Hold On Till May

Sophia

When Mike eventually got back, I frowned at the angered expression upon his face. I went to go and ask him if he was okay, when Vic placed his hand on my arm, telling me not to get involved. I frowned and nodded, telling him and Tony that I’d be back shortly.

I turned around and started making my over to my mom, who was stood talking to Vivian and Victor. I felt the need to apologise for earlier, for the wait Craig acted. I stopped next to my mom, who stopped talking and turning to face me.

“You okay, sweetie?” She asked.

I nodded and wrapped my arms around her, just wanting a hug.

“Yeah, I’m fine, still embarrassed.” I frowned.

She sighed and leant down, kissing my forehead.

“No one here minds, Soph, don’t let it get to you. Just talk to Craig when you next see him.” She said.
I nodded and turned to Vivian and Victor.

“I’m sorry about earlier. I didn’t mean to cause any trouble. I have no idea what’s come of Craig lately.” I sighed.

Vivian smiled and shook her head.

“Don’t worry, sweetie. As long as he didn’t hurt you.” She said, pulling me into a hug.

I giggled and shook my head no, letting her know that he didn’t hurt me. Well, maybe he did a little bit, when he tightened his grip around my wrist, but that was all.

The three parents fell deep into conversation again, leaving me to wonder around the back yard and made my way over, to get myself another drink and something to nibble on.

I was about to step back from the table, when I felt someone place their hand on my back, brushing past me.

“Sorry.” They said.

I turned around and saw one of the many friends Mike and Vic had here. I smiled and shook my head, telling them not to worry. He smiled back and took the cap off his bottle.

“Sophia, right?” He asked, his accent strong.

“That would be me.” I laughed. “I’m sorry, I’ve totally forgotten your name.” I blushed.

“Not to worry. Jaxin.” He said, holding his hand out for me to shake.

“Sweet name.” I nodded, smiling.

“Thanks.” He laughed.

We stood in silence, before he spoke up again.

“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but that guy you were arguing with earlier, was he your boyfriend?” He asked.

I sighed and nodded.

“Yeah, he is.” I frowned.

For some reason, tonight, I was almost ashamed to call Craig my boyfriend. I felt completely embarrassed, making us the centre of attention, just because I wanted to try and forgive some friends of mine.

“Does he always treat you like that?” Jaxin questioned.

“No, it only started today.”

“Is there any reason why?” He asked. “Sorry, I shouldn’t be asking, it your personal life and we don’t even know each other.” He said suddenly, shaking his head.

“No it’s fine, and I think I have a good idea as to why he was like it.” I sighed.

He nodded and changed the subject.

“How long have you known Vic and Mike?” He asked.

I sighed and tried counting it out on my fingers, before laughing slightly.

“Gosh, I don’t actually know. A long time.” I laughed.

We fell into conversation, Jaxin telling me about coming from New Zealand and what it’s like over there. Me dishing him some stories on the Fuentes brother that he didn’t already know. Each story giving us a good laugh, especially over all the silly little arguments they’d get into.

I was about to start talking again, when someone came and stood next to me, wrapping their arm around my shoulder. I looked up and saw Mike stood there, grinning down at me.

“Do you know how fucking creepy you look right now?” I asked, raising and eyebrow.

I heard Jaxin laugh, as Mike pouted, before laughing also.

“Yeah, I know.” He said. “Anyway, we want you to come and look at the little studio we have here.” He said.

“Mike, I’ve already seen it. Before you left, remember?”

“But since then we’ve re-decorated it and everything. It looks so much better. Plus my drums look badass with their new casing.” He said.

I shook my head and agreed, turning to Jaxin, saying bye and following Mike back over to where Vic and Tony were, who were now joined by Jaime.

“C’mon, let’s go.” Mike said.

They all nodded, leading the way inside and towards the studio. I stayed quiet behind them as they were in some heated debate.

“Sophia.” Mike called over loudly.

“Do you really have to be so fucking loud? I’m practically behind you.” I groaned.

“Yes, now help us.” He said.

“What?”

“What’s better? Harry Potter or Star Wars?” He asked.

Tony looked over to me as well, mouthing Star Wars. I shook my head at the both.

“How about neither?” I asked.

Jaime laughed loudly, causing me to look over at him, he smiled at me and shook his head.

Both Mike and Tony frowned at my answer, causing me to smile and walk past them, patting them on the back.

“You’ll get over it.” I said.

Vic lead the rest of the way to the studio, opening the door and letting us all in before shutting it behind me.

“Soph, look at how awesome my drums are.” Mike said, practically bouncing over to them.

