The Balcony Scene

"I love you too." I smiled back at him. I couldn't not say it back. Even though I knew I wasn't in love with him, I knew I loved him. So, I wasn't totally lying.

He grinned, planting a kiss on my lips. "So, you have plans with Amber and Ericka tonight?" He asked

I nodded, moving air out of my face. "Yeah, we haven't had a night with just us girls for a long time so I'm pretty excited. I told him and he replied with a nod. He sat down on his bed so I walked over to him. He grabbed my hips and rested his hands there.

"How did I get so lucky?" He looked up at me.

I tilted my head to the side. "What do you mean?"

He chuckled and pulled me onto his lap. I giggled and rested my forehead against his as his hand rested on the small of my back.

"I mean, how did I get such an amazing relationship? How did a clumsy girl, who bummed into me at the airport turn into my girlfriend?" He held me tighter to him, and felt so comfortable. I felt comfort in being in his arms. And I just wanted to be there forever. "You've stolen my heart, Vienna."

I smiled and rolled off of him. He got up a bit, placing his hand next to my head, hovering over me.

"I've stolen your heart huh?" I asked and he nodded. "Well, did you want it back or..."

He chuckled and kissed me. "Of course I don't. It's all yours babe."

I reached my arms up, wrapping them around his neck. "You make me so happy." I told him, then pulled his head down to kiss him. We continued kissing, and our hands started to explore each others body. Just as we got more into it, something started buzzing.

He smiled and chuckled, breaking off the kiss. "I think your phones going off." He said.

I sat up and walked over to my bag. "Yeah." I told him, phone on hand. "Amber says to meet her at her house right now." I picked up my backpack and walked over to Jaime, giving him one last kiss. "See you when you get back." I said.

"Don't have too much fun without me." He kissed back. "Love you."

Instead of replying, I just gave him another kiss then headed to ambers.

---

It was only about 5 when I got to Amber's. I rang the doorbell and she answered right away.

"No one home?" I asked, stepping inside her house.

She nodded. "We have the house to ourselves the whole weekend!" She exclaimed.

"Are we really just gonna stay home all weekend though?" I asked, wrinkling my nose in disapproval.

Amber laughed dryly. "Fuck no! Mike has booze over at his place. We're going there!"

"Oh, I thought it was gonna be a girls night?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Mike and Ericka are pretty much attached to the hip. Tony and Vic are gonna be there too, obviously. Wanna call Jaime and invite him?" She asked.

I shook my head. "Nah, he's going to TJ again early tomorrow morning so he's probably packing or whatever."

She nodded. "Well, wanna head over there after I get dressed?"

"Sure." I said, following her down to her bedroom.

---

Half an hour later we were walking up to the Fuentes' front door. Amber just opened it and walked right in, me following right behind her.

Everyone greeted each other with hugs.

"Where Jaime?" Tony asked.

I shrugged. "Home I'm assuming."

"Oh, why didn't he come?" He asked

"He's headed to TJ tomorrow early so he's gonna be busy tonight."

Tony nodded. "Well, lets get you drunk tonight! You're not here for much longer."

"Shit! That sucks!" Mike said.

I slightly nodded. "I know right? I'm seriously gonna miss you guys." I gushed. Mike chuckled and gave me a big hug.

"Well, what about you and Jaime?" Ericka asked, spinning on a stool.

"What about us?" I asked, confused.

She sighed and stopped spinning. "What's gonna happen when you leave? Like are you guys gonna do long distance or something?"

I furrowed my eyebrows and leaned on the island. "We haven't exclactly talked about that..." I said.

"Alright! Enough with this sappy shit! Someone come help me get the shot glasses so we can get drunk!" Mike said.

"I'll help you Mike." I said and followed him to kitchen. "Mike can I asked you something?" I said, and he looked up at me and nodded. "Do you know why Vic has been so distant lately?"

"I honestly don't know. Last time I've seen him like this it was due to the lovely Cara." He replied, raising his eyebrows.

"Cara... Who's that?"

He looked back to the living room, making sure no one was listening. "Don't tell him I told you about this." He paused for a second, collecting his words. "She's his ex girlfriend. They dated for a long time and she ended up cheating on him with a whole group of his good friends. It got really bad for him. Lets just say that bitch destroyed him. There must be another girl now if he's acting like this." He finished.

"That's horrible." I said, feeling bad for Vic. I couldn't help but think of when he told me that he's cut before. I wonder if that's what for..

"Yeah. Anyway, it's all in the past. Lets fucking drink, shall we?!" He said, getting pumped again. We headed back to our friends.

We lined up the six shot glasses and Mike messily poured an unequal amount if vodka into each one.

