I'm Convinced We Don't Make Sense

Carolina's POV:

"They're coming back soon..." I murmur as Tony presses his lips against my neck repeatedly.

"We have time," I hear him say.
He lifts me up on the kitchen counter and I chuckle. "Didn't you learn from the experience in the tour bus?" I ask and push him away so I could look at him.

He laughs and shrugs. "What did they expect? We're alone in your house and I haven't seen you in two months. I don't think it'll be much of a surprise."

"Right, because walking in on two people having sex on the kitchen floor isn't surprising."

He chuckles and kisses my lips. "Kitchen counter," he corrects.

I roll my eyes and touch his cheek with my thumb, looking into his eyes. "Well- if you carry me to my bedroom then maybe- just maybe- you could get lucky. They could feed themselves."

He gives me a big smile and lifts me up. I wrap my legs around him as he starts to jog up the stairs to my bedroom. "How long do you think we have?"

I laugh as he tries to run up the stairs. "I- I don't know! Not long!"
We finally get into my room, luckily, the door being open already, and he lays me down on my bed, laying on top of me. "Finally. I'm in a bed. With you," he mumbles against my skin, kissing my neck.

"The feeling is absolutely mutual," I say and start to raise his shirt up.

As we're doing our usual make-out session, Tony randomly pulls away from me and stares down into my eyes. I start to get a little nervous as to what'll happen next. My mind starts to jump to conclusions- what if he's going to say.

"I want you to meet my mom," he says innocently with a grin.
I let out a small sigh of relief and grin back. "Your mom?"
He nods and kisses the side of my lips. "Yes. I have a feeling she'll love you."

"Oh really? And how do you know?"

"Because I-"

"HONEY I'M HOME!" I hear a booming voice yell. The door slams shut downstairs and I hear the boys start talking and messing around, along with Marisa's yells of annoyance.
I notice that I've been holding my breath throughout those words Tony was about to say- how incredibly close that was.

"Guess we've run out of time," I say, nervously.

Tony clears his throat, feeling the small tension between us and nods. "Guess so..." he sighs. His cheeks turn a light shade of pink and to erase the awkward vibe- I press my lips against his.

"Do you think I could meet Momma Perry today? After we eat?"
His normal mood comes back and he smiles. "Sounds great."
We get off the bed and I fix my shirt.

"On one condition-" he starts.

"What?" I say and smirk at him.

"I want to meet your parents."
My eyes grow wide and my heart starts to beat out of my chest.
Fuck. I had totally forgotten about that part. Of course he'd want to meet my family... But...

"Maybe we should leave that for another day," I quietly and start to walk out the room.

"What?" He comes up behind me and walks by my side as we head down the stairs. "Why?"

I sigh. "It's just really complicated, Tony."

He stops us before we walk into the loud kitchen. "Complicated? How?" he says quietly. "I mean, they might live pretty far away but that's okay! I just really want to meet my beautiful girlfriend's parents."

I look down and press my lips together. "They just- they aren't really that understanding about a lot of things..."

I look up at him and he gives me a confused look. "I don't get it," he mumbles.

I stare at him intently and he raises his eyebrows at me. "Oh.... oh..." he says and rubs the back of his head. "The tattoos."

"It's really nothing personal, Tony. They come from a hard-core Christian background and it's always been that way. When it comes to tattoos and all of that... they completely forget about not judging people. That's mostly why I moved out so far away from them. I was sick of them controlling me. I was sick of them being so shallow and closed minded. You mean a lot to me and I just don't them to judge or hurt you."

He chuckles and brings me in for hug, wrapping his arms around my hips. "Don't be silly. No one can hurt me other than you."
I laugh and pull away from him. "But you understand, right?"

"Of course I do. I've dealt with a lot of that.. But I still want to meet them."

I sigh and cross my arms. "I'll think about it."

"Carolina."

"Tony."

We stare at each other for a good amount of time. "I'm hungry, we'll talk later."

