All the familiar characters belong to J.E. However the story line and original characters are mine. I don't own them and I'm not making any money from them, I'm just playing with them for a little bit.

Authors Note:

Thank you all for your reviews, comments, favorites and follows. You really have no idea how much I appreciate it.

Spanish conversations are italicized.

Universidad de Los Andes –Merida Venezuela– Reactions to Estefania Being Gone

As soon as Estefania got off the phone she immediately started grabbing her suitcases and any boxes out of her closet and started packing up her stuff. She wasn't sure how long she would be gone this time so she wanted to make sure that she had everything. After she was done she took one last look around the room to make sure that she didn't forget anything.

Exactly 25 minutes after she had hung up with him, she heard Tomas and Franco unlocked the door and walked into the house.

She walked out of her room and looked at them then at her watch and just shook her head. She held up her finger to let them know that she would only be a minute longer.

They nodded their head and then Tomas quietly asked "Do you need any help?"

She replied "I think I pretty much got everything, you know I'm a pro at this. I'll start putting it all in the hallway so you can put it in the car. I'm guessing you drove the large SUV because I'm bringing a lot of stuff with me."

Again they both nodded their heads and she walked back into her room.

Diego hearing the front door open and then hearing quiet voices came out of his room to find out who was coming in the house and what was going on.

He saw Tomas and Franco standing there in the living room. He had hated the fact that they just walked in whenever they wanted to like they own the place, but he thought about it and this time it seemed different they looked like they were waiting on something.

Since he didn't know what was going on or why they were there so early he asked them with what he thought was authority behind his voice "What's going on and what are you doing in my house this early?"

Tomas looked at Franco and gave him a slight eye roll. Franco looked Tomas in the eye and they had a silent conversation between themselves and they both nodded. They were really getting fed up with him and his attitude.

Tomas decided that since Osvaldo had been told everything that had been going, he would finally give Diego the wakeup call that he deserved regarding how things are really supposed to be, so he replied "Well Diego the first thing that you need to realize is that this is NOT your house. If I remember correctly the name Mr. Osvaldo Jimenez is on the deed which would mean that the house would belong to him not you and I believe that he is allowing you to stay here is because of his daughter and your relationship to her. So with that being the case that would mean that you wouldn't get to decide on who's allowed to come or go around here."

Tomas paused so Diego could let that sink in and then he continued "The second thing is that Franco and I are not obligated to give you any type of information or any explanation as to why we are here. However being the nice guy that I am, I will simply tell you that we have been instructed to come here to get Estefania and take her home."

Being done with the conversation Tomas walked away from Diego and went to Estefania's room to see if she needed help putting things in the hallway, so they could start loading up the car.

Diego didn't like being talked to like that and he absolutely hated that he didn't know what was going on, so he looked at Franco and said "I demand to know what's happening and why you are taking Estefania away."

Franco smiled at him and then laughed while he was saying "You demand, interesting. I would suggest you call Mr. Jimenez and tell him that." And then Franco walked away following Tomas' lead.

Isabella finally came out of her room and started looking around trying to figure out what was going on.

With Tomas and Franco in Estefania's room she told them what needed to go and they started picking stuff up and carrying it out to the car.

While they were outside Isabella and Diego came into her room. Diego being pissed off from the way he had been treated looked at Estefania and said "I want to know what's going on and I want to know right now, and why is all of your stuff packed, where are going?"

Estefania looked at him and shrugged her shoulders and said "I'm going home. Papi called me this morning and told me that there was some type of emergency and that I had to come home. Before you ask, I don't know how long gone so I that's why I decided to pack everything just in case."

Diego said "Well you can't leave, I won't allow it."

Estefania laughed at him pulled her phone out of her back pocket and reached it out for Diego to take it and said "Then you call HIM and you tell HIM that."

He stared at her for a few seconds, but when he didn't reach for the phone she put it back where it was and then grabbed a box of her stuff and walked out of her room to put it by the front door.

Diego getting even more aggravated with everything decided that he'd just go sit in the living room and sit on the couch and ignore everyone.

Isabella followed Estefania her back into her room and quietly asked "What's going on and are you OK?"

