HEART OF FIRE

The morning of the following day passed in a breeze for Sophie. It was a dull, dismal Tuesday, with a sky that said it could rain at any moment. But Sophie quite enjoyed Tuesdays. She had an hour and a half for lunch which she used to go the mall to eat. So despite the dreary weather, she was in a fairly good mood.

The mall was about 10 minutes from the College so Sophie took a nice stroll, keeping one eye on the mass of dark clouds that were gathering. Once at the mall she decided to go to Costa, to get her usual Mocha, but something was going on in the mall, there were different coloured balloons and streamers everywhere, and this distracted her so she wasn’t looking where she was going. As a result, she collided with another person who had a drink in their hand and it spilt everywhere.

“Oh gosh I am so sorry,” Sophie was now covered in coffee, as was the other person, “I wasn’t looking where I was going…”

“It’s okay,” the other person replied, “neither was I.”

Said person chucked their coffee cup in the nearby bin, “I’ll just go get another one.” “I’ll buy you one as an apology,” Sophie offered. “No it’s okay. But if you’re going to Costa too you can accompany me if you’d like.” “Sure thing… my name is Sophie.” “Andy…”

Sophie’s eyes widened as her brain suddenly clicked onto the face in front of her. It was the same face that adorned her little sister’s bedroom walls. “Oh you’re the lead singer of Black Veil Brides, aren’t you?”

Andy rolled his eyes and nodded, “Yeah…”

Sophie smirked, “Don’t worry I’m no fan but my little sister is obsessed with you and your band. I see your face every day, splattered all over her bedroom walls”

Andy chuckled, “Ah… well…”

“So… Costa?”

Andy nodded and the pair made their way over to Costa where Andy order himself another Cappuccino and bought Sophie a Mocha and a slice of Cheesecake and they sat in and began to get to know one another better.

“So how old are you?” Sophie asked, “Despite the fact that my sister never shuts up about you, I know nothing about you.”

“I’m 23,” Andy replied, “24 in December.”

“December 26th,” Sophie said, “That I do know.”

Andy chuckled, “What about you?”

“20,” Sophie said, “I’ll be 21 next February”

“What date?”

“Well actually I only have an official birthday every 4 years…”

Andy looked confused, “How?”

“I was born on February 29th,” Sophie replied, “It only happens once each leap year…”

“Oh shit yeah…” Andy’s eyes widened, “Wow I bet that is like super weird!”

Sophie shrugged, “Eh I’m used to it. On the other 3 years I just celebrate on the 28th of Feb and the 1st of March!”

“Double party!” Andy grinned, “Wicked!”

Sophie giggled, “I guess but I’m not much of a party person.”

Andy shrugged, “Not everyone’s scene. So what do you… you know I’m a Singer… what do you do?”

“I’m at College studying Dance,” Sophie replied, “It’s my dream to be a professional dancer!”

“And how is that working out for you?”

“It’s going well. I’m in my last year of College, then I’ll have 3 years at university and then well I guess I’ll see where it goes from there…”

“Fair play. My band and I are working on our 4th album.”

Sophie nodded, “Yeah I know. Going well?”

“Well we only started yesterday but yeah I think so…”

“Good. Thanks again for the drink and the cake. You really didn’t need to…”

Andy nodded, “Your welcome, and I know I didn’t but I’m a kind hearted soul so…”

Sophie giggled, “Gosh I can just imagine what my sister’s face would be like right now if she knew what was happening…”

“Are you going to tell her later?” Andy asked

“I haven’t decided yet.”

Suddenly, Andy grabbed one of the napkins from the table and got a pen out of his pocket. He scribbled something down on the napkin and then handed it to Sophie. “My number,” he replied, “so you can message me whenever you wish…”

“Oh uh thanks Andy…” Sophie put the napkin in her bag, “another number to add to the many on my contacts list.”

“So you’ve got a lot of friends then?”

Sophie shook her head, “Actually I don’t really have any. I have the numbers of most of my classmates but I don’t really consider any of them my friends.”

“Would you consider me your friend?” Andy asked.

Sophie shrugged, “Sure… I guess so…”

Andy raised an eyebrow, “You guess so?”

“Yeah sorry I’m not really very good at the whole friend thing…”

“You prefer being alone huh?”

“Yeah but company is nice every now and again.”

“I know how you feel…”

Sophie’s eyes suddenly widened once more as she noticed the time on the clock behind her.

“Oh crap I’ve got 15 minutes! Andy I’m really, really sorry but I have to go or I’m going to be late!”

“No sweat go before you’re late… it was great to meet you.”

Sophie slung her bag over her shoulder, “You too. Thanks again…” she said before running out and in a flash disappearing out of sight.

Andy finished his coffee and sat there with his thoughts. Sophie seemed like a really nice girl but she also seemed really troubled. Could she have a dark past, Andy wondered? Was she hiding some big secret? He wouldn’t have expected her to tell him as they’d only just met… and you never open up to someone you have just met. The only person she had mentioned was her sister who apparently was a crazy, obsessed fan. She hadn’t mentioned anything about her parents. She also said she didn’t really have many friends and yet she had most of her classmate’s numbers. This gave Andy the impression that Sophie was really well liked but she preferred to keep her distance. Was she afraid of something?

Notes

Chapter 3 ... I can't believe how many views this has had already thanks so much! :D