and bright sunlight that was being forced onto their faces. An angry and slightly hungover Sophie focused her eyes on the brown-haired boy who was halfway through unzipping the door on their tent. Without being able to distinguish who it was, she quickly pounced on him, knocking him to the ground.

“Hey! What was that for? You guys needed to wake up, this was the easiest way we could figure!” the culprit, who Sophie realized was John, squealed from underneath her.

“I don’t care what you thought you were doing, that is not an appropriate way for anyone to be woken up,” Sophie growled. The rest of the guys stood laughing at John and the fact he had been taken down by a girl while he tried to stand up, but was again pushed down by Sophie.

“It was Taylor and Stephen’s idea, anyways! I was just a pawn in their sick game,” John tried to defend himself.

“Hah! Bullshit. It was Josh and John’s idea, the whole thing. I just woke up myself,” Stephen retorted, hitting his brother.

“All right, no more physical harm to John today! This was supposed to be a no fighting weekend,” John said as he sat in a chair. “We were waking you guys up cause we wanna go swimming!”

“The sun’s too bright to wear hardly any clothes. I’ll burn if we go swimming now,” Sophie complained.

“I’m with her. I always burn first, it’s cool to have someone as pale as me with us,” Josh agreed.

“Well, I’m going swimming and Delaney already said she would too, who else is coming?” John asked.

“I am!” Jess yelled, emerging from the tent. Taylor and Brian also nodded that they would join.

“I’ll hang out with you guys, I know Justin and Charis will wanna go do their own thing,” Stephen said to Josh and Sophie. “Someone get some food going, I’m starving.”

Sophie started taking out the boxes of cereal they had brought, while thinking if she should bring up anything while Josh was with her and Stephen. She was hoping he’d change his mind about going swimming, though she was glad there was someone else that hated the sun.

“Josh, Justin and I are going on a hike later. Why don’t you come with us?” Charis, who had appeared suddenly, suggested.

“Ugh, that’s out in the sun too, though. I don’t want-“ Josh said before being cut off.

“No, it’s not in the sun. Come with us, okay?” Charis said, trying to make Josh take the hint.

“Oh, right. Yeah, sure I’ll go with you. Sounds like fun!” Sophie rolled her eyes as Josh tried to act smooth and inconspicuous, before giving Charis a thankful look.

“You can’t let me down, I’m giving up valuable boyfriend time for you,” Charis whispered to Sophie, receiving a laugh in response.

An hour later, half the group headed to the lake while the rest took cover under the shade of the trees. Josh and Justin were finishing getting dressed as Stephen, Sophie, and Charis sat around the dead fire, Stephen strumming the guitar and Charis and Sophie talking.

“All right, we’re ready to go!” Josh said as he and Justin exited the tent. He was holding SPF 65 sunscreen, and everyone laughed as he showed it off. “We’ll be back by one, then we can head down to the lake. The sun won’t be as strong then.”

“Sounds like a plan! Have fun, try not to get too burnt, Josh!” Sophie laughed.

“Yeah, you two make sure Sophie doesn’t get pregnant,” Josh retorted while Stephen rolled his eyes.

“He won’t ever let it go,” Stephen chuckled. He was glad he and Sophie were getting to spend some time alone, but he wasn’t sure if he was ready to bring up what was on his mind.

“It seems like he’ll always act like a freshman,” Sophie grinned, getting a nod in response. “Ya know, maybe there’s some truth in what he’s been saying, though. Not the not getting pregnant part, but the rest of it.” Sophie looked straight ahead so she couldn’t see Stephen’s reaction to what she had suggested. She had been waiting nearly a month to say something to the extent of what she just did, and as the silence between them grew, she regretted it.

Stephen continued to lightly strum the guitar, taking in what he just heard. He was glad that Sophie had been the one to bring this up; he was always weird when talking about feelings. He knew that he liked Sophie and he assumed that she liked him back, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted a relationship just yet. The main reason he hadn’t asked Sophie to be his girlfriend, or whatever they would start out being, was because he wasn’t sure that he was completely over Leigh. He knew it wouldn’t be fair to Sophie if they were together but he was still in love with someone else.

“I like you, if that’s what you’re playing at,” Stephen barely whispered, not sure how Sophie would react. “I don’t know if I’m ready for anything yet, though. I might sound immature for thinking that, but it’s the truth.”

“I understand what you’re saying completely, and sometimes I wonder if I’m ready to see someone else even though I’ve been single for a while now,” Sophie said, deliberating every word she said. She didn’t want to screw this up more than she already had. “Even if we don’t start dating, it’s nice to know that you feel the same way I do.”

Stephen smiled at her comment. She was right, it was good to know the person he had feelings for truly felt the same way; that’s what he was never sure of with Leigh. No matter how many times she said “I love you,” he never could sense any emotion or truth behind it. Sophie’s words were real, and even though they hadn’t known each other for that long, Stephen knew he could have something special with her.

“We don’t have to be anything, I’m content going on as we have been. If things do start to…speed up, we’ll take it from there,” Sophie said, gaining confidence as she went.

“Definitely,” Stephen agreed, smiling at having a sort of someone, someone he really liked. “Maybe we shouldn’t tell everyone else, though. Let them think nothing happened?” Sophie laughed and nodded at his suggestion, glad that she finally cleared the air, though their exact relationship status was still foggy.