Estefania replied "Izzy I really don't know, I was really telling Diego the truth about not knowing what's going on, but for now I'm OK and just so you know Papi said that he wanted me to tell you that whatever this is doesn't have anything to do with his health.

With Isabella's help Estefania stacked the rest of her stuff outside her bedroom door. Then she pulled Isabella into her room and quietly shut her door to make sure no one could see or hear what she was planning to say to Isabella.

Estefania looked at Isabella then grabbed her hands and said "Izzy I have a huge favor to ask of you."

Isabella just nodded her head and said "I'd do any for you, you know that."

She let go of Isabella's hands and pulled out a folded up note out of the front pocket of her shorts and reached her hand out to her and said "I need you to find a way to give this to Carlos, but you have to do it so that no one else knows that you gave it to him. I really feel bad for having to leave like this and I don't want him to be mad at me. I know things were a little rocky between him and I the last time we saw each other but I'm hoping this might clear some things up. Who knows maybe me being gone will help straighten out a few things."

Isabella looked at her wondering what she meant by that but decided not to say anything so she took the note and said "I promise you that I'll give it to him and I won't tell anyone else about it."

Then she gave Estefania a big hug and with a concerned voice said "Oh Essie, be safe and please be careful with whatever is going on."

Estefania nodded her head and said with a sad smile "I will, you know me I've always got the best guards around."

About that time Tomas yelled through the door "Estefania, everything's all packed up and it's time to go."

Estefania yelled back "I'm coming." And she opened the door walked out of her room with Isabella following behind her.

She gave Isabella another hug and said "I'll see you soon, hopefully. If I get a chance to call you, I will just so I can let you know what's going on or how I am."

Then she walked up to Diego and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek and said "Please don't be mad, I don't have any control over this. I'm hoping that I'll be back as soon as I can."

He nodded his head, gave her quick kiss on her lips and said "Be careful and don't forget about us."

She put her hand on his cheek and said "I'll miss you." He replied back "Yeah, me too."

Then she looked at both of them and said "Oh and please don't forget to go to the club on Saturday. All the arrangements have already been made. I worked it out with them so that you guys have an open tab. So please go and have some fun for me because we all know that I probably won't be."

Diego nodded his head and sighed while Isabella said "We'll go, we promise."

They all walked out to the porch and Estefania walked down the stairs and got into the back seat of the SUV that was waiting for her.

When she was finished climbing in she sat and waited as Tomas and Franco each gave Isabella and Diego a head nod and climbed in them.

Tomas getting into the driver's seat and Franco got into the front passenger seat.

Once Tomas had started the car and getting ready to drive away Estefania rolled down her window and gave Isabella and Diego a wave goodbye.

They waved back and then watched as her SUV pulled away from the curb and drove down the street and out of their site.

After Estefania is Gone

When Isabella and Diego finally walked back into the house, Diego turned to Isabella and thought that maybe Estefania had given her more information than what she told him, so he said "What was that all about?"

Isabella looked at him and said "What was what all about?"

He said accusingly "Her taking you into her room?"

Isabella responded back "She didn't take me into her room I followed her because I wanted to talk to her."

Diego said "Well why did she shut her door, what did you want to talk about?"

Isabella said "Oh good grief! I closed her door because I wanted to make sure she was really OK without having certain people with big ears listening." Giving him a look that clearly said she was talking about him.

Then she continued "and I can't believe you were being an asshole to her like that. You and I both know that she doesn't have any control when something like this happens. I'm pretty sure she didn't want to go."

Diego said "Do you really think it was an emergency or do you think she's going to disappear again?"

Isabella said "I have no idea all she was told was that there was an emergency at home and that was it, the only other thing that she was able to tell me was that it didn't have anything to do with Papi's health and that he's fine."

Diego just nodded his head and said "Do we really have to go Saturday night. I don't really want to meet those guys and have to explain all this to them, it's none of their business and since she's not going to be here, there's no point to it."

Isabella just told him "Yes we are still going for a couple of reasons. One because they are her friends and they would be worried if we didn't show up and two because that's what she wants us to do and there is a point to it. You know that when she comes back she'll still be friends with them. If I were you I would just suck it up and deal with it. It's only a couple hours out of your life and like she said we both deserve to have a little fun. Especially since it's on her and you know how much you love spending her money."

