12 Sofia

Meredith was knackered when she arrived home. Her head was hurting like a chair has been smashed across it consistently.

She felt hot and sticky under her blouse, she couldn't wait to remove her dress and take a cold shower. God, she hated summer.

Sofia was on the couch, legs crossed and stuffing her mouth with popcorn while she watched some horror movie. She has no idea why people watched horror movie.

Why watch a movie that wants to you to flee or hide due to a sense of impending doom, when you can read a book that will make your stomach swarm with butterflies?

"Hi." Sofia said, chewing straight from the popcorn she plopped into her mouth.

"Hey." Meredith sighed, groaning as she flopped onto the couch beside her and began to kick off her flats. She was beyond exhausted. Her feet felt like they have been scorched.

She had walked from the company to her house because she had missed the bus. The next bus was due to arrive 3 hours later and Meredith didn't want to wait. Also, she had no extra cash on her to take a cab.

"So how was your first day?" Sofia asked, as she turned to look at her.

"Argh…just don't even ask. Today was so fucked up. I will burst into tears just thinking about it."

Sofia narrowed her eyes, "Why is the job bad? Should I find a new one for you? I know Atlas Martini can be a handful but the guy is decent to his employees and he pays well."

Meredith rolled her neck from side to side to loosen kinks.

"No. The job is great and Mr. Martini is----" Meredith paused.

"---Okay and Mr. Martini is what?" Sofia interjected.

Meredith bit down her bottom lip while contemplating if she should tell her friend the dirty thoughts she has about her boss.

What is it? Sofia persisted lightly, nudging her.

"Okay, he is…so hot. And I mean the kind of hot the authors describe in the books you give me."

Meredith said, conflicted whether she should tell Sofia what happened today.

"Yeah, I have met him a couple of times. My cousin is his best friend. He is the one who got you the job. But don't tell me you are crushing on your boss on your first day at work."

Sofia teased.

"Well, the guy is hot, sexy and super attractive. I'm a normal functioning woman is normal to crush on him. You even have a crush on that anime character who isn't even real."

"Hey Levi is hot! Also, what about you? Don't you crush on all the boys you read about in your erotica books?" Sofia scoffed.

Meredith rolled her eyes and sighed. She and her friend were really fucked up. They keep falling for men who aren't even real because somewhere in the sick subconscious mind they know these men will never hurt them.

Whether they're the villains, antihero, hero or morally grey characters they will never break them or use them. So, what if they fall for frictional character?

They can fantasize about their own love story and choose the ending they want. Also, these men set their standards so high even though they know real man can never be obsessed with them like the men in frictional world do.

"Be careful Merri, Atlas Martini may look like the men in your books but he is no male lead. He is the villain and you don't want to fall for the villain, do you? "

Meredith opened her mouth and closed it again. She had no idea what to say. Because she knew Sofia was right. She had too many secrets to protect and getting involve with a man like Atlas Martini was going to be the ruin of her.

"I know. Do you know I completely embarrassed myself today?"

"What did you do?"

Meredith groaned as a blush spread across her face.

"So, I went to give my boss a cup of coffee and he accidently dipped his fingers in the hot coffee. I panicked and took his burned fingers in my mouth. Like who does that?"

Meredith threw her hands in the air exasperatedly, shaking her head as her best friend laughed at her, unable to control it.

"OMG, Merri!"

"I know right? And that's not even worse. I took the elevator with him and he asked me how was my first day? I confidently replied, Good, Yours?"

Meredith cringed as she remembered the smug look on his face.

"Stop laughing Sofia. You're not making me feel any better." Merri said attempting a frown but unable to hold her own laughter. Sofia's laugh was very infectious, and it took a little till she caught her bug too.

"He might think I'm some weirdo. I don't even know how I'm going to face him tomorrow."

Sofia fought to stifle her laughter, "Don't worry you will be fine. You're not the only one who have done an embarrassing thing. We all have our moments."

Meredith nodded, "I-"

"Hey Sorella, you're back. How was your first day?" Her brother interrupted her as he appeared from his room while rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Good. But I'm exhausted." Meredith replied as she stood up.

"I'm going to take a shower; my muscles are aching."

Sofia nodded as she focused on her movie. "Okay, I will order pizza for you guys and salad for me."

Meredith frowned but said nothing. Sofia was mostly at Meredith's house because her parents were mostly out of the country. Even though her parents were extremely busy they doted on their only daughter and was always available for special moments in Sofia's life.

They will call her every night and ask her about her day to the point of asking if she had eaten. But Meredith knew that her friend hasn't been eating. Sofia would always lie to her parents.

Meredith didn't know why her friend wasn't eating she had confronted Sofia about it on so many occasions but Sofia always assure her that she was eating and Meredith was overreacting but was she?

Sofia wouldn't even finish the salad she ordered. She will give some excuses about eating outside while blogging her life on social media and being full. Sofia was a huge influencer on social media with about 30 million followers so she normally filmed her daily life activities and upload it for the whole world to see. Meredith could never.

She really wasn't a fan of social media since she spends most of her time reading but she knew a thing or two from the books she read to know that something was definitely wrong with her friend and she would find out.