I walk away, not wanting to talk about the subject any more, and enter the crowded kitchen.
"Bacon! Any one want bacon?" Mike yells, while flipping some bacon on a frying pan. Vic and Marisa sit at the kitchen table, chatting quietly to themselves, while Jaime leans against the wall, occasionally glancing at them.

"Hey guys!"
They all snap their heads up at me and smile. "Carolina!" Jaime yells out. "Tone-Ay!!!"

"Bacon?" Mike asks.
I nod, my mouth watering, and take a seat across Vic and Marisa. Tony chats with Mike and Jaime about how terrible bacon is.

"Hey you two!" I say with a smirk.
"Hey best fran!",Vic says in a weird voice. Marisa laughs and props her elbow up on the table.

"What's up?"
I shrug and give her a look. Vic clears his throat and stands up.
"I'm gonna go see what's up with that bacon."

Glad he got the hint. I make my way next to her and scoot closer. "I'm nervous, Marisa."

She gives me a confused look. "Why? Oh my god, did Tony tell you he loves you?"

I sigh. "He was about to..."

"Aw!"

"Shh- but thats not it! He wants me to meet his mom. Which I'm pretty excited about. But he.."

"Wants to meet your parents.."

I nod and swallow nervously. "Yeah.. And I told him why I didn't really want him to. But he isn't budging. He wants to meet them."

Marisa rubs my arm. "Look, just take him. Fuck what your parents think. Stand up for what you lov-"

My eyes grow wide. She sighs and lets out a small chuckle. "Just don't let them get the best of you. They can't force you to stop dating him. You're with Tony and that's that. They could accept it or not. But you're not dumping him anytime soon because of whatever they'll think."

I smile and nod. "Alright. You're right."

"Your bacon, princess. Your nasty, dead pig, bacon," Tony says and places a plate of bacon and eggs in front of me. I look up at him, kissing his cheek.

"Why thank you. Oh and you're meeting my parents today," I say and start to eat.

I feel his eyes on me and then his lips on my temple.
"I can't wait," he mumbles.
Oh yeah- I can't wait for that either.

A fifteen minute drive later and we get to a small house somewhere in Chula Vista. Tony pulls into the drive way and cuts off the ignition.
"Ready?" he asks and turns to me.

I nod and open the car door, stepping out. "I sure am!"

He walks to me and smiles, grabbing a hold of my hand.
We walk to the door and he turns the knob, opening it. I start to grow nervous now. What if she doesn't like me? What made me so confident in the first place about this? Tony has no other siblings so this is her only child, so of course she is going to be protective and picky. So what if I'm not what she expected or wanted her son to be dating? Oh god, why did I have to have these thoughts now, inside of her house? There's no turning back at this point.

"You okay?" Tony asks as he shuts the the door behind him. I clear my throat and look around the living room.

"Y-yeah." I stutter.

He chuckles. "Don't be nervous. She'll love you." This boy is a mind-reader.

I give him a smile and he walks past me, looking down the hall. "Ma?" he yells out.

I smile at his name for her. Even though he speaks no Spanish other than cuss words- he still keeps the good ol' classic, 'Ma', in Spanish.
He sighs. "She's probably outside or on the phone in her room. Take a look around if you want- I'll be right back."

"Alright," I say and nod.

He wanders off into the house and I walk to the shelf of pictures beside the medium sized plasma tv. I study all of them, family pictures of random people. A picture of Tony from, what looks like, when he was about eight-teen. I see a picture of a little boy on a man's lap too. The man is staring down at the boy on his lap with a smile, the little boy smiling wide at the camera.
"If you're thinking that's Tony, then you're right," I hear a female voice say. "That's his father with him too."

I turn around and see a women, not that aged at all, walking towards me. She's wearing a simple black tee shirt and some jeans, her black hair in a nice little bun. I smile at her and she touches the picture, chuckling.

"I- I thought I recognized that smile," I say shyly. She nods and looks at me. She's not very tall, reaching up, barley, to Tony's collar bones.