He got a smile on his face and said "Yeah your right ok so we'll go."

Having had enough of her brother, Isabella said "I'm going to get ready for my classes and I suggest you do the same." And then she walked into her room and closed the door.

Diego trying to decide if he wanted to go to his classes or not sat down on the couch, he thought back to his conversation with Estefania on that Tuesday when she had first approached him about going to the club and meeting her new guy friends.

He could tell that she had been nervous about speaking to him about it and it made him smile. She knew he didn't like her being around any other guys.

He had told her that he hadn't been interested in meeting some guys that were just going to be all over her. She had quickly stopped him from saying anything else and explained that their friendship wasn't like that and they had never tried to do anything with her.

Then she had continued by saying that it wouldn't matter anyway because they were bringing dates with them so they would be too preoccupied with them to even notice her.

When his curiosity got the better of him, he asked her where she had met them. That's when she finally told him that these were the same guys from the week before that he had ran into and that he had seen her talking to.

He interrupted her by saying that he really didn't get a good feeling about them and that he didn't want to be around them but then she had to say that they were fine and that she didn't get any weird feelings from them and she wanted him to go.

Then she went on and told him how she had seen them later that day at the pizza place and then again yesterday and she actually had the nerve to tell him that she had watched them try out for soccer team and when her father had called her and demanded to meet them before he would allow them to continue to hang around her.

Then she continued saying that they had gone out to lunch afterwards so she could discuss with them about meeting her Papi, which is what had started this whole thing about him meeting them first at the club.

It really pissed him off that she told him that she was going for a girl's day and then ended up hanging around them all day and then didn't tell him until the following day and that was only because she had to.

He decided that since this was going to either way, he finally relented and started to ask questions about them wanting to know everything she did, that way he would know their names and which one was which.

The shower stopped bringing him out of his thoughts, only to start thinking about her leaving and how he was left out in the dark. He didn't like it because she was his and they should have been more respectful of him.

How was he supposed to learn to better protect her if at a moment's notice they just decide to snatch her up and take her away from him and then tell him it's none of his business and he doesn't need to know what's going on.

He's put too many years into their relationship already and although it started out young and innocently, he was ready to take it to the next level. She was still holding him off though and keeping him at arm's length.

Telling him that she's not ready to take the next step yet, explaining to him that her Papi had told her that she needed to respect herself enough to not be pressured into anything that she wasn't willing to do and that something like sex was sacred and should only be shared with someone you completely love and trust.

Even after Diego told her that he loved her and planned to marry her one day didn't work and he was becoming a very frustrated man.

Of course he did loved her that wasn't the only reason that he had decided that he wanted to marry her, he had high hopes that when the time was right her father would make him his second in command and then once Osvaldo was gone he would take over the family business. Then he'd be living like the King he deserved to be.

He had a sinister smile on his face when Isabella made a noise coming out of her room, she walked up to him and then looked at him weirdly and asked "Are you going to class or are you going to sit it on the couch like a lump all day and pout because your favorite toy got taken away?"

He said "I'm going to go get ready, I just got lost in my thoughts. Give me a second and then we'll go."

Begrudgingly he got up went into his room quickly got dressed and then they walked out of the house and went to their classes.

Saturday 7:30pm – El Hoyo Queque

Isabella and Diego got to the club at 7:30 to make sure that everything was set before the guys got there with their dates got there.

Isabella had to listen to Diego voice his opinion about not wanting to meet them several times a day for the past couple of days until she got so fed up with it she just told him to shut up and get over it.

Isabella didn't want Diego to back out because she was excited to see Lester again. She kept telling herself that he'd have a girl with him and that they'd probably together all night, but she was hoping she would at least get one dance with him.

Plus she had to find a way to get Carlos alone so she could give him the note that Estefania had written to him.

She was leaning on the railing next to Diego when she saw them. She nudged Diego and said "Look there they are."

Diego already didn't like them and now after getting a chance to see them he knew that he wouldn't be changing his mind any time soon. Although he was kind of impressed with the sheer size of them, it just pissed him off even more.