“Mike, they have Harry Potter on them.” I sighed.

“Exactly.” He grinned.

“You expect me to like them because they have Harry Potter over them? You know I hate those films.” I said.

“Yes!” Jaime all but shouted.

I looked over at him confused, as he held his hand up, waiting for me to high five him.

“You’re officially my new favourite person.” He grinned.

“Why? What did I do?” I asked.

“You don’t like Harry Potter. Jaime isn’t exactly keen on it either.” Vic said.

I nodded and grinned, directing a ‘Ha!’ in Mike’s direction. He pouted and picked up his drum sticks and hit the drums a few times, before twirling the sticks around his fingers.

“You think his drums are bad, look at his thighs.” Tony said.

“Why would I want to look at his thighs?” I questioned.

Before I had the chance to get an answer from Tony, Mike had stood up and was pulling his trousers down.

“Jesus Christ, Mike. Keep your trousers on.” I said, starting to turn around.

“Hey, don’t flatter yourself into thinking you get to see everything, I was just showing you my tattoo.” He said.

I looked back over at him and down at his thigh, to see Harry Potters face there. I groaned and told him to pull his trousers back up.

“You’re kidding me right?” I asked.

He grinned and shook his head no.

“This obsession needs to calm down.” I pointed.

We stayed in the studio a little while longer, Vic playing a demo on the computer for me to hear, before we went back outside as my mom made her way over.

“Are you ready to go, Soph?” She asked.

I nodded at her as she went around saying bye to everyone, me doing the same. I got a hug from both Tony and Jaime, and shook hands with everyone else, before making my way over to Mama and Papa Fuentes.

“It was nice to see you again, Sophia, we’ve missed seeing you around.” Vivian said.

I smiled and agreed with her, pulling her into a hug, before doing the same with Victor.

I said bye to them both, before walking back other to mom who was stood by the door. We made our way through the house, towards the front, with Vic and Mike following.

Mom opened the door and stepped outside. I followed her actions and turned around to face the brothers.

“I’m glad you came tonight, Sophia. Honestly, in the back of my mind, I wasn’t expecting you to turn up.” Mike said, pulling me into a hug.

I chuckled and nodded, pulling away.

“Eh, I was thinking about not coming, but I’m glad I did. Apart from the little hiccup with Craig, it’s been a fun night. It was nice to be around you both again and this time me not being pissed and crying.” I laughed.

I turned to Vic and hugged him also. As we both went to pull away, he kissed me on the cheek and then did the same with mom.

“I agree. It definitely scared me yesterday seeing you that angry. I thought you were going to kill me.” Vic said.

I laughed and shook my head.

“Anyway, we better go, I’ve got work in the morning.” I groaned.

We said bye again, as mom and I made our way down the pathway and out onto the side walk. We turned around and waved at them both before they were out of sight.

**

The next morning, I woke up around eight and made my way into the bathroom to take a quick shower and get ready for work. Once I finished in the shower, I stepped out and dried myself off, wrapping the towel around my body and cleaned my teeth, before making my way back into my room so I could get dressed into the uniform and put my hair up.

Once I was satisfied with how I looked, even without make-up, I made my way downstairs to do myself some breakfast. As soon as I entered the kitchen, I noticed a note on the table from my mom. I frowned, at what it said, letting me know she had gone out to visit some friends and may be gone for a couple of weeks.

Even though she had been doing this for a while now, it still worried me when she does. I have no idea what she does those weeks she’s gone and every time I try to ask, he just completely ignores me.

I sighed and poured myself a bowl of cereal and sat down at the table with it. I silently ate it, checking my phone while doing so. I noticed I had many missed calls from Craig and many unread messages. I went through each one, all of them pretty much saying the same thing, that he’s sorry and he wants to make it up to me. I shook my head and ignored each one, he can explain tomorrow. I wasn’t in the mood for it today.

Eventually, I made my way to work, and checked myself in, before going behind the counter, ready to start work. For about an hour after we opened, it was still empty. I sighed and walked around the store, finding anything that needed doing. I found Lacey, one of the girls who worked here doing the same thing. I gave her a look, causing her to laugh and nod.

It wasn’t long until I heard a group of people entering, causing me to all but jump in excitement. I stood talking to Lacey and kept an eye out for if they went to the counter. When they did, I made my way over, and rang their items through, and give them the total. I bagged their items and gave them the correct change, before telling them to enjoy the rest of the day as they left.

By 11.30 the shop was busier, a lot busier, meaning others had to come over and help behind the counter.

I was in the middle of bagging up a customer’s items, when I heard someone call my name. I looked up and saw Craig making his way over. I continued what I was doing, before saying bye to them and turning to face him.

