I woke up the next day next to Vic in bed. He had his arms around me, and he was lightly snoring. I smiled, remembering the conversation we had last night. "None of those things matter. The only thing that matters is that we're together now..." I looked at him, also remembering what I saw last night. I gently grabbed his arm, and tried to turn it over. He woke up suddenly, and sat up quickly with his arms crossed. He saw that it was me, and let out a sigh. "Good morning, Mona." He said with a small smile. He lightly kissed me, and then got up and walked to the window. He looked out, and then turned to me and said, "Hey, how about we get out of here? Just you and me, let's leave for a little while, just for the day. Yeah?" He looks almost anxious, but I had no idea why. I sat up in bed, and looked at him suspiciously. "Why do you want to leave? Don't you want to stay here and rest? I mean after your concert and everything, I'd imagine that you're really tired." He rolled his eyes and walked over to me, and forced me to stand up, and looked me in the eyes. "Mona, this is what we're gonna do. I'm gonna drive you to your house, you're gonna get even prettier than you already are, and we're gonna go out. Okay? Let's go." We walked to Karina's room, taking her keys because she was asleep with Jaime, and walked out to the car. We drove to my place, and Vic and I walked inside. He sat down and looked around, and asked, "So are you gonna go get ready?" He seemed irritated, almost, so I put my hands on his chest and gently asked, "Vic, what's wrong? Tell me please, I hate seeing you like this." He sighed, and sat down. He covered his face, and said, "It's just that... Nothing. Never mind." He patted my knee and told me to go get ready. I took a quick shower, slipped on a sundress, and put on some makeup. I walked out, and Vic was still in the same position. I went over to sit with him, and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Vic please, tell me what's wrong." He looked up, and he looked angry. "Someone took a picture of us at the show last night, while we were kissing. She was saying... No. Let's go." I knew not to press him, so we went back to the car, and we left. We started talking, and I noticed we had been driving for a while. "Hey Vic, where are we going?" He smiled and said, "Don't worry, you'll find out." We kept driving, and soon I could smell the ocean. I hadn't been here since I was 19, and I was with my mom. He parked, and since it was early, like around 8 in the morning, there wasn't a lot of people here. We walked along side each other, just enjoying the early morning, the smell of the ocean, the sound of it, and just each others company. I closed my eyes, and smiled. It felt amazing... I felt him grab my hand, and we walked hand in hand. We stayed there until it was almost 12, and Vic said he was hungry. We drove to a small diner. I could still see that he was upset, but whenever a fan approached him, he was all smiles and would always talk with them. But once they left, he would settle back into his mood. After he ate, we walked around looking at the small shops around. It made me anxious, feeling the vibes he gave off. We spent the entire in silence almost, occasionally talking about random, things, but it felt off. It was almost going to be 7 when we went back to the beach. I held his hand, and asked, "Hey, let's play 20 questions?" He nodded, and we started asking questions. We sat down after a while, and kept asking questions. We watched the sun go down, and it was absolutely breathtaking. I knew I should ask him. "Okay my turn. My question is, will you be my boyfriend?" He looked at me, then at the sunset. "Mona... I love you, but I don't want to put you through that. I would do anything for you, but I know how some people would react, and I don't want you to go through that." I sat, stunned. No? I though he would want to be with me. "But Vic... Why?" He shook his head and said, "You wouldn't understand." I put a hand in his knee and said, "Then explain to me! Why Vic?" He looked up and said, "How would you love me after so long? I feel like you don't love me as much as I love you." I looked at him, confused. "What is that supposed to mean?" He wouldn't look at me anymore. "It's just that she said that you might just "love" me because I'm famous... And that you want to use me." He made air quotation marks when he said love. The sun had set, and I felt cold all of a sudden, but it wasn't just because of the sun that set. I felt my cheeks get red and tried to calmly say, "Who?" But it came out harsher than I intended it to. "No one." He mumbled. "Okay. If that's how you feel, then I'll just leave." I stood up, fighting tears. He stood up and shakily said, "No, Mona, I'm sorry!" I turned around, and saw a tear run down his cheek. "No. You said what you thought about me, and now I know. Thanks Vic." I walked off, barely holding back my tears. How am I going to get home? How... How am I going to get over Vic? I found a bench, and sat down. I slumped over, and fought the tears. I wasn't going to cry because of this. I was stronger than that, and I wasn't going to do this. But then one escaped, and I couldn't stop the rest. I felt like my heart had been torn out, because Vic honestly thought that I only wanted to be with him because he was famous. I stood up, wiping away my tears. I sighed, and looked up. I saw a star, and wished that what had just happened was just a bad dream. I walked around aimlessly and slowly, and ended up back at the beach. It was dark, but I didn't care. Apparently, neither did Vic, because he was still sitting in the same spot. I walked over, and sat down. Without looking up, he quietly said, "Mona, I'm so sorry... I didn't mean any of that. Its just that its happened to me before, and I didn't want to get hurt again, Mona. I really couldn't." I put my hand on his knee and said, "Vic, I would never, ever do that to you. Look at me." He looked up, and I could tell that he had been crying a little bit. "I love you because I love you, not your fame or your money. I love you because you're so dorky, because you make me feel safe, because you were the first person I fell in love with. Do you understand?" He nodded, and I hugged him. "I'll never hurt you Vic, I promise."
