Sophia Ch. 02

"Where'd you grow up?" she repeated, brushing her hair back. Wow, he wished she would stop doing that.

"Right here in New York. Lived here all my life except college. In fact, the apartment I spent my high school years in is not too far from here."

She raised her eyebrows. "So I take it your parents aren't unemployed or anything."

He smiled sheepishly. "No, I grew up pretty well off."

"Any siblings?"

"A brother. Younger. Just the four of us. What about you? You seem like you'd be a good daughter and good sister. What's your family like?"

"Well, it's just me and Mom. Mom never had any more kids, and my dad was a boyfriend who left quick when she got pregnant."

"So you don't know him."

"You know, I'm not even curious. He's not a part of my life. Mom and I are pretty close, but she travels around a whole lot. She's working with the UN now, and she spends a lot of time going back and forth."

The date went amazingly smoothly, Tom reflected as the he paid the check. Sophia had given him some feeble resistance, but they both knew she couldn't pay for it and anyway, he liked paying. He made a lot of money; if it could help a date go well, so much the better.

When they walked out of the restaurant, the spring sky looked ominous. He quickly took advantage of the situation and said, "Come on, let me drive you home. It's going to rain. I promise I won't try anything funny."

She considered for a moment. Just when he thought she was going to refuse, she said, "Okay. Where's your car?"

Another few minutes with her! "This way. You know, we should exchange phone numbers."

"We should, should we? That's nice. Not happening." But she grinned.

"Aww, come on," he wheedled. "Take pity on a poor man."

"You don't seem that poor to me, and nope."

He dropped it. He went to his car and opened the door for her on the passenger side. She looked surprised, but recovered quickly and slipped gracefully into the seat. He wished he were driving her back to his place. Not even for sex, just to have her around, to show off his apartment, to make her smile a little more.

When they got in the car, she asked abruptly, "Do you like kids?"

He laughed. "Gee, isn't it a bit early for that?" She fixed him with a paralyzing stare. He looked at those brown eyes and dropped his banter. "Actually, yes, I really like kids. I don't get much of a chance to work with them in my line of medicine."

"Plastic surgery," she cut in.

"Anesthesiology," he countered lightly. "I don't specialize in children's anesthesiology, so someone else gets those patients."

She didn't pursue the subject further, apparently lost in thought. A few minutes later, she said, "Oh wait, stop up here. Here in front of the gate. This is about as close as you can get to my dorm via car." She pointed out the gate and gathered her purse, getting ready to get out.

"So, which one is yours? The alarm will go off if you try to open the door without me unlocking it, and everyone will stare," he lied, as she made to get out.

She looked alarmed. "That one," she said, pointing out a tall, non-descript dorm in the corner of the quad. "Lerner. Can I get out now?"

He laughed and she relaxed a little. He hopped out and went around to her side and opened it. The alarm did not go off. "I lied," he said, lightly. "The alarm doesn't go off when the car is running. I just didn't want you to go running off." He held out his hand to help her out, and she took it.

She stepped out of the car and was suddenly very close to him. He hadn't realized how short she was. The top of her head barely came to the bottom of his chin. She tried to pull her hand away, but he caught her wrist gently and placed her palm on his chest. She suddenly looked frightened, but he raised his other hand to her face and brushed his thumb across her cheek to soothe her. He had been really good for the whole date, but now he couldn't help himself. His fingers laced into her hair as he tilted her face up and bent down to press his lips against hers. He tried to be as gentle and non-aggressive as possible, but as he pulled her towards him with a hand on her hip, he felt her slight body against his and stifled a groan. He lifted up and looked into her face, her eyes still closed above slightly parted lips. Before she could open her eyes, he bent back down to feel the softness of her lips again, and this time he brushed softly, almost as though asking permission, and then slowly deepened the kiss, tongue gently probing between her lips. He felt her shiver and then pull away abruptly. He still felt a tingling in his hands and lips and chest where they'd touched, and more than a tingling in his groin.

