GETTING CLOSER (Chapter 32)

The rest of their sophomore years passed in a flash. They went to parties, hung out together, Sophia kept her grades up in spectacular fashion. They hung out with Crash and Jessie, who were getting closer and closer, much to Sophia and Warren’s (inward) delight and (outward) amusement. Sophia turned Sweet Sixteen, and eagerly began driver’s ed, causing much affectionate grumbling from Warren, who wouldn’t be sixteen for a while. They passed their test to compete in Junior Dance, and were working on a free dance to start competing with in the fall.

Sophia talked to her father on the phone, trying to establish some sort of relationship. Then, one Saturday in early July, Sophia accepted an invitation to his house. She insisted Warren come, also, and her father agreed. He offered to come pick them up, but they decided to take the train. They had taken the train into Boston before and loved it, so continuing past Boston and to the South Shore was no problem. Brian picked them up at the train station.

They drove a bit, until they came to a house. It wasn’t huge, but it was nice and well kept.

"This is it," smiled Brian. He went to the door, Sophia and Warren following.

Sophia’s stepmother, Michelle, was waiting for her. Sophia had talked to her on the phone and had found her to be very nice. "Sophia! I’m so glad I finally get to meet you!" she said, giving Sophia a big hug. "Nice to meet you, too, Warren," she said, shaking his hand, "I’ve heard a lot about you."

Sophia walked in the house, and looked around. In an adjoining room, she saw half a face and one eye peeking at her—then, when noticed, it disappeared around the corner.

Sophia laughed. "I think somebody is hiding."

Michelle laughed. "Briana? Come on out, honey."

She did—and Sophia gasped. The little three-year-old girl stood in front of her, and, it was almost like looking in a time-warp mirror. She didn’t have Sophia’s pale complexion—that came from Ellen—but the long, straight black hair; the deep brown eyes, and the button nose—that she had.

"Hi." Briana said shyly. "I’m Briana. I’m your sister." And she politely held out her hand.

Sophia laughed delightedly, approached the child, knelt down, and took the hand. "Hi, Briana. I’m Sophia. I’m your sister, too."

"And there’s no mistaking that, is there?" Warren chuckled from behind them.

"You ain’t kidding," Michelle agreed.

Warren approached the child. "Hi, Briana. I’m Warren." He kneeled down and extended his hand. She looked at it hesitantly.

"She’s a little wary around strange men," Michelle told him.

"Oh, he’s only strange some of the time," Sophia quipped. Warren stuck his tongue out at her, which made Briana giggle. She decided to take the outstretched hand.

"Hi, Warren. Are you my sister, too?"

Everyone cracked up laughing at that. "No, Briana, I’m a boy. Only girls are sisters. Boys are brothers. But, no, I’m not your brother."

"Not yet," quipped Sophia, earning a wide-eyed stare from Brian.

Warren just laughed. "Let’s see if she can grasp brother and sister before we throw future-brother-in-law at her, shall we? No, Briana, I’m not your brother. I’m Sophia’s boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?" Briana asked.

"Future-brother-in-law might have been easier to explain than boyfriend, dear heart," Sophia teased.

"You just keep quiet over there." Warren smirked. He turned back to Briana. "I’m Sophia’s very special friend, and when a girl has a very special friend that’s a boy, it’s called a boyfriend."

"Oh." Briana chewed on that one for a minute. "Does that mean that Sophia is your girlfriend?"

"You got it. You’re a very smart girl." Briana beamed at him.

Warren had sat on the couch next to Sophia by this time. Briana insisted on sitting in between them. Neither of them minded. "I have a boyfriend," the little girl proclaimed.

"Oh, you do?" Warren asked.

"Yeah. Alan. He’s in my school."

"She goes to preschool in the mornings," Michelle supplied.

"Alan’s my boyfriend." Briana thought for a minute. "What do you do with a boyfriend?"

Sophia burst out laughing, turning red, almost choking. "Oh, boy," she managed to blurt out.

Warren smiled bemusedly at her. "Keep your mind out of b-e-d, dear." Brian and Michelle just looked at each other. Warren turned back towards Briana. "Well, there’s lots of things you can do with a boyfriend. Sophia and I watch TV together. We go to the movies. We ice skate. We go to parties. We hang out with two of our friends, who are also boyfriend and girlfriend. We play on the computer together. We love to dance together. Lots of things."

"Oh." Briana thought about that one for a minute. "Do you kiss?"

Sophia lost it again. Warren just looked at Briana and said, "Sometimes."

"She watches way too much TV, I think" Michelle said, bemused.

"I don’t kiss my boyfriend. Kissing’s gross," Briana offered.

"That’s good. You don’t have to kiss, you know."

"Good." She got off the couch. "I have to go potty now. Be right back." And she was off.

