Because You Listened

Chapter 5

“So, if we can’t talk about where you grew up, can we talk about what you do for a living? It must be something big to be able to easily buy such a piece of art,” Jesse asked as they continued to stroll around the gallery floor.

“I work as the editor-in-chief for the San Francisco branch of Lovely,” she told him with a slight shrug of her shoulders, as if the title was nothing big. “Not quite what I wanted to do with my life, but close enough I guess.”

“Are you kidding? Do you know how many females in this room live and breathe that magazine? My sister included!” Jesse laughed. “That is a huge accomplishment, Sophia. Even if it’s not writing what you want to be writing, it’s your stepping stone to the top.”

Sophia took another sip of her champagne and frowned. Why wouldn’t he just act how she expected him to for once? Why couldn’t he just snort his disgust at her job and be done with it? It would make her life easier if she didn’t have to stand here simply waiting for the disapproval to shine through.

“Why do you look so sad about that?” he asked as he stepped in front of her, efficiently cutting off her view of the little round, roly-poly of an old woman that was wearing a dead bird in her blue hair. Her vibrant blue hair.

“Have you ever felt as if you were handed something just because of your last name?” she asked quietly, her mind thousands of miles away, not even aware that she was talking out loud.

Jesse frowned as he lightly cupped her cheek, making her darkening green eyes sharpen as she realized what she had said out loud. “What’s wrong? Seriously. Talk to me.”

“I don’t know you,” she protested with a slight shake of her head as she started to take deep breath’s to ward off the onset of tears.

“Sometimes the best thing that you can do is heap all of your troubles on a stranger,” he pointed out as he snatched a full glass of champagne off of a passing waiter and exchanged the empty one that was in Sophia’s hand.

“Are you trying to get me drunk?” she asked, attempting to change the subject.

“If it lets me help you, yes.”

“Why do you want to help me so much?” she asked him as she tried to look anywhere but his eyes. “You don’t even know me.”

“What does knowing you have to do with anything?” he asked her as he drew away from her a little and frowned. “Can’t I just be a nice, caring guy?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t have much experience with that type,” she told him with a dismissing shrug. “Most guys are complete assholes when it comes to women, so I’m sorry if I automatically think that way.”

“I don’t really think that is an apology,” Jesse commented as he stepped completely away from her. “But at least I know what you think of me – excuse me, I think that I just saw the gallery manager.”

Sophia closed her eyes as Jesse walked away, hands deep in his pockets.

“Way to be a royal bitch, Giovanni,” she muttered to her self as she re-opened her eyes. Leave it to her to say what she had always wanted to say to all of the men her father picked out, to the one man who truly actually cared.

“Looks like I was right about first impressions,” Livy snapped. “What the hell did you just do to my brother?”

“I snapped at him, what does it look like?” Sophia snapped as she turned around to face the petite woman. “And does it look like I’m happy that I just did that? No. So thank you for caring, but I have an apology to make as soon as I get drunk enough to do so. If you would please get out of my way?”

On those final words Sophia spun around on her heels and stalked – well, stalked as well as you could in three inch heels, towards where she saw Jesse last. On her way towards what looked like an exit, Sophia found the open bar and grinned. If she was going to confess all, she might as well be just a little under sober.

0.0.0

“You sure do know how to hide,” Sophia murmured as she finally found Jesse thirty minutes later sitting on the back stoop of the gallery looking at the glass of whisky in his hand.

“It’s a talent.”

“Are you still mad at me?” Sophia asked as she took a step down so that she could sit on the top step next to Jesse.

“I don’t know what I am,” he shrugged as he brought his glass up to his lips, not bothering to look at her.

“My father is a grade-A asshole,” Sophia said as she took another sip of the wonderfully fruity, very alcoholic drink that she had been given. “He never hit me – I think that even that much effort would have been too much for him,” she laughed hollowly, tilting her head back so that she could look at the sky as best as she could.

She had his attention now. She could feel his eyes on her as she talked. She kept her eyes trained upwards, not trusting herself to continue her story if she was looking at him.

“But in a way that is worse than physical abuse, I received the mental abuse. You’ll never be good enough; you’re a good for nothing, just like your mother; What am I supposed to do with a daughter? – You’re worthless to me; You’ll never amount to anything; Do you honestly think that he wants you for anything but sex-“

“Stop,” Jesse snapped suddenly, his body tense with anger on her behalf. “Your father honestly says those things to you?”

“Oh,” Sophia chuckled dryly. “That and more – and that’s not even the bad stuff. Don’t forget the fact that I studied my ass off to graduate college early – with honors to make him fucking happy, and simply received a, you could have done better than that.”

“Why do you deal with that? Why can’t you go live with your mother?”

“Because he would have to kill me to get me there – my mother died in a car accident when I was five. The breaks had gone out on her car as she was taking a sharp turn and flew off the side of the hill and into a dairy farm,” she told him with a half laugh. “It’s kind of ironic that she died there; she’s lactose intolerant.”

