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I took a deep breath and dialled Roxy’s number.
‘Finally!’ she shouted. ‘Where the fuck have you been?’
Exactly why I didn’t want to call sooner…
‘Hold on, Roxy,’ I said, avoiding her questions. ‘I need to add Bella to the call. Just dialling her number now.’
‘Sophia!’ said Bella, answering after three rings and sounding a little bit happier to hear from me. ‘We’ve been so worried! Are you okay? Harrison said you were fine, but it’s just we hadn’t heard from you and—’
‘Bella,’ I interrupted calmly, ‘I’ve got Roxy on the call too. Are you both okay to talk?’
‘Yes, yes, I’m fine,’ replied Bella. ‘Paul’s asleep.’
‘Too right. We’re ready to speak Sophia,’ barked Roxy. ‘We haven’t heard from you since, what, the weekend before last? It was before you were going to Charlie’s, and then you just disappeared. No text, no call, nothing. Just gone AWOL for over a week. And now you call us like nothing’s happened. We were worried, you know. It’s just not like you,’ she said, voice softening a little.
‘Sorry, ladies, I know I’ve been a bit of a stranger and it’s wrong. I should have let you know I was okay,’ I said, shuffling up the bed. ‘It’s a long story, but in a nutshell, after we were messaging on Sunday, I spoke to Charlie and told him I didn’t know if I wanted anything serious and that I needed time to figure things out. He was upset, but I had to tell him how I felt. Then, later that day, Lorenzo messaged to say he was in London because he’d come here to work and to see me. We met on the Monday night, and I’ve pretty much been with him ever since.’
The phone line went silent.
‘Hello?’ I asked. ‘Roxy? Bella? Are you still there?’ I checked my phone screen to see whether I’d disconnected the call by mistake.
‘Sorry, did you sayLorenzo?’ said Roxy, clearly shocked. ‘Lorenzothe lothario chef that stood you up in Florence with five minutes’ notice and never bothered to message you back about coming to that food festival? The one that broke your heart and that you were whining on about for months afterwards? The one that showedzerointerest in you and fucks every guest aged sixty or under?ThatLorenzo?’ she snapped.
‘Look,’ I said firmly, not rising to the bait, ‘I know how it seems, but we’ve spent a lot of time together and he’s not really like that. If you were there and saw how cut up he was about standing me up in Florence and everything, you’d understand.’
‘What’s there to fucking understand?’ shrieked Roxy.
‘So you dumped Charlie—no, sorry, you told him you needed “time” and then two minutes later, you’ve jumped in bed with the Italian manwhore?’ Roxy yelled.
‘Weren’t you always telling me to have fun and not get too serious?’ I said.
‘Yes, but not with him! Look at how he treated you. And from what that Erica girl said, he sleeps with every woman with a pulse. You can’t be hanging around or messing about with the likes of Lorenzo. The only thing a man like him is likely to give you is bullshit and STDs!’
‘You don’t even fucking know him, Roxy!’ I retorted.
‘And you think you do after a few nights together? Wake up, Soph!’ added Roxy. ‘I know enough about him from what you’ve told us to know he just doesn’t seem like good news.’
‘For fuck’s sake! This is precisely why I didn’t message you. I knew you wouldn’t understand,’ I snapped back. ‘Why can’t you just be happy for me? I’m a grown woman. I’m used to making decisions. Why can’t you just trust my judgement?’ I barked.
‘You might be good at making goodbusinessdecisions, but so far you’re looking at this single life through rose-tinted glasses. I’m trying tohelpyou, Sophia. I’m trying to save you the pain that I’ve experienced from dating men like him,’ Roxy screamed back at me.
‘Ladies, ladies,’ said Bella, interjecting calmly. ‘Look, this is getting far too heated. Soph, we’re glad to hear you’re okay, aren’t we, Roxy? I understand what you’re both saying. Soph, I’m kind of with Roxy on this. Lorenzo does sound like bad news.But, you’re an adult and usually a good judge of character, so as your friends, we’ve expressed our concerns, now we just have to leave you to follow the path you feel is right for you. And as your friends, whatever happens, know that we love you and we’ll be there for you, no matter what. Won’t we, Roxy?’ Bella said sternly.
Roxy let out a large sigh. ‘Yes, of course. Soph,’ she said reluctantly, like Bella was holding a gun to her head, ‘I love you. I just don’t want to see you get hurt.’
‘I know, I know,’ I said, dialling down my anger and sitting back down on the edge of the bed. Trust me. I don’t want to get hurt either. But with Lorenzo, it’s just so, so,magical,’I gushed.
‘Oh good God!’ interrupted Roxy. I could feel her rolling her eyes.
‘Roxy…’ scolded Bella like she was telling off Paul. ‘Let Soph finish.’
‘I wish I could explain the connection we have,’ I said. ‘It’selectric. It’smagnetic. I want to be with him all the time. I’ve literally spent a whole week with him. Well, he worked for most of the day, but I’d meet him each night after work and then we spent all of Sunday and yesterday together, and whilst we did have lots of it, it wasn’tjustabout the sex. We talked forhours. Non-stop. He told me a lot of personal things too, which explains a lot about how he acted towards me and why he couldn’t meet me. And he makes me laugh so much my stomach hurts,’ I gushed. ‘He did so many sweet things, like massage my feet, comb my hair… he really took care of me. And he cooked the mostbeautifulfood…’
More silence. I could imagine Roxy’s eyes rolling faster than a washing machine completing a spin cycle. Yes. I did sound soppy, but what I said was all true.
‘That’s really lovely, Sophia,’ said Bella politely. ‘You seem happy,’ she added.
‘Iam, Bella. I really am. It just feels so different. So special with him. I can be myself. Everything is so natural and so easy,’ I replied.
