Big Time Pain

Chapter 14: The Final Chapter

~For the next couple of weeks, Carlos housed Chelsea in the boys’ shared apartment, not letting her out of his sight the entire time.  Though the other guys found this incredibly irritating, both Carlos and Chelsea were way too into their love to see anything wrong with the clingy behavior.  One day, however, Kendall confronted Carlos with his behavior. 

“Dude, you haven’t left her hip since you brought her back from the hospital.  All of us agree, and we think you should let her go stay back in her apartment and we’d all be so much happier.  Please, Carlos?”  His pleading green eyes beg to his best friend.

“But…what if she can’t live by herself yet?  What if people gang up on her again?  I can’t let that happen!”

“Carlos, I seriously think she can take care of herself, I mean, if she’s ok after you told her about her father’s death…” Kendall trails off when he sees Carlos lose eye contact.

“You didn’t tell her about her dad?!?! CARLOS!!  It’s been almost half a month!  She deserves to know!”  He can’t even believe Carlos right now.  Either stupid love has blinded him, or the thought just simply slipped his mind.

“I know I should have, but I don’t think she can handle it yet!  I wanted her to remember everything first!  As much as I don’t want her to remember everything that led up to the hospital, I seriously don’t want her to live forever thinking we’ve known each other forever and not remember being thrown down the stairs!”  Carlos’ voice rises, echoing off the apartment walls.  That instant, Chelsea slides down the swirly slide, a heartbroken look upon her face.

“Oh, hey, Chelsea, um, we were just…” Carlos knew he needed serious damage control, and fast.

“Carlos, I don’t want to hear it.  I was up there writing, and I heard every word you said.  How could you not tell me!!  I thought you loved me; I thought I meant the world to you?”  Tears started to form in the corners of her cocoa brown eyes.

“You DO, Chelsea!  You mean everything…”

“I don’t want to hear it, Carlos!!!  If you really cared for me, you would have told me!  When did my father die?  I mean it, tell me exactly when you heard the news!”  She has begun to scream, tears angrily flow down her reddening cheeks. 

Carlos sighed heavily, looking to Kendall for assistance.  Kendall, however, just looks back, nodding for him to spill any information she wants to know.  Carlos knows he owes her at least that much, probably more.

“The night I came to visit you and I cried.  I went home that night and saw it on the news.  I was going to tell you, I really was!”

“When, Carlos?  When could you possibly have planned to tell me?  You know what I think?  I think you were just going to let me live in oblivion until one day it came up, and then you’d mention it.  Well, I can tell you now, maybe if you had told me and not lied to me, I wouldn’t have to do this right now.”

“What?  What do you…?”  Carlos can’t finish the question, as her rough, warm hand slaps him hard across the face, surely leaving a red mark on his cheek.  Dumbfounded and stunned, Carlos looks up in time to see her ponytail bob out the door, slamming the final barrier between the two, splitting their hearts in two.

“Man, I’m sorry…” Kendall sets his hand on Carlos’ shoulder.  Speechless, Carlos stands still and slouched, a single glistening tear falling down his red and raw cheek.

Later that evening, when Chelsea hadn’t returned to the apartment, Carlos goes in search for her, hoping to apologize.  However, when he asked Bitters which apartment in which she resides, he only received a sad head shake and the phrase, “I’m sorry, she checked out a few hours ago.”  And just like that, she disappeared from his life as quickly as she came.  Head in hands, he slid down the front of the check-in desk, sobbing gently, alone.  Though he’d always carry her in his heart, he never saw her again.

Three years later

The boys finished a concert in New Orleans and began to pack up their equipment.  No one noticed, but a girl came up behind the guys and tapped Carlos on the shoulder.  He spun around and came face to face with Chelsea, three years older and three years prettier.  He couldn’t help but crack a smile.

“Hi,” she spoke softly, eyes connecting with Carlos’.

“Hey,” Carlos responds, eyes sparkling with a newfound light.