Then he glanced over at the girls they had with them and they were really beautiful. He took a closer look at then and decided that he wouldn't mind dancing with the brown haired one. She was kind of the same size and height of Estefania so if he closed his eyes and thought real hard he could pretend she was her and then maybe he wouldn't miss her so much.

He saw one of the bouncers escort them to the stairs, and instructed them to go up the stairs to where they were. Of course Isabella went right up to them and gave them both hugs said Hi and then proceeded to introduce herself to their dates.

Diego was watching them interact and then noticed that the one he knew as Carlos started to look around knowing that he more than likely was looking for Estefania, which really aggravated Diego.

After a few seconds Diego finally decided to introduce himself because that's what Estefania would expect of him and she would have demanded him do it if she were here, so he walked up to Carlos and reached out to shake his hand greet him and then did the same with Lester.

Diego introduced himself to Carlos calling him by his name as Carlos gave him a look that clearly asked the question of how Diego had known his name. Diego laughed internally and then explained who he was and that Estefania has described them to him.

Then right after his explanation Carlos had the nerve to ignore his own date to ask Isabella about Estefania. Asking her where she was.

Diego getting pissed off thinking that since he was her boyfriend Carlos should've been asking him those questions, so before Isabella could say anything about it, Diego butted in and said "Don't know. She got a call from her dad on Thursday and took off with her bodyguards." Then he added with a bit of an attitude "She takes off like this and she doesn't tell us much and as far as when she'll be back she doesn't know so we don't have a clue."

Diego looked at Carlos in the eyes and with a hardened stare said "and I hope that's good enough for you because that's all we got."

Carlos took a couple of steps back from Diego because he wasn't ready to get into a confrontation with him said "Sure, I was asking if she was OK."

Carlos finally remembering the ladies looked at Diego and said "These are our dates Sharia and Genesis."

Diego reached his hand out to them and said "Nice to meet you ladies. You both look very nice tonight." Making Sharia blush a bit, which Diego noticed.

Diego then in a calmer voice told them "Estefania wanted us to have a good time tonight even though she's not able to be here, so she decided to have an open bar tab for us." Looking at the ladies he said with a smile "If you say that you are a part of the Jimenez group then your drinks or anything else you order will be on her."

Diego looked at Carlos and Lester and then Carlos said "I think now might be a good time to go get us some drinks so what does everyone want and Lester and I will go get them?

Everyone gave them their order and they walked downstairs to the bar.

While they were gone Sharia walked up to Diego and got really close to him and said "So how do you know Ms. Jimenez?"

Diego didn't really want to tell her but figured that since she was with Carlos and his sister was close to them talking Sharia's friend that he better tell the truth because if Isabella heard him she would get all on him about it so he leaned in close to her and said "I'm her boyfriend."

Sharia suddenly got really interested in Diego and said "Really." Diego just nodded his head. Then she continued with a little bit more flirtation in her voice by saying "What a shame, I'm still trying to decide if I still wanted to be with Carlos because he's friends with her but if you're her boyfriend then I definitely need to stay away from you."

Diego looking back at her said "Why is that?" She looked at Diego and said "How long have you been with her?" Diego said "Well I've known her since I was 6 and she was 4." Sharia looked at him and said "Then you can figure it out all by yourself without me having to tell you."

She turned away from him and walked up to Genesis and Isabella and said looking at Isabella "How long have you known Ms. Jimenez?"

Isabella laughed and said "First of all she'd get really pissed off hearing you call her that, she only likes to be called Estefania. Essie thinks being called Ms. Jimenez makes her seem old and reminds her of her grandma. But to answer your question I've known her since we were both 4. She and Papi came to a park one day and my brother Diego and I were there with our cousins and she just walked over to us and started to talk to us and we became fast friends."

Genesis was in aww and asked her "Oh what's Mr. Jimenez like?" Isabella laughed and said "Papi's really awesome he's like my second dad, he'll do anything for Essie or any of her friends. He just likes to see her happy and does whatever he can to make that happen."

Sharia wanting to get back in the conversation butted in to add her two cents asked Isabella "So what is Estefania really like? I bet she's a huge spoiled brat and thinks she owns the world because her "Papi" has so much money and is so powerful?"

By this time Carlos and Lester had made it back and overheard what Sharia said and they weren't too happy with her right now.

