One Wild Night

After leaving the Hank family home and returning to her apartment, Sonia let herself give in to self-pity and she spent the remaining part of the morning until her meeting, crying.

She felt devastated by the sudden U-turn that her life and their relationship had taken.

Everything had been going so perfectly with her life and all of a sudden everything was upside down.

How did everything end up going so wrong? Less than forty-eight hours ago she and Bryan had been talking about growing old together and now he was talking about taking a break.

Where did she go wrong? Sonia asked herself as she sat up on the bed after some time and blew her nose into a napkin noisily before wiping her tears.

What did she do that was so wrong? Maybe if she could go over everything that transpired between them she would know exactly what she did to deserve being treated this way by Bryan.

Perhaps she had jinxed things. Everything had been going smoothly until she told him their romance story was a whirlwind romance that needed a conflict. Maybe if she hadn't said that they would have been fine.

She paused and reminded herself that what she had said was not the major reason for their misunderstanding. Maybe it had led to it, but it wasn't the reason.

Yes, she had said their story needed a bit of conflict, and yes Bryan had gone ahead and attempted to create one, which was sweet of him but that also was not the reason for their misunderstanding.

She agreed that she had been distracted and inattentive when Bryan tried to get her attention in the car. She had been wrong, but then again, she had realized it in time and tried to make it up to him but he had turned her down and insulted her instead.

Being distracted and inattentive was something natural that was bound to happen in any relationship at some point.

Even in the best of relationships, a partner may not always be attentive because everyone had stuff they were dealing with, and if the situation was reversed she wouldn't have reacted the way Bryan had done.

And yet she had to admit once again that people were different and she couldn't expect Bryan to react to things as she did. They had different temperaments and were yet to fully understand each other.

They were having these arguments because Bryan had chosen to misunderstand her. She had only said they should not hurry into moving in together so that they could get to understand themselves properly and build trust. What was so difficult for him to understand in that? Or had she been the one who had communicated it wrongly?

Why did he have to overreact to the extent of going out and getting into a fight when he knew how things like that could affect his image as a celebrity? Sonia mused, beginning to feel annoyed as she got off the bed and headed for the bathroom to ease herself.

As she turned to leave after easing herself, she caught a reflection of herself in the mirror and stopped to stare at herself.

Her eyes were red and puffy, and her nose was also. Her face looked dull and stressed out, and she would need a lot of makeup to fix her face for the meeting.

It was almost time for her to leave for her meeting with her editor and right now she had no idea what to say or do anymore. Could she go on with her original plan and fire him? Would she be fine without Bryan? She asked herself as she stood in front of the mirror and stared back at her reflection in the mirror.

What was she doing? She asked herself when it occurred to her that she was now having self-doubts and was also attributing her happiness and even her success to Bryan.

This was certainly not Sonia Smith. Sonia Smith was not weak or emotionally dependent on anyone for her happiness. She had been fine on her own this whole time before Bryan showed up in her life and she would be fine with or without Bryan. Her happiness was not dependent on him.

Who was Bryan Hank to make her feel this way? What was so special about him? She too was equally special!

"This is not you, girl," she said, pointing at her reflection with disapproval.

How had the almighty Sonia Smith transformed into such a crybaby? When did she become so emotionally weak? When did she begin to depend on people for her happiness?

Bryan wanted a break, so what? Was her life supposed to come to a standstill just because of that?

Yes, she was unhappy about how everything was going, but being this way wasn't her thing. This wasn't Sonia Smith! She was the fucking life of the party and she would be damned if she let herself be this way over a man.

He wanted a break? He could have it! If he also wanted a breakup, he could damn well have it as well! They were both at fault and if whatever was wrong was going to be fixed, then it had to be their joint effort. If he wasn't ready to work on it, then he should have it his way.

Having made up her mind, Sonia washed her face and returned to her bedroom to get ready for her meeting. As she looked through her closet for suitable clothes to wear, she made up her mind to go ahead with her plans.

She may have decided to move to Ludus because of Bryan, but she had not decided to fire her editor or make changes in her career because of him.

She was firing her editor because he did not trust her and she couldn't work with him. And now she was moving to Ludus to be closer to Lucy since Lucy was her only family, and also to start the next phase of her career.

If things worked out between her and Bryan after now, great! If it didn't, good too! She was going to do things for herself because she wanted to, not because of Bryan.

Sonia threw a two pieces pantsuit on the bed before taking off her clothes. As she started taking off her panties, she paused with her hand on the waistband and her head snapped to the door when she heard a sound like someone was turning a key in the lock.

