Free Skinny Dipping by Alicia M Kaye

Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. She rushed out of the supermarket and went straight for the Highbury flat. Carol was noticeably absent.
    Sophie sprawled herself on the couch and opened a tub of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. But before she sat down she realized she’d bought a tub of Derek’s favourite flavour – Chunky Monkey. Unable to stop herself, she promptly tucked into it anyway. Ice cream suddenly became her friend. Her only friend. If there was a replacement for Derek, then ice cream was pretty good.
    Turning the television on, gorging herself on almost half the tub, she decided to get wildly drunk. She poured herself an almost overflowing glass of red wine. Who cared about her thighs? Only Matthew Silver was ever going to see them in her swimsuit. Besides red wine was packed full of antioxidants.
    As she sat alone, the awareness that she would be spending the weekend alone hit her. She sipped her glass, almost missing her mouth. Alone at almost thirty.
    On a whim she called her best friend, Mickey, speaking incoherently into the phone. “I’ve moved,” she whispered. Her voice shook as she finally dared to admit the fact. She didn’t want to believe it was true, or she’d be giving up. Sophie wasn’t the type of girl to simply give up. There was still the possibility that she could work things out with Derek.
    “Everything okay?” Mickey answered, the sound of night club music boomed in the background.
    “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Supposed to be unpacking.” Although, she hadn’t started, the boxes still remained on the floor of her room. “Want to come over and keep me company?”
    “I can’t. I’m not in London tonight. Maybe I could pop round tomorrow?”
    What had she been thinking? Of course Mickey had her own things on and couldn’t come over in an instant. Mickey was an owner of her own coffee shop Beans , she rarely had time to go anywhere.
    “Tomorrow’s great,” Sophie said, sanity finding her again, her voice back to normal. Feeling slightly pathetic, mortified at showing her vulnerability, she decided to try to act like she was okay. She was grand. She was getting her life in order.
    She put the tub of ice cream down and began rhythmically slicing vegetables. Using her Jamie Oliver cook book she made a lovely Minestrone soup. It was such a shame Derek wasn’t there to see her make it. He would have her exactly where he seemed to want her.
    Since Sophie was alone, there was no evidence of her lapse in strength. She even went outside and threw out the tub of ice cream.
    While the vegetables boiled on the stove, she decided she wouldn’t even think about Derek any longer. No thoughts of Derek were ever going to help.
    She thought of her thighs. She needed to work on her thighs. Not Derek. She was slightly bothered by the fact he hadn’t called her to see if she was okay. Nor had he bothered to enquire if she found somewhere to stay. Was it a sign of the depth of his feelings? Did he ever really care about her? There was a distinct possibility that he never really did.
     

Chapter 5
     
     
    Sophie woke early on Saturday morning. It was seven. She was alone. No Derek, and she felt fresh because she wasn’t hung over from a night fuelled from drinking with work colleagues. She checked her mobile phone. There was still no text messages from Derek and she refrained from contacting him. But what was she to do to keep her mind occupied?
    Sophie turned on her laptop, initially thinking she would do a little bit of work, but instead she found an exercise program online, targeted at shaping legs. The program prescribed twenty repetitions per day, to start. Twenty squats to fast-track her to fabulous thighs.
    Sophie began bobbing up and down, feeling the burn. Before her shower, she did a few more squats. In the kitchen, after having breakfast (microwave minestrone) she did a squat and lunge combo. Turning the television on, during the commercials, she did twenty more squats and lunges. Twenty squats.