You sit at the foot of the bed, your head hung, and tears running down your cheek.
The window is open and a cool California breeze comes in. It's late and you're in your apartment… alone. Your head is spinning, and you swear you can feel your heart breaking in two. The whole night replays in your head like a movie and you wonder how on earth you got into this mess and thought you could handle it.

Today had started out so perfectly.
Waking up next to Carlos was the only thing you looked forward to every day. He was the reason why you always woke up with a smile on your face.

Today was different. You opened your eyes as the alarm clock went off and instantly noticed an emptiness in your bed. Carlos wasn't by your side, and it felt weird. Cold. It wasn't right. He didn't have to go until 10. You sat up and yawned out, "Carlos?".
"I'm coming!" he replied, you heard footsteps coming towards the bedroom, "Don't get up!"
You look towards the door wondering and in comes Carlos in nothing but his boxers and a chef's hat. He's carrying a tray with food.
"Breakfast in bed, my princess" he says, setting the tray down on your lap. He turns his chef's hat around and points to the words printed on it.
"Kiss the chef!" Carlos says, reading what's on the hat for you. He leans in for a kiss, but you playfully reject him.
"Nuh uh! I have to taste the food first…. gotta make sure that kiss is well deserved" you wink. He gives you that puppy dog look and you try to avoid those pleading eyes. He knows that's your weakness.
You close your eyes at the first bite. This is literally the most amazing thing you've ever tasted in your life.
"So… is it kiss worthy?" Carlos asks you.
"Mmm… you bet!" you say. You put the tray on the table next to your bed, "Come here, you!" you tell at Carlos, who is standing in front of you. He bends down to your level, as you're still sitting up in bed, and you wrap your arms around his neck. You pull him in and kiss him passionately. You pull away, but you stay forehead to forehead… his eyes hypnotizing you. Your heart beats loudly out of pure joy…. out of love. He starts to kiss you again, more passionately than before, this time, he begins to climb onto the bed, one leg by your right leg, his other leg by your left. He begins to press gentle kisses on your neck, working his way up by your right ear and he whispers, "I love you."
Your whole body goes weak and he sends chills down your spine with every kiss he presses onto your neck. Your eyes are closed with pleasure and your hands, fumbling with his hair. Suddenly, you look at the clock.
"Oh my God! Carlos, I'm going to be so late for school!" you say, pushing him away from you.
"I have to go! If I'm late again, I'm going to be in an enormous amount of trouble!" you begin to climb out of the bed, but Carlos' hand is in the way.
"Move, please!" you say, not in a mean way. More like, a pleading sort of way.
"Do you have to go?" He asks, half flirting, half pleading.
"YES! I have to go! It's school, for God's sake! Now, please let me get up."
He looks you in the eye and plants a soft gentle kiss on your lips. You get massive butterflies in your stomach, you wish you could stay, but you don't want to get kicked out of school.
"I love you." You say, "but I'll be back at 3, don't you worry."
"I'll be at the studio at until 11 tonight." He says, finally letting you get up. He sits down on the bed and watches as you get up and begin to pull out clean clothes.
"Ugh, I forgot you worked today!" you say as you pull off your shirt and put on a new one.
"Yep." he says.
You look at him, he seems upset.
"You're not mad, are you?" you ask, pulling on a clean pair of jeans.
Carlos looks up at you and shakes his head.
"School is important. I get it."
"School IS important." you answer, heading back over to the bed. You sit by him and put your arm around him, comfortingly. "You know how much getting this degree means to me."
He looks at you and smiles, weakly, "Yeah. I know.. whatever makes you happy, makes me happy." He kisses you on the cheek, "Now don't want to be late."
"Thanks for understanding, babe" you say and get up to go to the kitchen.
"I just wish you could stay a little longer…" he says softly as you are about to leave the room.
You stop walking and let out a huge sigh, wishing you could stay, but knowing you have to go. You make your way out to the bus stop.
The whole way you can't stop thinking about Carlos.
It's been days since you two have spent any time together besides asleep by each other. Carlos works most days until late at night, and you go to school in the morning and know it's not healthy to stay up waiting for him to get home.
And every morning, before you leave, Carlos asks you the same question:

"Will you stay a little longer?"