Warren just looked at Sophia, and they burst out laughing. As did Michelle and Brian.

"Wow, she’s a trip," smiled Warren

"Warren, I cannot believe how quickly she took to you," Brian commented. "You are really good with kids."

"I’ve noticed that, too," said Sophia. She looked at her father. "Fits right in with his career goals."

"What are your career goals, Warren?" Brian asked.

Warren just smiled. "Pediatrician." Brian and Michelle laughed at that.

"Good choice, from what I just saw," Michelle agreed.

Sophia was still sputtering. "Have you recovered from the question about what to do with a boyfriend, Pookie?"

Sophia burst out laughing again. "I’m horrible. She asked that, and the first thing that popped into my mind was a very vivid picture of last night. What can you do with a boyfriend, indeed. Well, she’ll find out, in 15 years or so."

Warren noticed Brian staring at them. "Pookie, I think you just told your father something he didn’t know. And probably didn’t want to know."

Sophia blushed, but smiled. "Oops."

Brian eased up a bit, and smiled slightly. "Hey. Remember, this is the second time I’ve seen you since you were three years old. It’s bad enough that you’re all grown up. Now I have to deal with you being…..uh……"

Sophia blushed. "I think ‘sexually active’ is the phrase you’re looking for, Dad."

Brian grimaced. "Just please, please, please tell me you are using every form of protection known to man."

"Pretty much," Sophia grinned. "I want seven just like Briana, but not now." Everyone laughed at that.

"For my part, I need to get through med school and learn how to treat babies before I start making them," Warren added.

"Does your mother know?" Brian asked.

"Oh, she’s known for a while. I don’t keep it a secret." Sophia took a deep breath. "You wanted to get to know me, Dad. Well, here comes some things about me you’d probably rather not know, but you need to. Warren was not my first. I spent two years having unpleasant sex that was not completely voluntary with guys that beat me." Michelle gasped, and looked at Brian, who appeared to be close to tears. Sophia smiled. "Now I’m having fantastic sex that is completely voluntary with the most wonderful guy in the world. I can’t hide it. It’s part of who I am. Considering what I went through before Warren, it’s a glorious part of who I am."

"Sophia, I’m so sorry," Brian said.

"Dad, don’t. It’s over, I’m recovered, and I blamed you for it for far too long and I’m not going to do that anymore."

"I’m partially to blame, though."

"Maybe. Maybe not. The important part is that I no longer blame you. It’s not important. It’s really not." She got a lopsided grin. "If you can forgive your little baby for having an active sex life, than I certainly can forgive you for having me too young."

Brian smiled. "Deal."

Michelle quipped, "Just don’t let Briana in on the joys of sex for a few years, OK?"

"You got it," Sophia cracked up laughing.

Suddenly, they heard a cry from upstairs. Michelle got up, smiling. "Well, Sophia, I think that’s your other sister, wanting to be introduced. I need to change her, so I’ll be down in a minute."

"Do you have any career goals, Sophia?" Brian asked.

"Yeah. I’m going to study meteorology."

"Really? That’s fantastic!"

"Yeah, we figure she’ll step out of school and have four hundred job offers," Warren said. "Lately, everyone wants to hire some gorgeous girl to be their Weather Babe and look sexy while pointing at radar screens, right? Well, they can hire Sophie and get a gorgeous Weather Babe who actually knows something about the weather." Brian burst out laughing.

Michelle came back, a five-month-old in her arms. "I fed her and changed her, so she should be OK." She handed the infant over to Sophia. "Sophia, meet Katrina."

Sophia just melted. "Ooooh, look at her! Hi, Katrina." She reached out her finger, and the baby grabbed it in a little fist. "Oh, aren’t you precious!" She made goo-goo eyes and little noises at the baby.

"Well, honey," Michelle said to Brian, "if we ever want a night out, I think I know where we can find a babysitter."

"You betcha!" Sophia agreed happily. "Two, actually, because I’ll bring Warren to entertain Briana."

Michelle had made them lunch, and they had regathered in the living room. Warren had Briana on his lap, and was telling her silly knock knock jokes, making her giggle. Sophia was cuddling Katrina. Brian and Michelle were watching this, bemused.

"So, I know you guys are very young, but you seem to have an extremely good relationship," Michelle offered.

"We do," Sophia smiled.

"You guys think this is permanent?" Michelle asked.

"Honey, they’re sixteen!" Brian said, laughing.

"Actually, I’m only fifteen," Warren offered.

"Younger man, huh, Soph?" Michelle winked. Sophia just blushed.

"OK, fifteen and sixteen," Brian amended. "How do they know that it’s going to be permanent?"

"Oh, I was just wondering if they had talked about it."

