No. No. That was bullshit. Maybe I was just horny. If I just got laid, maybe I could just get back to focusing on my real life and not that blonde with the blue eyes and the cherry lips that wandered into my life.
Banking my bike to the right, my mind was made up. I knew what I needed to do, and I knew exactly who to go to and do it with.
* * *
“Hey, sexy. Long time no see.”Sofia was leaning up against the door of her mobile home wearing not much more than a slip. It was a white cotton dress and it clung to every one of the curves I knew so well. “I was real happy to get your text.” She stepped aside to let me in. “Come on in.”
As I went into the small home, it looked exactly the same as it did the first time I was here. Sofia was really into Latin art, and her whole place looked like a huge Dia De Los Muertos exhibit. Colorful skulls, half-burned candles, and paintings everywhere.
Padre had given me Sofia’s address when I was 18. He said it was time I learned a few things. I wasn’t a virgin, of course. But Sofia knew a whole lot more about sex than my high school girlfriend had.
Sofia wasn’t a professional or anything. She was just a good friend to Padre and was willing to help him out with just about anything.
“Can I get you a beer, or are you still not drinkin’?” She crossed over to the small refrigerator.
“No, I’m good, thanks.”
“Mind if I have one?” she asked.
“Knock yourself out.” I went to sit on the couch. Oddly, I felt awkward. I hadn’t been here in a good year, year and a half. Sofia and I had played around quite a few times, but it was never anything serious.
“So, what’s on your mind, Ryder?” She sat down across from me and looked at me with tender brown eyes.
I tried to play it cool. “Does a guy have to have something on his mind to come see an old friend?”
“You do.” She crossed her tanned legs and for a moment I wished we weren’t having this conversation. I wished I had those legs wrapped around my waist and I could stop thinking about the reason I was here. “You don’t just come by, Ryder.”
I didn’t know how to answer that, so I didn’t. I just shifted in my seat.
Suddenly, her face broke out in a smile. “It’s a woman! You’re here because of a woman.”
I shook my head, not in disagreement but in disbelief. “How could you tell?”
“Ryder, I’ve known you since you were just becoming a man.” She took a sip of her beer. “Who is she?”
“She’s a new waitress at Tiny’s.” It felt weird even talking about Paige with her. Or anyone, for that matter.
“And you like her?”
“I don’t know what I feel.” I kept looking at Sofia and trying to find a way to stop the conversation and just get her in bed. I wanted to not think or feel or do anything for a while.
Sofia got up, crossed over to where I was, and kneeled down in front of me. I could see down her dress, and for a moment thought she was making a move. Instead, she took both of my hands in hers and said, “Can I give you some advice?”
“Sure.”
“The biggest regret in my life is not going after love when it showed up on my doorstep. I was too afraid to open up and risk getting hurt. Instead, I ran so fast the other way my head was practically spinning. Eventually he left and married someone else, and here I am, alone.”
It was at that moment that I truly looked at Sofia for the first time. Not as a person who was there to teach and comfort me, but as a person. She had feelings and a heart and was a woman, not just some receptacle to take away my pain. I knew that she deserved better than that.
“Sofia…”
She quickly stood up and went to grab her beer. “Don’t feel sorry for me, Ryder. But don’t become me, either. If you have any feelings toward this woman at all, follow them. Sure, you might get hurt, but at least you won’t spend the rest of your life wondering if it could have turned out differently.”
I stood up because it was time for me to leave. “Thank you, Sofia.” I hugged her warmly. “I really appreciate what you said.”
“You take care of yourself, Ryder.”
* * *
