I Will Follow You

When my mom died I was in a coma, plus it's not like I was close to her anymore but she was still my mom. I don't think I really got the chance to grieve for her death because it was in the past and when I woke up life moved very fast for me.

But it's different for Vic. His dad was his world, he taught him everything that he knew about music and instruments. He made sure Vic made himself into something special. I remember the first proper conversation I had with Papa Fuentes.

FLASHBACK

"I'm so sorry about Victor." Vic's dad smiled apologetically to me.

"It's okay, I can deal with it." I lied to him, it was a huge and incompetent lie. Vic and Jaime had just egged my car, my brand new beautiful car.

"No, he is a boy of mine and no son, no man that I bring into this world is going to treat anyone with such disrespect Scarlett." Papa said to me, he put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it.

"I hope he turns on like you, it would be such a shame to see all that great parenting go to waste." I smile at him.

Vic's car pulled up and parked in the garage, Vic staggered over to us. He wasn't drunk, just terrible at walking like a normal human being. "Oh hi friends and family!" He said with such fake enthusiasm. He tried to walked past his dad and me but Papa Fuentes grabbed his hood from his hoodie and pulled him back.

"What kinda man did I raise you to be? A thug? A bully?!?" He shouted at Vic and that's when I seen the person who made Vic scared. He was terrified actually and I can't work out if it's because he's disappointed his dad or because he's genuinely scared of his dad. But I liked it.

"I'm not I swear it was Jaime's idea." Vic panicked and lied on the spot, I laughed a little which made them look at me.

"Apologise Victor." Papa Fuentes demanded. He then pushed Vic forwards me, waiting for the apology.

Vic puckered up and put on a completely fake smile. "I'm sorry for egging your car Scarlett." He said in the most insincere way he could muster.

"Good, now go help her clean it." Papa said then walked off into his house. Vic groaned and stormed off towards my house.

"You tell anyone about this and you're dead." He warned.

"Tell people what?" I asked innocently. "How you're shit scared of your dad or that you threw your best friend under the bus because daddy is too scary?" I said in a playful voice. He didn't like it at all.

"I did warn you." He tried to sound intimidating but from this minute on, I realised that Victor Fuentes had nothing on me, and I would never let him win again.

END OF FLASHBACK

"Not today." I heard him whisper, bringing my whole mind and soul back to reality. Vic stared at the wall in front of him. "I don't want to do this today." He continued. I got up off the bed and walked over to him, dropping down next to him. I put my legs on either side of his and wrapped my arms around him from behind, resting my head on his back.

"No matter what you do today, your dad will be proud of you." I said softly to him.

"You know what's so weird Scarlett?" He asked.

"What?" I replied.

"My dad was determined that I would marry you someday." He said. "When you came back 3 years ago he gave me my grandmas ring and told me to propose to you. Being the doofus that I was back then chickened out of it." His voice cracked a little. "The first person I wanted to tell when we got married was my dad but the text didn't send. And then everything got hazy." He sighed. "I never got to tell him that we did get married."

"I'm sure he knows somehow." I tried to reassure him, it's all I can do.

"Well, no he doesn't. I kinda took for granted that I could fix this and come back in time to tell my family. That we would somehow end up a perfect little family." He said quietly.

"Vic, this isn't the time or the place to speak about our relationship." I told him. "You're burying your dad today. You're saying goodbye to the man who raised you." I reminded him. "Honour that, not us." I pulled back from him and scooted round to be in front of him. "I was actually just thinking about the time that I first ever really spoke to your dad." I said quietly.

"When was that?" He frowned.

"Remember when you and Jaime egged my car?" I asked. A flush of embarrassment covered his face.

"Yeah." He said.

"Well, your dad spoke to me for a bit before you came home." I told him. A small smile crept on his lips, one that I hadn't seen in awhile.

"He scared the shit outta me that day, and you were the last person I needed to witness it." He smiled. It made me happy to see him smile actually.

"I told him that I hoped to God that you'd turn out okay because he was a good man." I explained. "He didn't say anything but he had a look on his face that said he knew you would." I looked at my hands in my lap. "And for once I was right, you make mistakes and you're no saint but you're a good person and you do everything you can to make sure people around you are happy."

"Thank you Scarlett." He said pulling me in for a hug. It was oddly comforting, like for once it wasn't about us or our doomed love story. It was about one person needing the comfort of another.

-

"Is it bad to feel happy on a day like this?" Mike asked me.

