Take Me Home: Sophi VI

Take Me Home Sophi: VI

Sophi's head darted upward at that voice.  It was the voice from before!  That damn giant who had just picked her up and started petting her!  She felt herself starting to back away from the scene, wondering if she should hide behind the computer or something.
Tom looked at his friend, feeling a little sheepish.  For the life of him he wasn't exactly sure what he was apologizing for, but he knew that Christopher was always a little weird about the way that he treated the humans.  Taking a deep breath, he glanced at his friends shoulder, and not seeing her there, he decided to continue, "Well, I wanted to say sorry for earlier. Is she here?" He asked, sounding a lot less energetic than back at the park.
"I... Don't think she'd want to see you... I'll ask though," Christopher said, running his fingers through his hair and walking back to her.  When he saw Sophi sitting there with wide eyes he could only assume that she heard the story already. "I'm guessing you could hear that?"
Sophi was pissed yes, but she couldn't help the fear that she felt from before.  That same giant was here?  The same one who had pet her and made her feel so much smaller than she already was?  Her face grew a bit red but she tried to play it off since this was Christopher's friend.  She waved it off, knowing that she couldn't stop from meeting him anyway so she might as well just deal with it.  She didn't want Christopher to think that she had to be kept some secret from the world.  IT'S FINE. She wrote out and held it up.
"Are you sure, Sophi?" he asked, not believing her.  "You don't have to talk to him if you don't want to.  I'll just tell him to go home.  I can understand why you wouldn't want to talk to him."
Sophi waved him off.  She was hoping that Christopher would just call the whole thing off himself, but this Tom guy was his friend before she even knew him.
"Well... if you're sure," he said, still worried about her. "If you want him to go though, just tell me…I mean…just somehow let me know." He walked back out of the room, soon returning with Tom.
"Hey there. You doing ok?" Tom asked, sitting in front of her next to the table.  He looked over his shoulder to see if Christopher had followed him, but he remained standing in the hallway.  He was probably expecting something to happen and the fact that after just one meeting, he was so worried about Tom doing something to his human, it bothered him slightly.
Tom turned his attention back to Sophi, trying to understand why kind of human she was.  All Tom knew about her was that she looked amazingly attractive and he hoped that this would take his friend's mind off of Kasey.  But there was something about her that looked different from the picture.  When he had first ordered her, she looked 'wicked' attractive.  The kind of human that might have kept Christopher on his toes, like Kasey had.  But this one looked a little more somber in person. He bent his head down, trying to look at her better. "You can at me, it's alright.
He tried in a soft voice.  "Look, I'm sorry about earlier. I forget sometimes that humans don't like other giants even being close to them."
Sophi kept her head lowered, nodding at him.  Eye contact with new giants was something that she had always avoided.  She never knew how they would react to her looking them directly in the eye.  Even though she wanted to give this giant a damn good piece of her mind, she didn't want Christopher mad at her.  She shifted her eyes slightly to see what he was doing as he watched the incredibly awkward scene.
He leaned back against the door frame, waiting for her rejection. Knowing her by this point her reaction to this sort of thing would basically be 'fuck off'.  For some reason, this made him smile.  Even without her voice, it would be funny to see her tell someone to leave her alone.  She wasn't doing it too much with him as of late and maybe it would be good for Tom to know that not all humans want to be pet and coddled.
Christopher smiled at Sophi, hoping that she would get the hint.
Sophi gripped her hands in tight fists sucking in her anger at him.  But no…she took a deep breath...refusing to upset Tom in front of Christopher.  He was smiling because he was pleased with her behavior, she assumed and Sophi wanted to show that she could behave if for no other reason that he was the way she would get her voice back.  She owed him that much.  She picked up the same paper that she wrote IT'S FINE from before and held it up to him to see.
Tom exhaled in relief, not noticing her body language, but just assuming that Sophi would forgive him this easily.  He couldn't understand why a human wouldn't want to be taken care of and piss off other giants. "Alright, good," he said with a light smile.  "I hate upsetting anyone…even humans. Hey, how about a real introduction?" He said with a smile, holding his finger in front of her. "I'm Tom!"
Christopher, still standing in the background shook his head in absolute disbelief of his friend's arrogance and absolute stupidity.  Couldn't he see pretty clearly that she wanted nothing to do with him?  He glanced over at Sophi, growing even more confused with her behavior.  Why didn't she just ask him to leave?
