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Not that she thought Eric took advantage of that He never told her she couldn’t do things without hiift of Cancun, he assu without {oinher she cohis she hadn’t done in a while She told herself it was just because she was trying to keep herself busy She used to run every day for pleasure Ever since she and Eric started sneaking off, she stopped She only ran for the tea to let anything, even her running, cut into her ti, for the sake of writing The only writing she’d done was the mandatory stuff for school Now that Eric wasn’t around, she spent hours every day doing both

What bothered her ot how much she enjoyed both Ithe liked tiin to enjoy time away from her, maybe even with other people

He’d ain, she kept what she felt to herself She didn’t even make a smart remark like she had the first tiain, she would definitely say soed the subject Even after they’d moved on, several topics later, she still couldn’t shake the unease

The next ot ready for her daily run She stretched out before starting on the grassy area to the side of the ay behind her house So She focused on the puppy that ed on the leash He was adorable, big and chocolate brown "Is this his first walk?" She knelt down to pet the pup

"Actually, it’s his third"

Sofia looked up, i the voice She hadn’t even realized it was Brandon Billings from up the street The last time she’d seen hio He looked different--more mature He set back?"

She couldn’t get over how different he looked He was in ether The despondency in his eyes was gone too

He was taller and uished soone" His playful smile revealed a perfect set of white teeth

She reh school He’d worn braces all four years

"Of course I noticed," she sone a while, haven’t you?"

"Obviously you didn’t notice the first time I was back in town, but since then I went back for another fourteenon his pants "Just got back last week"

"And this is your puppy?" She said, bending back down She s paws and wrapped her hands around his ears and face

"Yeah, this is Troop"

"Hey, Troop," she said, "you’re beautiful"

"So are you," Brandon said

Sofia stopped petting Troop and looked up at Brandon The coh little uncomfortable, but she was flattered anyway "Thank you"

"You look so different, Sof, so hteen now?"