Sweet Sofie (18 page)

“I know,” Sofia sniffled, “but he really has changed, Sal.”

Sal shook his head adamantly. “Don’t you see, Sofie? He just pulled one over all of us.” He stood up suddenly. “You have any idea what Alex and Angel will have to say about Brandon taking you into his bedroom?”

The way Sal put it, it sounded so different than how it had happened. “It wasn’t like that.”

Sal gave her that look Sofia hated so much. That ‘you’re being naïve again’ look. She frowned. “If I had said no, he wouldn’t have done it, but I didn’t.”

Sal’s expression went even more severe. “Is that what he told you?”

“He told me before he kissed me, to tell him to stop and he would.” Sofia was drowning in guilt again.

“That’s bullshit, Sof. He shouldn’t have had you there in the first place. Should’ve never put you in that predicament to begin with.”

Sofia thought of some of the other things Brandon had said to her, and knew even Sal would fly off the handle if she told him. After making Sal promise he wouldn’t say anything to Alex and Angel, she drove by Eric’s house. His car wasn’t in the driveway and she wondered if he’d gone back to Los Angeles.

Tired of crying, and tired of thinking about it anymore, she went to the restaurant to put in some hours and try to keep her mind off him.

***

With his emotions raging, Eric’s first thoughts were to head to Brandon’s house after leaving Sofia’s. Then he remembered Brandon saying he was leaving first thing Saturday morning. Nothing would’ve made him feel better at that moment than to beat the living shit out of Brandon. < ofdon/p>

There was no hiding his feelings when he walked in the door, and his dad wasted no time asking him what the matter was. Eric simply said, “She cheated on me,” and headed to his room. Seeing him that upset, there was no way his dad was going to back down.

He could hardly even speak when his dad came in the room to try to console him. He kept the pillow over his face so his dad wouldn’t see what a pussy he was. It was sickening. Finally enraged that he could turn into such a crying mess, he got up and grabbed his gym bag. He held it together long enough to convince his dad he was going to be okay, and that he could in fact drive without doing anything stupid.

After working out at the gym, he sat in his car thinking. He’d finally got it together and stopped blubbering. He kept telling himself it was just a kiss, but it still hurt like hell. Sofia had made such a big deal out of him having coffee with Asia. She had to know a kiss was so much worse, so why? That’s what bothered him the most. Was she tired of Eric? Was he not enough for her anymore? Did she actually have
feelings
for Brandon?

His throat began to tighten again, annoying him to no end. What was even more maddening was it had only been hours since he last saw her, and already he missed her like crazy. He wasn’t even sure how much longer he could fight the urge to answer her calls.

His cell phone went off, making him jump. Squeezing his eyes shut for a second, he picked it up to look at the caller ID. To his surprise, it was Sal. Could she have told him about it? If Sofia was going to tell any of her brothers, Sal would be the one. He almost didn’t answer, but the need to hear anything that might make him feel a little better prevailed. “Hey, Sal.”

“Eric, you got a minute?”

He knew—that much was obvious. Eric tried to sound casual. “Yeah, what’s up?”

Sal jumped right in with both feet. “Sofia told me what happened.”

Eric took a deep breath, willing the emotions that washed over him away. “Hmm,” was all he could muster without risking his voice breaking. For a moment, he considered hanging up. He completely regretted answering now.

“I know you’re mad, Eric. Hell, I’m mad. It was wrong of her to do it, and I’m not making excuses for her, but I seriously think Brandon planned this.”

The thought wasn’t one Eric hadn’t considered. He cleared his throat. “But she went for it, Sal. Is that how much I mean to her? This is the first time me and her have had to be apart, and she goes and does this?” He banged his steering wheel.

“I know. I know. You have every right to be pissed. I’m with you on that. I just think you should really think about the big picture. You two have been together too long—been through too much, to let something like this ruin it all. Sofia loves you.”

“Then why?” The damn tears were already rolling down his face and he squeezed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “Did you ask her why?”

Sal was quiet for a moment. “No, but I can tell you why I think she did it.”

Eric didn’t say anything, just clutched the phone and gulped hard, concentrating on not letting Sal hear how upset he hodth="was getting again.

“I think Brandon put her on the spot. He came on strong. With all of us around, when the hell has Sofie ever had to deal with any guy coming on strong? I can guarantee you he didn’t give her much time to react.” Sal paused, but when Eric didn’t say anything he continued, “That asshole took advantage of the situation.”

Annoyed, Eric wiped a tear away. “When’s he coming back?”

Sal chuckled. “Yeah, that’s what I wanna know.”

Feeling a little better and much more confident he could speak without breaking down, Eric sat up. “I can’t just let this go, Sal. I don’t know. Maybe with time I will, but right now I don’t think I could stand to even look at her.”

He heard Sal take a deep breath. “She won’t be happy to hear that.”

Just like that, Eric was back to feeling emotional, only this time anger set in. “Ask her what she would do.”

Sal didn’t respond to that. Instead, he asked, “Will you do me a favor, then?”

“What?” Eric stared out his window.

“As long as you two been together, don’t even consider ending things without giving her a chance to explain. You wanna know why? Ask her.”

Eric agreed to that much, but he didn’t say when.
Ending things.
The thought hadn’t even entered his mind. Getting through the weekend without her, then another full week away, was going to be a challenge in itself. He couldn’t even imagine his life without Sofia.

***

It wasn’t until his drive home Sunday night that Eric finally decided to answer Sofia’s call. He’d listened to every single one of her messages. She’d cried in just about all of them, which only made him choke up, as well. They were all the same. She was sorry, she loved him, she’d never forgive herself for hurting him, but not once had she mentioned the only thing he needed to know. So he slipped in his earpiece and answered her call.

“Why?”