"Yeah, we’ve talked about it." Sophia looked at Warren, and smiled. "Yeah, we’re kind of planning on it being permanent."

"Yeah, Sophia, and, when I was your age, I thought your mother and I were permanent, too."

"Yeah, well, we certainly are going to do our damndest to not force it into being permanent before its time."

"Touché."

"Aw, Dad, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that."

"Yeah, you did. But it’s OK," Brian smiled. "I’m just worried. Look, Sophia, the only thing I’ve left you is a long line of mistakes. So please learn from them."

"I will," Sophia smiled. "Don’t worry. We know what we’re doing."

"I remember the relationship I thought I was permanent when I was sixteen," Michelle said. "And it is only by sheer luck that it didn’t turn out to be permanent, because we weren’t careful, either." Michelle looked at Sophia. "But, I’ve got to say, that he and I never looked at one another the way you two do." Warren and Sophia smiled at each other. "There you go again!"

"I must admit, Ellen and I never looked at each other like that, either."

Mindful of Briana sitting on Warren’s lap, Sophia said, "Mom says that that was s-e-x disguised as love." She blushed. "Oh, I probably shouldn’t have said that."

Brian just laughed. "No, that’s exactly what it was." He looked intently at his daughter and her boyfriend. "You guys don’t have that, do you?"

They gave each other that look again. "No," said Sophia. "We have love, with a little s-e-x thrown in for fun." Everyone cracked up at that, except Briana, who pouted and yelled, "Will you all stop spelling, please?" to more laughter.

"Michelle, why were you wondering if we had discussed future plans?" Warren asked.

Michelle smiled widely, "Because I was sitting here, watching you two with Briana and Katrina, and I couldn’t help think, ‘If these two kids stay together, they are going to be the greatest parents in the world.’"

"I can see that, myself," Brian agreed.

"Well," Sophia began, "one thing we have done is have the ‘what do you want out of life’ talk, to make sure we’re on the same page on the basics. And one thing we discovered is that we both love kids and both want a housefull of them." She looked at Warren. "Seeing him around kids only reinforces that."

"Same goes for you, Pookie."

They looked at each other again. Brian and Michelle also looked at each other, bemused. "HEY! The tape!" Sophia burst out suddenly.

"Right!" agreed Warren.

"What are you guys talking about?" Brian asked.

"There’s a videotape in my bag, Dad. Should be right on top. Since I’m currently pinned down by a sleeping infant, could you grab it and pop it in the VCR?"

"Sure. What’s on it?"

"Oh, just a little something I do with my boyfriend that you don’t know about."

"Are you sure this tape is appropriate for Briana?" Brian asked.

Sophia burst out laughing. "Of course. We don’t videotape that." She blushed. "Although, I must admit, that sounds like fun." Even Brian burst out laughing. "Anyway, no, this tape is rated G. What you are about to see will not be officially unveiled until New England Junior Regionals in Marlborough in October, but we taped a sneak preview for you. This is not completely finished—there’s a couple of holes in the middle part—but it’s close."

"I still don’t know what you’re talking about."

"All will be revealed, Dad," Sophia giggled. "Hit play."

The tape was of an ice rink. Sophia and Warren were skating around, holding hands, and approached the center of the rink. They took their starting poses, and the music started.

Seeing themselves as Fred-and-Ginger style ice dancers, they had chosen a collection of big band music for their first competitive ice dance. It started out with Pennsylvania 6-5000, into Moonlight Serenade for the slow section, and ending with Opus One. They were definitely junior-level dancers, but the dance was snappy and entertaining, and this had been a particularly good run-through. They were young and inexperienced, but the tape left no doubt that they had talent and skill. And that they had a complete ball dancing with one another.

Brian and Michelle looked on with an increasing mixture of amazement and delight. The Opus One ending section was chock full of quick, difficult footwork, most of it in closed position, and Sophia and Warren handled it with aplomb.

They hit their ending pose, and Warren, cracking up, said into the camera, "Well, there it is, the next great ice dance team. Move over, Bourne and Kraatz!" Sophia playfully punched him in the ribs, and then the tape switched off.

Briana started clapping. "Yay!"

Brian laughed. "I totally agree. You guys are good!"

"Well, we’ll see how good when we start competing," Sophia demurred.

"It looked damn good to me, I’ll tell you that." Brian asserted.

"If only you were a judge," Warren quipped, to general laughter. "It really doesn’t matter. We do this for fun. We don’t train enough to be serious about it. We just want to compete because we think that will be fun, too, win or lose."

"You can tell you guys are having fun." Michelle said.

"New England Regionals, in Marlborough, in October, you said?" Brian asked.

"Yeah. Third weekend in October, I have the dates at home."

Brian smiled at his daughter. "I’ll be there."

Sophia smiled back. "I’d like that."