Beauty and the Brains

Sophia held her breath as her dress fell. She’d never been naked in front of a guy before, and the liquid courage wasn’t doing shit to quell her nerves. Billy’s face was unreadable as his eyes raked over her body.

“Don’t forget the underwear, too, sweetheart.” His voice made her skin crawl.

Her underwear joined her dress on the floor, and Sophia started counting in her head. We never mentioned how long the game was going… 10 seconds should be plenty, right?

When Billy’s hand started to reach for her hips, she grabbed him by the wrists, jerking his hands off course.

“You get to look, not touch, Russo.” She hoped the ice in her voice would shake his trance, but no, he continued to stare like a man possessed. And now he was mere inches away, getting to look up close and personal.

Sophia had never thought of her body as being particularly beautiful. She wasn’t curvy, her stomach stuck out a little bit, her hips had those weird dips in them that never went away, no matter how many squats she did. It didn’t really matter to her, a body was just a body, there to carry your head from one room to another.

But the way Billy looked at her, with his pupils blown wide and his mouth hanging open, made her start to feel a little different. Maybe all those little things she noticed weren’t as important as she thought they were. Or at least, they weren’t important to him.

Since when do I give a shit what’s important to Billy Russo?

“Jesus, brainiac, you have no idea how much I want you…”

That phrase, want you , pulled her from her thoughts. It was one thing to be wanted, lusted after, but an entirely different thing to be loved or respected. And Billy definitely didn’t respect her.

“Oh, I can see just how much you want me. And like I said, only in your dreams.” Sophia felt it’d been long enough to satisfy their agreement, and started picking up her clothes.

You’re never going to hear the end of this from him. Her thoughts invaded her brain. And how detailed do you think he’ll be in his retelling of events to his friends? What will he say actually happened in this room? Why did I ever agree to this in the first place, stupid, stupid…

“Why do you deny your obvious attraction to me? I saw you staring out there. You think I’m hot.”

With her thoughts swirling, the room slightly spinning, and him looking so nonchalant lounging on some random person’s bed, a rage welled up in Sophia that she couldn’t control.

She stopped fiddling with her zipper long enough to turn to Billy, eyes glaring, and say, “ Because there’s a huge difference between thinking someone is hot and liking who they are as a person. You, Billy Russo, are arrogant, careless, and selfish, all qualities I despise in a person. You only look our for yourself, never wondering what effects your actions might have on those around you, never caring how your words might hurt people. No matter how handsome you are, how smooth and charming, the pretty exterior cannot hide what lies below.”

Billy’s face had gone from confident playboy to kicked puppy at her words. It was almost enough to stop her from finishing her thoughts. Almost. “You’re nothing but a selfish jerk wrapped in pretty packaging.”

She turned again so she didn’t have to see the damage she’d done. Damn zipper…

Warm fingers grazed her back, causing chills to run up her spine, and a strange new feeling to pool in her belly.

His breath smelled like alcohol and the faintest cigarettes when he whispered, “That’s what you think.”

The dress zipper went up, and he stepped away, but the chills and weight in Sophia’s gut stayed where they were.

“And if there’s anything I’ve learned in the past few weeks, it’s that I love proving you wrong, sweetheart.” His eyes- had they always been that black or were his pupils still widened? - bore into her along with his words. Then with a blink of an eye, he was gone.

It took Sophia a couple minutes to gather her breath and her thoughts enough to head back to the party. When she did, she wished she’d just decided to leave. It seemed like all eyes were on her in every room, girls whispering to each other behind their hands, staring at her still bare feet.

Shit, my bra!

Sophia darted out to the backyard, only to see all evidence of the beer pong game gone, along with her clothes and Billy’s. Bastard probably stole my stuff as proof…

“Sophia!” A boys voice called from behind her. It was her knight in shining armor from earlier, his arms full with her shoes and cardigan.

“Hey!” He ran up to her, breathless. “I thought you’d be wanting your stuff back.”

"Thank you!" She could’ve cried, she was so relieved. She scurried to put on her socks and shoes, but when she tried to unfold her cardigan, he stopped her.

