The Consequence

The restaurant was fairly empty. The table had been booked for four people. Wine glasses and cutlery glistened under the low lighting and classical music, sung in Italian drifted softly through the overhead speakers.

Sophie had been sitting on one of four cushioned chairs for twenty minutes. She kept twirling her fork and staring into the empty wine glass set before her. Nerves were bubbling up inside her. Her mind was racing with all sorts of possible horrific scenarios that could occur. She knew not to order spaghetti, that was a disaster waiting to happen.

She swallowed hard and glared at the glass. She was going to be fine. The first date with Brian had gone really well, despite the restaurant slip up, but she’d enjoyed herself and she liked him. And he was a good kisser. That was a positive. She inhaled deeply. It wasn’t Brian she was nervous about. It was the other two people who were going to arrive with him. His band mate and his girlfriend, who was apparently borderline bipolar.

Sophie felt like she’d be walking on eggshells tonight. Worried of saying the wrong thing to the wrong person. She didn’t want this girl to feel uncomfortable, but whilst she was being overly conscious of the girl who could potentially get angry in 0.5 seconds, she was making herself uncomfortable and jumpy.

The glass door opened and Brian appeared, looking around, ignoring the waiter standing at the front desk. He spotted her and walked over, closely followed by the boy Sophie recognised as Stephen and a girl with long brown hair. She was wearing skinny jeans, heels and a girly leather jacket, a handbag swung from her elbow. She didn’t look mentally unstable. She looked, fine.

Sophie stood up and hugged Brian, kissing his cheek sweetly. “Hi.”

“Sophie, you remember Stephen, right? And this is his Zara, his girlfriend.” Brian motioned to them, just as Zara sat herself down.

“Nice, Dales, you remembered,” she said, picking up a menu and holding it in front of her face.

“Remembered, what?” Sophie asked, sitting herself down.

“That he had to introduced me by name before my status as Stephen’s girlfriend. Makes you a person, not simply someone’s play thing.”

Sophie felt her stomach twist into a tight knot. Zara seemed rude and snappy, and she’d only said two sentences. She glanced at Brian who was glowering at the girl. Stephen excused himself to the toilets and disappeared, leaving the tension to rise at the table.

“So,” Sophie breathed out. “How have you been?” She glanced at Brian.

He finally broke his death gaze at Zara and smiled softly at her. “I’ve been good.”

She nodded. “Good.”

“Wow,” Zara sighed and placed her menu down.

“Don’t you dare,” Brian hissed.

“Do what?” Zara asked, shrugging. She smiled knowingly.

Brian glared.

Zara glared.
Sophie looked between them. “What’s going on with you two?”

Zara stared at her. “You two intruding on my date with Stephen. Like he doesn’t see enough of his stupid band mates already!”

“Fine.” Brian brought himself to his feet, his chair clanking to the floor behind him. He held out his hand for Sophie to take, which she did and marched out of the restaurant into the car park. He was shaking through frustration and anger, his eyes livid. “I am so sorry about her.”

Confused, Sophie simply looked at him, their hands still intertwined. She stayed silent, whilst he calmed himself down. “I’m so sorry. She’s in one of her moods. They’ve been spending every waking moment together lately, and Stephen asked if we wanted to go to dinner with them today, just because me and you just started dating and he thought he would be doing me a favour. Even though nothing’s been awkward with us so far, but you never know when the awkwardness might creep up, but I figured it’d be good for you to get to know one of my closest friends. Obviously not.”

“Brian, it’s okay. I suppose I can understand her point of view. I mean, she was rude, but hey, at least we got out before she did any real damage.”

He exhaled and nodded, watching the door of the restaurant swing open. Stephen stepped out into the blinding midday sun and looked at the pair of them apologetically. “Come back in, for gods sake, I asked you to come.”

“Nah, we’re good. You better get back to Zara,” Brian said, shrugging and watching Stephen slump back inside. “Before she has a mental breakdown or something.”

Sophie tugged his hand and pulled him in the direction of her car, unlocking it and sitting herself in the driver’s seat. Brian slumped down beside her, his arms folded across his chest. He looked beyond pissed off.

“I can’t stand her at times, you know.”

“I noticed,” Sophie pushed the key into the ignition and pulled out of the car park, heading onto the main road. “How did they meet anyway?”

Brian sat up and clicked his seatbelt into place. “Well, that’s the interesting part. She used to date Justin, who is one of Stephen’s bff’s. They went out for like a year and a half, two years, and then she got with Stephen and Justin got a new girlfriend.”

“Is she nicer?”

“I don’t really know her. She’s sane, I know that much.”

“Is she really bipolar, or are you just saying that?”

“Well, that’s a diagnosis from Stephen’s brother, but if she is, then we don’t know about it.”

“Does Stephen?”

“Probably not.”

Sophie breathed out and steered her car in the direction of her apartment. “He’s the insane one for sticking around and putting up with that shit.”

“Thank you! An outsider sees the light Stephen cannot!”

Sophie chuckled and tapped the steering wheel as they stopped at a red light. “Did you want to go anywhere? Because I was just going to take us to my apartment.”

“No, that’s okay. Anywhere I can forget about Zara freaking Cohen.”

The car ride was spent in a comfortable silence. Sophie focused on the road laying before her and the gentle blast of the air con, Brian watched familiar sights melt away and be replaced with new one’s. Things he wanted to see more and more of.

“Does everyone in your band have to have a clinically insane other half at some point?” Sophie asked, pulling her keys out of the ignition and stepping out of the car.

Brian chuckled and copied her actions, “well, there’s really only me and Stephen that have kinda other halves right now. Josh is a bit of a slut, John’s probably lusting after some girl he met like two hours ago and Jess isn’t too bothered about guys right now. It could become a rule though, so if we do become official, I’m gonna need you to have a mental breakdown. I’m sorry, Sophie, it’s the only way.”

She laughed, and linked her arm through his, leading him towards the entrance and the lift, hitting the button for floor seven. “I could fake it. My acting skills aren’t half bad.”

The lift pinged and the pair stepped out, Sophie fished her keys from her bag and unlocked the door to her apartment.

It was pokey. The living room was a state, covered in all her paperwork and sketches. Years of designs were splayed out across the coffee table and the sofa, the charcoal stain on the carpet still hadn’t been cleaned up and coloured pencils were strewn across the floor. The kitchen was really the only tidy place in the apartment, the counters were sparkling, free of chaos and work.

“Can you tell I’m a workaholic?” She asked, her eyes sweeping the room as she kicked her shoes off and hung her jacket up.

“It’s not really work if you’re doing something you love though, is it?” Brian kicked his shoes off and walked around the sofa, picking up a sheet of paper with the beginnings of a detailed skeleton tattooed on it. “And you’re pretty amazing at it.”

Sophie smiled, her cheeks flushing. “Yeah I have a lot of time to perfect things. It’s pretty lonely in our offices.”

Brian looked up at her, confused. “Lonely? There’s like a hundred or so people in your office.”

She shrugged. “Brian, I’m only twenty, I can’t go out drinking every weekend, whereas everyone in the office can. Everyone there has friends, and they all have stories to tell on Monday mornings. I never did.”

“Did?”

“Don’t laugh, okay?”

“Promise.”

“Ever since I met you, life got a little more exciting. I’ve now got stories to tell on Monday mornings.”

Brian smiled at her. “Well then,” he walked over and slipped his arms around her waist, “let’s give you a story to tell then.”