Rock Me

Chapter Five

Wit:

Toby finally crashed. His exhaustion had pushed him to the point of talking nonsense. I knew he needed to rest, so I sat with him. He was watching Logan, convinced that if we took our eyes off him for a second, he would dip into the stash we were sure must be on this bus but could not find.

He was right; Logan would get high again when we turned our heads, no matter what Sophia managed.

This almost felt like a heart-breaking waste of time.

My head fell against the cushion as I sank deeper into the couch, feeling the heat rolling off Toby to my left and Wes to my right. We were all worried and exhausted.

"Whose making cake?" Wes asked sleepily before dozing off again.

I took a deep breath, warming my insides with the steam from her shower. The cake he smelled was Sophia showering. I admit the scent was sweet, but it doesn't remind me of cake. I have always thought she smelled like a field of honeysuckle after a hard rain, like vanilla in a hot cup of coffee. It can't be described, but it definitely isn't cake for me.

She stepped from the back room, wet hair dripping down her back and shoulders. The moment the air hit her, her flawless skin broke out in chill bumps. I couldn't help but admire her beauty.

I smiled when I saw her glasses on her nose. She must have been wearing contacts this whole time, but this looks more like her.

"You look… squished." She smiled, pulling a saucepan from the cabinet.

"You look wet." I stood from the comfortable cocoon Wes and Toby had made for me, went into the bathroom, grabbed a fresh towel, and returned to the kitchen to find her slicing up something that smelled funny. The moment my fingers touched the back of her neck, she tried to shy away from me, but I tangled my fingers in her hair, refusing to let her distance herself from me any further.

"Can't I get a little trust, Sophia?" I asked softly, biting back a smile when her spine straightened as I dried her hair. I didn't have to see her face to know she was shocked. I could see it in her body language. When her hair wasn't dripping wet anymore, I grabbed the brush from her back pocket and began brushing her soft waves, going a step further once I finished that just to keep my hands on her a little longer. Once both French braids were done, I tied them off and stepped away, taking the towel to put into the laundry, and she got back to chopping up whatever those things were. I still couldn't return to my place on the couch even after.

I watched her, her body moving like music through a loudspeaker. I watched her wash dishes, ignorant not to offer my help until I watched her drain the water and do a trick with the drain plug thing.

"Is that how you use that?" I asked like an i***t, stepping closer to watch the remaining water drain from the basin and the way she used the plug to catch every crumb of everything before pulling it from the drain and emptying it in the trash.

"What do you mean?" She smiled brightly, making my stomach swirl, feeling like firewood crackling under the summer sky.

"The plug thing." I pointed to the thing she was now soaking in a bowl of vinegar.

"The drain strainer? What do you mean, Wit?" She bit her lip to hold back her laughter, a sound I would have paid good money to hear.

"I didn't know it caught crumbs." I laughed, my thumb aching to reach out and pull her bottom lip from her teeth, my lips eager to taste hers.

"How do you do it?" She asked.

"I dunno. I just finger f.u.c.k the crumbs down the drain and then clean the sink." I licked my lips. That ever-growing ache to kiss her crept back into my mind and body, spreading through me like hot lava.

The way she looked at me, the way she looked at the drain, then at my fingers gripping the edge of the counter.

She quickly returned to the pan simmering on the stove, but I had already seen how her neck and cheeks flushed.

"Do you need any help?" I asked.

Still flustered, she shook her head quickly as I leaned against the counter beside her.

"Oh, uh. Nah. I'm just making Lo some ginger and turmeric tea for his stomach." She looked back at me, her face burning as bright as the burner on the stove, I smiled.

"Okay. I'll be over there if you need anything." Before I stepped away, I twirled her braid in my fingers one last time, unable to fight the urge to have my hands on her again.

Having her here was going to be an amazing, beautiful torture.

Toby:

I woke to the sounds of soft humming.

It was heavenly, beautiful, comforting. But then the realization sat in, and it took me all of one second to sit upright in panic. I was consumed by the fear that because I had fallen asleep, Logan would be dead when I figured out where he was.

But then I saw him, saw her. Neither noticed me sitting up, so I sat back and watched, letting them have the moment alone together.

"What happened with Juilliard Soph?" Logan asked. She never took her fingers from my guitar. Steady, she strummed it, humming to the music that awakened in her the moment she sang with my anger earlier.

"I had to figure myself out when I left home, Lo. I was who Dad wanted me to be, and when I got to New York, I realized I had no idea who I was or how to live outside the walls of the prison he built around me." He never took his eyes from the cup in his hands. He only nodded, understanding completely what she meant.

"What happened with you and Jennifer?" I winced at hearing the witch's name that had put us in this situation to begin with.

"I don't know," he answered, but I did. She couldn't keep her legs closed for five seconds. I was surprised to hear Sophia scoff.

"Don't lie to me, Logan. How do you expect me to be honest with you if you can't do the same?" I wanted to smile. She had changed so much over the last three years that it seemed she had truly found herself in New York. A realization that almost made me hate myself that much more... She could have found herself with me if I hadn't been so clueless.

"I can't always find the words to tell the truth about her. It hurts too much to speak it out loud." He admitted sipping the orangish drink steaming in his hand.

"If you can't talk about it, you will never heal from it," she said quickly. "Just tear off the bandage." She shrugged, strumming another tune on my guitar.

"She cheated." He said, finally looking at her.

"I'm sorry, Lo. No one deserves that kind of pain." She almost looked at me, my heart erupted in my chest, and I felt like an i***t, like scum.

I knew she was talking about me, about the mistakes I had made as an i***t teenager.

"What about you? Have you got someone special in your life?" My ears perked at that question. I wanted to know the answer so badly that it made me feel like I would have a heart attack.

"God, no." She chuckled softly.

"No?" Logan asked with a smile.

"No. I am far from interested in dating. I have terrific friends, and a couple of jobs I really enjoy. My life has truly changed for the better since leaving home, Lo… I don't feel so lost anymore." I remember the lost feeling she spoke of. She told me about it once, how lonely she felt, how I filled that gap before I was so stupid, so scared to admit my feelings.

They both fell silent while her music continued to fill the room.

After he finished the drink in the cup with a grunt, he yawned and turned and hugged her, telling her he wanted to turn in for the night. I watched him lay on the couch without an attempt to use the bathroom or hide away to get high in the bedroom.

Sophia played him to sleep, and I sat there in silence as Oasis's Wonderwall painted the walls in comfort.