Romero showed up a while later and they all hung out like old times. It felt damn good.eltool The girls sat on lawn chairs in the front yard chatting, while the guys stood by Alex’s truck parked out in the street throwing back a few beers.

They were in the middle of clowning Romero about his piece of crap car when they noticed he wasn’t paying attention to any of them. He was looking behind Eric. “Is that Bad News Billings?”

Eric turned around to see a very clean-cut, buffed-up Brandon Billings, walking toward them with a dog on a leash.

CHAPTER 11

It is what it is

“Get the f**k out!” Romero said, smiling, “Is that you, Billings?”

Brandon extended his arms out to the sides. “In the flesh.”

“What?” Angel added, “No way!”

Brandon laughed. As surprised as everyone else, Eric couldn’t believe how different Brandon looked.

Angel reached out, shook his hand, and patted his shoulder. They all did the same except for Romero, who feigned punching him in the stomach.

“Did you just get back?” Angel asked.

“Last week, actually.”

Alex went back to leaning on his truck. “You wanna beer, man?”

“Yeah, I’ll take one.”

Alex swatted Romero on the arm. “Go grab one from the ice chest.”

Romero made a face. “Why me?”

“Because I asked you to.” Alex turned back to Brandon. “So how was it?”

Brandon smiled. “I can’t complain. I mean, it was hard at first. Boot camp’s brutal, but you get used to it and,” he said, looking away for a second, “anything was better than being home.”

“What’s this?” Romero pointed at Brandon’s upper arm, after handing him the beer. “You got a tattoo?”

Brandon turned his arm to them when he saw the interest in everyone. It was the US Marine embeltooloo?lem, the one with the eagle sitting on a globe with an anchor going through the globe. The detail was impressive, and by the look on Brandon’s face, there was no doubt he was proud.

“That’s cool.” Romero studied it closely. “You know I’m thinking of getting a tattoo. Did it hurt?”

The guys chuckled. “What are you gonna get, Romero? A picture of your cat, Flea?”

Romero looked at Alex, disgusted. “Its Fee Fee, and he’s not my cat, he’s my uncle’s.” He brought his attention back to Brandon. “I was thinking of getting a gun right here.” He lifted his shirt, exposing his abdomen. He stuck his hand in his pants. “So it looks like I’m packin’.”

They all busted up, including Brandon.

“That’d be the only thing you’d be packin’,” Alex said.

Romero looked at all of them, obviously failing to see the humor. Without commenting on their laughing, he looked back at Brandon. “So does it hurt?”

The girls had come over to pet the dog. He was cute, just a pup. Instead of bending over and petting the dog like Sarah and Valerie, Sofia came over and leaned against Eric, slipping her hand in his. Brandon glanced at them, then brought his attention back to Romero. “Nah, it doesn’t hurt too much. The vibrating needle kinda numbs it.”

“Damn, Brandon,” Romero said, looking at his arm, “looks like they worked you out pretty good.”

Brandon chuckled. “Yeah, I thought I was used to getting worked out, but I got back home and,” he looked at Sofia, “got worked out pretty hard here, right, Sof?”

Sof?

Sofia smiled. Eric held her hand a little tighter. He wasn’t sure what that meant, but he wasn’t jumping to any conclusions like he knew her brothers would. They all stared at Sofia. Brandon saw the looks on their faces. “I knew she was on the track team, but damn. I didn’t know how fast she was.”

Eric glanced at Sofia. In very unlike Sofia fashion, she blushed. She hadn’t mentioned Brandon was even back in town, much less that she’d been running with him. Eric didn’t want to make too much of it, but he had to wonder if had anything to do with her behavior this week.

“So you raced?” Romero asked. Before either could respond, he added, “Did you beat ‘im, Sof?”

Sofia and Brandon exchanged glances. It was just a glance, but it held the weight of an elephant. It turned Eric’s stomach. The carefree afternoon he’d been having up until then took a nose dive.

“I almost beat him,” Sofia answered.

Brandon smiled. “Don’t worry, Sof, You’ll get me next time.”

Eric squeezed her hand. The hidden message in Brandon’s eyes wasn’t missed. Sofia didn’t respond. Much to Eric’s annoyance, Romero went back to asking about the tattoo. As if one tattoo made Brandon an expert on the subject. Eric wanted to hear more about Brandon and Sofia running. If he didn’t now, he’d sure as hell make sure he did later. Unfortunately, later would have to wait. The guys had planned a night out, bowling.

After chatting for a while longer, Brandon finally said he had to take off, but not before turning to Sofia one last time. “You gtim heonna be out there tomorrow morning?”

Eric felt her tense up. “No. I only run during the week.”

“Alright, then I’ll see you out there Monday morning.”, he said, and Sofia shrugged in response.

To top it off, Angel insisted that since Eric had had such a long drive, there was no sense in taking two cars—they should all go in his. The only moment he would’ve had alone with Sofia before tonight was the drive to bowling alley. Now that was shot, too. He wouldn’t even be able to take advantage of the ride home.