Carlos walked right up to her and put her drink in her hand and before anyone else could say anything he responded "Well, I can tell you that she has a kind and generous heart and would do anything for anyone. She doesn't give anyone a hard time except for those people that like to make her out to be more than who she is because they are jealous. You should know that she's not any different than anyone else. Although you might want to take a note of the generosity that she gives because in case you forgot that drink you have in your hand is something that she willingly paid for."

Diego upset by the way that Carlos had come to the defense of his girlfriend, even though everything he did say was true, he butted in before Carlos could continue and said "and if she were here tonight she wouldn't have taken being disrespected very well and she would have done one of two things. She would have either let you have it or she would have punched you in the nose. Knowing that she doesn't like violence very much she probably would have yelled at you. However, she would have told her bodyguards what you had said about her and they would have escorted you out of the club and then made sure that you would never get any closer to her than 500 feet of her again, no matter who you were with."

Then looked at Carlos and said "This is the type of person that you bring to meet my girlfriend and to meet me for the first time. Wow I wonder what Estefania would think about that, she obviously values your friendship more than you do."

Carlos looked at him and knowing he had to stand up for himself said "I had no idea that she was that type of person when I first met her and I can guarantee that if she wants to continue to be like that then I don't care if never see her again."

Sharia didn't like what Carlos just said and got pissed so she moved closer to Diego again and looked at him with hooded eyes and said "I would like a chance to hear more about her so you can prove me wrong. How about you and I go downstairs and we can talk while you dance with me."

She looked over at Carlos and daring him to say anything to her.

Then she looked back at Diego and waited for an answer, when he nodded his head she got a look of victory on her face. Then he took her hand walked her down the stairs to the dance floor.

Isabella not believing what her brother was doing yelled at him and said "What the hell do you think you are doing?"

Diego gave her a hard stare that said to mind her own business but turned around and said "I'm dancing with Sharia so I can explain to her about Estefania and all the wonderful things that she does."

Not knowing what her brother was up to didn't like how he was looking at that girl but Isabella just nodded her head and thought maybe this was her chance to talk to Carlos.

She looked Carlos in the eyes and was trying to tell him that she needed to talk to him privately. He got the hint and said "Lester why don't you take Genesis downstairs with you and have a good time dancing."

Lester understanding grabbed Genesis' hand and walked her down the stairs.

Once they were gone Carlos turned to her with a questioning look, so Isabella said "Look I don't know what's going on with you and Essie but I will tell you this, Diego was right her just leaving. Papi called her and then her bodyguards came and got her and took her home. I'm guessing."

Turning away from the railing so no one could see what she was doing, she pulled the note out of her front pocket and slid it discreetly into Carlos' hand and said "She gave this to me before she left and make me promise that I would give it to you."

Pressing it further into his hand and continued "As far as I know she didn't know anything about what was going on. She felt really bad for having to leave like this and she didn't want you to be mad at her. She knew that things were a little rocky between you two but she was hoping the note might clear some things up and before you ask I don't know what she meant by that. She also told me not to tell anyone about it, so Diego has no idea that it even exists let alone the fact that I just gave that to you."

Carlos looked at the note in his hand, put it in his pocket and then hugged Isabella and said "Thank you for being such a good friend to her and I promise I won't let anyone know I have it or that you gave it to me."

Then he looked at the dance floor and noticed that Sharia and Diego were dancing a little too close for comfort and turned back to Isabella and said "What's up with your brother, isn't he supposed to be in love with Estefania?"

Still facing away from the dance floor Isabella sighed and said "Honestly I think he's more in love with her money and the power that he thinks one day he'll get if he marries her. I mean yeah I get jealous of her sometimes because of how people treat her but I would never take advantage of her like he does and if I'm being really honest I wouldn't want to live her life. It's always been filled with bodyguards and with restrictions on what she can do and can't do. Not to mention the obvious like now when she was told she had to leave and this isn't the first time that's happened."

Carlos nodded his head but then leaned his head to the side so that she would look at the dance floor. Curious she turned and then saw how Diego was dancing with Sharia.

