Chased By The Light

Sophia’s POV

The boxes were stacked in the corner of my room five of them all labeled in my shaky handwriting, clothes, books and random shit.

I'd been avoiding looking at them all week because looking at them meant accepting that I was actually leaving.

That in twenty-four hours I'd be with a woman that happens to be my mother living under the same roof, moving to a house I'd never lived in to spend the summer before college with a woman I barely knew.

My dad thought it was for the best that’s what he kept saying.

"It's a chance to bond Soph. You're about to start college It's time to mend things with your mother."

He said it like it was simple like the last twelve years of near-silence could be fixed like I could just show up at Diana's perfect house with her perfect lavish lifestyle and pretend she hadn't walked out on us when I was eight.

I was eight when she left us to persuade her dreams of luxury cause apparently dad wasn’t enough.

I grabbed my jacket from the back of the chair and checked my phone. Caleb had texted me an hour ago: "Can't wait to see you tonight. Got something special planned."

He was always doing that little surprises, a bouquet of my favorite flowers.

He was just perfect, sweet and steady and safe. The kind of boy who made you believe that maybe love wasn't just something that disappeared.

I needed that tonight I needed to feel like I wasn't losing everything because tomorrow, I was moving in with my mother and the week after that college started.

And I wasn’t going to see him everyday but we’ve agreed to make it work, even though long distance was hard.

I texted him back: "On my way I love you."

The walk to Caleb's apartment was fifteen minutes I got there in no time.

Letting out a breath I didn’t know I was holding, I climbed upto his apartment trying so much not to think about moving.

I just wanted tonight to be normal.

I wanted to curl up on his couch and watch a movie and pretend that the future wasn't hurtling toward me like a freight train.

I pushed the door open walking in but something felt off as I walked in. The lights were dim with clothes scattered on the floor.

Both Masculine and feminine clothings it made my stomach churn.

And then I heard it.

A moan.

A woman's moan.

My feet stopped moving as my heart dropped.

It was probably the TV.

It was probably just a movie playing in the background. Caleb was always leaving the TV on when he I try to cover up, lying to myself.

Another moan louder this time and then a voice I knew.

"Faster baby.. I’m so close."

That voice, I knew that voice better than I knew my own.

Mia.

My best friend Mia.

My heart started pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears. My fingers were shaking as I walked toward the bedroom.

I didn't want to.

Every cell in my body was screaming at me to turn around and run. To pretend I hadn't heard anything. To go back to my apartment and delete Caleb's texts and never speak to Mia again and just pretend that this night had never happened.

But I couldn't.

My feet kept moving and then I was in the doorway and I saw them.

Mia was on top of him with her back was to me, but I recognized the curve of her shoulders. The messy ponytail she always wore when she was being lazy.

The sound of her breath coming out in short sharp gasps and Caleb.

His hands were on her hips with his head thrown back and eyes were closed.

The room swayed making me grab the doorframe to steady myself as my vision tunneled, and for a second, I thought I might pass out.

This isn't real.

This isn't real.

Mia's phone buzzed on the nightstand she reached for it and that's when she saw me.

Her eyes went wide.

And then and this was the part I couldn't understand she smiled a mock-ish smile

"Oh," she said like she'd just realized she'd left the oven on. "Sophia. You're here."

Caleb's eyes snapped open and saw me making his face drain of color.

"Soph—"

Mia? My best friend in bed with my boyfriend with his cock deep inside her, a position I’m suppose to be in but never have cause we decided we we’d wait till I was ready.

"What is this?" My voice came out like a whisper like I was asking about the weather. "Mia. What is this?"

She climbed off him slowly and deliberately and grabbed the sheet and wrapped it around herself like she had all the time in the world.

"Since when?" I asked with my voice getting louder. "Since when has this been going on?"

Caleb sat up.

He had the decency to look ashamed but not ashamed enough I realized.

"Sophia—"

"Six months," Mia said.

"Six months," she repeated like she was proud of it. "Pretty much right after you told me you were moving. You were so worried about leaving him behind and I thought—well, he shouldn't have to wait around for you right? That's not fair to him."

I couldn't breathe.

I literally could not breathe.

"You're my best friend," I said. "You're my—you're the only person I " I choked on the words. "How could you do this to me Mia? I told you I didn't want to leave him and you—"

"It's not a big deal Soph." She shrugged. “It's just sex. You were leaving anyway. What did you expect?"

"I expected you to be my friend."

"Maybe that was your mistake."

The words hit me like a punch to the chest.

I looked at Caleb. He was still sitting there, naked and guilty.

"Say something," I said. "Caleb fucking say something."

He opened his mouth and closed it then opened it again.

"You're moving," he said finally.

And that was it that was all he had.

"I know I'm moving. You think I don't know that? You think I haven't been terrified about it?"

"I just—" He ran a hand through his hair. "Sophia you're leaving tomorrow and then you're gone and I know we said we’d try long distance but I can’t…this—us—it was never going to work out anyway. You know that deep down you know that."

"I don't know that." The tears were coming now and I couldn't stop them. "I never knew that I thought….I thought we were—"

"You were never good for him Sophia," Mia interrupted. "I mean no offense but how can you not have sex with your boyfriend, are you a nun or something?."

Crack!

My hand moved before I could stop it I slapped her across the face Mia's head snapped to the side.

"Are you crazy? Get out," Caleb said.

I looked at him.

"Get out it’s over Sophia, just leave," he said again

“Caleb—“

“Please”

I nodded in understanding rushing out of the apartment and down the stairs and out onto the street.

I ran until my lungs were burning and my legs were shaking and I couldn't feel my face anymore.

I flagged down a cab.

"Where to?" the driver asked.

"Just drive," I said. "Just—please drive."