He heard her sniffle, but she said nothing at first. Then she spoke up. “I don’t know.”

“Bullshit, you don’t just do something like that for no reason.”

“I swear it just happened. I didn’t even have time to think about it. It was so fast. Eric gripped the steering wheel tighter. “You have feelings for him, Sofia?”

“No! Not at all.”

Eric took in the sincerity in her voice, then remembered what Sal had said.
The asshole took advantage of the situation.

“Did he touch you?”

Her silence made his heart race. Why the hell was he asking this? He didn’t want to know. But he had to.

“Well, yeah.”

“Where?” He gritted his teeth. He couldn’t believe the fucker had walked over and talked to all them, knowing full well what he had done. “How, Sof?”

“He just put his arms around my waist.”

“You said it was fast. How did he have time to do that?”

“It was only for a moment and then when I pulled away, he touched my hand to pull me back.”

Eric’s insides ignited. “He forced himself on you?”

“No! Eric, please, you’re making this worse. It was just a kiss and then I left. I swear.”

The image scorched his mind. He stepped on the gas. His heart threatened to pummel out of his chest. All the emotions he’d felt this weekend had done a complete one-eighty. He was now mad as hell. If he ever saw Brandon again, no matter how much time had passed, it wasn’t going to be pretty.

The car in front of him slowed suddenly. “Fuck!” Eric swerved to miss it. The car in the next lane clipped him from behind and his car spun all the way around. When he came to a complete stop, he heard the skidding, but didn’t see the truck until it plowed into his front passenger side. The last thing he remembered was the airbag slamming into his face.

***

The terrifying moments after she lost Eric’s call were a blur. Sofia remembered trying to call him back, but her hands trembled so much she could barely hit the right buttons. Angel and Alex had run in her room when they heard her cries. They both knew she and Eric had had a fight this weekend, but only Sal knew the details.

With her being so hysterical, it took a while for her to explain about the skidding and horrendous crash she’d heard just before the line went dead. Angel had been immediately on the phone with Eric’s dad. Nobody knew anything for what seemed like an eternity. An excruciating hour later, Angel got a call from Eric’s dad. He was on his way to the emergency room, but he didn’t have any details yet.

Sofia felt faint when Angel told her. She literally felt the blood drain from her face. Sal was gone. He’d left earlier, taking the very same drive Eric had to Los Angeles. Angel drove them to the hospital, Alex sitting in the back seat holding and consoling Sofia and insisting it wasn’t her fault.

By the time they reached the hospital, Sofia had a massive headache and she thought she might faint she was so scared. They walked in together, Alex supporting her, and met Eric’s dad in the emergency waiting room. He spoke to Angel first, telling him Eric had suffered a shattered wrist and a broken nose from the airbag. Sofia didn’t miss the cold way he completely ignored her.

They waited for over an hour before they were told they could go in and see Eric. But they could only go in one at a time. Eric’s dad went first. He never once addressed her. He knew Eric had been on the phone with her when the accident happened, but how much did he know about their fight? One thing was for thi onsure, Eric’s dad had always thought Eric was too young to be in such a serious relationship.

He’d always been polite to her, but she could never help feeling like he didn’t approve of the amount of the time Eric spent with her, the commitments they’d made to each other so young.

His dad was only in there for ten minutes when he came out. Finally, he spoke to Sofia, but his expression was blank. “He wants to see you.”

She stood, nervous, but anxious to see him. As soon as he saw her, his heart-wrenching expression sucked the air out of her. She rushed over to the side with his unbandaged hand, brought it to her lips and kissed it. He took his hand back, but only to pull her to him. She leaned over, carefully and wiped the tears that streamed down his face.

“I was so scared,” she whispered, trying to remain as calm as possible. “Are you in a lot of pain?”

He shook his head. “Not as much as I was yesterday.”

It felt like a blow to her gut, but she had it coming. “Eric, I’ll never forgive myself for hurting you like that. Please don’t hate me. Please forgive me.” Tears streamed down her face.

Eric took a deep breath, clearly trying to pull himself together. “I could never hate you, Sof.” This time he wiped the tears on her face. “But I can only forgive you once. As much as I love you, Sofie. I won’t forgive again—ever.”

“I would never put you through anything like this again. I swear to you.” The guilt she’d carry after all this would be enough to last her a lifetime.

“You have no idea how much I love you,” he whispered.

Sofia took a long, trembling breath and kissed his bruised cheek softly. “Trust me, I know
exactly
how you feel.”

Happy
Holidays

The accident forced Eric to end his internship early. A shattered right wrist rendered him useless. He used his right hand mostly on everything. There had only been a few weeks left of the summer anyway, and he’d been glad to be able to spend them at home with Sofia. His dad was already talking about getting him another internship. One he could finish.

It took a few weeks for things to feel like they’d gone back to normal. His biggest fear after the whole ordeal was that he’d have trust issues and would drive Sofia crazy, questioning her every move. But after much thought, he’d come to the conclusion that Sofia was genuinely regretful. She’d gone out of her way to show him in every way she could how much she loved him. He was satisfied he could trust her without having to be that insecure nagging boyfriend. That just wasn’t him.

By the time they’d gone back to school in the fall, everything seemed to be back to normal. Their routine, however, changed a little, and his dad was none too happy about it. They were seeing more of each other during the week than before the summer started. Last semester they’d go several days at a time, more during finals, without seeing each other. So far, this semester they’d managed to see each other almost every day. His grades weren’t suffering from it yet, but he found himself dozing off during class a lot more than he had last semester.

Most of his classes ended before the winter break. During fall break, his dad dropped another bomb on him. They were having their traditional Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant, just the two of them. “I got you another internship. The best thing about it is you can go to school at the same time. So you’d be doing the internship and getting credit.”