Tony laughs, putting his hands in his pockets. "Carolina, this is my mom. Mom, this is Carolina- my girlfriend," he introduces us.
I find myself staring at her and I finally snap out of my phase of awkward and extend my hand out. "It's- it's very nice to meet you. I'm a little nervous- I'm sorry, but thank you for- for-" oh god, what am I saying? "For creating such a perfect guy," I finally blurt out.
I cringe at my own sentence.
Did I really just say that.
Seriously.
Tony and his mom burst into laughter and my cheeks burn red.

"Oh- you're a funny girl!" she says and opens her arms, pulling me in for a hug.

I'm left shocked, but I wrap my arms around her small figure. We pull away and she pats my back. "Don't be nervous! I'm no one to be nervous over- trust me. Tony has told me wonderful things about you! You're little Issa's close friend, huh?"

I nod nervously, still recovering from that stupid statement I had said. "Yup, that's me."

"Aw, how nice! Want me to put some coffee on? Even though I'm a cool mom, I still like to get to know the girl dating my son," she says with a smile.

I chuckle and nod. "Sure! I'd like to get to know you more as well."

"Tony, go put on the coffee while I show Carolina some of the pictures around the house."

Tony glares at me. "This is your fault."

Tony's mom smacks his arm playfully and pushes him away. "Go- go!"

I know for a fact that Tony is always to himself. He hasn't really spoken of his family much- but this visit to his mothers house really enlightened me in a lot of things. Knowing the family side of Tony really just made me fall for him even more. All those stories and pictures told and shown to me made me see Tony with more open eyes. Then I come to think that I would have never thought I'd be meeting his mom or hearing any of this. I never thought I'd be with him- or that he would be with me. Especially me. Then I realize how extremely lucky I am to be with him.

"Well mom, we have to go," Tony says and stands up.
"Why so soon?" she asks.

"Mom, we've been here since twelve. It's three," he says.

She laughs and stands up, me also standing up with her. "Right, right. You two have your plans together- I know, I know!"

"It was so nice meeting and talking with you," I say and reach to give her a hug.

She hugs me back tightly. "Oh- it was great meeting you too. I can see that you're a wonderful girl. I hope Tony doesn't make a fool out of himself. I feel like we could be home-girls."

We pull away and I laugh, Tony sighs.
"Well- time to break apart the gang. I'm meeting her parents today," Tony adds in.

My stomach churns at the thought. I totally forgot about that whole thing.
I say my final goodbyes to Tonys mom and we part ways.
"You ready for your parents?" Tony asks as we get onto the freeway, heading to Pomona.

I sigh and look out the window. "Not exactly."

He squeezes my hand. "It'll be okay."

Marisa's POV:

"You have to do it today," Vic whispered.

"But I'm scared, I don't want to break his heart," I frowned.

"Marisa, you and I both want to grow and move on as a couple. We can't if you're always with Jaime. You even still have sex!"

"I'm sorry," I sigh. "I try not to," I smirk.

"Oh yeah, right," Vic chuckled.

"That's what our relationship was kind of based on," I shrugged.

"Come on," he sighed, getting up from his bed that we laid on. "I want to be with you already. I don't want to sit in my room hearing you two go at it anymore."

"What am I supposed to say?" I sighed.

"Just break off whatever you two have, I'm sure he'll understand."

"You really think he will?" I asked hopefully.

"No," he chuckled.

"Thanks for all the help," I sighed. I got my phone out and texted Jaime.

Can we get dinner tonight?

I laid in bed, not even speaking to Vic. I had been sneaking over most days, in order to spend nights with Vic. I still had a friends with benefits relationship with Jaime, but it was clear Vic hated it. He told me every day since we kissed on the bus.

Of course, babe. I'll pick you up at 7, cool? -Jaime

Great!

~

Jaime and I sat in a booth at the sushi restaurant he chose.

"Are you hungry?" he asked, as the waitress set down his sake and my water.

"Not as hungry as usual," I sighed.
I stood quiet as I stared at the menu. There was no point in it, Jaime already knew what I wanted. He would keep talking and asking small questions, but all I would do was nod or smile. I didn't want to lose Jaime as a friend, he was one of the coolest guys I knew.