Sophi warily looked over towards Christopher.  He didn't look upset or anything yet, so maybe this was how he wanted her to act.  Glancing over at Tom's finger coming towards her, she backed up slightly stumbling a bit on the laptop.  Quickly she found her footing again, swallowing hard.  Trembling, she reached up and touched the same hand that had only pet her just a little while ago.  
She felt disgusted with herself.
Tom, still oblivious tried to smile at her.  "Heh, what? I don't get your name?" He asked with a smile, pulling his hand away.
"She can't speak, genius. Her name's Sophi," Christopher said, becoming annoyed. He hated seeing Sophi so scared... so irritated.
It was a reminder that he was the very thing she hated.
"Oh?" Tom said, surprised.  "They didn't mention that when I looked her up," Christopher couldn't tell if he was actually upset by this or not.  "Aw, I'm sorry. I'd hate if I couldn't speak," he said, trying to sympathize with her but still looking more upset that he had bought his friend a human with a defect.  "Maybe we could call the shelter?" he mused, staring at Sophi more closely.  "I mean if you want a human that can talk-"
"Tom," Christopher said, obviously exasperated.  "It's fine…is this all that you wanted?"
"Well it's not fair that she can't talk," he continued.  "We can get you a better one-"
"Shut the hell up!" Christopher said.  "She's fine…I'm working on it."
"Working on what?  Training her to speak?"
Christopher's eyes widened but he tried to remain calm for Sophi's sake.  He had had just about enough of his friend at this point.
Sophi, meanwhile, crinkled her nose in disgust...becoming more irritated.  The way he spoke to her, he didn't seem like he was that apologetic at all.  She thought about giving him the finger at this point, just to get him to leave her alone but all she could do was just stand there, feeling exposed and stupid because she couldn't talk.  Gathering up her courage, she was just about ready to let a stream of words come flying out of her lips when she saw Christopher come out over out of the corner of her eye.  
She backed up at the movement and Tom's surprise.
"Look, we were just getting ready to head to bed soon. I'll text you later or something, ok?" He said, grabbing his arm and standing him up.  This was going a lot worse than he had expected it to.
"Hm?" Tom said, allowing his friend to pull him away.  "Oh, shoot! Sorry, I guess that it is kind of late." He headed back towards the front door, waving with a smile to Sophi. "Later, Soph!  Hope you learn to speak soon."
And with that, he was gone.
Christopher sat on the couch, groaning and running his fingers through his hair. "Good gods... my best friend is just gonna keep screwing this shit up, isn't he?" He said to himself. He looked back up at her, apologetic. "Sophi…I'm so sorry about him... He means well, he really does, but he's just kind of...well stupid."
Sophi frowned.  She couldn't tell if Christopher was mad at her or not.  Did she handle the whole thing well?  Was she not being nice enough?  If Christopher hadn't come over when he did, she probably would have gotten herself in a lot of trouble with his friend.  And despite how annoyed she was, she needed Christopher if she was going to have any chance of getting her voice back.  
She rolled her eyes, since when did something like that even matter to her?  She waved Christopher off, glad that at least Tom hadn't tried to pet her this time.  Reflexively she dusted her hand off on her pant that she had just shaken with him.
Christopher bit his lip.  "We're still... we're still ok, right?" He asked, remembering how she reacted last time she met Tom. He could only hope she'd still be willing to trust him despite what Tom had done.
WE'RE OKAY she wrote simply, holding it up to him.  She didn't really want to talk about Tom anymore, THAT'S HOW GIANTS LOOK AT HUMANS, ITS NOT ANYTHING NEW.  I WAS JUST TRYING NOT TO BE A BITCH TO ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS.
He read the note for a moment, not quite believing her. Was she really only acting like that because somehow she was still afraid of how he would react?  He decided to test it out, tentatively bringing his hand up. "I'm not going to grab you," he said, almost becoming routine as he reached forward and lightly stroked her arm with his knuckle.
For a moment all Sophi could imagine was Tom's hand coming at her again, reaching forward to pet her back or something even less demeaning.  Flinching, she jerked her arm away from Christopher's hand.  Blinking, she tried to remember that this wasn't Tom or anyone else...it was Christopher.  But it was too late; she had already reacted very strongly.  SORRY, she mouthed to him, rubbing her hand up her arm where he had just touched her.