She looked shocked. "I, uh, should go….tired from my final this morning…see you later." She turned to bolt away, but he anticipated this and stepped in front of her.

"Can I come?" he asked, quietly, looking into her face. He knew this request would only scare her more, but he was seized by a fierce need to be with her for a few more minutes.

She shook her head quickly. "No. I…" She took a deep breath and visibly tried to regain composure. "Thanks for the dinner. It was really nice." She seemed sincere.

He put out a hand to touch her but decided against it and dropped his hand. "It was wonderful. I especially liked the end, where you let me come up to your room." He grinned at her, trying to break the tension.

She grinned back, tension broken. "Not on your life. You'd have to do a lot better than an expensive dinner." She turned and began walking towards her dorm. "Bye!"

"Hey, wait! What would I have to do, may I ask? Hey! What would I have to do?" He shouted after her as she walked away, purse swinging slightly.

She just laughed. "Figure it out!" she called back, as she turned a corner out of sight. Tom's heart felt lighter than air as he turned back to his car. He even made an involuntary hop as he sprang off the curb to get to his door. He was going to figure out what it took. All thoughts of this being a single-date experience were gone. He was in for a pretty long haul, he thought as he shifted to first. Even more surprisingly, the idea didn't bother him in the least. On the contrary, he was excited beyond his wildest expectations.

Sophia walked quickly back to her dorm. Wow, that was not supposed to happen. Her thoughts were racing. She wasn't supposed to have given him a chance to kiss her, but when she got out of the car, he was just there, tall and very close. It was like she was in a trance, and she was far away as he came closer. Then she was definitely back in her body to feel every millimeter of his lips on hers, and his warm, big hands felt fiery on her hips and face. She shook herself hard. It was good she pulled away when she did, or it might have been worse. She might have let him come up, and Gary, being delicate, would have been what he considered a good suitemate and stayed out of the way.

As she rode the elevator up and walked slowly to her room, she felt the smallest twinge of remorse that she did pull away. Would it have been so bad to let me him come up? She flung herself onto her bed. Suddenly, she remembered the email from Miguel. She hopped up, full of energy again. She flipped open her laptop and began to read. She was sure another of his sweet emails would dispel any lingering thoughts about Tom.

Sophia, my silly girl,

It has been raining constantly here for several days, and Lucia and I are both down. I suppose you are getting us back for all the inequity of weather between New York and home! Take care of yourself these last few weeks. If your professors are giving you trouble, you just let me know and I'll sort them out for you.

I have signed up to take the TOEFL in December of this year, in time for me to apply to colleges in America. I would love help, and I will try not to let you intimidate me with your language abilities. No matter what you say, you are your mother's daughter. I remember trying to learn English from you that first summer: that bright little brown face that so effortlessly switched between languages. I have a picture of you from that year in my head- your little yellow dress and scraped knees and cheeky grin.

I can't believe that it is only two weeks until I will see your face again. Lucia and I will meet you at the airport, of course. Flight A1117, right? Would you look at that, I knew that right off the top of my head. I must miss you a lot. I do, dear girl. And prepare yourself, because we still haven't found another surgeon, so we'll have our work cut out for us.

Not quite your big brother,

Miguel

Sophia drew back a little, startled. Maybe it was just because she was tired, but Miguel's tone seemed different in this email. And his comment about not quite being a brother… was that meant to imply something? Damn Tom, he was messing with her mind, and making her think there were double meanings everywhere. Just because Tom doesn't have honorable intentions, she told herself, doesn't mean Miguel is like that. She got ready for bed, feeling very confused. Miguel couldn't mean anything like that; they'd known each other for ages, and when they first met, he seemed so much older that the idea was ridiculous. He doesn't seem so much older now, a little voice commented in her head. She flung herself onto her bed and crawled under the covers, sighing. This was stupid. At least maybe now, Tom will give up. But do you really want him to? asked the voice in her head. "Oh, shut up," she said out loud, and flipped off her light.

Author's note: I know this is starting slow, but just bear with me...