“What are you doing here? It’s your day off.” I pointed out.

“I know, but I wanted to ask you if you could meet me at the coffee shop just round the corner on your lunch break?” He asked.

I sighed and nodded.

“Fine. I’ll see you in just under an hour.” I said.

He nodded and stood there awkwardly, before turning around and walking out the store.

Once he left, Lacey turned to me, raising an eyebrow.

“Explain.” She stated.

I sighed and moved over to her end of the counter, looking around, making sure there were no customers about.

“What was that about?” She asked quietly.

“I don’t know. Last night, he just wasn’t himself and pretty much went off on one.” I frowned.

“I must admit, he didn’t seem too happy at work yesterday.” She muttered.

“What do you mean? What’d he do?” I asked.

“He didn’t do anything, but he mentioned about how you ran into some old friends the night before. He did seem extremely worried.” She said.

“Well now he’s pissed. While I was off, those friends came over and asked me to go to theirs last night for a get together with everyone, they even invited him. Yet when he got to mine after work last night, he was suddenly pissed, saying I was picking them over him. He’s angry because I’m trying to move on with them like we haven’t spoken or seen each other for a year.” I frowned.

“Better yet, he accused me of it yet again, when we were around their place, in front of their friends, people I didn’t know and tried to fight one of them. He completely embarrassed me and he’s trying to make out he’s done nothing wrong.”

“You just need to talk to him Soph. I’m sure he didn’t mean it. You should know by now that he takes things to heart, and he panics and worries as soon as someone new comes into his life and gets along with someone he’s close to.” Lacey said.

I nodded and groaned.

“I know. I just don’t want him being like it all the time. I was friends with them years before I even knew who he was, I’m not going to throw away my last chance of renewing my friendship with them just because he’s not happy with it.”

Lacey nodded and told me to just see what he says when I meet him on my lunch break.

**

By 12.30, I went out the back to grab my bags, and let Simon, our manager know that I was going for my lunch break and that I’d be back in a hour. He nodded as I made my way out, and through the store, before heading down to the coffee shop just round the corner.

As I reached the building, I spotted Craig stood outside waiting. Once he heard me approaching, he spun around and grinned, walking over and pulling me into a hug. I reluctantly hugged him bag, before we made our way inside and ordered our drinks and something to eat.

Once we sat down, Craig reached for my hand, but I moved it away.

“Sophia, I’m sorry alright?” He asked.

“No Craig, you completely humiliated me last night. You expect me to just forgive you?” I asked.

“Yes! You can forget those assholes who left you for a year, yet I shout at you and you can’t forgive me?” He asked in frustration.

“Will you please just stop bringing up what they did? They have nothing to do with this right now. This is what you did, not them.” I said harshly.

“Well, I wouldn’t have had to do so if it wasn’t for them.”

“So what you’re saying Craig, is that if it wasn’t for Mike and Vic you wouldn’t have given me this?” I asked, holding my wrist up, revealing the bruise that was left from his grip on it last night.

“I didn’t mean to Soph, you have to understand that.” He pleaded.

“No Craig, do you not realise how fucking scared I was of you last night? The anger in your eyes? If mom hadn’t have come over when she did, I was pretty sure you would’ve hit me. You turned into a completely different person, you weren’t the Craig I fell in love with.” I said.

“I know. I really am sorry Soph. It was just a shock how easily you forgave them. If they were my friends and left like that, I would never want to see them again.”

“Yeah, but that’s you Craig. We’re not all the same. They were the only friends I had before getting work, they were the only people there for me, even after what they did, I couldn’t just let them go completely. Craig, you have to understand, they’ve been in my life for years before I met you, and they went for one year. Yes, I was pissed and disappointed. But I was never going to stop being friends with them. They know me better than anyone else and as much as it pains me to say it, they know me better than you.” I sighed, looking down at the table.

“Wait, are you saying you’re not being your true self around me?” Craig asked.

“No, that’s not what I’m saying at all. There’s just some things I haven’t told you, mainly because I’m worried about how you would react. They know these things because they were there, they experienced them with me. I will tell you it all one though, I promise.” I said.

Craig just nodded and grabbed my hand.

“Can we please forget last night? I love you so much and knowing you’re upset with me hurts.” He said.

I nodded and sighed.

“Yeah we can. Just don’t ever turn like that again, because I may just not stick around that time.” I warned.

He nodded and promised not to and leant over the table, giving me a peck on the lips.

“Also, I can promise you I will never leave you for Vic and Mike, they’re my friends, you’re my boyfriend.” I grinned.