Sweet Sofie (5 page)

The boy glanced over at her a few times before finally scooting his way closer.

“Hi, I’m James. What’s your name?”

“Sofia.” She smiled.

“You have real pretty eyes.” His sheepish smile made it easier to accept the compliment.

“Thanks.” She pulled a strand of hair away from her face.

She didn’t realize Valerie had been listening in until she asked. “You guys go here? I’ve never seen you.”

James shook his head. “Nah, I go to Lincoln. But this rivalry is so big—everyone wants to see this game.”

Valerie nodded. “Well, you sat on the right side.”

James laughed. He introduced the rest of his friends to the girls. He was by far the best looking of the bunch. Two of them were still in middle school.

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Sofia talked with James the whole game. After the game, James and his friends walked them back to the parking lot, where Angel’s car was parked. They always waited there until Angel and the guys were done showering and dressing.

She leaned against one of the cars parked near Angel’s. Sarah was standing on the driver side of Angel’s car, with the door open. She turned the radio on. When Sofia glanced at her, Sarah motioned for her to come over.

“I’ll be back,” Sofia said to James, and walked over to Sarah.

“What?”

“You’re making me nervous,” Sarah whispered.

“Why?”

Sarah chewed her lip and glanced at James. “You don’t think Angel’s gonna be mad if he sees you hanging out with these guys?”

Sofia smiled. She’d thought of that, but lately Angel hadn’t been so bad. He wasn’t likely to make a scene like Alex would. “That’s Alex.”

She explained Angel wouldn’t be thrilled, but unlike Alex, he wouldn’t do anything unless the guys were disrespectful, and she assured her James wasn’t.

James had made his way over to where Sarah and Sofia stood. Everyone else followed. Sarah still seemed apprehensive. Sofia went back to talking to James. Valerie stuck her head in Angel’s car and turned the radio up a little more.

Sofia walked away from the group with James so she could hear him better. They were standing on the other side of the car very much alone when she glanced over and saw Angel, Romero and Eric approach the group by the car. Romero was the first to speak up. “What is this? A fucking party?”

Her heart thudded when she heard Eric ask what Sofia was doing over there. Both she and James turned to see him stalking toward them. He didn’t look happy.

“Is that your boyfriend or something?” James asked, sounding a little panicked.

“No,” she whispered.

James stood up a little taller, ready to face off with Eric. Sofia felt for him, but she had no way of warning him. Eric was just a few feet away. Unlike her brothers, Eric was usually the calm and more reasonable of the bunch, but his expression now was reminiscent of Alex.

The promise

The guy standing with Sofia did the stupidest thing he could do at that moment. He reached over and touched her arm. Eric had never had a problem controlling his temper, but right then he felt like exploding on the guy.

“What are you doing, Sof? What’s this?” Eric gestured to the guy’s arm still touching her.

“Who are you?” The guy asked before Sofia could respond.

It wasn’t even asked with that much conviction, but that’s all Eric needed to let out what he’d been feeling the whole time since he spotted them. He jumped in the guy’s face. “Who the fuck are
you
?”

Sofia jumped in front of him, her breasts pushed against him. “Stop, Eric!”

Angel and Romero were there in a second.

“Easy, Eric.” Angel glanced back at the guy. When his friend came from behind him, as if to back him up, just like that, Angel was on fire. “What are you gonna do?” He growled, jumping in his face.

Sarah struggled to hold Angel back. Romero got in on it when more of the guys closed in. The girls all did their best to keep the guys apart, though the other guys didn’t put up too much of a fight. The younger ones didn’t even try to get involved. When it was all over, the other guys walked away. Eric glanced at Valerie and her friend, who still struggled, holding Romero from going after them. Sofia pulled her hands away from his chest and took off toward Angel’s car.

Still reeling and breathing hard, Eric wondered if Angel would question just why he reacted that way. The door to Angel’s car slammed, getting all their attention. Sofia was already in the back seat of Angel’s car. Obviously, she wasn’t jumping in with Eric.

Angel and Sarah got in the car. He stood outside the passenger side trying to hear what Angel was telling Sofia until he heard him ask her if she was crying. Instinctively, he stuck his head into the side of the window. “You crying, Sof?”

After Romero stuck his head into the driver’s side window to see what was going on, Sarah sat up. “All right, out!” She pushed Eric’s head out. “You too, Angel.”

Eric H walked around the car and met Angel and Romero, “Good looking out, man.” Angel held up a fist.

Eric tapped it with his own fist, trying to smile, but he was still too wound up. “Always.”

“Was he being a wise ass?” Angel asked, as they walked away from his car toward Valerie and her friends.

“Yeah,” Eric embellished. “I didn’t like the way he was looking at her, either.”

“One of those, uh?” Angel shook his head. “Fucking asshole.”

They talked to Valerie and her friend for a few minutes, before heading back to their cars and off to the beach for a bonfire. Eric thought about Sofia with that guy the whole way there. He knew she couldn’t be happy about seeing him with those girls yesterday and today. But if she thought she was going to be hanging with guys she had another think coming.

With Angel so distracted with Sarah at the beach, Eric took full advantage. He’d already planned on coming to some kind of understanding with Sofia. He knew he had to after she’d jumped in Angel’s car yesterday, instead of coming home with him. After tonight’s incident, he definitely had to get things straight with her.

It helped that Romero was busy trying to cozy up with Sarah’s cousin, Valerie. Eric wouldn’t have to deal with him interrupting. Almost as soon as they got the fire going, Angel and Sarah laid a blanket down and sat down on it. Within seconds, Angel was all over her. That guy was so obsessed. Eric had never seen him like this. He walked over to Sofia, who was putting down her own blanket on the sand. “You wanna go for a walk?”