She looked back at Carlos to see how he was going to react but he just shrugged his shoulders and said "I just met her the other night and it's not like she's my girlfriend and if the way she spoke about Estefania is any clue of her personality then it's likely that she'll never be. I'm more concerned with the fact that Estefania has only been gone for 3 days and he's already acting like this."

Isabella nodded her head at him understanding what he was saying. She didn't like what Diego was doing and when they got home she had every intention of telling her brother how she felt about it.

Once the song was over Diego took her to the bar and got another round of drinks and then they made their way back upstairs. Looking quite satisfied he turned to Carlos and Isabella and said with a slight drunken slur "Mission accomplished. I got her to like Estefania. So Carlos you can be with her again."

Sharia took over from there and said "Yeah it sounds like she is an absolutely fantastic person and I can't wait to meet her."

Isabella not liking the way she said that or the disgusting performance by her and Diego looked at Sharia and in a vicious voice said "Well I can guarantee you that she would not want to meet you especially after the way you were just dancing with HER boyfriend."

Then she turned towards Diego gave him a hard stare and with a bit of malice in voice said "You're a piece of shit and I hope that whatever you were trying to do with whore was worth losing everything that you supposedly worked so hard for with Estefania, because when she finds out and trust me she will. You will lose her."

Then she turned to Carlos and said "I'd really like to go home but I came in his car is there any way that you maybe can take me, I no longer want to be in the presence of those two."

Before Carlos could answer her, Diego grabbed Isabella's arm and said "Stop being so dramatic, you're being just like HER. I was just dancing with Sharia there's nothing more there."

Isabella slapped him and tried to pull away. Then she said "You're a liar and I've had enough of it. I saw the way you two looked at each other before you walked her down the stairs. You want to go fuck her then you go do it, but trust me when I say that Estefania will hear about it and I hope that Franco and Tomas kick your ass."

Diego snapped and tightened his grip on her and said "How will she know, unless you tell her and I'm sure you won't be doing that. I've worked too hard for you to fuck it up by me just dancing with some other woman."

Carlos seeing that Isabella was now in pain, looked Diego square in the eyes and said "I think it might be in your best interest for you to let Isabella go now. You need to leave her alone right now. I know you definitely don't want to do something harmful to your own sister, correct?"

Diego realized what he was doing and quickly let go and said "Oh my God, Izzy I'm so sorry I didn't mean to grab you like that. Please forgive me. I just got so crazy with you saying that Estefania would find out about Sharia and leave me."

He tried to move towards her but Isabella moved behind Carlos and said in a really low voice "Diego I think it's best if I leave now, I'm sorry but your behavior is unacceptable and I'm afraid of what you'll do."

Then she turned to Carlos and said "Can you take me some where safe for the night."

Carlos hugged her to him and said "Absolutely, come on let's go."

Carlos looked at Lester to see what he was going to do and Lester just nodded his head and followed Carlos as he guided Isabella down the stairs and out of the door.

Once they got into Carlos' car Isabella said "I knew he had anger issues but I've never seen him like that before, it scared me."

Lester put his arm around Isabella and said "I'm so sorry you had to see him like that. You said he has anger issues, has he ever hit Estefania before?"

Carlos perked up waiting for her answer, when she said "No I don't think so. She's never said anything to me about it and I'm pretty sure she would. We tell each other everything."

Feeling better with what she said Carlos said "So where do you want to go now?"

Isabella said "Can you just take me to a hotel or something. I don't want to go back to the house. I'm afraid he'll be there."

Lester said "We're not taking you to a hotel. You can come home with us."

She just nodded her head as they all got into the car and drove away, leaving Diego, Sharia, and Genesis at the club.

Isabella sitting in the back seat by herself got lost in her thoughts as Carlos was driving. She started thinking about Diego and wondered if she really wanted to tell Estefania about what had happened or what could possibly happen, but then she also knew that if she didn't tell her and it ever came out Isabella could potentially lose her best friend.

Needing to talk to her best friend even if it's just to leave a message she picked up the phone and dialed her number. After it rang a couple of times and she heard the best thing in the world she heard the word "Izzy?"

Estefania had picked up her phone.

Isabella was so excited "Oh my God Essie, you answered your phone. Are you OK, when are you coming back? I miss you so much."

