by Elle, Leen
"What's your favorite color?"
"My favorite color, or my secret favorite color?"
Sophie groaned as she shoved another marshmallow into her mouth. "Both."
"I like blue because I look good in blue. My secret favorite color is orange, but I look awful in orange so I don't tell many people. You should feel special."
"Oh, trust me, I do." Sophie laughed at how childish he sounded. She knew he was acting like this to make her feel better, but even knowing didn't change anything. "Okay, since you're set on playing around, I have a tougher question for you." She raised her eyebrow, hoping this would knock him off his guard. "What made you like me?"
She didn't realize how juvenile her question sounded until she heard it aloud.
"Not romantically, just in general. What made you want to keep me around?"
Robert seemed to be considering whether to brush her question off with a joke, or answer it seriously.
"I honestly want to know." She pressed. "I always thought you hated me."
"I guess I did treat you like that." He sighed, clearly not liking where his game had gone. "Do I really have to answer?"
"Yes," She ordered. "I'm agreeing with this whole stress-free evening thing, so you have to play along too."
"You want the honest answer?" He asked, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. He paused for a long time, as if waiting for her to take back her question. When she never budged, he finally replied. "If I had to choose, it was one moment...one thought to be exact."
"One thought changed your opinion about me?" Sophie's curiosity overcame her.
"It was like a snowball...it started with just one thought, then kept rolling into a larger, unavoidable mess."
"What was this thought, then?"
"I like her eyes.'" He smiled up at the ceiling. "Your eyes always seemed to be curious and stubborn. I would look at them and know I would never be able to avoid you entirely."
"What happened after that?" She was beyond interested in what he had to say.
"I enjoyed making you mad. It was fun tricking you, and watching your reactions. It wasn't always easy, you're very clever...but it was a challenge I loved."
Sophie smiled, looking back on their time together with amusement rather than annoyance.
"There were other things...your laugh, the way you treated the kids, and the way you always had to prove yourself to me, but there was one final thing that sold me."
"Explain." She nudged him with her foot to continue.
"Whenever I would do something good, you would look at me with pride." He stared down at his mug, refusing to meet her eyes. "I've done many things in my life that I'm not proud of. I doubt theres ever been one person who has been truly proud of me before. Then you come along, and all of a sudden I feel like impressing you. I feel like becoming a better person because I want you to be proud of me."
Sophie wasn't necessarily good at being swept away by dramatic statements. She'd always been a skeptic about things like romance, but Robert had a way of knocking her off her feet.
She certainly had no idea he'd thought of her that way. Her heart raced in her chest at the thought that she was that important to him.
"I am proud of you." She replied after a minute. "You screw up sometimes, but you also know how to amaze me." She suddenly felt awkward. "I've never really met anyone like you before." Her face began to turn red and she suddenly felt like she understood everything Gwyn and Rylan had been going through.
The room suddenly felt hot and uncomfortable. She set down her mug, and lifted her legs from his lap.
"I think I'm going to get some sleep. Long day and all that stuff." She stood from the couch, but he grabbed her hand tightly.
"You can't escape that easily." His lips were curled into a smile, and he pulled her back down on the couch. He moved so swiftly she didn't know how to react. One minute she was standing up, and the next she was on his lap.
"Is this one of your strategies?" She asked, blinking away her surprise.
"Is it working?"
He leaned into Sophie, and she took a deep breath. She knew what he was trying to do, and she wasn't going to play his game.
"Not at all." She whispered back to him. "Good try."
She stood up from his lap and headed for the living room door.
"Come on." He groaned. "I almost had you."
"Not good enough. Try again." She turned to leave, but he clicked off the lamp behind her. She scrambled in the darkness, groping for the hallway light-switch. She couldn't find it, and she heard him laughing behind her. "How old are you?" She asked in annoyance.
"Old enough to enjoy messing with you." He intertwined his hand with hers, and began leading her upstairs. "I'll escort you to your room." He said, and even though she couldn't see him, she knew he was grinning.
Her heart was pounding heavily in her chest, and she found herself smiling too. She shouldn't have been this happy so soon after her meeting with Luke, but Robert's presence was intoxicating. He could take away her concerns and make her laugh, even when she thought it was impossible.
She both resented and loved the effect he had on her. She wanted to be closer to him and push him away at the same time. It was her battle between trusting him, and knowing he'd betrayed her in the past.
Without thinking she whispered a request to him. "Tell me that you love me."
They'd just made it to the staircase and Robert froze as he processed what she'd said. "What?"
