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But she was too young, and his loser ass was in no way good enough for her Besides that, she’d been, and apparently still was, surrounded by her three older, ridiculously overprotective brothers, ould ot her, not even when he left to the Marines for years He thought of her the whole tiht’ve been So last summer when he came home on his leave, he’d decided since she was older and he’d o for it He was determined to prove to her and her brothers that he orthy of her

Seeing her for the first ti She was even more beautiful than he’d remembered Then she dropped the bomb He was too late She was already in a relationship It made sense too, who she’d ended up with Eric was her brother’s best friend since they were all kids He’d had access to being around her by default all those years Of course the guy had staked his claim on her the moment she was allowed to date

Not only had Eric always had a better chance because of his friendship with her brothers he had so else--he was Hispanic Brandon didn’t think Sofie or her brothers were racist against white folk or anything, but he’d seen it all through high school Girls like Sofie tended to stick to their own kind Her family was very traditional At all the parties they’d thrown all year long, there had beentraditional Spanish music Hell they owned and ran a Mexican restaurant If her fauy they’d known and trusted all their lives and the loner white boy from that house up the street where the cops were often called for domestic disturbances as a suitor for their little princess, naturally Eric was the hands-doinner

Still, even as she’d told hi deep within her There was so beautiful eyes and felt it when he’d finally kissed her last su as he was That’s why a few days after Sal’s visit he’d followed her to the beach where she ran He had to make sure she didn’t believe the bullshit her brothers were trying to feed her now

He’d gone there with a tiny bit of hope Maybe if he got the chance he had last suet close to her, he could do it differently He’d take it slower this ti in love with him--the possibility that maybe he could convince her to leave Eric for hiht for that chance If he thought there was even the faintest hope, he’d do it in a heartbeat So he’d offered to apologize to her brothers and to Eric--try and get on their good side so that he could at least have a chance

Even though she assured hie of her, that it was the conclusion they caree with her brothers that what she and Brandon had done rong, a mistake, and that he needed to stay away fro to try to ain with uncertainty and a bit of optie is done, Brandon We had a chance to be friends, and we blew it Eric was actually okay withwith you until"

As tiny as it was, Brandon was still clinging to that gli blown their chance asof the whisky, Brandon pondered that Maybe if he told her how he felt about her, she would ads as well Was her response her way of cryptically trying to tell him she blew it too?

We blew it

"We blew it," he whispered bitterly

But would she be saying that if she kne he really felt? Would she be so quick to dismiss any further chance if he told her?

He sat up, his head spinning a little, and he laughed stupidly then immediately frowned How the hell was he supposed to tell her nohen he had to sneak around and follow her like a creeper just to have a conversation with her? Even she had cut hi the pocket knife he’d been flipping open and shut across the room, he stood up Life sucked! Out of nowhere, Sal’s words suddenly sla after you personally

"Fuck no!" He took another swig of from the near empty bottle "No, Sal I won’t stay away from her, not until I tell her how I feel!"

He set the bottle down on his desk and charged out the door The entire hallway h it

"Where are you going?" His mother’s anxious eyes searched his

"To see a friend," he said, walking past her

"Brandon, you’re drunk!"

For souess I ao out like this" His ," he said as he pushed through the front door

The cool fresh air hit hi salts, and he shook his head Until that moment, he hadn’t realized how buzzed he really was Even drunk he knew this was a bad idea, but he continued his long strides with even more conviction The entire cul-de-sac where Sofie lived was packed with cars Of course, he expected nothing less At every party her family had ever had, they’d had a ton of people A New Year’s party for thee

There were a few men just outside her front door as he walked up the circular driveway He recognized Sarah, Sofie’s brother Angel’s girl, tying balloons around the mailbox out front, so he approached her