"Marina- Da- Dad-" Mike stuttered through the phone. He didn't have to say anything for me to know what had happened.
"Oh, Mike," I said as I held my free hand to my heart and took a deep breath.
"Yeah, he d-died-" He paused, "Fuck!"
"Mike where are you? Where's Vic?"
"I'm at home and I don't know where Vic is, after I told him he took off,"
"Right, well is it okay if I go over? We can look for him together too,"
"Yeah, sure, see ya,"
"Be strong, Mikey," I sighed as I shut my eyes tightly. Mike murmured something and hung up.

I ran out of my house and got in my car then took off to Mike's house. When I pulled up on the sidewalk Mike walked over to the car and opened the passengers side door, he leaned in and stared into my eyes. "Mind?" He asked, I shook my head and he got in, closed the door and buckled his seat belt before sighing loudly. My eyes were glued on him, he turned his head to face me and before I knew it he was holding me and crying into my shoulder. I rubbed his back and then started sobbing myself. We held each other and just cried for an entire hour before we pulled away, wiped our tears away and went in search for Vic.

When we found Vic he was on his knees looking out at the orange and pink sky on the white sand of the beach. Mike and I got out of the car and I ran over to him as quick as I could, I collapsed beside him and wrapped my arms tightly around his small body. I laid my head on his shoulder and told him I loved him. Vic grabbed my hand and squeezed it tight as tears fell from his eyes, I positioned myself and lifted my head to kiss his head sweetly. Mike soon joined us and we both had our arms wrapped around Vic.

That night we spent it at the beach just laying on the sand and looking up at the stars. It was beautiful. Vic held my hand and Mike's as we all just stared. We were all just as hurt over his dad passing as each other but I knew that they wouldn't get over it as quickly as I would have.

"I didn't think he'd be gone so soon. I thought he'd still be around to see his grandchildren, teach them how to play guitar with me, I-" Vic broke down and I rolled over to look down at him.
"Shhhh..." I murmured as I pushed his hair back away from his face so it wouldn't stick to his face from the tears falling from his eyes.
"I miss him so much..." He cried.
"I know... We all do, Vic," I said sadly.
"This isn't f-fair-" Vic said. I nodded my head and place my index finger over his lips so he wouldn't talk. I kissed his lips and told him he'd be okay and that his dad was in a better place. I told him he would get through it and that I'd be by his side no matter what, so would Mike, so would Jaime and Tony. None of his friends would let him go through this alone, he had all the support in the world too.

The next day we went to his mom's house and planned out ideas for his dad's funeral. Everything felt weird, it wasn't the usual happy environment there was. It was dull, sad and depressing. We all got through it though with a bunch of tears that were shed. At the end of the night I stayed over at Vic's house but he began to get distant again and when I woke up in the middle of the night he was gone. I walked downstairs in search for him but he was nowhere to be seen. I stumbled into the kitchen where he usually left a note but there wasn't any.

I didn't hesitate for a second to run back up to his room, get my phone and dial his number but he didn't answer. I called about fifteen to twenty times all of which he didn't answer and I got aggrivated. I threw the phone on the bed and yelled. I was so angry at him. Who did he think he was to just leave without a word!? Better yet, why the fuck was he ignoring me? Pushing me away?

That night I didn't sleep and at about midday Vic stumbled back into the house, pissed off his head. The stench of alcohol and smoke could be smelled from miles away. I glared at him and he just shrugged then slowly made his way up the stairs, took a shower and when he came back downstairs he just stared at me.

"What the fuck, Vic!?" I snapped at him.
"Huh?" He muttered drunkenly.
"Leaving in the middle of the fucking night without a word or say as to where the fuck you were gone and then coming back in the afternoon drunk as fuck!? Have you no idea how worried I was!?" I yelled.
"Mar-"
"You're pushing me away too!" I groaned.
"I just don't want to talk..." He murmured.
"Right, well okay. I'll be leaving to work now, Victor, call me when you do want to talk because if you haven't noticed I am also sad and I care about you too much to let you go through this alone, dammit!" I yelled then stormed out the door.

When I got to my work the day didn't seem to go slow, in fact it was a blur. Joe came in and we talked a little, he hugged me as I cried when I told him about Vic's dad and tried to console me as best as possible and to be honest, he managed too pretty well. After Joe left I headed back tomy place and just sat on my bed for hours until I finally collapsed and fell asleep.

Two long weeks passed after the funeral for Mr Fuentes and I didn't hear from Vic at all. Mike would call and ask how I was, he told me Vic called him and told him he was staying over at his mom's place. Talking to Mike made me felt better but I really just wanted to talk to Vic. No, though. I was not going to call him, he was going to call me and he was going to tell me why he was ignoring me and not everyone else. I was so angry at him and I was practically breaking myself too. I cared about Mr Fuentes, he was like my dad, literally.

After I had moved to San Diego from a troubled home and family all-round I hadn't spoken to either my parents, brother and sister or the rest of my family. They were nothing to me but bad memories, hurtful words and deception. My parents were the worst and that's why I cared oh so much for the Fuentes', they were special to me and I had a family for once. A real family.