It kills you that you can't be with him as much as you used to. But you know he understands…. you hope he understands.

At school, that's all you can think about. You're dreading this feeling and all you want to do is go home.
"Hey, are you okay?" your friend asks you. She's five foot eight and has long, brown, luscious hair. She's the kind of girl every one wants to be. Pretty, smart, yet fun.
"Yeah, I'm fine." you say, with a smile on your face, "why?".
"Oh.. well I thought you'd be heartbroken after the break up."
"The break up? What are you talking about?" you ask, confused about where she'd heard this rumor from.
She pulled out a magazine and on the cover was a picture of Carlos and a girl you'd never seen before. She had brown hair, blue eyes, and either she stopped breathing and needed CPR standing up, or they were kissing.
You grabbed the magazine, in disbelief. The cover read, "Who's the new girl?" and in smaller print, it said "Could she be the reason his last relationship ended so badly?".
"These are lies…" you say, opening to the page where they talk about the so called break up you two shared.
"He'd never do this to me…"
"Well, these pictures were taken last Wednesday during the time you were in school. I just can't believe he'd cheat on you like that!" your oh so helpful friend says.
You read out loud, half ignoring her comment, "Carlos and his new mystery girl spent all morning at the beach last Wednesday. After spending hours in the sun, the new couple got in their cars and drove to the singer's apartment. A few hours later, she left."
You could feel your heart breaking.
"This doesn't make any sense to me.." you say, holding back your tears.
"Aw, baby he cheated on you! I'm so sorry, I thought you two BROKE UP!"
You start to walk off before she could say anything else. You can't believe it. You trustedhim more than anyone else! How on earth could he do this to you?
You look at your phone, it's 3:30. You know he's at the studio right now… or at least you THINK he's there right now. You get on a bus headed to the studio grounds, thinking of all the horrible things you were going to say to him. After all these years of you being by each other's side, he threw that all away. Suddenly, you begin to blame yourself.

I should've stayed when he asked me to! I couldn't give him what he needed because I was too busy worrying about myself! God, I'm so STUPID! This is all my fault!

You punish yourself until you get to your destination, tears are already running down your cheeks uncontrollably. The guard, who knows who you are, let you in without even thinking about it, but when he realized your tears, he yelled, "Are you okay?"
You ignored him. You can't talk to anyone right now. You just need to talk to Carlos.

You hear a loud noise from outside, and this brings you back to reality. You're still sulking at the foot of your bed, and you get up to close the window and grab a sweater. The only one you can find is Carlos' striped blue sweatshirt… you grab it and put it on… you sit back down and ask yourself why you even went to the studio in the first place. That was the worst decision you've made in a long time.

"How could you!"
Carlos turns around and sees you, startled. He's talking to her.
"What are you doing here, babe?" he asks, confused.
"ANSWER ME, Carlos! HOW COULD YOU?"
"How could I what? What's wrong, babe?" He tried to put his hand on your shoulder but you move away.
You pull out the magazine and throw it at him.
"Why?" you ask. You're sobbing uncontrollably.
"Oh my God.." he says, looking into the magazine.
"Answer me…" you say. You're hurt. And he can see it. The mysterious girl stands there, not knowing what to do and begins to walk away.
"Hun, listen to me, okay? I…" Carlos begins, but you don't let him finish.
"I don't want excuses. I want the truth! How on earth could you just go and do this to me? What did I do to you?"
"Listen, please!"
"WHY? So you can tell me about your new girlfriend? You know what? I don't care. I just don't care."
"But.."
"But nothing. I'm done."
As you begin to walk away, Carlos comes after you and grabs your arm.
"Stop!" he says firmly. You turn to look at him, you see fire in his eyes, "Listen to me, PLEASE".
You look around. Everyone on set is watching.
"Fine.", you say. Still sobbing. " WHAT."
"The girl in these pictures is …"