"Alright," he sighed. "What is your deal tonight?"

"Deal? Me have a deal? Pssh, what?"

He chuckled, "I've known you what...for at least four years now. I'm pretty sure I know when something is wrong with you."

"I-I. First, I don't want things to be weird or change. I love you because you're one of the funniest, smartest, and all around great guys-"

"You want to stop fooling around," he said.

"What? How did you-"

"Easy, Cara is gone because of you. Why wouldn't you want to pounce on your chances with Vic?"

"Jaime. I'm so sorry. But I think I deserve a relationship now. A real one. Not based on loneliness or anything else other than love," I said.

"I understand, Iss," he chuckled. "I kind of knew this was coming..." he sighed.

I stood quiet for a second, "Are we going to be okay?"

"I think so," he shrugged. "It was clear you always loved Vic. But I'm glad we had our time together..." he trailed. I was grateful for Jaime understanding.

Carolina's POV:

It'll be okay.
Why would I even believe that?
"Mom- dad..." I say and pull Tony closer to me. My mother and father stare at Tony, wide eyed, without saying a word.

Tony clears his throat. "It's really nice to meet you guys, I've been looking forward for it," Tony says nicely, extending his hand out to my father.

My dad glances at his hand for a second before grabbing hold of it and giving it a quick shake. "Nice to meet you to too," he says, trying to pull through the Spanish accent.

Tony presses his lips together and looks down, squeezing my hand in his, his hand is a bit sweaty now.
"So- can we come in?" I ask.

My parents get quiet but then nod, letting us pass through. I let Tony walk in first and stare as my parents stare at his arms and ears. I roll my eyes and wrap my arm behind his back, leading him to the living room.
My parents sit on the two love chairs and Tony and I sit next to each other on the sofa.
My dad sighs and crosses his leg, my mom staring at him, concerned.

"Uhm- so, Tony," my dad starts.

Tony looks up at him with a smile.
"How did you meet my daughter?"

The feeling in the room is terrible. It's extremely awkward and tense and I just want to pull Tony out of here and leave back to my home in San Diego, never to return here.
Tony sits up straight and places his hands on his laps, tapping his fingers on his knees. "Well, my close friend, Marisa- she introduced me to Carolina."

"Oh, Marisa? How she is?" my mom asks me through her thick Spanish accent, ignoring what Tony is about to say.

I give my mom an annoyed look. "She's fine, mom."

"You should have invited her! It's been so long."

I stay quiet and it gets awkward again.
"And what do you do for a living?" my dad asks, breaking the silence.
Here we go.

"I'm actually in a band."

My parents look up at him with shocked expressions. My dad chuckles. "A... Band? Like.. Musica?"

Tony bites his lower lip and nods. "Yes sir."

"What... Band?"

"Well- Uh-"

"They're called Pierce the Veil, dad."

"Hmm.", he mumbles. "And... is that all? No school? Or job?"

"Well, no school. No. And my band is my job."

"And what do you do in the band?" my mom asks.

"I play guitar," he says and nods.

"He's really good. The whole band is really successful, actually. Tony just got back from tour," I chime in.

My dad looks at me and nods. "And are you planning on going to school?"

"Dad, I say, annoyed.

"It's just a question."

"No- that's okay. But I'm not," Tony says.

My dad gives a mad look at me, then sighs. "We've missed you so much, mija. How have you been?" he says, completely changing his mood.

"Dad, I'm fine. I wanted you and mom to meet Tony. His my boyfriend now and-"

"Yes, we know. We miss you, do you want some coffee?" he says.

"No, dad-"

"Vamos a poner un poco de café," he says, ignoring me and standing up. My mom stands up along with him and they walk into the kitchen.
I turn to Tony and he sighs.

"Tony I-"

"It's okay- I'm fine," he says with a smile.
I hear my parents mumbling things in spanish and I shake my head. "Fuck this. I'm not going to let them treat you like that."

"Carolina-"

"No-" I say and stand up, walking to the kitchen.

"Está cubierto de tatuajes. Está cayendo en el amor con los ojos cerrados!" I hear my mom whisper.