When she began shaking her head, Eric glanced back at Angel. He was whispering in Sarah’s ear. Eric reached his hand out and touched Sofia’s. “Please, Sofie?”

She stared at him for a moment, then slipped her hand in his. Another glance at Angel confirmed he was still completely distracted. He’d pulled Sarah down and was now lying next to her. “Eric’s walking me to the restroom, Angel.”

Angel barely managed to pull his lips away from Sarah long enough to respond with an, “Okay.”

They headed toward the water, completely out of everyone’s sight. First things first. Eric squeezed her hand. “Who was that guy, Sof?”

She didn’t look at him. “Just someone who started talking to me at the game.”

“Why were you alone with him?”

Sofia stopped and faced him. “Why was that girl touching your hair yesterday?” Those beautiful eyes glared at him. “Why was that stupid girl on your back today?”

Eric took a deep breath. He knew it. “I was gonna talk to you about that today, but I didn’t see you all day at school.”

She shifted her weight. “And after school you were too
busy
?”

“Listen, Sof. I can’t help it when things like that happen.”

She pulled her hand out of his. “Then I won’t be able to help it, either, when guys talk to me, Eric. So I’d appreciate it if you not attack every guy that talks to me.”

“That’s not gonna happen.”

“Why not? I don’t attack the girls that flirt with you.”

“That’s different.”

Her mouth opened then closed. Before she said anything, he added, “I’ll try, Sof. For you, okay? But it’s going to be hard.”

Her eyes were ablaze. “Really? It’s hard for you to not flirt?”

“No.” He took her hand again. “It’s hard because no one knows. That girl getting on my back today was Romero’s idea, not mine. If it had been Angel, no way would he have suggested it.” He kissed her hand. “If I could tell everyone how I feel about you, things would be different. But I can’t.”

She licked her lips, and he nearly went for it. He’d been dying to kiss her for so long.

“I’m saving myself for you.”

He stared at her. The thought of Sofia as
his
nearly choked him. She was waiting for a response, but he had no idea how to respond to that in words. So he did the only thing he could. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her.

His thoughts at first were to just give her a peck, nothing more. But she opened her mouth, inviting his tongue in. He couldn’t resist. He took her mouth, her tongue, she tasted so good he brought his hand down around her waist and pulled her to him. She might not have known what she was doing, but she caught on real quick.

Sofia’s breasts pressed against his chest. Eric had such a hard on, it hurt. He’d dreamt of this day forever. His legs nearly gave out on him when she pressed herself against him. “Sofie, baby,” he whispered, “don’t!”

“Why?” She smiled against his mouth.

“Because, we can’t do anything. It’ll only torture me.” He pulled away from her, gulping hard.

She fisted her hand in his chest. “I promise you, Eric. I’m all yours, unless—”

“Unless nothing.” Eric wouldn’t even think of it.

“Unless.” She raised her voice. “I keep seeing and hearing about you with girls.” She tapped her fist against his chest. “It’s not fair.”

“I promise you I won’t do anything with anyone else ever.” He kissed her forehead. “But you gotta cut me some slack around Romero. Just because I go along with what he says or does to shut him up, doesn’t mean I’m doing anything. I’ll never do anything to hurt you.”

Her eyes brightened and he kissed her again. It was settled. Maybe seeing her with another guy had been worth it after all. The urgency levels had raised just enough to force him to move this thing along a little further. But he was playing with fire and he knew it. He’d have to be particularly careful now. If her brothers ever got wind of this, especially Alex, he was a dead man.

*

*

Thank goodness for Sarah. If it wasn’t for her, Sofia would be just bursting. Sarah was the only one she’d told about her and Eric. She promised not to say anything to Angel, but begged her to be careful.

Sofia sat in her Geometry class, daydreaming. She and Eric were making out every time they were alone now. He was so gentle with her it drove her crazy. She could hardly stand it. She roamed her hands all over his body freely, though most of the time he pleaded with her not to. But he had yet to do much to her. She knew it was a torment for him to hold back and she told him he didn’t have to, but he insisted they were already taking an enormous risk just making out.

Brandon sat down next to her. He was late again. He still lived at the end of their cul-de-sac and he was still a recluse. Sofia stopped hating him a long time ago. Instead, she felt sorry for him. There was something sad about the look in his eyes. He’d stopped being a jerk long ago, as well, and he seemed nice enough now.

The first day of the semester, he’d walked in late and there were only two empty seats left. She’d been saving the one next to her for her friend, but she didn’t have the heart to tell him no when he timidly ask her if he could sit there. He’d sat there every day since. After getting to know him better, she found out she’d been right. He was actually a real nice guy. But he clammed up whenever she asked anything about his family, so she stopped asking.

He talked a lot about joining the Marines as soon as he graduated from high school. It kind of made her sad how happy he was about getting away from his family. She couldn’t even imagine leaving her family. At least he hadn’t turned into the loser her brothers always said he would.

“You still don’t know what you wanna do once you’re done with high school?” he whispered.

Sofia shook her head. Her parents had always told her she was more than welcome to follow the family business as long as she went to school first. It was important to them that she had an education to fall back on.

For as long as she could remember, she kept a journal. She loved writing and unlike some of the kids who groaned when her English teacher assigned a paper or short story to write, she was always excited about it. Her English teacher told her she hadn’t even begun to scratch the surface of her talent.

“Maybe a writer. I dunno.”

“You like writing?”

She glanced at him. “Yeah.”

“What do you write?”