Sweet Sofie (The Moreno Brothers 3)

Eric had to smile. He hadn’t even thought of what a big deal that might be, but Sofia had always loved cooking for him. It was their thing. He buried his face in her neck. “I’m sorry I made you so upset. I hate to see you cry.”

Sofia pulled away from him and looked him straight in the eyes. “No more house calls for any of your tech idiot girlfriends either. Okay?”

Eric kissed her. “I wish you could somehow feel what I feel for you, Sof. You’d never have to worry about me with anyone else.”

“I do feel it. It’s what I feel for you, but you made me question it today.”

“I’m sorry, Sof. I didn’t even do anything, but I’ll say that forever. I’m sorry.”

She rested her head against his chest and sighed. “I feel drained.”

Eric took a deep breath. “Yeah, that makes two of us.”

***

Sofia’s graduation present was a trip to Cancun. Eric seemed thrilled when she said she wanted him to come with her. All her friends were going. It would be a blast.

Sofia had been a little surprised her brothers were actually happy Eric was going, but at almost nineteen, she knew her brothers had to assume they were sexually active. At this point, all they were more worried about was her safety partying in a foreign country.

The trip was everything she’d hoped for, except for the fact that she was the only one of her girlfriends that brought her boyfriend along. There were a couple of nights her friends were a little miffed that she didn’t hang out with them because they were supposed to be girls’ nights. Still, Sofia and Eric made the most of the trip, and they had the best time ever.

Eric took a break that summer and only took a few classes instead of his usual full load. They were able to spend more time together and as always, every moment alone was electrifying.

When summer ended, Sofia concentrated on school. She attended UCSD, the same as Alex and Angel. She dare not go anywhere further. It was bad enough, school and his job kept them apart for days at a time now. She couldn’t imagine being away from him for weeks, much less months.

She met Naomi in college. They were both majoring in English Lit. They met in a creative writing class. Naomi was a few years older than Sofia, and already had a baby. She was also a little bitter about the hand she’d been dealt. Only twenty-two, she was a single mom with no family support. But she loved reading, writing, and she was working her way through college. Sofia had to respect that.

Sofia worked at the restaurant when she had the time. Her parents had told her she could put in as many or as little hours as she wanted. She couldn’t even imagine working a regular job, going to school and raising a baby all by herself.

They went to lunch as they often did. Sofia sat across from Naomi. She’d asked Sofia if she could interview her. Naomi was working on a paper on relationships for Psych class.

Naomi bit into her sandwich before picking up her pen and note pad. “So how did you meet Eric?”

Sofia smiled. “I’ve known him forever.”

“Really? You’re whole life?”

Sofia nodded. “Yeah, pretty much. We grew up in the same neighborhood. He lived up the block from me. Still does.” She bit into her own sandwich. Naomi waited for her to continue. When she was done chewing, she swallowed and added, “He’s my brother’s best friend, so he was always around.”

“Wow. That’s so sweet. So was he your first boyfriend?”

Sofia smiled and nodded. “My first everything, actually. I’d never even kissed a boy before him.”

Naomi stared. “You’ve never had any other experiences than with him?”

Sofia thought about it. That was it in a nutshell—she’d never been interested in experiencing anything with anyone else.

“That’s interesting. I’ve been reading a lot about long-term relationships. The ones that I find the most fascinating are the couples that met and marry after only a very short time, say a week or a month, but are together forever. Then there are the ones like you, who’ve known each other your whole lives and stay together forever. But I know you’re still young, so who knows. Personally, I don’t know anyone else, even high school sweethearts, that have stayed together. It seems like too much. ”

“What do you mean?”

“Well.” Naomi sat up. “I’m not saying you won’t; I’m just saying most couples that start that young eventually start getting bored with the same relationship and start wondering what they missed out on. You know—dating—meeting new people in the real world outside high school.”

The memory of Eric laughing with the girl at the store came to mind. There hadn’t been anymore instances since then, but the image was seared in her mind forever.

“In most cases, usually the guy starts to resent all he missed out on.” She tilted her head. “Neither of you has had other relationships outside of each other?”

Sofia smiled big. “Yep. It’s just been me and him all this time.”

Naomi took another bite of her sandwich and wrote something, thinking aloud. “Never even been kissed by anyone else.”

Sofia shook her head. “Nope, and I never wanna be.”

Naomi smiled. “That’s beautiful. But don’t you get curious?”

“About what?”

“I don’t know.” Naomi stared. “I’m just saying don’t you ever get curious about what kissing another guy would be like?”