True
by Abelard

Part 4

Three weeks. Three weeks, Sonny had been waiting for Alexis to get back from New Hampshire. The day after they'd had what Sonny was mentally calling their first date, at the public pool, she'd had to go back to school. She still had three more weeks left of classes and finals.

But she promised she'd be back, and today was the day. They'd written letters to each other, arranging a time and place to see each other again, and the time had finally come. It was a Monday evening. The sky was dark blue and the air was still warm after a scorching day. Sonny was dressed, pressed, and ready to go in a crisp maroon button-down shirt and black slacks. He was on his way to his mother's house, where he'd wait for Alexis. Once Alexis showed up, they'd take his mother out to dinner. Mrs. Cerullo had been surprised to hear that he was bringing his new girl to meet his mother already, but Sonny didn't understand her confusion.

"But, Sonny, usually that's reserved for when you're really serious about a girl," Mrs. Cerullo had said, arms crossed at the door to the small bathroom where Sonny was slapping on aftershave.

"*I'm* serious," Sonny said offhandedly.

In the bathroom mirror, Sonny could see Mrs. Cerullo frown and look confused. "But, you said you'd only spent a few hours with her."

"Yup," Sonny answered.

"Have you kissed her?"

"Nope." *Except in my dreams,* Sonny thought.

"Have you even agreed that you're really…dating? Does she know you already talk about her like she's your girl?"

"No, but she will. Thanks for the shirt, Mrs. Cerullo. I gotta go," Sonny kissed her cheek as he walked past her and hurried out of the house.

"Thank Gino! It's a good thing you boys are the same size!" she called back, but Sonny didn't have time to answer. If he didn't get to his mother's on time, he might not be there when Alexis arrived.

Sonny still had a key to Adela's house, so he let himself in. He knew Deke wouldn't be there. Deke would be on duty all night; it was the only reason Adela had agreed to come out with Sonny and Alexis. Deke never let his wife see her son if he could help it. "Mama!" Sonny called as he closed the door behind him. "Are you ready? Alexis will be here in a couple of min…" Then Sonny froze. Every muscle in his body tensed up.

"Lookee here, it's Sonny Boy," Deke said. He was standing in front of the hallway that led to the bedrooms. There was no way Sonny could get to his mother's room without going through Deke. "What are you all dressed up for, boy?" Deke began walking towards him. It took everything Sonny had not to back away. He let Deke come right up to him, till he stood almost chest to chest with him.

"I'm taking Mama out tonight," Sonny said. His jaw was set. His eyes glared at his stepfather. *No fear, no fear*, Sonny told himself over and over.

"You think so?" Deke growled. "You're all dressed up like this for your mama?' Deke flicked the collar of Sonny's shirt. Sonny clenched his hand into a fist, ready to hit first if Deke tried to lay a hand on him. *I'm not a boy anymore,* thought Sonny. "You're dressed up for someone else, too, ain't ya? Some girl." Deke snorted with derision. "As if you'll ever get a girl. Little piece of filth like you. Rotten little scum."

Sonny lowered his chin, almost to his chest, and glowered up at Deke with all the hatred in the world shining in his dark eyes. He knew Deke wanted him to answer. Deke wanted a reason. He'd be damned if he gave him one.

"Oh, you're a tough guy now, that it?" Deke mocked. "In your fancy clothes, meeting your fancy new girl, workin' over there for that lowlife crook Scully. That's what you're gonna be, Sonny. A little lowlife piece of garbage crook, just like Scully and his crew. You think just 'cause you're good-lookin', you're a real man?! You'll never be a man! You'll always be a turd under my heel."

Sonny tried to step around Deke. He called out, "Mama, you ready?"

Deke grabbed him by the front of his shirt and backhanded him across the face. Sonny shook his head to clear his vision, then frowned and launched himself at Deke with all his might. He punched him in the stomach, twice, then raised his fist to get him in the jaw, but Deke got him first, socking him in the face so hard Sonny felt the skin around his eye tear. "Get up! Get up!" Deke said. "You're such a man, get up and take me! I know you think you're big enough to take me, boy, so come on!"

Sonny regained his balance and ran at Deke again; Deke stopped him with a knee in his gut. He wailed on Sonny a few minutes more, till Sonny lay on the floor, blood streaming from his nose, coughing hard. "Not so pretty now, are ya?" Deke said, laughing and panting, wiping the sweat off his face. "See what your girl thinks of you now, pretty boy!"

Sonny got up and ran from the house as fast his legs would take him.

****

"Mr. Scully! Mr. Scully!" Sonny yelled, running into Mauricio's. He was holding his nose, which pounded with pain, and the cut around his eye stung like hell. "Phil, where's Mr. Scully?"

"Whoa, what is it, kid?" Joe Scully appeared in the doorway of the back room. "What're you makin' such a racket for?"

"Mr. Scully, I need a job. A real job. Please!"

"Hey, slow down, kid! You're bleedin' all over the floor! Come over here and sit. Phil, get this kid some ice, will ya?" Scully's guys helped Sonny over to a chair, and Sonny tilted his head back and put a couple of napkins to his nose. Phil came over with a towel wrapped around some ice and Sonny pressed it against his nose. "Now," Scully said, taking a seat next to Sonny, "what's this about a job? You got a job. You're my best runner!"