"It's... it's fine," Christopher said in a soft voice, pulling his hand away when she flinched, simply nodding when she tried to apologize.  "Sophi, I…," there was another knock at the door, frustrating him.  Rolling his eyes, before turning back to Sophi with a soft look he said, "I'll be right back," and then stood up, heading out to the front door.
Fuck.  Why couldn't she do anything right around him anymore?  What did Kasey do that made him care for her so much?  No matter how much she was trying she couldn't help her reactions to things.  One minute she was asleep on his chest and the next she was flinching away from him.  Fuck Fuck Fuck, she cursed over and over again.  If she just had her damn voice she could clarify!  She sat down on the desk, writing SORRY out again and waited for him while he answered the door.
He came back a couple minutes later with a large pizza box. After making a 'scoot over' motion with his hand to her, he could set the box down, moving the laptop as well. Once she moved he set the box down and opened up the box, the smell and heat suddenly billowing out. He happened to glance down, seeing the new SORRY note.
"It's alright, really. I understand," he sighed, smiling for her sake.
But it wasn't alright to her.  
She wasn't sure how to get this through to him.  With a look of self-determination, she walked up to the edge of the table and held out her arm, hoping that he would understand what she was implying.  She didn't want to flinch when he reached out for her.  He had done nothing wrong.
He wasn't sure he got it at first, reaching a hand out towards her arm tentatively. He stopped before he reached her.  "Sophi...are you sure? I don't want to do anything to make you uncomfortable."  She just jerked her arm towards him even more.  She wanted him to know that she trusted him and she just wasn't sure how else to get it across.  Without her voice, this was the best that she could do for now.
Nodding, Christopher repeated the action and gently stroking her arm in the same sort of comforting motion. He watched for her reaction, worried about hurting or offending her as Sophi focused her attention on not pulling away, squinting her eyes shut.  It was strange but she dealt with it for a few more moments before lowering her arm again, trying to smile at him in a 'see that wasn't so bad' motion.
"I guess if you're ok then," he said, smiling. He sat up and clapped his hands. "Alright, let's dig in!" Christopher moved the box sideways so she could use the open lid as a plate for her food. "It's pretty hot though, so we've got to give it a sec to cool."
Nodding, Sophi walked up to the box, standing on her tip toes to look inside.  She inhaled deeply unable to stop herself from licking her lips and snuck a look up at Christopher who must have seen the whole thing.  She covered her face with her hands and stepped away from the box, hoping that he wouldn't point it out.
He smiled, but knew she wouldn't appreciate bringing it up. "One sec, I'll test it," he said and grabbed a cheese slice and took a bite. "Mmmm... forget what I said, dig in. It's perfect."
Sophi stepped over the box edge and walked up the slice, wondering how to attack it first.  Carefully she scooped up a handful of cheese and sauce in her hand and brought it to her mouth.  Her eyes brightened at the taste and she started to use both hands to eat before she paused for a moment walking up to the pieces that looked a little different than hers.  Pointing at a small piece of sausage she looked up at Christopher as though asking permission to try it.
He swallowed so he could speak, "sure, knock yourself out. I got half and half so you could try both," Christopher said, finishing his slice and grabbing a sausage slice. He wanted to chuckle at her enthusiasm, finding it kind of cute. He kept it inside though so as not to bug her.  They were slowly getting back to where they were in the park just a few hours ago.
Leaning down, Sophi pulled the sausage piece off of the pizza and walked to her side of the box to eat it.  Taking a bite, she grinned widely to herself.  So good!  Polishing it off she went back to her plain slice and ate more cheese and tomato, not even bothering with the crust.  Her hands were pretty messy at this point so after she was full she sat down on the outside of the box and tried to clean off her hands and face that were covered with cheese and tomato.
He snickered, unable to keep from laughing in some way upon seeing her, "Don't worry, I gotcha covered." He walked back into the kitchen, returning with a paper towel.  As Sophi walked up to take it from his fingers, for a moment Christopher forget how Sophi reacted and went to start dabbing some of the sauce off her face, but she gasped in surprise.  "Oh!" He blurted out, blushing.  "I-I'm sorry Sophi…" he held the paper towel out to her, feeling like a complete idiot for getting in her personal space.  Clearing his throat, he tried to play it off, "So you like it I'm guessing?"