"No, happiness is always so frowned upon at funerals but when you're celebrating a life why be sad? Your dad loved your happiness and he would be so glad to see your smile Michael." I dusted off his shoulders and gave him a kiss on the cheek. There was a knock on his bedroom door and we both turned to see Alysha standing in a classy black dress and ankle boots.

"Hi Mike." She said quietly. I looked at him and smiled.

"I'll leave you to it." I told them and slipped past Alysha. I told her to come and she didn't hesitate. I skipped down the stairs, feeling kinda woozy about everything.

I found Vic, Tony and Lynn in the kitchen drinking coffee. They all looked at me and I nodded to them. "Alysha came." I announced.

"Yeah I let her in." Jaime said entering the kitchen from behind me.

"I'm glad, he needs her." Vic spoke up. We all looked at him, Lynn then looked at me.

"And what do you need Vic?" She asked, tearing her gaze from me to him.

He then looked at me and then at his coffee. "I have everything I need right here too." He mumbled with a slight smile on his face. I walked over to him and put my arm around his waist and snuggled into his shoulder. Everyone looked at us with the same expression, grateful. They were just grateful.

"Victor! Michael!" A female voice called through the house. Vic looked at me with dread. It was Vivian, his mom.

"Time to face the music." He mumbled to me, kissed me on the forehead and then dragged me into the living-room with him.

"Victor, my boy." She said with love in her voice but it was easy to see the pain and heartbreak in her eyes. Vic went through this when he thought that I had died, he never really talks about it but I can't imagine it's something to chat about.

He let go of my hand for a second to hug and kiss his mom. She looked at me and smiled. "I'm so sorry Vivian." I told her. She motioned for me to come and hug her.

"Thank you for being here for my boys, thank you." She mumbled to me when I hugged her.

We pulled apart and Vic grabbed my hand again. It's hard to remember what he did, to remember how much he hurt me because all I could think about was that his dad just died. "Mom I've got something to tell you about me and Scarlett." Vic began to say.

"Yeah we are here for you whenever you need us and don't hesitate to call." I cut him off. He looked at me with a sad look but I couldn't let him blab about Vegas to anyone when we haven't even really discussed it.

"Thank you, both of you." She gave us both a sad, broken smile.

-

Everyone kept on offering me booze and I had to decline them as nicely as possible without bringing up the question of why. People were so nosy. "Just do shots with me okay." Jaime begged me for the hundredth time.

"Jaime no." I told him.

"But why?" He whined like a 3 year old.

"I'm here for Vic, not to get wasted and become a burden." I quickly lied.

"Yeah but one shot can't hurt." He groaned.

"Hime." I warned. He threw his hands up and walked away. I closed my eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. I then walked over to the patio doors and over to the bench in the back of the garden.

The night sky was beautiful tonight. The stars shon so brightly, twinkling in exactly the most perfect way possible. I heard the door of the patio open and then shut. It was Vivian. "What's wrong Scarlett?" She asked, joining me on the bench.

"Nothing, I just needed some fresh air." I said softly, I didn't wanna sound sorry for myself.

"How are you feeling?" She then asked.

"I'm okay, are you okay?" I retaliated.

"No but I will be." She nodded to herself. "But Scarlett." She looked at me with a serious look on her face. "When are you going to tell him about the baby?"

I felt my whole body freeze. "What?" I spat out.

"You can hide it from most people but I'm very good at noticing the signs." She gave me a knowing smile. "You're not drinking, you threw up an hour ago and you were nervous about Vic speaking to me earlier." She explained. "I put it all together about half an hour ago."

"I'm freaking out." I confessed. "My friend Lynn is the only person who knows and I don't know what to do." I shook my head.

"Why is it so complicated?" She didn't understand.

"Vic had a girlfriend called Sarah, he told me they broke up and well we got back together." I began. "Then stupidly we got married in Vegas 2 weeks ago. Sarah turned up and Vic revealed that they had no broken up." I sighed, it felt like a weight dropping off me. "Vic took off and I found out I'm pregnant. He came back the night Papa died and we haven't spoken about it. The most we've spoken was today and it was about Papa." I hung my head low and covered it with my hands.

"Scarlett, you're a Fuentes now." She said with a hint of a smile in her voice. "Find the right time and he will be more than happy to be a father." She got up and walked away. Maybe she's right? Maybe he will be happy.

Notes

This kinda broke me to write I'm sorry