Sweet Sofie (Moreno Brothers)

Chapter 3: Sweet Sixteen

At seventeen, Eric had no control over his raging hormones. He panicked, feeling the development in his pants. If Mrs. Moreno or anyone else walked in, there'd be no way he could stand up without it being noticeable.

Sofia giggled and squirted a little more in her mouth again.

"Sofie." Eric glanced around. "Stop."

"Stop what?" Those big innocent eyes appeared genuinely confused.

"That." He pointed at the can of whipped cream in her hand then tried unsuccessfully to adjust himself in his pants. "I'm not gonna to be able to walk for a while thanks to you. You better hope no one comes in here."

He'd never said anything of that nature to her, but things felt different lately. It took a second to register, but when it did, instead of blushing like Eric thought she might, she smiled again. She squirted some on the tip of her finger then slowly licked it clean. Eric squeezed his eyes shut, sitting up straight. "You evil little girl."

Sofia laughed and walked back toward the refrigerator. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm not a little girl anymore, Eric."

"Oh, I've noticed." Had he ever.

She turned and smiled. "Good, now can you please tell my brothers that?"

Good luck. They all still spoke of her and treated her as if she was this fragile little flower. The only good thing about that was it kept the guys away—guys he knew had to be watching and waiting.

Lately, even Eric was having a hard time not losing it when he saw guys around her. He knew Angel thought he just felt the same protectiveness they all did. He did, but not for the reasons Angel thought. He had to break down soon and talk to Angel. He couldn't hold back much longer.

~*~

Angel had a girlfriend now. Her name was Sarah, and she was on the track team with Sofia. Sofia liked her a lot, but most importantly, she owed Sarah for all the time she was getting with Eric now.

They walked back to the gym after practice. The football team was just coming off the field as well, done with their practice. The guys usually met Sarah and Sofia halfway to the gym, but this time they were interrupted by a couple of giggling girls. Both Sofia and Sarah tensed when they saw the exchange. Only Angel kept walking toward them without giving the girls the time of day.

Eric and Romero, however, stopped to chat. Romero obviously enjoyed the attention. He laughed about something. One of the girls leaned into Eric playfully and touched the curls on his head. The very curls Sofia had only begun running her fingers through in the past week during their time alone.

Eric smiled and glanced in Sofia's direction. She looked away. She felt her skin crawl. She had to endure seeing him with girls too many times. It was so unfair. Just about every guy in school was well aware of her brothers, and recently even Romero and Eric stepped up the big brother act, so Eric would never have to deal with seeing her with other guys.

She gulped hard, staring straight ahead. She hated this feeling, and lately it was getting worse. Every time she saw or overheard the guys talking about the things they'd done with girls, she wanted to scream. Now, she felt on the verge of tears.

Angel reached for Sarah's hand as soon as he was close enough. He turned in her direction. "You tired, Sof?"

She nodded, unable to speak. After changing, she and Sarah walked out to meet the guys. It had become routine for Angel and Sarah to drive to the beach and hang out for a few hours every day before he went home. He always left it up to Sofia if she wanted him to take her home first or if she wanted to jump in with Eric. This time, she climbed in Angel's car before he even asked.