Sophi's cheeks turned as bright red as the tomato sauce as he laughed, obviously embarrassed, but she didn't swear at him.  She was just surprised by the whole thing.  He had been so gentle that she almost let him clean off her face!  After he gave her the paper towel, she started to clean off her face and hands and nodded and smiled at Christopher.  SOOOO GOOD, she mouthed, unable to contain her smile again, not bringing up the fact that he had tried to clean her off.
Christopher looked relieved. "Hah, I'll save a couple slices for you then," he said, grabbing a cheese and sausage slice and setting them aside. "Think those'll last you a while?"
She gave him a 'thumbs up' sign and lay back on the coffee table, leaning against the open laptop.  Rubbing her stomach, she snickered to herself.  It had been a very long time since she had eaten like that.  She would probably get to eat pizza for at least another day or two and she was perfectly okay with that.
He looked over at the calendar he kept in the corner of his screen. "Alright, so today is Thursday. We've just got a couple days and then we'll have our first real conversation," he said, smiling.

Sophi tilted her head to the side.  She was excited to have her voice back but she was still pretty nervous about actually speaking to Christopher.  What would she think of her voice?  With a full stomach she reached over to grab a piece of paper.  WHAT WILL YOU DO ONCE I HAVE MY VOICE BACK? She wrote out.
Christopher looked a little puzzled by the question. "Um... talk to you?" He said with a smile, arching a brow. "What else would I do when you talk?"
She frowned back at him. WELL YOU'LL HAVE NO REASON TO KEEP ME HERE. She tried to explain through her writing.  I MEAN ME BEING HERE WAS AN ACCIDENT.  ONCE I HAVE MY VOICE I WON'T HAVE TO STAY.
"You're still worried about that, Sophi?" He asked, a little surprised. "Sophi, you've never had to stay here since day one. You could've left whenever you wanted. And you can still stay when you talk, if anything you'll be more welcome, "he finished off with a chuckle.
His words seemed sincere so she smiled broadly.  Sucking in a deep breath she walked up to his hand that was resting on the coffee table and reached down to pat it.  THANKS she mouthed to him, feeling happy again.  Smiling carefully, shifted his hand up to put his thumb behind her head in a kind of caressing motion. "It's no problem," he said, wondering how she would react to this, "I'd love it if you'd stay here in fact."
Her eyes widened.  Someone actually wanted her to stay??  She was so focused on his words that she didn't even realize that he was touching her hair.  She motioned to herself and then to the floor as in saying ME?  STAY HERE? And looked up at him.  Dodging past his hand she ran to get the paper.  I WANT TO STAY TOO, she said, holding the paper towards him, her face growing a bit shy for the first time.
"Good. So we're agreed then," he replied, nodding. He yawned after a moment, looking out the window. "Dang, it really is getting late."
Sophi followed his look towards the window, nodding sleepily.  Stretching, she yawned with no sound and looked at the laptop.  She really wanted to watch something else but she was getting tired as well.  Pointing at the computer, she then pointed upstairs before writing down:  CAN WE TAKE THAT UPSTAIRS TOO?
Christopher couldn't stop from beaming, "Yeah, we can take it anywhere." He folded the laptop and tucked it under his arm, holding his other hand out to her. "Come on.  We can watch something before we go to sleep."
Tucking her pencil and paper under her own arm, she smiled back at him and walked into his hand without so much as a second thought.  She was getting much more comfortable around him.  Crossing her legs, she steadied herself and looked up at him, giving him a nod, signaling that she was good to go.
He held his thumb near her for support again, lifting her up and headed upstairs.  "So, I was thinking we try watching an actual movie instead of just goofy shorts."
MOVIE? She mouthed to him.  Movies were pretty long from what she remembered but she tried to blink away her sleepiness, stretching in his hand.  Rubbing her eyes, she smiled up at him and nodded.  SOUNDS GOOD! She mouthed to him, still smiling.
"Alright, I've got a feeling you don't really know what most movies are but if you like I'll let you pick," he said as he walked into his room.
She shook her head and pointed at him.  YOU PICK.  She mouthed to him.  She wouldn't have the slightest idea how to pick out a movie.
Christopher nodded, setting his laptop on the bed and moving to a small rack of DVDs and browsing them. He smiled, picking out an old anime movie.
"Ah, an anime classic. I love this one," he said, waving the DVD a bit before heading over to his bed. He set Sophi on his pillow before climbing into bed himself and pulled the laptop up onto his chest, popping the DVD in.