Everyone had grabbed a glass, and Mike counted to three and we all took it. I let the liquor cascade down my throat, scrunching up my face at its unpleasant taste.

Mike kept pouring shot after shot until I couldn't take it anymore and started heading to the front living room.

"Awh, Vienna! Come take another shot!" Ericka called over to me. I held my tummy, putting a hand over it. "In a little. I don't want to throw up on everything." I told her. She turned around, eagerly taking a shot of whiskey. Damn, she's gonna be tanked by the end of the night.

After I sat down, I looked in front of me to see Vic sitting across from me. He had stopped drinking only after his second shot.

"Hiii, Vic!" I said to him cheekily, but he just looked at me. I stumbled over to where he was sitting and waved a hand in front of his face. "Viiiiccc!" I slurred. "Talk to meee!"

"What, Vienna?" He snapped.

I clicked my tongue and furrowed my eyebrows. "Why are you being so mean to me!"

He turned to me. "I'm not. You're just drunk."

"Nooo! I'm fine. You're just being a tool and you have been ever since..."

"Since what?" Vic asked, staring into my eyes.

I stared back at his. "Since you almost kisse-"

I was interrupted by Vic covering my mouth with his hand, and his other one grabbing me and leading me out to the front of his home.

I pulled my arm away from Vic and crossed them, stubbornly. "You're mean." I stated to him.

He sighed, obviously annoyed. "You're fuckin drunk Vienna. "Look..about the other day in the pool...I just...I mean I..." He trailed off, trying to find the right words to say.

"God, Vic! You can't almost just kiss a girl who you claim to hate!" I whisper yelled.

"I was just caught up in the moment, okay! You act like I actually want to kiss a mouth that's probably had Jaime's dick in it?" He whisper yelled back at me.

At this point he was right near my face. I lifted my hand to slap him but he caught hold of my hand. "Let go of me!"

"You were going to slap me. I'm not stupid Vienna."

"Okay, I won't slap you. Just let go!" I said and he hesitantly put my hand down. "I'm going home." I told him, trying to dramatically walk away. I most likely looked stupid though, stumbling over my own two feet.

Vic ran up and grabbed me by my waist and pulling me back inside the house. "Not by yourself your not." He went to grab a pair of keys that were hanging on a hook. "Hey guys, I'm gonna take Vienna home. She's too wasted." He told everyone. They all nodded and said goodbye to us. He grabbed by arm and walked me to his truck, helping me to sit in the passenger seat.

I crossed my arms again. "I'm not a baby Vic. I can walk home by myself." I told Vic as he started the truck.

He looked back as he backed out of the driveway. "Oh yeah? Then which ways your house?" He asked, trying to make a point.

"Umm, that way." I said, pointing in some random direction.

"Ehh! Wrong. That just goes to show that you're way to drunk to even function." He looked at me and I just stuck my tongue out at him. He chuckled, shaking his head and continued down the road.

"Vic," I started and he looked at me. "I don't want to go home yet." I said.

"Where do you want to go then?" He asked with a weird look.

I shrugged. "It just seems not late enough to be going back."

He nodded. "Yeah. Seems too early. But I promise I will bring you to your door."

I sighed as he turned, the opposite way of where I live. "Where are we going?" I asked.

"I'm gonna get us some drinks. So you can get sober." He said simply.

After we went through a drive-thru, he headed back near the edge of town. I told him to go a certain way. There was a beautiful hill that over looked the city. Amber told me about it and how Tony took her out here on the night of their first official date.

"Over there." I told him. He gave me a odd look, wondering what we were doing out here. "Just do it."

He sighed and pulled over. He just shut off his truck and turned to face me. I gave him a quick smile and got out of the vehicle.

He got out too a second later. "Where are you going?" He asked, alarmed.

"Don't worryyy! I'm not leaving, jeez." I said back to him as I climbed into the bed of his truck, laying down. "Come look at the stars with me. Pleeease?"

I heard him sigh again, followed by foot steps. The truck tilted slightly, signalling he was on the back of the truck with me.

He layed down next to me. "Look." I pointed up. "Aren't they just breathtaking?"

He chuckled silently. "They really are something, huh?"

I looked at him with a smile and nodded. "They just get to stay up there...being all gorgeous. I envy that. It's so beautiful up there and so ugly down here."

"I can think of something that's gorgeous down here." I turned to see Vic looking at me. He turned his head away immediately though.

I sighed and turned my head back up to the sky. "Can I tell you something, Vic?"

"Go for it." He replied simply.

"Jaime's in love with me." I told him.