He leaned in to whisper, "I hid your, uh, bra in there so you didn't have to carry it through the party." A sheepish smile spread across his blushing cheeks.

"You are seriously my guardian angel tonight, or something." Sophia laughed. She planted a quick peck on his pink cheek. "Thank you so much. I'll be back in a minute, stay right here, okay?"

Five minutes later, she returned to find the boy standing with two drinks in his hands. He offered one to her as she approached, and she accepted gratefully. "You're really raising my bar of standards for men tonight, you know that?" She joked.

"Was the bar on the literal floor or something before this?" He laughed.

Sophia took a long sip of her drink- something fruity and delicious- and sighed. "Yea, I guess they were."

"Well," He tapped his cup to hers before he took a drink himself, "glad that's changing. And glad I could help you out tonight. I'm Henry, by the way. You're Sophia, right?"

"Yea!” Another sip. “You play on the basketball team, don't you?" Sophia had seen him in passing, heard his name from some of her new friends the past couple weeks, but hadn't had a chance to talk to him.

“Yea, I do. Not starting, or anything, but I’m there.”

She and Henry sipped their drinks as they meandered through the party together, talking and getting to know each other. He told her about all the different sports he played, but quickly stopped when he saw that Sophia didn't have that much interest in sports. He told her about his little sister, who was going to middle school next year, a fact he hated being reminded of, and how he wanted to go to Harvard after graduating. Sophia told him about her job, her mom and dad, how she'd always wanted a little brother or sister.

Talking with Henry was as easy as breathing, and it took Sophia by surprise. She'd never been the social butterfly, always leaving the talking to Ellie, but tonight was different. Maybe it was the liquid courage, maybe it was just Henry's easy-going personality, but she felt comfortable. She felt safe. And yet, there was still something missing.

Soon, talking turned into dancing, something Sophia would've sworn she'd never do at a party. Yet here she was, swaying her hips to whatever pop song was blasting over the fancy speaker's in Mark's house. Her arms rested on Henry's shoulders, his hands gently caressed her hips.

The more Sophia had gotten to know Henry, the cuter she thought he was. With his chestnut colored hair that flopped over his forehead, his round green eyes surrounded by wispy lashes, and his wide smile. He was a classic kind of handsome, one that Sophia had never really seen herself going for before now. As they continued to dance, she found herself wanting him to make a move, but he remained respectful and distanced. It was infuriating.

About five songs into dancing, someone bumped Sophia from behind, sending what was left in her cup sloshing onto Henry's shirt.

"I'm so sorry, that was a total accident!" Sophia gasped, flailing her hands as if she could find something in the middle of a dance floor to help clean up the mess. The alcohol had definitely taken away her common sense.

"No worries!" Henry reassured her, taking the cup from her hands and placing it on a nearby table. "I'm gonna go run and clean this up, stay here!"

Sophia turned to see who had even bumped her in the first place, and was met with the smug smile of Billy Russo.

"Didn't peg you as a clumsy drunk, brainiac." Billy took a long sip from his own cup.

"You're such an asshole." Sophia spat.

"And I see your comebacks are sharp as ever." Billy's cup joined hers on the table as he moved to stand closer to her. "What you doing with Ken doll over there?"

"Henry and I were dancing, before you so rudely bumped me." Sophia crossed her arms over her chest.

'You call that dancing?" Billy laughed. "What, you leaving room for Jesus or something?"

"He was being respectful of my space," Sophia retorted, "something you could learn to do." She eyed the limited space between their bodies.

"Please, dude could barely put his hands on you. That really what you want in a guy?" Billy's dark eyes bore into her, igniting a little fire of resistance in her.

"You think you know what I want in a guy?" Sophia lifted one of her eyebrows. "Please, enlighten me, Billy, with what kind of guy I should be going after."

"Well," Billy's tongue darted out to wet his lips, drawing Sophia's eyes to his mouth as a spoke, "knowing how much you love to compete, I'd say you need someone who challenges you, in every way possible. You need someone who's going to keep your attention. Someone who'd pick apart that big brain of yours and find all the ways to push your buttons so you were never bored." Billy looked at Sophia to gauge her reaction, finding her hanging on his words.

