“Now, Sophie, can you tell me who is in this picture.” He says holding up a picture to the jurors and then bringing it over to me. The picture is of Austin and I, and we are kissing on the beach outside of his house. I remember that because it was Christmas.
“That’s a picture of me.”
“And who else is in the picture.” My eyes shoot up to Austin they are pleading with him to get me down from here. He is searching through his items trying to find something to tell him what I am looking at.
“Mister Calloway.”
“Your lawyer?” Austin jumps to his feet.
“Your honor, this information is irrelevant to the case.” Austin demands.
“Oh, but it is relevant, since you have such a reputation in Miami for being a playboy, if she is sleeping with you than what does that say about her character.”
“Excuse me?” He rears back and I worry for a moment that he is going to jump across the table and punch him in the face, but I know that it isn’t because of what he said about him but what was said about me.
“Calloway is correct the information is irrelevant. They jury can disregard the last bit of information.”
“Thank you.” Austin says, sitting down.
“No further questions.” Joe’s lawyer says and sits down. Austin gets up and walks over to me.
“Are you alright?” he asks, quietly so no one else can hear, and I nod my head.
“Now, Miss Tice, when you say that you cannot remember, what exactly do you mean?
“Well the therapist said that I had a mild mental breakdown.”
“What would cause that?” he asks me and he smiles trying to reassure me. And as much as I want to stay mad at him, his smile manages to relax me slightly.
“Everything in my life was falling apart.” I admit in front of everyone.
“So, you were not in your right state of mine.” He looks to me.
“No, I was not.”
“And when you came to again, where were you?” His blue eyes are asking me.
“At the police station,” I tell him, wondering where he is going with this.
“Do you have any recollection of how you go there?”
“No.”
“And what happened when you arrived at the police station?” I have never found Austin more attractive than right at this moment. The way he stands in front of me, the way he knows exactly what to say to make me look good in front of the jury. I really wish that I wasn’t pissed at him right now and not speaking to him. My heart hurts when I think about the conversation that I overheard last night. My heart hurts when I look at his eyes and know that he is hurting as well. I’m not sure why he is, if he is in on everything why would he actually be upset that I left. Maybe it is just a front to get me to not be mad anymore. “Sophie,” he gets my attention again, “Are you alright?”
“Yes, I’m sorry,” I pause, “What was the question again?”
“What happened when you got to the station?”
“They made me sit with a therapist, who decided that with everything going on in my life and hearing about what Joe was plotting to do I had just reached my breaking point and blacked out.” I lie a little but most of it was the truth.
“And do you remember anything form that night?”
“Only one thing, that came to me last night. I remember opening the door, and then asking Joe’s girlfriend what her name was.” I am staring intently at him now, trying to tell him that I heard him last night and that I know who he was on the phone with, trying to explain to him that it is the reason why I left.
“Your Honor,” Joe’s lawyer stands up, and I see Joe smirking to me, “I don’t see how any of this is relevant, there is not anything saying that my client was trying to-,” Austin cuts him off.
“Your Honor, as my client has made aware this is the cause to the reason why what happened did. She does not want to press charges herself, but only explain what happened so that this does not follow her for the rest of her life.”
“Alright, let’s hear the rest.” The judge reluctantly says and Austin smiles, nods his head, and then turns back to me and his smile falls.
“Now, you said that you remember that, why?”
“I think it was because I was in the same atmosphere that I was in when I overheard it.” he closes his eyes tightly and then lets his head fall, turning around and walking back to the table.
“No further questions.” His tone is defeated.
I zone out again when they start to call other witnesses, many of the ones that come up to take a stand for me are character witness who state the fact that I never would harm someone. That I am a hard worker and their hearts broke with mine when my business failed. Then I hear a name that brings me out of my zone. I turn when I hear the doors open and I see him. The grey hair that sits on his head is the same white that I remember from Christmas. I grab ahold of the table as Austin leans over and says, “Don’t worry,” how can I not worry, this is the one man that has hated me my entire existence. I see Joe smirk at me when he sees him walking in, and it takes me longer to realize that it is Austin who has called him up. This had just convinced me that he is on their side and I want to run out of the room.
“Calloway,” the judge nods to him.
“No, let them go first.”
“Mr. Tice.” Joe’s attorney asks, “Would you say that you and your daughter are close?”
“No, I would not.” He says bluntly, and I see the jurors becomes extremely intrigued.
“And why is that.”
“Because she is too much like me,” He admits for the first time in my life.
“And how would that be?”
“She is determined, strong-willed, if she wants something she will go after it and nothing anyone says or does can get in her way.” I’ve never heard my father talk about me that way before and I feel the smile spread on my lips. “We never got along because it never mattered what I said if she wanted to do it she would go for it.”
“Now, would you say that your daughter is capable of something to this magnitude?” He hands a picture of Joe over to my father and I see my father look over to me as I see a slight grin spread on his lips. It makes me want to giggle for some reason. It’s a grin that tells me he is proud of me.
