Everything's Changing Now

Stephen eagerly awoke by 8:30 the next morning, slightly hungover but nothing terrible. He swallowed an aspirin before taking a quick shower. For ten minutes, he debated on what to wear, unsure of what would impress Sophie. Settling on a plain white t-shirt and jeans, he went to the bathroom to start on his hair. Most people wouldn’t imagine it taking so long for someone whose hair constantly looks like they just rolled out of bed to fix it, but Stephen was ever fickle and wouldn’t leave until every hair was messily put into its place.

Once satisfied with his hair and outfit, Stephen still had twenty minutes before he had to pick up Sophie. He jumped onto his still sleeping and very hungover brother to ask him if he remembered the previous night at all.

“Bro! What the fuck! I’m still sleeping and it’s bright out, close my blinds. You know how I am after a long night of partying hard,” John groaned, trying and failing to smack his brother.

“Partying? Try macking. You didn’t leave Delaney’s side last night,” Stephen grinned.

“What? No such thing happened,” John retorted.

“Oh really? Ask Sophie about that, she’ll tell you what went down. I don’t think Delaney will remember,” Stephen smirked at his half-dazed brother.

“Oh, Sophie. Let’s talk about her for a minute. Did you hook up with her?” John asked, loving to see his brother squirm.

“No way, dude. Neither of us are like that. Well, I don’t think she is…I’m going to have breakfast with her now, actually,” Stephen replied, remembering the time. “I have to go now, I’ll ask Sophie if her cousin talked about you, though!”

“Shut up! You’re such an ass,” John called after his brother.
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Stephen pulled up to the Cleary’s house and rang the doorbell. Mrs. Cleary came to the door, surprised by who was there.

“Hello, Stephen. What brings you here so early in the morning?” Mrs. Cleary asked.

“Oh, uh, hi Mrs. Cleary. Actually, Sophie and I are going out for breakfast. Do you know if she’s awake yet?”

“Ah, okay! That’s great that you invited Sophie and Delaney over last night, I hope you all had a good time!”

“We did! Everyone got along with everyone, it was fun. I hope the girls will hang around with us for the rest of the summer,” Stephen answered, as Sophie came down the stairs.

“Alright, I’m ready to go!” Sophie greeted, waving goodbye to Mrs. Cleary and hugging Stephen. She was dressed simply in a purple t-shirt and denim short shorts, wearing a heart necklace her parents had gotten her for her sweet sixteen.

Stephen led Sophie to his car, not sure if he should open the passenger door for her. Before he could hesitate longer, Sophie went ahead of him and let herself in. Stephen didn’t know why he was being so particular today; this wasn’t a date and he didn’t think he liked Sophie, although his actions would say otherwise. He shrugged it off, settling into the driver’s seat and starting the car.

“You can go ahead and put whatever you want on,’ Stephen motioned to his iPod. Sophie, no longer ashamed of her affinity to pop-punk, let Fall Out Boy flow through the speakers. Stephen shook his head and laughed, while Sophie sang along. They rode in a comfortable silence for ten minutes until they reached Colonial Café.

“This is my favorite place to go for breakfast. They have the best French toast,” Stephen informed Sophie.

“They better be pretty damn good, because I like to think that I make the best French toast,” challenged Sophie.

“Oh yeah? I’ll have to test out your theory sometime,” Stephen grinned, enjoying how easily his flirtatious behavior was happening.

“Deal. If mine aren’t better, I’ll drive you to the restaurant in Flagstaff that make the second best French toast in Arizona,” Sophie said, laughing.

“You’re on.”