Estefania answered "Izzy, yes I'm ok and I don't know if I'll be coming back any time soon. We're leaving tomorrow for my favorite place but you know that I can't call you from there. Which is why I answered your call tonight and I miss you too. I only have a few minutes but how are things? Did you meet up with Carlos and Lester at the club tonight? "

Isabella "Yes we met up with them and I have to tell you something that I don't think you're going to like."

Estefania said "What is it?"

Isabella took a deep breath and said "I think Diego might be planning to cheat on you. I wasn't sure if I was going to tell you or not but the girl that Carlos brought to the club started talking crap about you and after Carlos told her off Diego started dancing with her based on the premise of trying to get her to understand you better so she will like you. But Essie, he was dancing really close to her and the two of them were flirting a lot with each other."

Carlos up in the front hearing Isabella asked her "Can I speak to her?"

Isabella said "I'm so sorry to be the one to tell you that but on the up side there's a guy here that has a note that he hasn't read yet but wants to talk to you. Do you want to talk to him?"

Estefania sighed and said "OK." Isabella handed him the phone and he said "Hi, Babe."

Estefania smiled and said "Hello Carlos." Carlos said "You left me and for the record I didn't know she was going to be a major bitch about you when I invited her to come with me and for the record that was the only reason that I was glad you weren't there tonight."

Estefania replied "I know and I'm sorry, I wasn't really given a choice. They just came and got me. Look I told Izzy I only had a few minutes to talk so I really have to go. I'm really shouldn't be using my phone right now, but something told me that I had to take her call. Please tell Isabella not to worry about what Diego is doing, it will all work out in the end and tell her that I'll explain what I meant by that whenever I get back. Again I'm so sorry I couldn't be there. Please read my note, I hoping that will clear up some things with us as well. I've really got to go. Bye."

And before he could respond the line was disconnected.

He handed the phone back to Isabella and said "She said she had to go but told me to tell you not to worry about what Diego was doing. She promised that she'd explain everything when she gets back."

She took her phone and then nodded her head feeling relieved that she had told Estefania what was going on.

They had finally got to Carlos and Lester's house and they brought Isabella in. Lester told her that she could borrow one of his shirts to sleep in if she wanted and that she could take his room and he'd sleep on the couch.

She was grateful and gladly accepted. He walked her into his room and showed him where everything was.

While they were in Lester's room Carlos went into his room, laid down on his bed, took the note out of his pocket. He looked at it, thinking that ever since Isabella had handed it to him that he had been very curious about what it said.

He unfolded it and then read it.

Dear Carlos,

I know that you were expecting to see me tonight and I'm sorry that I wasn't able to make it, apparently there's some family business that needs to be handled regarding some type of emergency and when that happens my Papi doesn't like to take chances with me so he whisks me away, so I don't know what's going on and that I'm not involved in any way.

He always gets so overprotective of me, so who knows what it could be about this time. One time when I was little someone tried to talk to me while I was at the playground by myself. I quickly removed from the playground and whisked away for 2 weeks before they realized that the guy was an uncle of one of my friends and was just trying to ask me how I was. That's how crazy he gets.

Anyway, I'm really sorry for how I acted on Monday, when I got angry with you. After talking it over with a very wise old man (My Papi) I now understand what I was feeling was a bit of jealousy. I've never experienced that before not even with Diego and I didn't quite understand what I was going on at the time. I just knew that the thought of you bringing a date to meet me had made me upset but at the same time made me mad. It was confusing for me.

I know I have no right to feel that way, since I am with Diego, but if I'm really trying to be honest with you and myself, I don't know if I've ever felt the way about him like I think I'm starting to feel about you. I think with Diego it's just the way that it's always been. I've known him since I was 4 and he's kind of always been there.

I know that I'm young and naïve regarding a lot of things because I've lived a somewhat sheltered life but I can't help but wonder if there's more to life than just what's familiar.

I hope by me telling you all of this that it doesn't ruin our friendship, because that is the last thing that I ever wanted to do.

I hope that I'll be home soon and that we are still friends when I do get back. Tell Lester I'll miss him.

I'll miss you too.

Estefania

Carlos folded up the note and put it in his nightstand. With a small smile on his face and thoughts of Estefania in his mind he quickly fell asleep.