“I’m sorry,” Jesse breathed as he looked at her. There were some things where you just could never find the words. “Here, take my jacket,” he said as he noticed her shivering in the cold air. Sliding out of his well fitted dinner jacket, Jesse settled it on Sophia’s shoulders and watched as she burrowed herself into it; smirking as she inhaled the scent that was surrounding it.

“The worst of it is the fact that when my best friend in the whole world freaking died the same way my mother did, almost in the same spot, all he had to say to me is: Maybe you should stop being close to people. It seems like the more you care, the more likely they are to die in a car accident.”

Jesse never thought that it was possible to see such a look of hatred on Sophia’s face. She had a face that was meant for laughter and smiles. But this look was anything but.

“I wish that I could be one of those guys right now who always knew what to say at the right moment,” he told her as he placed his arm around her shoulders, trying to rub some warmth into her. “But it looks like I’m not. I’d say that I’m sorry, but that doesn’t help. I will tell you however, he doesn’t know what he’s missing.”

Sophia nodded her head as she sniffled. It was so tempting right now to simply rest her head on his shoulder and let him take it all away. She knew however, that it would only be a momentary fix. “He demanded that I come home immediately or else he’s coming out here to get me,” she told him apprehensively; ashamed to admit out loud that she was going to follow her father’s orders.

“What is he, the mafia?” Jesse demanded with a laugh.

“I wouldn’t really be surprised,” Sophia told him with a small shake of her head. “But no, I don’t think so. He’s just dictating and controlling. And I left without his approval to leave; in his mind I just committed a huge crime.”

“Will he seriously come here for you?” Jesse asked her, concerned. He didn’t like how her father was starting to sound.

“Yes. Without delay if I don’t give him my flight number by tomorrow.”

“Do you want to go back?”

“No,” she snorted as she reached up to push a lock of hair that had flown into her face as the wind blew around them.

“Why don’t you and I check out of this hotel and go to another – we’ll book both rooms under my name so he can’t find you. Then you go back home when you’re willing to?”

Sophia turned her head so that she could see Jesse a little better. She found herself wishing for better lighting so that she could see his expression as she did so. “I-I don’t know,” she stuttered, still shocked by the request.

“It’s time that you start living life for yourself Sophia – you’ve already planned to be here a little longer, why don’t you do it? You can’t let him control you.”

“Are you sure you want to get into this mess?” she asked him hesitantly. “What if he still finds us? He’s not going to be happy.”

“He’s not going to kill anyone is he?”

“No. He’s never killed anyone before. He just gets a temper and starts breaking things,” Sophia told him with a quick shake of her head.

“I’m used to that,” Jesse chuckled. “Come on Sophia, live a little with me. I’ll take you out on the town for the rest of your stay. I’ll bring you with me to my new opening, and you can meet the rest of my family. They’re great.”

“This is an extremely odd conversation, you do know that right?” Sophia said, huffing out a tense breath.

“Of course I know that – I’m the king of odd conversations,” he told her with a wink as he stood up and held out a hand for her to take. “But let’s get out of the cold before neither of us can feel our vital parts.”

Laughing, Sophia stood up and took his hand. “I feel like I’m going crazy, but I’m going to go with this crazy plan that you have. But don’t say that I didn’t warn you.”

“I’m a big boy, I can take care of myself,” he told her as he held open the back door.

“We’ll see about that.”

0.0.0

“Dancing? Really?” Sophia laughed as they made their way into the nightclub. They had just left the gallery and Sophia had thought that meant that their night was close to being over. He had surprised her however, and had the taxi pull up in front of what he assured her was a popular club.

“You do know how to dance, don’t you?” he asked with a challenging raise of his eyebrow.

“I can dance circles around you,” she smirked as they walked inside without standing in the long line – much to the cold waiting patrons’ disgust.

“We’re not talking ballet here, sister,” he laughed.

“Who says I did ballet?”

“The way you walk.”

“What do you mean the way that I walk?” she asked, confused.

“Graceful.”

“Huh?”

“You’re flud- oh never mind,” he sighed. “I was right though wasn’t I?”

“Well, yes. But I also took hip hop and jazz in school,” she pointed out with a smirk of her own.

“I’m just going to have to put you to the test, aren’t I?” he laughed as he dragged her out to the crowded dance floor.

“You’ll be surprised,” she yelled at him with a smile so that she could be heard over the loud music that was playing in sync with the blue, red, green and yellow flashing lights.

Smirking, Jesse continued to pull her in, happy to finally see the sadness out of her eyes.

The second they got to the middle of the floor, he stopped and swung her into his arms, her back to his chest. “Show me what you got,” he told her as he rested his hand on her waist and moved her body.

He heard her laugh lightly before she began to move on her own, in time with the beat. He learned that she could truly dance.

Twenty minutes on a dance floor with her left Jesse extremely turned on. “Come on, lets go get something to drink,” he yelled over the music. He couldn’t take any more of the rubbing and grinding and playful grins that she was giving him. He knew that she wasn’t going to share his bed tonight, and she was torturing him. That was the only thing that he could think of. He had done something wrong, and she was here to make him suffer.

