Then There Was You

Coming from a small town like Erie Pennsylvania made leaving harder than it should have been. Unless your name was Sofia Matthews, who had the largest need for an escape from her life.

The summer right before her junior year of high school, Sofia met the new kid who had moved from Pittsburgh. At the time she was working a part time job a Giant Eagle, a grocery story that wasn’t too far from where she lived. His name was Oliver Jones and he ended up being in a few classes with Sofia when school resumed. They had become fast friends and she really liked how he made her feel special and soon they left friendship behind and started to date.

If anyone asked her, Sofia would have said that Oliver was the perfect boyfriend. He took her out on dates; he remembered her birthday and their anniversary. He had no problem skipping out on some parties, just so they could have some alone time together. She knew he was something special. Never having to worry over her boyfriend and other girls was a nice thing. She wasn’t overly jealous, but some of the time she did get that way, but when it was just the two of them, it was like there was no one else around them. He knew when she was having a bad day because she’d either find flowers in her locker or in front of the door when she got home. It wasn’t something she was used to, but she liked it.

It was small things that made Sofia really fall for him. Although they were young, they could honestly say they were happy together. If asked, Sofia would say that her happiest time in high school was when she and Oliver were together. Well at least until two weeks before she was to leave for her first year of college at Michigan State University. That was when Sofia had found out that the man she could see herself with for the long run had taken her sixteen year old sister’s virginity.

The betrayal hurt so much. Sofia didn’t know what to think or even how she felt. Did Oliver seek out her sister? Did her sister seek out Oliver? Had they been going behind her back for a long time? Was it a onetime thing? She hadn’t seen thing coming, it was out of the blue, which made the pain hurt even more. When her sister had told her about it, she felt as if someone had stabbed her in the back.

When she had let Oliver know that she knew about what he did with her baby sister, he didn’t say anything. Not a word, he did seem to look guilty as he should have, but that wasn’t what Sofia wanted. No, she wanted to know why he would do such a thing. She spent two years with him and he betrays her by sleeping with her sister, her baby sister. That’s when she decided to walk away from Oliver. She was disgusted by him and when the roses started showing up at her house, they all ended up in the same place, the garbage. Not once did she look at the notes, she didn’t want to hear anything he had to say. What could he possibly say that wouldn’t add salt to the open wound?

A week left at home and Sofia had barely spoken a word to her sister who hadn’t left the house since telling her sister that she had sex with her boyfriend of two years. She might have been able to get over the betrayal in time, but then her mother told something that made her want to leave even more. Not only did Oliver cheat on her, but he left a lasting impression. One that she’d never be able to escape. A baby. Her sister was having a baby while in high school. Sure it wasn’t unheard of, but it wasn’t supposed to happen this way. She was supposed to marry Oliver after establishing herself in the real world, away from home. That was when she’d have a good paying job while starting a family. But there was no way she could ever look at him without being disgusted.

That wasn’t the only bad thing about the situation. Apparently everyone in the family knew for some time that her sister was pregnant and only now was getting around to letting her know. But the real kicker was that her parents believed that Oliver and Daphne should be together, as in marriage. It was their solution and it didn’t seem as if either party were putting up a fight about it. Mind boggling is what it was. Apparently Daphne and Oliver were perfect for one another, and Sofia well she’d just have to get over it. That’s not what normal parents would say about things like that, they’d want what was best for the family, not what their friends were thinking or talking about. But that was small town talk for you; you liked hearing it unless it was you that they were talking about.

Leaving home was supposed to be the hardest thing you have to do when you are just fresh out of high school, but to Sofia she knew that it was her only escape. The only person she’d actually miss would be her best friend Miranda that she had known since she was in diapers. Miranda was heading to Penn State, but the girls knew they wouldn’t be rid of each other that easily. It was Miranda that Sofia had confided everything to, she was always there for her and she would be taking her to the airport so that she could leave for college. Sofia knew Miranda wanted her to come home for holidays and such, but she didn’t see that happening. She loved her best friend, but she needed the distance between her family and her so that she could hopefully start fresh, with no attachments and no one to fall back on. But there was one person she knew would always be there for her no matter what. Miranda was one of a kind and her family raised her right and Sofia was glad that she could call Miranda her best friend.

College was everything Sofia needed and nothing like she expected it to be. Her plan was to move into the dorms and then her sophomore year she’d hoped to save enough money from working that she could afford an apartment off campus. Maybe she’d find a friend that could move in with her. It would be nice to come home to an empty apartment at times, but other times, not so much.