"Keep going." Sophia whispered, impossible for Billy to hear over the blaring music, but he got the idea from the look on her face.

"You say you want to be respected and loved, and you do, but you're also shy and would love someone who maybe took charge in the relationship. Made the first moves so you didn't have to. Ken doll over there has been watching your signals all night, waiting on you to tell him what to do. And it's driving you crazy, isn't it, brainiac?" Billy leaned so that he was speaking directly in her ear. "You wish he'd just man up, take you somewhere private, and kiss your brains out, don't you?"

The shock written on Sophia's face was plain as day. How he'd managed to sum up what she wanted, even thoughts she'd only had a few minutes ago, with such ease was a mystery to her, but he'd done it.

She was about to lie and tell him how wrong he was, because she would let the world burn before she admitted Billy was right about something, when Henry returned with a very faint red splotch on his white shirt. When Sophia saw him, and realized he'd come back to see her and Billy with their faces a few inches from each other, she pushed Billy away with both hands and scurried to Henry's side, leaving Billy without an answer.

"Hey! I think I might be ready to go home, think you could walk me?" Sophia hoped Henry could see that the conversation between her and Billy had been nothing but unpleasant, nothing that would push him away.

"Of course!" Henry offered his arm, which Sophia gladly took, and helped lead her through the crowd.

Before they left the room, Sophia took one last look over her shoulder. Billy was still there, laughing and shaking his head as she walked away.

...

Watching her dance with that idiot had been painful, physically painful, for Billy. Not because of the dancing, actually her dancing was very enjoyable for Billy to watch, but seeing that wimp handle her like she was some kind of little glass doll was embarrassing. After that day in the gym, Billy's entire perception of Sophia had changed. Where once he saw this shy, delicate wallflower there for the taking, now he knew she was a multifaceted puzzle that he had to put together. Yes, she was quiet. Yes, she was smart as hell. He'd also figured out that she was determined, and headstrong, and nearly as competitive as him, and stubborn as hell, and she was driving him crazy. He knew he'd said exactly what she was thinking when she asked him what she wanted, her face had told him so, and she still left with a guy who could never be what she wanted.

For the rest of the night, Billy searched for a girl to take his mind off of Sophia. There were plenty of willing participants, but none of them held his attention for very long, which really drove him nuts. I see the chick naked one fucking time, and all of a sudden I'm monogamous or some shit?

After an hour of fruitless searching, he decided to call it quits and head back to the group home. Instead of his normal route, he decided to take a scenic stroll through a couple parks on his way back. He was in a fancy neighborhood after all, might as well enjoy what the rich folks took for granted everyday.

It was on this fateful stroll that he found Sophia and Henry sitting on a bench not far from the party. Sophia was laughing at something Billy had said, her head dipping down into Henry's chest. Billy watched from behind a tree as Henry hesitantly put his arm around Sophia's shoulders, drawing her slightly closer to him.

Just man up and kiss her already, idiot. He thought, rolling his eyes at how Henry was wasting his chance.

Like she had heard him, and was purposefully trying to prove him wrong from earlier, Sophia turned Henry's face to her own and kissed him. And not just some little peck, no, she kissed him, kissed him.

Billy couldn't tear his eyes away from the scene in front of him, no matter how hard he tried. A pang of something-hurt, jealousy, rage-was growing in his chest, but he couldn't remove himself from the situation. All he could think about was what it would be like to be in Henry's shoes. How he wouldn't be able to keep his hands to himself, like Henry was doing now. How soft her lips must feel, how her tiny body would feel in his hands, how he would never be happy with just a kiss from her...

The couple broke apart, Sophia giggling. From this distance, Billy couldn't hear what they were saying, but she looked happy. Damn it, she looks fucking ecstatic.

They stood up from the bench, hand in hand, and started to walk off together, leaving Billy with his thoughts on the side of the street.