Sophi was a bit surprised that he set her on the pillow to watch.  What surprised her even more was that she wanted to sit close to him.  Waving her head to get his attention from pillow, she tried to think of a way to ask him without making a total fool of herself.
He turned to her, sitting up a bit to better look at her, "What is it?"
She puffed out her cheeks, looking at him.  Scratching the back of her neck she slid down pillow and started to walk towards her paper but then decided against it, walking towards the pillow again.  No...she changed her mind and walked to the edge of the table and looked at him.  A blush crept onto her face as she thought it over while looking at him.  Throwing caution to the wind, she pointed at him not being clear in the least.
"Do you...want to sit by me?" He asked, holding his hand out for her, still surprised when she would say that she wanted to have anything to do with him.  "That's what I was planning on in the first place."
She smacked her forehead.  So he was going to do that anyways?  She felt like an idiot and wiped her hand down her face slowly.  Heh...she noiselessly smirked and walked towards the edge of the table and into his hand.  He brought her back over, leaning back down and setting her by him on the pillow again. "Ready to start it up?"
OH...she mouthed trying not sound a bit put off.  YES, she nodded and tried to focus on the screen.  Running a hand through her hair, she pulled some of it so she could hide her disappointment from him.  The whole thing was stupid anyways, why would he want to sit with her?  It was weird.  She tried to focus on the movie.
Glancing over after a few minutes, Christopher noticed her expression, and wondered if he had done something wrong again.  Looking over at the laptop and then back at her again, he snapped his fingers; sure that he knew what the problem was.  "Oh, sorry. Don't have a good view, do you?" Without a second thought he reached over and gently scooped her up, setting her on his chest. "Better?"
She was so used to arguing with giants touching her that she cursed slightly when he grabbed her up.  For once she was thankful that she didn't have a voice.  Cursing at him probably wasn't a good first reaction.  However, once she was settled on him, she calmed down slightly.  Not turning her face to his she nodded hard, feeling a little better.  It just sucked that she didn't ask him herself.
Christopher kept his hand set by her as he watched the movie, deciding to take a chance and reached up to stroke her arm again. He liked just having her here, watching a movie with him and relaxing before bed. It really made him happy.
A chill ran up her spine when she felt his hand touching her arm again.  She didn't jump...she actually kind of liked it.  She kept her focus on the movie, but smiled openly because he couldn't see her.  Her eyes started to droop as the movie went on and she started to lean against his hand more as she got sleepier.
About half way through the movie Christopher yawned openly, feeling his eyes droop as well. "Hey, you wanna get to bed? We can always finish this tomorrow," he offered, continuing to stroke her arm.  With a large smile, he watched as she turned her head to look at him, nodding sleepily.  It was so adorable that he blushed.  Quickly though, he composed himself and nodded back, shutting his laptop off and setting it down beside the bed. He then rolled over and set her on the pillow beside him, hand draped over her. "You ok, here?" It was a sort of test, seeing how much she trusted him.
Her eyes widened a bit, feeling a little scared at first but she tried to calm her nerves.  She rolled over so he wouldn't see how self-conscious she felt and nodded hard.
"It's alright, Sophi," he tried to say in a calm voice.  "If you're worried than you don't have to sleep here," he said, obviously wanting her here but not wanting to scare her.
She immediately rolled back over to look at him and sat up, pushing his hand away.  Luckily he let her do so.  She pointed down at her pillow and smiled.  IT'S OKAY.  It's just...she started to say but remembering the no voice thing.  Damn, she wanted to explain that she was just nervous, not scared but there was no way she could get that out.  She put on her best smile so he would understand that she was okay at the very least.
"Alright, good night then Sophi," he said with a smile before snuggling into his covers. He tentatively held his hand over her, wondering if he could set it back over her. He felt if he slept like that he'd remember she was there in his sleep and reduce any risks.
Sophi snuck a look upward and saw his hand hovering over her.  Without thinking she grabbed one of his fingers and pulled it closer to her as she lay down again.  His hand was just as good as a blanket, or at least that's what she told herself as Christopher allowed her to pull it close as she lied down on the pillow again.
He smiled, setting his hand comfortably over her. He shut his eyes and found sleep fairly easy to obtain tonight.
Sophi smirked.  There was nothing wrong with being this close to a giant.  Wasn't there?  
She closed her eyes and allowed the sleep to come.  
She would deal with those questions later.