Meeting her dorm roommate, Sofia had been a little nervous at first, but within the first few weeks they were getting along great. Ashley seemed to be really down to earth and Sofia soon found out that she was, but she was also a lot of fun to be around. They got along great, so maybe moving to an off campus place next year, wasn’t too farfetched as she had thought on the plane ride to Michigan.

That had been two years ago and it was only a year ago that Sofia confided into Ashley about what had happened right before they met, upon coming roommates. She had been a huge support system, she hadn’t pushed Sofia out the door to go and date, but at times, she was looking out for her friend. It was something that had brought the girls closer together. Since all her family was out in Erie and she was in Michigan it was really nice to have someone that she could depend on nearby. When she first left home she thought she would have to do everything by herself and at the time she was fine with that, but now she was happy that she had someone like Ashley that could make anyone smile. She did have the funniest laugh that Sofia had heard and that was part of her charm. And grateful didn’t begin to describe how much Sofia appreciated her roommate and friend.

While in school, she had received word that her sister had the baby, it was a girl and she was healthy as could be. Her sister was happy and Oliver was, well he was there for her sister and the baby, but it was rumored that he missed Sofia more than he thought he would. Part of Sofia was happy to hear that, the other part didn’t care. When she told Ashley about kind of missing Oliver, she reminded her of the pain she went through and the fact that her little sister had his baby and was keeping it. Her baby sister was raising a baby. If she ever went back home, that was something she would have to come face to face with and she’d also have to think about the fact that it still hurt to look at either of them. Even thinking about them, made her want to curl up in bed and cry. It was the worst kind of betrayal she ever felt and she wanted to forget about it, to move on, but it just didn’t seem to happen.

Some days were better than others, but there were a few days where Sofia just wanted to throw it all away. There was no point to it, how did one learn to trust that there wouldn’t be another betrayal that was so deep that it still affected her two years later? Thoughts were always plaguing her mind about it. That was the reason she gave for studying as much as she did. She wanted to forget and if studying did that, then that’s what she wanted to do. She also wanted to get done with school faster so that she could be in the real world working and not sitting at home on welfare while raising the child of someone she didn’t really care about like her sister. There was no way she would allow herself to end up like that, and Ashley and Miranda were two people that would make sure of it. They knew how to push her buttons but at other times they knew what she needed to hear to do some things.

Miranda had decided to take a semester off when her dad got sick. She stayed home and got a job back there with every intention of going back to school. It was a promise she had made to her dad. Another promise was to make sure Sofia knew that she was loved and was always welcome in their home, even if she didn’t want to see her own. They understood her reasoning for turning them down so often, but Miranda would have liked to see her best friend at home again. But that didn’t seem to be going the way she wanted so a week after her father was released from the hospital, she went to her best friend to see her. It had been a fun few days that they spent together. They went to dinner a two nights and even Ashley came. It was nice having the ones that care about you with you in a good setting, but all good things come to an end and Sofia had to see her friend off. It was another heartfelt goodbye, just like their first one was. But this time Sofia did promise to come home and visit, but she made it perfectly clear that she wasn’t going to see her family when she did. Miranda even went as far as to mention bringing home a boy. Sofia could do nothing but shake her head at her long time friend before wiping away her tears.

School had been her top priority. It still was, but when she met him when Ashley had convinced her to go with her to the ice rink, she didn’t actually think Ashley would make her actually get on the ice. She knew how horrible Sofia was at it. She never really got to do it growing up, and it was never a big interest for her, but she knew something was happening that day when she agreed to go. Even after falling so many times, she continued to get up and attempt to get it down only to find herself where she started, on her backside. It wasn’t funny the first four times when she fell, but after that, each and every time, either Ashley or Sofia erupted into a fit of giggles about her lack of coordination on the ice. On the last time, instead of getting up like she normally would, Sofia just laid there for a few extra moments as she watched Ashley skate ahead and call back to her to get up and reach her where she had stopped by the end of one side of the rink.

“Are you alright?” a voice asked.

Snapping her eyes open, Sofia noticed that while being uncoordinated and unbalanced caused her to fall down an awful lot, she had attracted the attention of someone else.

“Yeah, I’m just due for a nap, so I thought I’d take it here,” Sofia said attempting to hide the smile that she felt coming. “Bad idea?”

