The Consequence

stay with me

The library probably wasn’t the greatest place to have a dramatic conversation. Sophie had found herself shooting half hearted apologetic looks towards the librarian each time Brian rose his voice too loud or whenever she gasped in shock.

The pair of them were sitting in the middle of the art aisle, two piles of books separating them. Sophie was gradually adding and subtracting from both piles, trying to lower the amount of books she was taking out, while Brian filled her in on the events of the past seven days. They’d been apart for a week, after everything that happened Brian had throw himself into mending Stephen and Justin’s friendship and getting the former back to his usual self.

“So Evie still hasn’t woken up, huh?” Sophie asked, contemplating ‘Artists of the Nineteenth Century’.

Brian shook his head, whipping his phone out of his pocket. Even though it wasn’t on silent, it had become force of habit to check it every few minutes. Josh had promised to text or call him if anything new happened, and so far, so good. “And god knows if she will. I hope she does. Like, it’s going to sound horrible, but I want her to face up to what she’s done. Because it’s not just Logan and Justin and Zara who are the bad guys. I know that Justin cheated on her before she did it to him, but she still went along with Logan and did it. And I want her to wake up because then maybe everything can be resolved and laid to rest. If she dies, no one will ever know what was going on in her head. The mystery is absolutely killing Justin.”

“I bet it is,” she discarded a thick book full of all types of art onto her rejection pile. “She was stupid.”

Brian was checking his phone again. He looked up at Sophie and frowned slightly. “Who was?”

“Evie. She should have given those guys her stuff. Things like that are easier to replace than a life, you know.”

“Deep, Soph.”

She shrugged, “it’s the truth.” She threw another book onto her ever growing rejection pile and sighed heavily, glancing at Brian, who was still glaring at his phone. “Go and call Josh if you want. I can put all these back and meet you outside.”

“Are you sure? I could help you if you want.” He was already on his feet, accessing Josh’s number in his phone.

“Go call him. We can’t have a proper date till your mind is at rest anyway.” She pushed herself to her feet and set to work placing her rejection pile on the shelves the books had originally been dragged away from.

Her mind was racing. She had to tell Brian. Simply had to. It’d be unfair for him to turn up to see her and she’d be gone. Her heart ached at the mere thought. He had so much to think about right now, he didn’t need a deported girlfriend on top of it all.

She shoved books onto shelves and snatched up the pile she was taking out for her last work assignment. Dumping them on the front desk, she rummaged around in her purse for her library card which she handed over with a big fake smile. The elderly librarian scanned and stamped her books, before pushing them towards her and thanking her sweetly.

Sophie arranged all her things and headed outside into the blazing Arizona heat. Brian was pacing up and down outside the front door, his phone clamped to his ear.

“I know. What are we supposed to do? He’s not a girl! It’s not that easy! We can’t sit him in front of Gossip Girl with a pint of ice cream and expect him to be okay. Besides, Gossip Girl would remind him of Godsey and the fact that he no longer has a girlfriend because of that bastard. Okay, fine. Yeah. I’ll be back in a couple of hours, alright? Think you can cope? Good. Bye.” He stabbed a few buttons and pushed it back into his jeans pocket.

“Gossip Girl and ice cream? Sounds like fun.”

“They have no idea what to do with him. He’s so fucking depressed, you know? He loved Zara. I mean, really loved her and she just threw it all in his face.” He slipped his arm around Sophie’s shoulders and guided her away from the library. “How do you get over that?”

“I don’t know. I guess, over time, you forget the pain. You numb yourself to that person and find someone new to love and adore more than the person that came before them.”

“You really get all this love and life and moving on stuff. Maybe you should baby sit Stephen.”

She managed a weak chuckle. “Yeah, um, no offence, but no thanks.”

Brian stopped and removed his arm from her shoulders, turning her to face him. “Are you okay?” His eyes searched her face for something he couldn’t find.

She sighed heavily and shook her head. Better now than ever. “My visa ran out. I have to leave next week.”

He moved away from her as if she’d burned him. “What? You’re leaving? You’re going away? For how long?”

She shrugged and looked away from his face. “I don’t know when I can come back. I need to figure it out. I will though, the first chance I get.”

They hadn’t been together that long. Mere weeks. But the sting coursing through their bodies was agonising. The thought of being separated by an ocean. A huge strip of water, killed them both.

Brian slipped his arm around her shoulders again and steered her forwards. “Well, let’s make the most of the time we’ve got.”