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.”
CHAPTER 14
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 s
he 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.”
Eric stared at him. “What? You mean like for next summer?”
“No, this is a shorter one. During Christmas break. You’d leave after Christmas.” His dad took another spoonful of his dinner and waved the waitress down. “Can I get another glass of wine, please?”
“Same place?”
“Nope.” His dad drank down the rest of what was left of his wine. “Madrid.”
Eric stopped mid-chew. “Spain?”
His dad smiled. “Merry Christmas.”
“For how long?”
“Just four weeks. You’d be back before the end of January.”
Eric could feel his stomach turning. “Wait, whoa, dad. I got classes in the winter.”
“Yeah, in Spain. The credits are transferable. Don’t worry,” his dad winked at him, then at the waitress who refilled his glass, “I made sure I cove>
Eric wasn’t ready for this. What happened over the summer was still too raw. He didn’t need another roller coaster ride this soon.
New Year’s Eve this year was supposed to be huge. Sarah was a New Year’s baby. Angel’s birthday was just a couple of weeks before hers. This year they were both turning twenty-one, and they were planning a big party on New Year’s Eve. The worst part was, this would be the first New Year’s Eve he wouldn’t be spending with Sofia in years. “I don’t know, Dad.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know? It’s done, son. Your passport is ready, the tickets are booked and they’re non-refundable. It’s gonna be great. I thought you’d be excited.”
Eric frowned. “No, you didn’t.”
His dad smirked, taking a drink of his wine. “Look, I’ll add international texting for the month to your cell phone plan. This way you can text her all you want.”
Eric almost groaned. He hadn’t even thought about that part. Unlike with his internship in Los Angeles, they wouldn’t be able to talk much on the phone. The cell phone bill would be astronomical. They wouldn’t even be in the same time zone. Telling Sofia was going to be brutal. She already thought his dad didn’t like her. She’d insinuated his dad got him the internship in Los Angeles to get Eric away from her. He was sure that’s what she’d be thinking about this. Only this time he had to agree.
After the accident, his dad hadn’t made it a secret he thought Eric was way too emotionally involved with Sofia. He said he’d never seen him so upset than he had the day he found out about Sofia and Brandon. His father attributed his careless driving to the whole distraction. He never really asked Eric about the details of Sofia “cheating,” but ever since, any talk of her changed the mood. Partly, because his dad did nothing to hide his disapproval of them being so serious, but mostly because Eric was ready to snap if his dad made even one negative remark about her.
Friday after Thanksgiving, Eric and Sofia took a weekend snowboarding trip to a resort in Big Bear with Angel and Sarah, compliments of Angel’s parents who owned a timeshare up there. They stayed there until Sunday. As romantic as the weekend had been, Sofia made a few comments about the holidays officially starting and how much she loved this time of year. It dampened the mood for Eric. He hadn’t planned on telling Sofia about Spain until they were back home alone, but on the ride home, Angel brought up the New Year’s/birthday party.
“So you can get a long enough play list with just the good stuff together for me, right, Eric?” Angel glanced back at him. Eric sat in the back seat. Sofia leaned against him, holding his hand. “This way we don’t have to have anyone manning the music all night,” he chuckled, “or worse, have Romero take over.”
Eric shifted in his seat. “Yeah, I can do that. I’ll just email it to you, so you can download it to your laptop.”
“I’ll probably need to borrow your speakers, too. Mine blew out.”
“Yeah, I’ll bring them over when we get home if you want.” Sofia snuggled into him. Even with the windows all closed and them bundled up it was still cold.
“Nah,” Angel said, “Just bring them over the day of. I don’t need them this soon.”
Sarah turned around tu A to face Sofia. “You think we should give the party some kind of theme? You know, like eighties or a masquerade or something.”
Sofia straightened up and moved closer to the edge of her seat. “Oh, that would be fun!”
“Masks are kind of fruity,” Angel said.
Sofia rolled her eyes. “How about famous couples?” She turned to Eric. “Me and you can be Bonnie and Clyde.”
Ah hell.
Sarah smiled big. “I like it.” She squeezed Angel’s arm. “I’ll be Miss Bennet and you can be the dreamy Mr. Darcy.”
Eric saw Angels eyes pinch in the rearview mirror. “Who the hell’s Mr. Darcy?”
Both girls ignored Angel and went on, more excited by the minute.
“Alex and Valerie can be Danny and Sandy from Grease.” Sarah giggled. “That would be so perfect.”
Angel spoke up again. “Not everyone coming are couples. Romero, for example.”
“I’m sure he’ll find a date.” Sarah waved her hand at Angel. “The guy has a new girl every week.”
“Or maybe he can be Clyde with you for the night.” Eric squeezed her hand.
Sofia looked at him confused. “Why?”
“I’m not gonna be here for New Year’s, babe.” He rubbed his hand over the back of hers.
“You’re not?” Angel asked, looking into the rearview mirror.
He glanced back from the rearview mirror to Sofia, who was staring at him. Noticing Sofia’s sudden change in mood, Sarah went back to facing forward.
“My dad got me an internship in Spain.” Sofia didn’t say a word, just sat back.
“No shit?” Angel looked in the rearview mirror. “For how long?”
“Just four weeks. I leave the day after Christmas. ”
Sofia attempted to pull her hand away, but Eric held it firmly.
“Well that sucks you’ll miss the party, but that’s pretty cool. Spain. Wow.”
Eric smiled at Angel’s comment, but he knew the conversation he and Sofia would be having in private was going to be tense.
She didn’t say much the whole way home. A few blocks from his house, Eric whispered to Sofia, “Get off with me at my house so we can talk. I’ll take you home later.”
Sofia nodded, but didn’t say anything else. Eric was happy his dad halk. wasn’t home when they got there. Ironically, during the summer when he and Sofia’s relationship almost fell apart, his dad had met someone and was seeing a lot of her lately.
As soon as they were in the house, Sofia turned to him. “Why haven’t you told me?”
“I just found out on Thanksgiving.” He pulled her in his arms. “I wanted to wait until after this trip. I had a feeling you wouldn’t be happy and I didn’t want to ruin the weekend for you.”
“Spain? Really? He couldn’t find anywhere further?”
Eric smirked. “C’mon, babe, it’s only four weeks.”
Sofia exhaled. “Is he gonna do this every time you get any time
off of school? Make sure you don’t spend the time with me?”
“No.” He kissed her gently. “That’s not what he’s doing, Sof. He’s just always been like that. Wants to make sure I get the opportunities he never had. That’s all.” He pulled her with him to the sofa and sat down. She sat next to him still noticeably despondent. “Spring break next year, we’ll take that vacation we were supposed to take this past summer.”
One side of her mouth lifted slightly. “A cruise?”
“Whatever you want,” he smiled, glad that she was warming up to the idea.
She sat up suddenly and climbed over of him, straddling him. With those lustful eyes that always drove him crazy, she stared and started to unbutton her blouse. Her beautiful ample cleavage had him hard in a second. “What I want is to start making up for those four weeks you’re gonna be gone.”
Eric buried his face in her cleavage. Damn, he was going to miss her.
***
The holidays had a different feel this year. Sofia wanted so much to enjoy them as much as she always did, but knowing Eric would be gone the day after Christmas dampened her spirits.
Christmas was just a few days away. Eric was spending the day with his dad getting everything he needed together for his trip. Sofia and Sarah had finally finished their last minute shopping. The mall was a mess. As usual when she hung out with Sarah, they laughed non-stop. It was a nice release from the gloom that grew with every day that got closer to Eric leaving.