"Tell me that you love me." She repeated, this time with more confidence. She didn't know where the request had come from, but she realized that she really wanted to hear him say it. Part of her thought that if he gave in to this one request, she would be able to trust him completely again.
"I already told you no." Robert whispered tiredly as he led her up the stairs. He seemed to be taking her comment as a joke.
Sophie tightened her hold on his hand, forcing him to turn and look at her, even if they were surrounded in darkness.
"Please." She continued, her mind racing with ideas. When he didn't respond, she wrapped one arm around his neck to bring him closer to her. She lifted her head and kissed him gently, then passionately.
"Woah." He warned breathlessly, as they rocked back and forth on the staircase. "Choose a more appropriate place." He pulled her up to the second floor.
Sophie thought he was going to push her away, but the moment their feet were on a steady surface, his lips captured hers again.
An idea flashed through Sophie's mind, and she forced herself away from him. "Tell me you love me or I won't kiss you anymore." She whispered against his face, brushing her hand against his neck.
He laughed, shaking his head. "Sure, you won't." He leaned in, and she leaned back pointedly. "Come on!" He complained in a heated whisper. "You can't just stop like that! I wasn't finished!"
"Too bad." She replied coldly, pulling away.
He snaked an arm around her waist, and pulled her close again. "You shouldn't do that."
"Do what?"
"Push me away. I might seem like I have godly self-control, but I'm human too. A very immoral, conniving, generally bad kind of human."
"Then kiss me." She suggested. "Just pay the price."
Robert groaned, leaning his forehead against hers. "That's not fair. You're being really, really unfair right now."
"Is it that hard?" She asked, feeling hurt without knowing why. It was only three words, but for some reason she had to hear them.
"Is it that important to you?" His voice was exhausted. He didn't want to be forced into this.
"Yes," She answered.
Robert paused, suddenly becoming serious.
"I enjoy being with you."
"Is that all?" His response was disappointing, and he knew it.
"I think you're the only woman who will ever fully accept me." He continued.
"Probably." She pressed.
"I trust you, even though I shouldn't."
"Go on." Sop
hie placed her hands on his face, hoping to speed up his thoughts.
"I want to say it to make you happy. I just don't think it means the same to me as it does to you."
This time Sophie didn't have a reply for him.
"To you, it means forever. For me ... it means right now." He ran his free hand through his hair. She could feel him pulling away in frustration.
"You aren't willing to love me forever?" Her question sounded more hurt than she wanted it to.
"I don't trust the future. You, I trust. The world, though...that's something else entirely. Love is passion, and passion eventually dies."
"Look at this boy." Sophie mused to herself, brushing her hands through his curly hair. Suddenly, all of her hurt was gone. It was replaced by the realization that while he wasn't confident in their relationship, she was. "So unwilling to have faith in me."
"What does faith have to do with anything?" He asked, sounding curious to her mood change.
"You don't think I can stay passionate forever?"
"The facts are against it." Even if the darkness, she could tell he was trying to examine her.
Sophie grinned. "So what?" She whispered, and leaned forward to kiss him. "I won't let you fall out of love with me." Her eyes sparkled with the challenge.
Robert laughed against her lips, and she felt his serious mood fade away.
She understood that he didn't believe in love, with everything he'd been through. However, she was going to prove to him that it was real, and that it wasn't as fleeting as it seemed.
There was no doubt in her mind that she was up to the challenge.
* * *
Sophie smiled at the scene before her.
To anyone else, the sight of her and Robert stretched out on a blanket, basking in the summer sun would've seemed romantic. However, reality wasn't quite as simple as the image of fake calm.
Robert had forced her outside for a "change of scenery," arguing that if they were going to come up with a good plan, they needed a new environment to think. While Sophie would've been happier plotting inside where there was air conditioning, she had to admit she didn't mind the change.
Papers were spread out around them, outlining parts of Diana Apell's new life. Cleo had sent them over this morning, and they were just beginning to sift through them. Unfortunately, Robert hadn't figured the wind into his new location, and so each paper was being held down by a rock.
People walking down their street laughed at the odd arrangement around them. Sophie ignored the strange looks from their neighbors and focused back in on Robert's planning. He'd been browsing through the papers for over twenty minutes without saying anything. While she'd tried to follow his example, she couldn't help but get distracted by everything going on around her.
She'd never been the type of student to daydream, though it was too easy for her mind to wander on a day like today.
"Guys!" Teddy whined from the driveway. "No one's coming!"
Sophie grinned, noticing how his makeshift lemonade stand was without a single customer. Teddy had decided to spend the day outside with them, announcing that he was going to make one hundred dollars before he went back inside. His business consisted of a dry-erase board as a sign, a towel to sit on, and jug of lemonade he'd stolen from their fridge.
