The beauty within the truth

Chapter 2

After a while of just hanging out on the bench with Benji I decide it's probably a good idea to get going. "Hey, I should probably go" I say "oh yeah okay" says Benji. "I'll call you tomorrow?" I say. "Okay" says Benji with a smile. I brush his hair back with my hand and stand up, I give him a quick kiss on the forehead before I leave.

I go back inside and find Pilar. "Hey, it's been a long night, you ready to go home..?" I say once I find her. "Yeah.."

We start walking but as soon as we're outside she confronts me. "Victor, why was Mia crying? She found out didn't she?" She says and stops walking to look at me. "Oh uh.. yeah" I say "wait how did you know-" she cuts me off, "Victor I can't believe you would do that to her! How could you?!" She says getting louder with every sentence. "Look Pilar.. I've been going through something, and I really want to explain it to you.. but not here.. not now, so can we please just.. go home?" I say "yeah, yeah we can go home"

I put my arm around her shoulder as we walk to the bus station.

We get home and as soon as we get inside I'm so scared, there's a strange feeling in the air and I don't like it one bit. "You both are home before curfew" says dad standing up. "That's a first" he chuckles. "Come sit, mi amores" says mom "there's.. there's something we need to tell you both" she says as me and Pilar sit down. "Yeah same here" I say.

"I just want to say" says dad "that we love you both very much, and we want the best for this family" dad gets choked up so mom finishes; "we decided that it's.." there's a pause, I'm so confused and Pilar looks confused too. "That it's best for us to take a break for a little while" says mom. I don't even know what to say, Pilar looks like she's about to cry, and honestly I want to too. "Not permanently, but we decided that it's best for us to just take a breather" we stay in an awkward silence for a minute. "Okay.. I-I understand" I say "uh I'm gonna go take a shower" I say and stand up undoing my bow tie. "Wait Victor what we're you gonna tell us?" Says mom. "It's nothing.." I say and start to walk away. But then I think of Benji, I think of Simon, Bram, Kim, Justin, and Ivy. All this time all of them have been helping me, and I didn't even know it. They gave me the courage to do this, everything they've done for me was leading up to this moment. "No... not nothing" I turn around. "Mom.. dad..." I pause, am I really doing this? "I'm gay"

The room goes quiet, not quiet like before, but deadly quiet, a quiet filled with hatred and fear. "Mi amor I- I don't know what to say.." says mom after what seemed like forever. My dads head is in his hands. No no no..." I can hear him slightly whisper. "I can't deal with this right now." He says and walks away.

I'm trying so hard to hold back tears. "Mom..?" She looks concerned "what about Mia though??" She says "I told her earlier tonight at the dance" I say "so.. she knows, and I guess we broke up" I say and looks down, my hands are shaking. "Victor... are- are you sure?" Says Pilar. I nod. "Yeah Victor, are you sure your not just confused?" I don't say anything. "Mom please... I'm not confused.. I'm very sure.. do-... do you still love me?" I say, there's a pause and I get really scared. "Oh Mi amor of course I still love you, your my son I could never stop loving you" she gives me a hug. I let myself cry a little bit.  "I'm- I'm gonna go take a shower now" I say as mom lets go. "Okay, goodnight mi amor" she says, I turn back to her and give her a small smile. "Yeah goodnight"

I hope in the shower letting the warm water rush over me. "Well I guess what could have gone worse" i mutter to myself. Pilar didn't say much though, she was probably just surprised, and I don't blame her. She has every right to be surprised and even scared.

I get out of the shower and put my pajamas on and flop down on my bed and cry. I almost call Benji but he's probably asleep and I wouldn't want to wake him. I'm gonna call him tomorrow anyway.

Then I hear a small knock on the door, I quickly wipe my tears as Pilar walks in my room. "Hey" I say and sit up. "Hey" she says. We sit in silence for like a minute. "So.. your gay" she looks a me, I nod. "Yup"

"So then.. who's 'B'?" She says fiddling with her hands. "Oh uhm.. it's.. it's Benji.." I say and look down.

"Oh wow.."

"Yeah"

"Why would you cheat on Mia, Victor I get that you were going through all that shit but.." she trails off. "Yeah I know I shouldn't have done it, but I was just.. I was confused for a long time and I mean a LONG time. I thought I might be gay for a while even when we were in Texas. But there wasn't a lot of room to be different there."

I almost want to cry again but I don't. "Yeah I guess so.." I nod "and I know what I did was wrong but.. y'know I don't even have an excuse.." she nods. "So uh.. are- are you guys dating?" She asks. "Well.. no I don't think so.. yet, maybe at some point but I think I need to get through everything else first" I say.

"Yeah that's understandable, but I'm really glad you told us and I support you completely, but don't think that lets you off the hook for cheating on Mia" I chuckle "yeah I know, goodnight Pilar" she stand up "Goodnight"
                              ***
I wake up to light flooding  my room. As I sit up I think of last nights events and give a large sigh. I look over and see the Walkie-talkie that Felix gave me on my first day in Atlanta. I pick it up "hey Felix I don't know if your up yet but if you are-" I get cut off by the crackling of Felix's voice coming through the speaker. "Yeah I'm awake, what's up?" I chuckle to myself.

"Wanna meet me outside in five minutes? I have a lot to tell you"

"Sure I'll be there!" He says, and the line goes silent.

I get outside and then I see Felix walk out right after me. "Hey buddy what's up?" He says and sits next to me on the same ledge of concrete where I told him I was gay.

"Okay so.. I came out" I say nervously. "Oh wow! Good job!" Says Felix "yeah, but my dad didn't take it to well, I haven't talked to him at all this morning I think he's already at work." I say. "Oh, but how did your mom and Pilar take it?" He says. "Well Pilar excepted me, and I think my mom did too, she was a little more skeptical though."

A nod. "Oh and I also told Mia" there's a small gasp from Felix. "Oh wow you did? Did it- did it go okay?" He says with concern. "Well as far as telling your girlfriend your gay, I'd say it went okay." I say.

"Okay well that's good"

"Yeah" I say with a sigh

"And I kissed Benji" I say blushing and trying to hold back a smile remembering that beautiful moment. "And it was after I told Mia of course, he was the one who gave me the courage to do so anyway"

"Aw I'm so happy for you" says Felix

"Thanks buddy"

"Oh guess what!" Says Felix excitedly.

"What?" I say "I kisses Lake in front of the whole school! And I guess she's ready for everyone to know that we're together" He says with a big smile. "Oh wow that's great Felix! I'm so happy for you!" I say. "Thanks!" He says with a grin.