Derek? She thought. And with eyes blazing with anger she quickly put on her clothes but before she could finish and hurry out of the bedroom to the kitchen to get a knife and teach him a lesson, Lucy ran into the bedroom and ran past her to the restroom.

Lucy? She had completely forgotten that Evelyn had mentioned that Lucy would be coming over.

"I was so pressed. For a moment I thought I might urinate in the cab," Lucy said as she walked out of the restroom after easing herself.

"I thought you were Derek. I could have stabbed you to death," Sonia said while Lucy watched her.

"How are you?" Lucy asked with concern.

"You shouldn't have come. I'm alright and I have my shit together now," Sonia said without meeting Lucy's gaze as she began taking off her clothes again.

"You are such a terrible liar," Lucy said as she stepped closer to her and embraced her.

"Really, Lu. I'm fine now," Sonia insisted as she tried to break the hug but Lucy held her.

"You don't have to pretend like you are fine with me. You look terrible, Sony," Lucy said as she pulled back to look into Sonia's annoyed face.

"I wasn't okay initially but I'm fine now. Why travel all the way down here simply because Bryan decided he needs a break?" Sonia asked with disapproval as she moved away from Lucy.

"When did it become a crime to want to spend some good time with my best girl?"Lucy said as she kicked off her shoes and dropped them on the floor.

"It's a good thing you are fine. We can just have fun and talk..."

"I want to be alone..."

"You can't be alone when you have me," Lucy quickly cut in, ignoring Sonia's obvious annoyance and irritation.

"What is your plan for the day? How about we go see a movie? And then we can have lunch at an outrageously expensive restaurant? And go bowling or do anything fun you like. We can also eat ice cream and chocolates and cuss at Bryan," Lucy suggested, wriggling her toes.

"You don't like going to the cinema," Sonia pointed out.

"I don't have to like it to do it. I'm in a relationship now, remember? Tom loves seeing movies so I'm practicing for him..."

"Good for you," Sonia muttered, and Lucy blinked at her.

"Oh! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to imply that..."

"Relax. I know you, and I know you were not intentionally trying to make me feel bad by talking about your happy relationship. I'm just in a very foul mood, and I don't think coming down here was a good idea. Unlike you, I have more experience when it comes to relationships and the issue with Bryan isn't really a big deal," Sonia said, and Lucy's brows arched as she watched her.

"Yet you cried to the point your eyes are puffy," Lucy said quietly.

"I was surprised that's all. I'm alright now. I have a lot of things I need to do and you will only be getting in the way..."

"When can you say I have ever been there for you, Sonia? In all the years we have been friends, when have you ever really let me be there for you?" Lucy asked, beginning to feel her temper rise at Sonia's attitude.

It had always been this way. Whenever she had a problem she would go to Sonia with her problems, but Sonia always kept whatever was bothering her to herself. Sonia preferred to withdraw and take care of her issues herself rather than share them with her.

"This isn't about..." the rest of Sonia's words trailed off when her phone started ringing and she picked up her phone from under her pillow.

She sighed when she saw that the call was from Jade. She wasn't in the mood. She didn't want to talk to anyone or see anyone.

Seeing the way Sonia was staring at her phone, Lucy assumed she needed privacy to receive the call so she walked out of the room and went to pick up her handbag and travel bag which she had dropped in the living room in her hurry to ease herself.

Sonia sighed as she watched Lucy walk out of the bedroom, and then her gaze returned to her phone when it started ringing once again.

This time she received the call, "Sup?" she asked in a forced cheerful tone since she suspected that Jade was calling to check on her.

"How are you doing?" Jade asked, wanting to get that out of the way before telling her the reason for the call.

"Great! Lucy just got here. I'm going out for a meeting with my editor and after that, I'm hanging out with Lucy," Sonia said, and even though Jade could tell Sonia's cheerfulness was false, she didn't talk about it.

"I won't waste your time then. We wanted to find out if you're fine with Jeff giving Derek a call during the interview. We need to clear the air and..."

"Do what you have to do. I'm good," Sonia cut in before Jade could finish.

"Derek could say stuff about you..."

"I know, and I don't care. I'm sure there is nothing he is going to say that is unheard of. Do what you have to do," Sonia said, and before Jade could say anything else, Sonia hung up the call and went to the living room to meet Lucy.

"Lu..."

"If you tell me one more time that you want to be alone, I will walk through that door. And this will be the last time I will ever share my problems with you or come to you if you have a problem. You can't always be the one to decide how to be a friend to someone! You can't be the one calling the shots in our friendship! It is annoying that you think you have a right to be there for me when I'm down but I don't have a right to know when you are not okay. And God forbid that I try to be a caring friend," Lucy snapped at her angrily, and took a deep breath when she noticed the tears in Sonia' eyes.