Chapter 4

The rest of the week went so fast. St. Peter’s hospital was as busy as always. Accident victims, minor accidents and the regular checkups kept Sophia on her heels as she went about the job she absolutely loved. But when the weekend came she welcomed it with open arms, ready to sit back and rest her feet. Mike, Nate, Stella and Rosa used what little free time they had to practice the beats to the songs they were to perform on Friday and Saturday nights.

The band was an escape for them all from all the hustle and bustle of their working days. Days filled with dying patients and tears of loved ones, of recovering patients and the tears of joy, of bad news after test results came from the lab and of the good ones. The Copycats loved their jobs at the hospital but they collectively breathed a sigh of relief when they came together to sing. In singing, they could let go of the tension of work and just pretend that the lives of people weren’t in their hands for two days.

As Sophia prepared a light dinner to eat before getting ready for the club on Friday evening her doorbell went off. Dropping the plate in her hand on the black marble counter she wiped her hands on a napkin and went to open the door. Stella and Rosa stood at the other side with their jackets held tight against their bodies to protect them from the cold evening. They had mischievous smiles on their faces and there was a bag between them hooked over Rosa's shoulder.

“You guys are early.”

“Hello to you too,” Stella said as she swept past Sophia and entered. She sniffed the air appreciatively. “That smells so good. What are you cooking? Save a plate for me.”

Sophia closed the door behind Rosa as she too stepped in and dropped the bag in her hand on the sofa.

Her apartment was simply done. Sophia had designed it herself. There was a lot of peach and blues in different hues all over the place making her sitting room look more like a huge pastel painting than a living area. When she moved in she did the painting of the entire house herself since she loved to keep her hands busy. She stripped the wallpapers of the 2 bedrooms and painted the walls in cream and peach colors. On the walls of the rooms, the living area and the short hallways she hung paintings that she made in her spare time. They were nothing elaborate, just splashes of paint across short canvases depending on her mood. Stella and Mike stayed just two blocks away and they had helped her with her furniture; a couch, two armchairs and a cane chair which she wove by herself. Rosa often joked that her apartment looked more like the home of a struggling artist than a nurse. Her puppy, a mixed breed of German shepherd and Caucasian shepherd rose from his bed that was set by the wall and went to Rosa wagging his tail.

“Why are you guys this early?”

“We thought we should do a little dress-up before leaving today, you know? A little girl time together,” Rosa said with a wink at Stella who was already making her way to the kitchen. She came out with a slice of bread covered in chocolate spread.

“What are planning to wear tonight?”

Sophia shrugged. “Anything good I guess. I was just going to throw something after my dinner.”

Stella shook her head and wagged a finger as she downed the rest of her bread. “You will be doing more than throwing something on tonight. Rosa and I here came up with the genius idea to dress you up.”

She looked between them with a raised brow. “What’s the occasion?”

“We are simply tired of looking fabulous while you while our lead singer dresses up as Mary Poppins. And there is nothing you say, Sophia, you are not getting out of this one today.”

Sophia sighed. “So you guys came over for me?”

“That’s right, sugar. And who knows? We might finally get you to hook up with someone new or someone who has been trying to get your attention for a while,” Rosa wagged her brows.

“If your mission is to hook me up with Nate you both have failed miserably,” Sophia said with a laugh. “I can’t believe you guys aren’t tired already.”

Rosa stood up and went over to Sophia to hold her shoulders. “We will never be tired as long as you are alive Soph and until we succeed in getting you out of these shackles of singleness. Now come and sit let Stella and I get to work.”

Every argument she tried to come up with to convince them otherwise failed. Before long Stella was eating her dinner and Rosa was convincing her to try clothes after clothes from the bag that she dropped on the sofa. They decided that her hair should be pressed and straightened and it fell freely down her shoulders. When it came to choosing clothes she had to fight off Stella who was trying to get her to wear a short gown of sheer fabric and thin straps for arms.

“I’m going to be up on a stage, the last thing I need is someone peeping up my ass,” she argued.

“That’s the whole point of it! The stage is not even that high."

“Nuh-uh, you are not going to get me in that. How about this?” she picked up white shorts with dripping rhinestones around the hem and the pockets and a plain red cotton shirt.

Stella exchanged a worried look with Rosa. “Nope. The shorts stay but the shirt has to go.” Rosa picked a pink high neck crop top. “This is better.”

Against her argument they helped her wear it and chose low-heeled sandals that matched the shorts for her, Stella decided some hoops would complete the look. When they were done dressing her Rosa touched up her makeup and pulled her dark brown hair into a high ponytail. As they went out of the apartment and stepped into the street Sophia shook her head at her best friends.

“You guys are just the worst.”

“Thank you,” they replied together with Rosa slapping her butt. 

“Nothing is going to happen between Nate and me," Sophia said for the last time.

“Then forget Nate. Catch some other guy’s eyes and have fun tonight.”