“Capable yes, but do I think that she would ever do this on purpose, no not at all.”
“Any why is that?”
“Please, I heard her shouting peace and love for far too many years to believe that she would ever do anything like that unless completely provoked.” I don’t care what happens with the rest of this case, my father just admitted to kind of liking me, I feel like the world around me has changed drastically. Joe’s attorney walks away and I think I see a sight of him looking defeated. I watch as Austin gets up and walks over to him nodding his head.
“John,”
“Austin,” My father smiles to him.
“Thank you for coming all the way here today.”
“Anything for my daughter,” my father says and it is the first time that he has ever really looked at me.
“I’m sure that she is glad to hear that,” Austin says to him; looking back to me for a moment and then back to my father, “John, would you say that Sophie is a violent person?”
“No,”
“And why is that?”
“Because, she is the nicest person that I know I once saw her go into a grocery store and buy ten dollars worth of food to give to a homeless man and she has less than a hundred to her name.” I remember that night; my father gave me so much crap for that, telling me that he didn’t want the food that he only wanted booze. When I handed the homeless man the loaf of bread, peanut butter, and the jug of water, he cried. When I look up to Austin he is staring at me along with everyone else.
“Why do you remember that?” he asks my father.
“Because I told her not to do it,”
“Why did you tell her not to do it?”
“Because she was
in college and she wasn’t making much money.”
“Then why did she do it?” He asks really wondering.
“She said that he needed it more than she did. When I told her she could be hungry later she told me that she could go without one meal to make sure that he had one. Her compassion for people is astronomical.”
“No further questions.” He tells my father and I watch as he gets up from the chair, when he gets next to our table I jump up and hug him. He smiles patting my back as I cry into his chest.
“I’m sorry Sophie, I love you.” he tells me which makes the tears come out faster, I let go of my father, wipe the water from my face, and sit back down. They explain how there are not anymore witnesses and I finally remember the voicemail. I tug on Austin’s jacket and whisper.
“Give them your phone.” I tell him.
“Why?” he asks and I see as the judge looks to us curiously.
“Because I left something on there this morning that everyone needs to hear.” He looks at me questioning me, “Just trust me.” He shakes his head like he wants to say something more but can’t, not now anyways.
“Your Honor, my client has just enlightened me that there is something in my voicemail that may be impertinent to the hearing.”
“This needed to be addressed before the hearing started.” I hear Joe’s attorney say.
“This call was made right before I walked into the room.” I tell him and I see Joe’s face fall. He knows what is about to be played.
“I’ll allow it,” I hear the Judge state. Austin gets up and walks up turning on his phone and dialing his voicemail. He presses the buttons quickly and turns it onto speaker phone. The entire room listens as Joe’s voice falls out of the speaker and Austin turns to look to me, smiling. I know what it means, this might just be it. Until he hears me beg Joe to let go of me, his face turns cold as he looks over at Joe. I think that if we weren’t in a court room he would beat the shit out of him, and for a moment his love for me shows. I force myself to remember why I left last night.
Chapter Fourteen
I am grinning as I walk out of the court room only moments later. The judge dismissed the hearing and Joe decided that he was going to drop all the charges. I am walking away from the building as I hear my name being shouted from behind me. I know the voice so I begin to speed up.
“Soph, wait.” I hear Austin shouting to me from the stairs. I don’t want to talk to him. I swear under my breath as I get stuck at the cross walk and I look around and because there are no cars coming for the next three seconds I sprint in the four inch heels across the road. “Sophie,” I hear him shout as I hear honks and I spin around facing him. Cars honking as he continues to stand in the middle of the road looking at me. “Soph, talk to me. I came back last night and you were gone. What happened?”
“Don’t, Austin.” He looks quickly to his side and sprints to my side of the road and I turn back around trying to quickly make an exit.
“Soph, what happened?”
“Austin, just let me go. What’s done is done. It was a joke to think that we could ever make this work. We are two completely different people, and it is just destined to stay that way. Don’t worry; we will still work the party.” The last line comes out snidely. He sprints across the remaining of the street and stops directly in front of me.
“Sophie,” I hear his voice crack and when I look up I see a slight glint in his eyes and I know that if I watch him break down it won’t matter what happened I won’t be able to pull myself away and leave. I turn quickly and begin to walk away when a car pulls up next to me.
“Need a ride, kid?” I look over seeing my father sitting behind the wheel and I get inside the car.
“Yes, how could you tell?” I bat at him.
“What happened? You two seemed really happy a few weeks ago.”
“We were,” I tell him not wanting to explain.
“Where are you headed to?” He asks and I five him the directions to the hotel and then we head to the airport.
“I’ve known Austin for a little while, Soph.” He tells me.
“I know.”
“I knew that they were never interested in one another, but I just thought that if I pushed her enough she would, she was completely different from you. She usually tried to please me.”