I had been waking up late and I usually got to work at around midday, half way through my shift. My boss wasn't happy about it and I wasn't too proud of myself either to say the least but I couldn't get up in the mornings, I went to sleep incredibly late and sometimes even cried myself to sleep. But one day I abused that too much and got what I dreaded.

"Marina, I'm so sorry but I can't have you working here anymore-"
"Dave, I'll get better just give me another week, I'll make it up to you," I begged.
"No, i'm gonna have to let you go. Take some time off, it will be good for you too," He told me.
"It wont. Dave I love this job,"
"I know that but if I let you stay here, come in late everyday and act like a ghost throughout the shift I wouldn't be doing my job." He sighed.
"So that's it? I'm fired?"
"I'm so-"
"Don't say that, Dave!" I groaned and stormed off.

On my way out of the shop I passed Joe and told him what had just happened. He gave me his phone number so we could still keep in contact and I gladly took it, hugged him and headed home. When I got there I fell to my knees and sobbed, everything started going wrong and loosing my favorite job was not helping at all. Hot tears fell from my eyes and the amount of tears I shed were enough to make a waterfall.

My breathing had started to hitch up in my throat and I found it hard to breathe. I sat there just crying and letting all my thoughts run wild until I could hardly take it anymore and needed someone to talk to. I grabbed my phone and went through the contact list in search for the name 'Mike' but I was hardly able to see through my tear stained eyes. I pressed the green call button and put the phone to my ear, when Mike answered I began to stutter quickly.
"M-Mike can you c-come ove-over p-p-please-"
"Marina? It's Tony," I groaned angrily at not getting Mike, "Are you okay?" He asked. I shook my head rapidly but realized he couldn't see.
"N-No, I'm n-not," I hitched a breath.
"What happened?"
"It's a long s-story,"
"Um, mind if I come over? I know we're not close but-"
"Yeah, please, thank you," I said.
"Okay, I'll be there soon,"

When Tony came over we sat on my couch and he just looked at me awkwardly until I finally spoke and told him what had happened, he listened attentively and cradled me in his arms once I started crying again. I clutched to his chest awkwardly since we'd never been so close before and listened to what he said to me.

"Everything's gonna be okay,"

Oh how I wanted that to be true. "Are you sure?" I sighed as I looked up at him, he nodded and rubbed my back soothingly. I smiled and thanked him for coming and being with me even though we hardly knew each other that well. After an hour of comforting we started talking about things. Our hobbies, aspirations etc and by the end of the night we had become just a little closer. I was glad, he was a good friend. Soon after though, he left and I walked to my room where I just laid on my bed and fell asleep quickly.
'Hey do you want to come to the party tonight?' - Mike.

I stared at the text for a while before agreeing because I wanted to get my mind off of things. I got ready and Mike picked me up. When we got there we walked out of the car and headed inside to the packed house. Even though his dad had died, Mike hadn't changed the way Vic had, he continued with his life. They both had different ways of grieving I guess. I followed Mike through some crowds until he staggered outside to the backyard and headed towards a group of girls. I chuckled and looked down at my glittery silver Lolita's when a hand rested upon my shoulder and I turned quickly in hopes it was Vic.

"Oh, Tony, hey," I smiled up at him.
"You feeling better?"
"Yeah, thanks... Again for last night,"
"No problem," He smiled. I still couldn't get over how adorable his smile was.

Tony and I talked and hung out for the entire night. Every time a door would open or I'd hear steps I'd look quickly hoping it was Vic but it wasn't. He wasn't there at all and Tony noticed that I wasn't feeling too great. "Hey, c'mon he'll talk to you soon," Tony told me. I smiled tightly at him and nodded hopefully.

"I hope so,"
"I know so," Tony winked. We both chuckled at that and I smiled.
"How have we never talked so much before, Tone?"
"I don't know," He laughed, "Gotta start somewhere though, right?"
"Yep," I grinned scrunching my nose.
"You do look like a bunny when you do that!" Tony exclaimed.
I looked at Tony in confusion, "What?" I asked.
"Vic's always said you do,"
"Oh, yeah," I sighed.
"Sorry-"
"No, it's okay," I smiled.
"Sure?" He cocked his eyebrow at me.
"You couldn't hurt a fly, Tony," I chuckled.
"Wouldn't want to either," Tony smiled and we held eye contact for a few short seconds. I sighed and looked away after a while, then I heard cheers and Tony and I stood up then headed to the backyard, Tony pointed up at the sky and a giant smile spread on my face at the beautiful firework display above us.

The fireworks passed, the night turned to the early hours of the morning and the alcohol in each of our systems was a lot. I staggered through crowds and held my head in my hands as I walked up a metal staircase in search for a room to crash in. I checked each handle on my way through the hall but they wouldn't open and in two of the bedrooms I heard noises that made my head ache even more. I dragged my feet to the end of the hallway and turned the handle on the door which to my joy opened and I nearly fell in. I closed and locked the door before I went over to it and plopped down on the comfy bed. I tried stretching my legs to get comfortable but I couldn't because there was something long on the other side of the bed, I didn't bother checking, my head was pounding and my eyelids were heavy, they closed shut and I drifted off into a deep slumber.