A Little Unsteady

one

Victor's head was pressed up against the cool, glass window beside him. The ride back home seemed to go achingly slower than it was going to New York, but he assumes it's because the excitement he felt was long gone. The seat beside him was vacant, and part of him is glad it was. His thoughts were going a mile a minute; Simon's betrayal and the fact that he couldn't hide who he was anymore. His heart ached, his phone being blown up with ignored messages, and he almost turned it off.

Before he knew it, he was sanding in front of his apartment complex. He just realized he had no idea what he was going to tell his parents. He was frustrated, hurt, and disgusted, but the last part was mainly aimed at himself. He threw his bag over his shoulder, slowly walking up the steps. He could hear his parent's arguing as he got closer to the door.

He opened the door as quietly as he could, praying his parents wouldn't hear him. Of course, just like his prayers to be normal, they went ignored like the messages on his phone. "Victor!" he heard his dad shout in a voice that he only used when he was extremely pissed.

"Coming." He mumbled, dropping his bag by the floor. He was not ready for the conversation he knew was coming.

"So, Mia called." His father said, standing beside his mother in the kitchen. Victor internally cursed himself as he noticed their equally matched faces. "Wanted to know how the boy's trip was going, since you weren't answering your phone."

"Why would you lie to her, mi amor? And why are you back so early from your trip? I thought you would've been home tomorrow?" His mother asked, walking closer to him. Her voice was a lot softer than his dad's was.

"I don't know." He whispered, trying to come up with an excuse. Why did he lie to Mia? Why did he cheat on Mia? Why couldn't he just keep lying to himself?

"Speak up!" His father shouted, and Victor assumes Pilar and Adrian aren't here seeing as they didn't come running out of their rooms.

"Because there was no trip!" Victor let out, watching their faces change. "I lied."

"Then where the hell did you go?" Isabelle shouted. "What is going on with you? We did not raise you to lie."

"Oh really?" Victor snapped out, knowing he should stop while he's ahead. Instead, he keeps going. "You'd know what a lie looks like, wouldn't you mom?"

He ignored the pang in his heart as Isabelle's hurt look. "Do not speak to your mother that way! Now, answer her. Where the hell were you?" Armando spoke up, face not changing from the one full of anger.

"New York." Victor answered, he didn't have time to think about how he felt at the moment. "I went to visit some... friends." He winced at the word friends, wondering if that's what they were, if that's what they ever were.

"New York?" They shouted at the same time. "Who the hell do you know in New York? Do you realize how dangerous that is, Victor?"

"Just some people who used to live here. I needed answers that only they could give me." He shrugged. He wasn't planning on coming out, but he knew that if this conversation kept going, it was going to slip out.

"Answers? What answers?" His mother asked, softer than what his father sounded like at the moment.

"You wouldn't understand." He whispered.

"Enlighten us then." Armando said, leaning against the counter behind him. "What was so important that you had to lie to us and go all the way to New York for?"

"I'm gay!" He blurted out. Despite the sick feeling in his gut, he exhaled after the words finally left his mouth. He watched his parent's face closely. His mother's was the most noticeable, while his father's went emotionless.