Forever Mine by Elizabeth Reyes

crumpled napkin at Alex and laughed “Knock it off. You’re such an idiot.”
     
    Alex didn’t take his eyes off Sarah but he let go of her hand.
     
    “Yeah,” Angel looked back at Sarah. “They’re real good, is that what you want?”
     
    She nodded and handed him the menu. “Okay. Let me go put in the order. I’ll be right back. And don’t worry; he’s outta here when I get back.”
     
“I think you’re the one that’s worried.” Alex smirked.
     
Angel strolled away. “Whatever,” he said, without turning around. “And get your hands off her.”
     
Alex put both his hands in the air, smiling. He sat back and crossed his arms, pretending to analyze her.
     
    Sarah couldn’t get over the resemblance between him and Angel, except Alex was thicker, fuller somehow. But not heavy, just buffer, and his neck was huge. He had those same amazing dimples as Angel. With him smiling like that, looking so perfect, it was hard to believe he had such a short fuse, like she’d heard.
     
His silliness made Sarah feel less nervous. “Well, I didn’t know Angel had a girl, did you know he had brothers?”
     
“Yeah, I did. I must say even though I’ve never seen you, I’ve heard an awful lot about you.”
     
“Really?” he said. “Well, don’t believe a word of it. Angel’s just jealous.”
     
    Sarah laughed “Actually, Angel hasn’t said a thing about you. It’s my cousin who’s been doing all the talking.” Valerie was gonna kill her .
     
“Your cousin?”
     
“Yeah, I guess you can say she’s one of your biggest fans.” Sarah smiled.
     
Alex leaned closer to Sarah. “Okay, I gotta know now. What’s your cousins’ name?"
     
“Valerie Zuniga,” she said. “She’s a senior like me at La Jolla.”
     
She watched as he concentrated. “Valerie Zuniga? What’s she look like?”
     
    “Tiny.” Sarah giggled. “She’s really petite. As tall as you are, she might have passed by you a hundred times and you probably never saw her. Maybe that’s why you don’t remember her.”
     
    “Maybe. So, your tiny cousin Valerie is a fan uh? Does she have eyes like yours?”
     
    Sarah felt herself blushing again. “No, actually she’s my step cousin. My aunt married Valerie’s dad a few years ago. So, she looks nothing like me. She has shorter blonde hair and brown eyes.”
     
    “Hmm... a blonde? Well, if I don’t remember her, what can she possibly have to say about me?”
     
    Oh no . Sarah hadn’t expected the conversation to get this far. She couldn’t possibly tell him Valerie worships him. What if he ever did meet her? She cleared her throat. “Oh, she’s just told me about what a good football player you are and stuff.”
     
“You’re back peddling Sarah,” he smirked. “You said you’d heard an awful lot, now spill it.”
     
Sarah’s eyes opened wide. “Well, yeah but it’s girl talk. I can’t tell you that, she’d kill me.”
     
He sat up even more interested. “Girl talk uh? This is getting even better. You have to tell me now.”
     
    “No way.” She laughed nervously. Where was Angel ?
     
    Alex was playing with her now and she could tell he loved it, loved seeing her squirm. “Okay, just one thing. You can’t leave me hanging like this. You’re the one that brought it up.”
     
    This was true and now she wanted to kick herself for it. She sighed, feeling defeated. “Alright, just one thing and then we drop it, okay?” She tried to sound firm.
     
    “Yes ma’am.” The corner of his lips went up, making the dimple on his cheek even deeper. How could he not guess what girls said about him?
     
    “She’s just told me many times about... Well,you know…how good looking you are, and how popular you were in school. Okay? I’m not going into any details either, so, don’t ask.”
     
    Alex chuckled. “Okay, fair enough, but now you’re gonna have to bring her around some time, so I can get a chance to check her out.”
     
    “Alright, maybe one of