"Que?" I ask as I walk in.

They look up at me, angry. "So you left to San Diego just to bring home a man covered in tattoos?, my dad whispers at me.

"Is that all you really see? Just that? Hay mucho más en él que esos tatuajes!" I yell back.

"Cajate vos!", my mom yells back. "Que te va oír!"

"I don't care! If all you guys see are his tattoos- than I feel sorry for you. Tony is my boyfriend now- there's no changing that. If you don't accept and respect him, then you don't accept or respect me."

"Of course we respect him- all my life I wanted you to be with a man who has a career and is-" my dad says.

"He does have a career! It's his band! You don't know anything about him! You won't even give him a chance!"

"A band! That's it! And what happens after that? You think someone will want to hire him with all those tattoos?!" he yells. "I want you to be with a nice looking man with a future!"

The tears of anger burn my eyes and I clutch my hands into fists. "I'm leaving."

"Caro-"

"No- you're being so disrespectful against him. I'm leaving and I'm not coming back until you accept Tony. He's such an amazing man and if all you can see are his tattoos than I'm sorry." I storm out of the kitchen and into the living. Tony has his head in his hands and I frown.

"Tony?" I whisper and walk up to him. He looks up, concerned.
"Carolina-"

"We're leaving. Right now," I say and grab his hand.
We start heading for the door and my parents come up behind us.

"Carolina! Por favor! No tomes decisiones estúpidas!" my mom yells out.

"The only stupid decision I've made was bringing Tony to meet you!" I yell back and shut the door. Tony and I get in the car and run my hands through my hair, the anger still scorching through me. I look away to the window, embarrassed that my parents treated him so badly, and don't say one word. The whole drive back was quiet.

As we get into the house, Marisa and the boys are all in the living room with the lights off, watching a movie.

"Ay! The couple are back! How'd it go?" Mike yelps out.

"Just great," I mumble and walk up the stairs, not paying attention to anything else.
I hear Tony's footsteps behind me as I walk into my room. I head straight to my bed and flop right on my stomach on it.
I hear Tony shut the door and feel the bed squeak under his weight as he makes his way to me.

"Carolina?" I turn my head away from him, trying to hide the tears coming down my cheeks.

"Hey, at least your dad didn't punch me. I swear I thought he was he looks pretty strong," he says and chuckles.

I shut my eyes and try wiping away the tears. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," I mumble.

Tony sighs and I feel as he lifts my body up, and lays me on my side, facing him. "Don't be- don't even waste your tears about it," he says and wipes them away. "I asked for it, right?"

I let out a small chuckle. "They don't know you. They don't know how much of an amazing guy you are. I wish they would just accept the one thing in my life that I-" I stop mid-sentence and make eye contact with him.

"That you what?" he whispers and pulls a strand of my hair behind my ear.I'm at a loss for words. Should I just say it? Is there no going back after this?

"That I care for," I say as a cover up. "You mean so much to me and I'm not going to listen to them."

He grins and kisses me, laying me down on my back. "Good."

"They had always told me that dating a man with tattoos would be a stupid decision," I say.He pulls away from me and stares down at me.

"But it's the best decision I've made other than moving to San Diego," I say and pull him to me, kissing him. As we start to deepen our kiss, we get to our clothes, which effortlessly seem to come off of our bodies one by one.

"Hey, is everything okay in there?" we hear Marisa say as she taps the door.

Tony's lips part mine and lift my head up, looking over his bare shoulder. I grab a pillow and throw it at the door, making a thud sound. "Go away! We're fine!" I yell.

"They're both losing their classiness guys!" I hear her yell as she walks away.

Tony and I laugh, but then quickly shrug it off as he starts to roam my body once again and as I start to roam his. I wrap my legs around him and all the anger in me completely fades away almost immediately.
This time, with nothing stopping us, or no more interruptions, we get tangled in the sheets, definitely not being classy at all.
My parents must have been on something when they told me being with a tattooed man would be the worst decision of my life.
It sure as hell doesn't feel like the worst decision of my life, that's for sure.