Everything's Changing Now

An hour, five marshmallows, and three drinks later, Sophie was feeling tired, a little sick, and completely happy for the first time in what seemed like forever. These new people she had surrounded herself with for the night seemed to be just the thing she needed. In the past hour, a few more people had shown up; Stephen’s “bffl” Justin and his girlfriend Charis, who had supplied the alcohol, Dylan, the band’s merch guy, and Greg, part of another local band, along with Adam and Slade. Sophie had trouble keeping all the names straight, but figured in time she would be able to. As the group sat talking, she was sharing things with them that she hadn’t told anyone but Kyle, and she loved it.

“You were gonna go to Utah for school? Why didn’t you tell me that?” Delaney, shocked by the surge of information her cousin was letting on tonight, asked Sophie.

“I thought I was in love with Kyle, I would have done anything or gone anywhere to be with him,” Sophie almost whispered. She had admitted, for the first time, that she never was truly in love with Kyle. No one sitting around the fire knew how significant the last sentence she spoke had been for her. She realized, long after the breakup, that she was only in love with the idea of love, she had never really experienced it.

Sophie sat in silence, thinking about Kyle, and choices she made because of him. She had made many mistakes while in that relationship, had done things she now regretted, but knew that if those things hadn’t have happened she’d be completely different now. Stephen noticed Sophie not talking, and took the empty seat next to her while handing her a beer, which she accepted.

“Ya know, I just got out of a relationship that sounds like yours. This girl talked me out of doing so many things I wanted to do, saying it was best for “the relationship.” I almost quit my band because of her,” Stephen spoke while fixated on the fire.

“Really? You don’t strike me as the type of person that would let a girl walk all over you,” Sophie replied, surprised at what was just revealed to her.

“I didn’t see anything wrong with it, I thought it was how relationships worked. All my friends have been telling me to get rid of her for over a year now, but I was the one who ended up dumped. It sucked at the time, but I’m almost over it and know that the future will be a much better place now I’m not being ruled by Leigh,” Stephen continued, feeling good to admit these things out loud.

“Even though the way both our relationships ended sucks, it’s good that we’re moving on. The past needs to be behind us, and that’s what this summer is all about for me. You should try to take that on, too,” Sophie offered, finishing her beer. “And I need more alcohol if we’re going to keep this kind of conversation up. Come on, let’s go drink something a little harder.” Stephen grinned, following Sophie to where the liquor was poorly concealed.

“Soph! Stephen! Come get in on this game!” Delaney, clearly a little more than tipsy, yelled to the pair. Grinning, Sophie grabbed Stephen’s hand and led him to the circle, where Delaney crawled onto John’s lap to make room. “What are we playing?” Sophie asked.

“It’s really easy, it’s called High Low, and everyone can play at once. I’ll be dealer first, since I’d beat you all anyways,” Josh boasted. “I lay one card face down and one card face up, and the person has to guess if the card facing down is higher or lower than the card facing up. If they’re right, the next person has to guess the next card, and so on until someone is wrong, then they have to drink for all of the correct guesses. So, if four people get their cards right, but the fifth person is wrong, they have to drink five times.”

“Alright, I’ll start,” Sophie said, confidently. Josh laid down a three facing up. “Higher!” Sophie called, as a nine was flipped over.

“Hah, beginner’s luck,” Josh laughed. “Stephen, you’re up!” The game continued on for another hour, with all players losing at some point. By eleven, all attendees were nearly drunk if not completely gone, and Sophie and Delaney decided to call it a night. Stephen and John walked them around the block to the Cleary’s house, not wanting to climb over the fence in their current state.

“I had a lot of fun tonight, thanks again for inviting us,” Sophie smiled at Stephen. “I think Delaney did too,” she said, pointing at her cousin and John who were sloppily kissing each other on the porch.

“Looks like we didn’t need to hook them up, they did it on their own. Provided they remember in the morning,” Stephen chuckled, causing Sophie to laugh as well.

“I haven’t had this much to drink in awhile, I may need to recoup for a bit,” Sophie said, a bit shyly.

“Why don’t you start the process by going with me to breakfast in the morning?” Stephen asked, hopeful.

“I’d love to. Say, ten-ish? I may sleep a bit past my normal eight o’clock tomorrow.”

“Sure, that sounds great. See you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, see you,” Sophie finished, quickly pecking Stephen on the cheek before jogging to the front door. Stephen stood stunned for a few seconds, before quietly calling out to his brother that they needed to get back. A bewildered and little more than drunk John walked down the porch steps, nearly tripping the whole way. Stephen shook his head at his brother, helping him back to their house. Once home, Stephen sat outside for a bit longer before excusing himself to get to sleep. He wanted the next morning to come faster than it would.