"I know." Vic said. "Which makes this extremely hard for me."

"Why would it be hard for you?" I asked, confused.

He just shook his head. "It doesn't matter. But, uh..what's so bad about Jaime being in love with you."

I sighed again. "He told me he loved me today and gave me this necklace for our one month." I explained, touching the cold silver pendant.

"Yeah, and..?"

"I said it back to him. I told him I love him, when I don't.."

Vic put himself up on his elbows, looking down at me. "What do you mean you don't love him?"

I shrugged and put myself in the same position. "I care about him, a lot. And I like him so much. But love? That's such a scary concept that I'm not exactly sure about."

"So, why'd you say it back to him?" He asked.

I groaned. "I don't know, Vic! He just looked so sure and so happy and..I mean what was I supposed to say? 'I don't love you too, but thanks for the necklace baby.'? That'd break his heart."

Vic laughed at this "I guess you're right. Honestly though, what's gonna happen when you go back to Arizona?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I don't want to break up with him, but I think I might have to."

"Long distance?" Vic suggested.

I shook my head. "I can't. I need to be able to hug and kiss them and see their face everyday. Webcam and phone calls aren't enough for me." I replied.

Vic nodded. "That's understandable."

After a couple of minutes of silence, I finally broke it. "Vic...can I ask why you used to do it?" I asked quietly.

He just looked at me for a second, but he knew that I was reffuring to the cutting. "Cara." He said. I already knew who he meant. "She's my ex girlfriend."

"What exactly happened between you two?" I asked, not wanting him to know that Mike already explained it a bit.

"It was a couple of years ago when we started dating, and she meant the world to me. I trusted her and gave her all I had." He stopped talking for a minute. "Then just about five months ago, Mike told me that he had found out about her being with a bunch of my so-called-friends. Turns out she was cheating on me pretty much the whole time. I loved her so much, Vienna. And she goes of and destroys me." He looked really upset talking about her. I just wanted to hug him. I knew exactly what it was like to be cheated on constantly.

"That's horrible. I'm really sorry to hear that. And I know how you feel. What it's like to be cheated on. It's part of the reason I cut." I said to him.

He looked at me intently. "I'm sorry to hear that too." He said genuinely. "Life's always just one little decision or mistake away from disaster... from being able to destroy someones life. I wish everyone knew that, and made their choices more wisely to spare casualties."

Vic seemed calmer, so I brought up something we needed to talk about. "About the pool thing Vic..."

"I get it Vienna. I won't try to kiss you anymore." He told me, not meeting my gaze.

For some reason, I didn't want that though. Because when Vic wasn't acting like an asshole to me, and actually talking to me about things, he was nice. Likeable even.

I stared down at him, laying on his back, me still on my elbow. Finally he looked to stare back at me.

I don't know what came over me, but I had slowly started leaning down to him, then stopped a couple inches away from his face. Vic looked in my eyes intently before finally closing to space between us and kissed me gently..at first.

My hands were on either side of his head and he held my face with his hands.

As the kiss went on, I got more into it. Eventually I had maneuvered my body so that I was straddling Vic and his hands were on my lower back, pulling me closer to him. My hand had found its way to his hip, and was just about to go underneath his shirt.

He pulled away. "Vienna.." He started saying, a little breathless.

I looked down at him and a picture of Jaime's face appeared in my mind. I gasped and got off of him. "Oh my god.."

"Vienna.." He started saying again.

"I...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that." I apologized, shaking my head. "I... Please just don't tell Jaime."

He sighed, nodding his head. "Yeah, sure. Whatever." He hopped out the bed of his truck. "I'm gonna take you home now if that's okay."

I nodded and hopped out, getting in the passenger seat.

We drove completely silent and awkwardly back to my home. I ha my body turned towards the window as I looked out it.

"We're here" Vic states. We both got out of the car. "I'll make sure you get inside fine."

When we got to the door, I turned my head, but not looking in his eyes. "Thanks Vic."

"No problem." He replied bluntly. I got inside and closed the door right away. Angie was sitting in the living room by herself, watching a soap opera.

"Vienna? Are you okay?" She asked.

I looked at her shaking my head, slowly, tears starting to fill the brim of my eyes.

She sat up alarmed and reached out to me. I walked over and sat next to her. She wrapped her arms around me. "Oh, sweetie, don't cry. What happened? Was it Jaime?" She asked.
I just kept shaking my head. "No Angie." I said as a tear escaped, flowing down my cheek. "I... I'm such a horrible person."

Angie just shook her head. "Don't say that. You're a wonderful, beautiful girl. You could have any boy you want."

I sniffed. "That's the problem, Angie."