The small smile that was already on his face grew larger. “Only if you don’t mind if some kid accidently gets you with the blade of their skates.”

“Yeah, I’d prefer to stay away from the hospitals.” She said as she sat up.

“You’ve been falling quite a bit today,” he said as he helped her back up. “Is this your first time on ice?”

“No, but it’s my first time on ice since leaving home.”

“So you are here for?”

“School,” she smiled. “I’m going to Michigan State University. I grew up somewhere else, but we had rinks, but I just wasn’t any good at it.”

“And your friend somehow convinced you to get back at it?”

“Actually she drug me here today so that I didn’t have a lazy day since I didn’t have class or work.”

“And does your friend usually leave you with total strangers while smirking?”

“Only if she thinks she’s clever or she sees a guy that peaks her interest.”

“I’m Ryan,” he said sticking his hand out to help her up. “Ryan Miller.”

Looking down at the hand he was offering her, Sofia bit her bottom lip before placing her hand into his. “Sofia Lewis.”

Once she was standing upright on her skates, she pushed some of her loose hair behind her ear. “Thanks for the help.”

“Would you like to get some coffee in the café?” he asked, not releasing Sofia’s hand just yet.

“I don’t really like coffee,” Sofia said. “At least not the stuff from here.”

“Then how about the hot chocolate? How can you say no to the hot chocolate?” Ryan smiled at her. “I’ll even have them add the whip cream to it. So what do you say?”

“I say-“

“She says yes,” Ashley said once she reached Sofia’s side. She smiled at Ryan before looking over to her friend. “Call me if you wanna leave. I’m going to pick John up since his brother has the car. Bye. Have fun.”

“I can go with if you want.” Sofia offered, looking at her friend’s grinning face.

“No, I can do it,” Ashley said. “You have fun.”

Watching Ashley skate off, Sofia had no choice but to look up at Ryan who was smiling. “So hot chocolate with the whip cream?”

“You read my mind,” he said as he started skating to one of the open doors. Sofia slowly followed behind him, her hand still in his. But just like she knew, she lost her balance, but luckily Ryan was able to hold onto her to keep her from yet another fall. “I think we better get you off the ice.”

Sofia laughed and nodded her head as she held on tighter to his hand and they made their way off the rink and to the café for something to drink.

It was hard for Sofia to believe that it had been two years since she had met Ryan and only a year and half had they been dating. She was the one that held back, Ryan was someone she enjoyed being around and doing things with, but she didn’t want that to change. When she finally decided that it would be okay to give it a chance, she caught herself thinking about Oliver at first. There had been no signs of his betrayal and yet it was there. In a human form, so she was on the lookout for it with Ryan. He didn’t understand what she was doing, but after some time she told him the story. At first she thought it would scare him off if she told him what had happened, but it had the opposite effect. It had brought them closer and going strong in their relationship. Although he was no longer going to school at Michigan State University, Sofia had tried to let him go and be single while playing for the Rochester Americans. But it seemed Ryan didn’t want that and if she was to tell the truth neither did she.

That’s how she found herself to be in the spot that she was in. After visiting Ryan over her break, they spent a lot of time together and it had been worth leaving school for. But when she returned she found that she missed him more and more each night. She liked sleeping in his arms with him whispering how much he cared about her in her ear as she drifted off to sleep. She had visited him before, but the last visit was much more memorable. It was when they conceived a baby.

At first, Sofia had no idea what to do, but after talking to Ashley about it, she went and got a test and it turned out to be positive. It was the scariest thing she had to see. She had wanted to see the words not pregnant on the clear blue pregnancy test, but it didn’t work out that way. She knew that the next thing she had to do was to let Ryan know. It wasn’t the way she wanted to let him know, but it was what it was. She couldn’t just get on a plane and tell him and at least she wasn’t leaving him a text message about it. No, she had to be an adult about the situation. Did that make her any less nervous about calling him, nope, sure didn’t.

His reaction to the news was exactly what she had thought it would be, silence. He was just as shocked as she had been. But unlike some who would take off and forget about her and their unborn child, he proved why she had fallen in love with him. He didn’t demand anything from her, but he did ask her to move out with him. Sofia was sure he didn’t want to miss a thing and she didn’t want to either. After a few weeks she had come to a decision, she would leave school and go back when she could put the baby into a good day care. That was what she wanted to do, but if it would work, that was an entirely different story. As long as she had Ryan, she knew things would work out; at least that’s what she was hoping.