"No, Mr. Scully. I need a job that pays real money. It's the only way I'll ever get my mother out of that house!" Sonny grimaced; it hurt just to talk.

Scully nodded. "The stepfather, huh?" Sonny didn't answer, but he didn't have to. Scully gave a loud sigh. "You're too young for a job that pays the kind of money you need, kid. But I'll tell you what. I'll let you be the bagman for a couple of sites starting next week. How's that? I like you, kid. I'm gonna let you work your way up. Deal?"

Sonny shook Scully's hand with his blood-covered one. "Deal." Baggers didn't earn a whole lot, but like Scully said, it was his start up the chain. Someday, Sonny vowed, he'd have more money than Deke had ever seen in his life.

****

Less than half an hour later, Sonny's nose had stopped bleeding and he was getting ready to play five-card draw with some of Scully's crew in the back room, when Phil came in and walked right up to Sonny. "There's a girl here."

Sonny didn't look up from the card table. He'd been afraid of this. "Tell here I'm not here."

"Too late," Alexis said from the doorway, and Sonny shifted abruptly so that his cut eye was hidden from her view. "You weren't at your mother's house, so I figured you'd be here." As she approached the table, Phil exited the room. Sonny turned around in his seat even more and put his elbow on the table and his hand on his face. "Why weren't you there?" Alexis asked.

Sonny hated hearing the hurt in her voice, and hated causing her any more pain, but it had to be done. "I changed my mind." He cleared his throat; they were clogged with unshed tears. "Go away." He bit the inside of his cheek to keep his resolve.

"Go aw…Sonny, what's going on?!" Alexis looked pointedly at the man sitting in the chair beside Sonny's. "Will you offer me a seat, please?" she said regally.

"Sure, doll, sit where you like," the man said. When Alexis arched a dark brow at him, he finally got the hint. "Oh, I mean, please take my seat, miss."

"Thank you." Alexis sat and scooted the chair closer to Sonny. He only shrank further away from her. "What's the matter with you? I thought you wanted to see me tonight." The eyes of every goodfella in the room focused on her like laserbeams didn't give her any pause. Sonny heard the determination in her voice, but he was also determined.

"Things change," he said, as coldly as he could.

"Why can't you look at me?" she demanded. Then, when Sonny didn't answer, she reached out with one long finger and gently turned his face towards hers. Sonny didn't fight her. Alexis gasped when she saw the cut around his eye and his bruised nose. "Oh my God! What happened to you?!"

Sonny rose abruptly and disturbed the card table, but it didn't tip over. "It's none of your concern," he said, and walked quickly out of the coffee shop.

He heard Alexis's heels behind him on the asphalt. "I told you to stay away!" he yelled over his shoulder, but she only ran until she'd caught up with him, then matched his stride, step for step.

"Then make me," she said, marching right beside him.

Sonny halted in the middle of the street. "Look, I don't have any business being with you! You're a genius who goes to boarding school and rides around in limousines, and I'm a dropout! I sleep in someone's basement and I earn a couple dollars a week running around town for the local boss. I've got no class! What do you want with me anyway, rich girl?" He started to stomp off again, but Alexis reached out and grabbed him by the upper arm.

"Don't you walk away from me! How dare you speak to me like that!" she yelled.

"How dare I…? Why, because I'm some street kid who shouldn't dare to use this tone of voice with a hoity-toity girl like you?!"

"No, because *you're* a human being and *I'm* a human being, and how dare you speak to me as if neither one of us rates a decent conversation! Look," Alexis lowered her voice and moved closer, though her eyes were still fierce, "three weeks ago, I told you things I've never told anyone in my life. And if you think," she said, raising a finger in front of his face, "that after that, I'm about to let you walk away from me on some pretense that I'm so different and I've had *such* a great life, then watch out, Sonny Corinthos, because you haven't even seen me *begin* to lose my temper!"

Sonny felt the anger bleed away from his body, and disappear in the still-warm night air. Here was this beautiful girl standing in front of him, commanding him to stay and talk to her. This girl who he'd thought about nonstop since the second he saw her, who was so different from him and yet, just the same, too. He stood still, put his hands in his pockets, took a breath, then another. "I'm sorry," he said.

Alexis dropped her hand and straightened her shoulders. "You are?" she asked, surprised.

Sonny shuffled his feet and his gaze floated down to them, then he looked back up at Alexis. "Hey, I'm not some old coot who can't tell when he's wrong. I've been…"

"An ass," Alexis supplied.

Sonny gaped in shock at Alexis's language, then laughed. It was a short, choked laugh, but it was enough for both of them. "Yes, I have been an ass."

"Yes you have."

"And I'm sorry."

"And you told me to meet you at your mother's house, and instead I find you looking like you just went three rounds with Godzilla." Alexis stepped up close to Sonny, just as close as Deke had been earlier. She raised her hand to his face, not in anger, not to cause pain, but to touch his wounds lightly and soothe him. "Who did this to you, Sonny? What happened?"

Sonny didn't want to tell her. His brain was telling his legs to run from her again before he had to expose himself to the humiliation of telling her the truth of his sorry life. But his heart wouldn't let him leave. And he figured without his heart pumping the blood around, his limbs wouldn't be able to take him anywhere. So he sat down on the curb, and Alexis sat next to him, and as the indigo blue of the sky turned to black and the stars pricked the darkness, he told her.

part 5