Everything's Changing Now

The couple experienced more teasing throughout the rest of the night and into the next week, as the rest of the group got used to their sudden openness with each other. There was more public cuddling and other forms of affection exchanged between the two rather often, and the remaining single friends did not enjoy their PDA.

“Seriously, you guys need to stop. You’re almost as bad Justin and Charis,” Taylor nearly growled. That Thursday night, they were all gathered in Brian’s family room watching Billy Madison. Stephen and Sophie were sharing a chair and continually sharing spit, very much so showing up the previous holders of the “too much PDA” award.

“If you were paying attention to the movie and not us you wouldn’t have noticed, perv,” Stephen laughed, throwing a pillow at his friend.

“It’s kinda hard not to notice, or hear. I’ve never heard people kiss so loudly before,” Taylor continued his rant, the others laughing in agreement. Stephen rolled his eyes and turned his focus back to the movie, keeping his grasp around Sophie’s waist.

“They’re just jealous,” Sophie whispered, quickly pecking Stephen on the cheek. He smiled at this gesture and thought about how glad he was that he finally followed his feelings, unafraid of whether he got hurt again or not. He knew Sophie felt the same way, and things wouldn’t progress faster than either of them wanted.
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The day of the Bright Eyes concert had arrived and both parties were very excited to attend. Stephen because he was going to see his favorite band and be with his favorite girl, and Sophie because she was going to a concert with someone besides her father and because she’d get to spend more time with Stephen. Her last week of interning was about to begin, and her parents would be home in two weeks, meaning she and Delaney would be leaving soon. Delaney and John had come up with an “awesome plan” to stay together that involved Delaney moving in with the Clearys and finishing high school in Scottsdale. This plan had not been run by anyone besides Sophie and Stephen, both of whom laughed in their faces because no one would go for it. The two hadn’t given up hope yet, though, as school didn’t start until the week after Delaney returned home, so she had that long to convince her parents.

Sophie, on the other hand, hadn’t given any thought to how her and Stephen’s relationship would fare after she went home. She would be attending community college and Stephen was leaning towards the idea of taking classes at Arizona State since no record deals or tour offers were apparent in the near future. Sophie didn’t know how committed she or Stephen was to bring up transferring schools, so she decided not to day anything unless he did.

These thoughts were floating through Sophie’s head as she got ready for the concert, unsure of what to wear. Stephen told her to wear anything she felt comfortable in, so she settled on a pair of skinny jeans, a white tee shirt covered by a hoodie from her old school, and a newly bought pair of blue and white checkered Vans. At 4:12, Stephen showed up at the Cleary’s house to pick Sophie up. When she saw his similar attire save for the school sweatshirt, she smiled and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Ready to go?” Stephen said, greeting her with a hug and quick peck on the lips.

“Yes. I’m excited and a tad nervous to see how this is going to go,” Sophie confessed.

“No reason to be nervous. There’s no possible way to make a fool of yourself, I promise. You’re going to have a great time,” Stephen assured his girlfriend, leading her to his car. Sophie announced she was leaving to whoever was in the house then followed him. Climbing into the passenger seat, she smiled at the familiar music coming through the speakers.

“I thought we’d listen to something you know on the way there, before you’re bombarded with songs you don’t know,” Stephen smiled. Sophie had only been exposed to a few Bright Eyes songs when forced to listen to them in the car, as she was too lazy to download any and Stephen was too lazy to burn her a CD. She liked the music, though it wasn’t her favorite genre. She sang along to the songs on From Under The Cork Tree as they made the 30 minute trip to the venue. Once they arrived and Stephen found a place to park, Sophie followed him to the seemingly endless line waiting for doors to open at six.

“How many people are going to be here?” Sophie whispered, not wanting to sound like she didn’t know what was going on.

“At most, 2,000. This is one of the bigger places I’ve been to,” Stephen answered, chuckling at how uncomfortable Sophie seemed.

“That’s it? I’ve only been to an arena…this is going to be weird,” Sophie replied, shocked that bands played such small clubs. She leaned into Stephen, who wrapped an arm around her, as she waited.

When the two finally got inside, Stephen led the way towards the merch tables. Sophie looked around and scoffed at the kids they passed by. There were those that looked as if they hadn’t showered in a month, those that looked too young to go to the mall alone let alone a concert, and the few, like herself, that seemed completely out of place. She shook her head and focused on the table that Stephen stopped in front of.

“I’ll buy you a shirt if you want,” Stephen offered.

“You really don’t have to,” Sophie said. “You already paid for the tickets and everything.”

“No really, I want to. Pick the one you like best.”

Sophie scanned the tee shirts, her eyes stopping on a light blue one that featured the band’s name across the chest. Nothing too fancy, just the way she liked her clothing. She pointed to it and Stephen smiled and selected one for himself, handing the merch guy $40 and receiving the two shirts in return.

“Don’t put it on now, you wanna seem like you know what you’re doing,” Stephen whispered to Sophie, laughing. They walked to the pit area and stood in the center towards the back so Sophie could see the stage. Once the show started, she easily lost herself in the music. Stephen smiled when he saw Sophie swaying back and forth to the beat. He almost wished he’d chosen a band that played more upbeat songs so he could dance with her, but was glad that he could share his favorite band with his girlfriend.