“That’s why you were always proud of her.”
“No, Soph, I was always proud of you.” What? Had I just heard him right? Is this some sort of parallel universe where my father is nice?
“You have a funny way of showing it.” He laughs.
“Sophie, you never needed me to be proud of you. You had enough confidence to stand on your own no matter what life threw at you. You have always been so determined, and self-motivated. Your sister, she needed a little bit more. Where you thrived on yourself, she needed more encouragement.”
“You can’t just leave me by the wayside because I don’t need you as much.”
“I know that now.” He looks down, slightly ashamed.
“You know that now. How did you not see that the nights I came home drunk or high?” I can tell that the words that I have used have wounded him.
“Because I didn’t want to see those things,” He admits.
“I understand, dad.” I say after ten minutes and when we are sitting in the car in front of the airport. “I love you.” I smile to him and lean over the car and hug him.
“I love you too, kid.” He pauses, “Don’t hate him. I was hoping that they would get together because he’s a good kid, he reminds me of you; that’s why I thought that they could work things out, but they never wanted one another.” He stops looking at me. “Don’t be mad at him forever.”
“That’s probably not possible.” I tell him and exit the car, walking through the airport I finally let myself cry. Four hours later I am landing in Miami airport, and I am instantly glad that I had booked the non-stop flight, and that it is still early enough that the sun is still up. I run to Paige and hug her when I see her and I let the tears flow down. Who is this person who cries at will now?
“Shh, doll face, let’s get you home.” She pats my arm and then leads me out of the airport and to my car, which I had let her borrow while I was out of town.
We pull up to Marsi’s house and I am glad to see that she is at work today. We walk inside of the house and up the stairs to my bedroom. I open the balcony doors and I sit down and look over to the water. I let all of my worries drift away from me and I force myself not to look over at Austin’s house, but out of the corner of my eye I can see the light come on in his room and I can only wonder if he has someone in there with him.
“Stop doing that?” I hear Paige tell me as she sets a wine glass out in front of me.
“Doing what?” I ask her.
“Driving yourself crazy trying not to look over there, take a quick look, and see for yourself.” I sigh looking over to his house, but at first all I can see is the lights on, then I see it. I see a woman walk out onto the balcony that sits on the outside of his bedroom and my heart sinks. I feel like I cannot breathe as I watch him walk out after her. I make myself turn quickly before he can see me and I walk back inside my room.
“We’re going out.” I say yanking my closet doors to look inside.
I come out of the bathroom half an hour later and take a look in the mirror at myself. I have picked out a purple halter top with a plunging neck line that shows off more cleavage than I have boobs, a pair of black skinny jeans, my five inch wedges, and I pull a light weight jacket around my arms. Paige’s mouth hangs open when she looks at me, “Soph, you know me better than anyone but if I wasn’t completely into guys I would want to have sex with you right now.”
“Thanks, I guess.” And we both start to laugh. I straighten my long black hair so that it hangs down my back and then put more makeup on than I have worn since I have been here. We make our way down the steps as Mar walks into the house and she looks at me questioning.
“Where are
you two going?” She asks us with a worried look.
“Out.” I tell her.
“Okay, how did everything go today?”
“Good, Joe dropped the charges.”
“How did you manage that?”
“Come out with us and I’ll tell you.” I smile at her.
“Is this about whatever is going on with you and Austin?” She questions, knowing me too well.
“Yes,” I tell her which causes her to shake her head and the look that she gives me is almost out of pity. I hate her for it. She begins to walk to her room and then walks back out only moments later throwing her hair up into a messy bun and I smile. The three of us used to go out every weekend when she would come visit us in Boston.
I think that we are on the fifth round of shots but I cannot really remember. I start to walk up to the bar when a guy sitting on the stool next to me looks over to me and smiles.
“Hey, sweetheart, what are you doing up here all by yourself?”
“I’m a big girl I don’t need anyone to escort me to get another drink.” I tell him. He smirks at me getting up and placing his hand on the small of my back. “Don’t touch me.” I tell him.
“Oh, but sweetheart, you said you are a big girl.” He says stepping in closer to me and I feel his hand trail down towards my ass. I turn to my side and bring my knee up to right outside of his crotch.
“And I also said don’t touch me.” I snap and turn to walk away when I feel a hand come down onto my arm and snatch me to the side. I flinch slightly as part of his hand lands on the bruises that Joe gave me.
“What was that?” I hear Austin’s voice slur into my ear. I turn bringing my eyes up to him.
“What was what?”
“That guy, what were you talking about.” I can’t help but wonder where the girl is that was at his house.
“I don’t see how that is any of your business anymore.” I bluntly tell him turning around to walk away but I feel him snatch me back, “What the fuck,” I yell at him.
“Answer me,” I can tell that he is drunk, probably drunker than I am. “You never let me fucking explain what happened in Boston.”
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