So far, he'd lasted ten minutes, and he already looked dejected.
"Be patient." Sophie advised playfully. "It's not peak lemonade time yet."
"You need better advertising." Robert added, glancing up from the papers. "People can't read your sign from the sidewalk."
Teddy stuck out his tongue, and crossed his arms stubbornly. He turned his focus back to the street where he stared down every individual who walked by.
"I wonder who gave him this idea." Sophie wondered aloud.
"I bet it was Gwyn." Robert scowled crossing his arms like Teddy had. Sophie hid a smile, figuring this is where Teddy had learned the habit. "She keeps trying to find ways for her and Rylan to be alone."
"Can you blame them?" Sophie laughed.
"Yes," Robert's annoyance was brotherly. "They're too young to be in love."
"Sure." Sophie shrugged, deciding it was better to change the topic. "So what has the genius come up with?"
"It's not hard to see what we have to do." Rob sighed as he lifted up one paper from the ground. "This is Diana's schedule for the next month. In four days she's supposed to return briefly for a meeting in New York. She'll be flying back immediately after the meeting, so we'll have to intercept her then. Traveling to Switzerland is not an option, meaning this is our only shot."
"Sounds like a plan." Sophie felt her heart rise with hope. She was ready for this mission, and eager to begin.
"The safest option is meeting her at the airport. We won't have to worry about her side bringing weapons or attacking us if it's in public. We'll catch her off guard, which just might give us an edge. Now, you just have to figure out what to do from there. What're you going to ask her?"
"I'm going to get straight to the point. She lied to us, which means she's protecting someone, or something. I want the full story, and she's going to give it to me."
"Or what?" He pressed. "You have to have something to influence her. She's not going to simply bend over because you caught her lie."
"I was planning on guilting her with my parents. If that doesn't work, we could always resort to threats."
"Stick with the guilt option. Threatening someone like Diana will only put us in a worse situation."
"Fair enough." Sophie leaned back as she sighed. "This seems so easy."
"Well, we're not planning a full-blown mission. We just need to find Diana and get her to talk to us. If the plan wasn't short and simple, we'd be wasting our efforts."
Sophie nodded, glancing at Teddy to see if he was still pouting. She straightened when she realized he had a customer.
The old Sophie would've panicked at the sight of their guest, but she was now well trained enough to know how to play it cool.
When Agent Marshall waved in their direction, Sophie waved back without missing a beat. Even though her heart was racing, she calmly collected the papers around them, and slipped them to Robert discreetly. He'd picked up the change in her attitude, immediately understanding the situation.
When Robert turned to Marshall, he was smiling as well. The tension in the air was obvious, but they hadn't given anything away. Marshall was too far away to hear them, so there wasn't any need to worry about what he'd overheard.
"I didn't know cops made personal visits." Robert called out to him. "Doesn't your unit do any work?"
"I'd hate to waste a beautiful day inside." Agent Marshall answered as he placed a ten dollar bill in Teddy's hand for his cup of lemonade. "Mind if I join you?"
"Like we have a choice." Robert answered, still speaking as politely as he could manage. His smile was sickeningly sweet.
Teddy glanced from Marshal to Robert in confusion.
"I didn't realize Max and Cleo allowed their employees to speak with each other." Marshall commented as he stood in front of them. He made no move to sit down.
"Someone needs new sources." Sophie replied, trying to mimic Robert's smile. "I've switched employers."
Marshal shifted his stance, obviously surprised by this news. "Is that so?"
"What brings you here?" Robert asked calmly. "I know how you like to chat with me, but an unannounced visit like this isn't very polite."
"I was just walking through the neighborhood and happened to see you two sitting outside."
"What a coincidence." Robert said in mock-awe. "That's what you said the last time you came here. I heard your boss wasn't pleased with that visit either. Didn't you get suspended?"
Sophie narrowed her eyes momentarily. He hadn't told her that Marshall had visited before. She knew it didn't matter since it must've been before she lived here, but it was unnerving to think how persistent Marshall was. Robert had said in the past that cops never came to the house because o
f Cleo's influence.
"I was suspended for six months." Marshall's eyes flickered with anger. "My time off didn't really cure me of my curiosity."
"I'm sorry, did you mean to say stupidity?"
"I'm very stubborn, Robert." Agent Marshall grinned. "One of these days I'll find something worthwhile that'll lead back to you and Cleo."
"Your optimism is impressive." Robert mused. "Even though I never slip up, please keep hoping I do. Hope is, after all, the only thing you have."