Bitter Sweet

10. The Talk

Julio slammed the door after the confrontation with Stephanie. He felt awful. He shouldn't have spoken to her like that, she was only looking after her sister. But man, did she make him mad. Who did she think she was marching to his house demanding him to speak to his brother. Sure, it was stupid, extremely stupid to get caught having sex with a girl by the older sister, but it wasn't as if Julio had anything to do with it.

He walked to his brother's room and knocked on the door quietly. If there was a good time to have the talk with him, it was now. He took deep breaths and tried to calm himself down, he wanted a quiet, conversation, not a fight.

Sergio opened the door, he looked like he was ready to go to sleep as he stood in nothing but his boxer shorts. Almost as if nothing had happened.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" Julio asked as he leaned against the door frame.

Julio looked down at the ground unable to face him, he was scared, Julio realized. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Hey, don't apologize to me. Apologized to Stephanie. She almost punched me on the face because of you."

"I know, I panicked, so I ran."

Julio rubbed his eyes roughly, where to start. "Sergio, sex is not a game."

"I know," he replied defensively.

"What I mean is, do you like the girl?"

"Yeah."

"Do you really like her though?"

"Sure, yeah."

"No, not sure. Listen, sex isn't meant to happen in a garage, if you like this girl like you say you do, it should be, I don't know, somewhere with a bed, maybe. And maybe, when you're a bit older?"

"Look, I'm not a kid," Sergio replied completely missing the point. "I know what sex is, and I do like her a lot, so I am pretty sure we are ready."

Julio couldn't help but laugh. "Really? Were you using protection?"

Sergio stayed quiet and shook his head.

"Are you serious? No condom? If you were so ready, didn't you think of using a condom?"

Sergio looked up, regret written all over his face. "It was the spur of the moment. I wasn't planning it, I promise."

Julio believed him. He also believed it was Ashley who egged him on, he knew her type. "I'm not going to tell you what to do, nor will I punish you, that's not my role here. But I will tell you this, be careful, Sergio. Treat her like. . . like you want men to treat Lorena. Don't rush into things, you're sixteen and trust me, the last thing you want is to have a baby to deal with. I'm not saying don't have sex, but if you do, for god's sake, wear a condom."

Sergio nodded. "Okay, thanks."

Julio watched him trying to see if he got through to him. He couldn't tell. His reply wasn't exactly a reply from a man that understood how serious the situation was. But he let it go. He would leave the rest to Sergio's discretion. He spoke to him and that was the most he could do. He left Sergio and went to his studio like room. Bob greeted him excitedly jumping on his back and licking his hand. Julio threw him a bone and off Bob went to his dog house to gnaw on that bone. He somehow enjoyed it better when it was thrown.

Julio laid on his back ready to sleep replaying the scene with Stephanie repeatedly in his head. He concluded that she was insane. Chasing Sergio to the house? What was she going to do if she did catch him? Pull him by the ear and scorn him? Grab her shoe and hit him with it?

Julio found himself laughing at the thought. If he was attracted to her before, he now liked her a lot. She was beautiful when she was angry. And she was brave. The way she slammed the door with her hand that it surely hurt her, he liked her audacity. Though out of line, it was refreshing. Julio was used to seeing girls wanting to please his every wish, but not Stephanie, she spoke her mind and she didn't care.

He took a deep breath and turned to his side, he shouldn't have told her that she had issues. By her reaction, he could tell that some man had hurt her. She took an involuntary step back and her face went white. He had brought back some memory and Julio hated himself for that. Who did he think he was suggesting her to see some therapist?

He closed his eyes tightly and sighed. He needed to rest, he had an early day at the car shop and he needed his sleep. The last thing in his mind was Stephanie's hurt expression, the heavy weight in his brain was now on his heart and he hated it.

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