Sophia nodded and let him guide her to the bar, where both of them leaned against the counter and waited for the busy bartender to get over to them. “What time is it?” she asked, and frowned a little as she looked around for a clock.

“Just after midnight,” Jesse told her as he glanced down at his watch. “You want to head back to the hotel?”

“We can stay a little longer. I just have to get up at five tomor- this morning.”

“Here, why don’t we just go ahead and head out now. I don’t want you falling asleep on your guest speaker,” he said with a laugh as he looked down at her.

“That would be bad,” she laughed as they headed back into the cold air.

“Especially if you snore. Can you imagine him talking about something important then suddenly you snore?” he chuckled and looked around for a taxi. “That would be hilarious!”

“No,” Sophia told him with a shake of her head. “That really wouldn’t be. That would be what most people call rude.”

“I bet you were always the girl who sat front and center of the class with her books open and pen ready, weren’t you?” Jesse asked as he waved an on coming vacant taxi over to them.

“No,” Sophia answered with a glare that said otherwise.

“You were!” Jesse laughed. “I knew it.”

“No I wasn’t. I sat in the front all the way over towards the door,” she corrected, causing Jesse to bark out a laugh.

“It’s not that big of a difference, babe.”

“Sure it is. The teacher isn’t always looking at you.”

“Mmhm,” he smiled as he gave the taxi the address of the hotel. “So is moving to a different hotel tomorrow okay with you?”

“Huh? Oh…uh, yeah, I guess. You really don’t have to do this you know,” Sophia told him as she looked at him hesitantly.

“Yes I do. You can’t let your father rule your life. I’m going to help you be the person that you want to be – not the person that he wants you to be,” Jesse told her as he grabbed her hand and brought it up to his lips. “You deserve to be happy.”

“T-thank you,” she smiled, a little breathless from the touch of his lips on her hand. Who knew that something so insignificant could make her heart race? She had men kiss her hand countless of times, granted most of them were all old, slimy sleaze-ball friends of her father, but still it wasn’t a new sensation for her. Yet with Jesse her heart was beating what felt like a hundred beats a second, and her body was tingling from her fingertips to her toes.

Just imagine what would happen if he was to kiss you on the lips, she thought, causing herself to blush. She should not be thinking of those things. He took her out on a date out of pity, and nothing else.

“You’re blushing,” Jesse commented with a smirk.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sophia shot back coolly. She was lying. She knew that her face was burning up in embarrassment.

“Are you naturally so pink in the cheeks then?” Jesse asked her with a grin.

Sophia could swear that she heard the cab driver chuckling. He was lucky that she wasn’t paying for the ride or he’d get a very low tip indeed! Laughing at her, huh!

“I have a natural blush to my cheeks,” she told him, and tried to keep from smiling. This was one of the most idiotic arguments that she had ever been in.

“Ah, I see.”

Looking out the window of the cab, Sophia smiled. Regardless of what people thought, New York City was one of the most beautiful places. So diverse and cultural. Not so difference from San Francisco really. They both even had a famous bridge!

Sophia gave a small laugh as she realized that she was actually comparing the cities so that she wouldn’t think about what that small touch of lips on her hand did to her. “Pathetic,” she mouthed to herself, aware of the fact that if she uttered a single word Jesse would hear it.

“What are you laughing about?”

“Oh nothing, I was just thinking how much ‘The Big Apple’ reminded me of San Francisco.”

“If you’re thinking about your home, obviously I’m not doing my job here,” Jesse commented dryly.

Frowning, Sophia looked away from the window to assure him that it had nothing to do with that. She was distracted however as she felt his warm hand slide around her neck and slip under her hair.

“I’m just going to try something,” he told her softly.

Mutely nodding, Sophia found herself closing her eyes, waiting for him to kiss her.

And waited.

Waited some more.

Opening her eyes, Sophia found herself looking right into the deep depths of his silver eyes.

“You’re beautiful, did you know that?” he asked her as he started to move his thumb in small, tiny circles right under her earlobe.

Who knew that the little hollow spot under your ear was so connected to your sex drive?

“T-thank you,” Sophia whispered, barely managing to get the words around her thick tongue.

Just then he smiled, and Sophia felt a little hitch in her heart.

“We’re here,” she told him softly as she continued to look in his eyes, scared that if she noticed his smile any longer that she was going to do something that she wasn’t ready for.

“So we are,” he agreed before he leaned in and softly gave her a kiss on the forehead. “I’ll be around to let you out.”

Sophia nodded her head and leaned back in her seat, taking a deep, calming breath as he paid for the cab ride.

If she wasn’t careful she was going to fall in love with a man that she knew nothing about.

Good thing that she had always been overly careful in her life.

Authors Notes:

Yeah, this was more than a week in updating, I know! I’m sorry. I just couldn’t figure out what I wanted for the end of this chapter… these characters are more challenging to work with in their minds. Lol. They give me headaches.

Anyways, I hope you like!

Review please!

Lisa