Undying Love

Recap:
Carlos' phone buzzed beside him. He glanced at it quickly, gave it an instantaneous scowl, and then returned his grin to Logan.

"Everything alright?" Logan asked.

"Yep, just fine," Carlos replied happily, even though internally he was dying.

The text read: Be in LA tomorrow to see you! - Mama

Chapter 16 – Coming Out

The bright morning sun caused Carlos to stir and wake up, stretching vastly and yawning. He noticed that Logan wasn't in bed with him, and he got nervous. He heard some movement in the bathroom, so he raced into it, relieved to find Logan there combing his hair.

"Wait, where are you going?" Carlos asked, scratching his head.

"I promised Ms. Knight that I would run some errands for her," Logan responded, checking his pockets for the necessary items.

"But today...is you know..."

Logan sighed and placed his hands on Carlos' shoulders. "Carlos, it will be alright. I'll be back soon, and when I'm back, we can tell them the news."

Carlos started to argue the statement, but Logan shushed him.

"You need to have some alone time with your parents anyway," Logan added. He noticed Carlos' frowning face, so he tugged for his boyfriend to follow him back into the room. He picked Carlos' helmet off of the bed and placed it on Carlos' head, patting it for support. "Not that you'll need it," Logan said, smiling, "but if it makes you feel any better, you have your helmet."

Carlos cracked a small smile.

"I'll see you in a little while, okay," Logan kissed Carlos, Carlos was taking it further than necessary, but Logan knew Carlos was doing it because he wanted Logan to stay with him.

"I already made some food for your folks if they want it," Logan said. "It's on the stove, you'll have to heat it up."

Carlos nodded in agreement.

"You'll be fine, if anything gets too out of hand, give me a call," Logan kissed Carlos one final time and headed out the door.

Carlos' phone buzzed, and he knew what to expect. His parents were on their way. He opened up his cell and read the message he'd been sent:

On our way up, son, can't wait to see you! xoxo mama

Carlos took a deep sigh and stood up, waiting for the moment of truth to come. Soon enough, there were knocks on the door, so he sucked it up and went to answer it. There stood his wonderful parents. He put on the biggest smile of his life.

"Mamacita!" exclaimed Carlos, giving his mother a tight, crushing hug. "I'm muy excited to see you, Mama!"

"I'm so happy to see you, too!" she added.

Carlos' father stepped in after his mother and slapped his son on the back. "Son, how have you been? You're looking so much older now!"

Carlos laughed, hugging his father as well.

His father ruffled Carlos' hair. "Now, let's see that beautiful girlfriend of yours I know you've been hiding from me! Where is she, son?"

Carlos froze in his tracks.

"Girlfriend?" nervousness laced Carlos' voice.

His father gave him a mischievous glance. "No need to be afraid, Carlos. I know you're a little tiger with the ladies."

Carlos didn't know what to say or do, so he just replied with a "I can't wait for you to meet her."

Meanwhile, in his room, Kendall facepalmed himself when he heard the conversation between Carlos and his parents.

AN HOUR LATER
Carlos had a moment of peace while his parents were checking into a room nearby, he needed some time to think.

Kendall sat down with his friend at the breakfast bar. "Listen, Carlos, I think you need to hear this."

Carlos didn't lift his head up, but he notioned that he was listening.

"You love Logan, right?" Kendall asked, knowing the answer was blatantly obvious.

"Yeah," Carlos responded, "But my parents..."

"What about your parents?" Kendall cut him off. "You're going to let your parents decide whether you should be with the person you love or not?"

Carlos hated the position he was in, and he hated how Kendall knew it inside and out. What was he to do? He didn't want to disappoint his parents, he loved them too much. But he knew he didn't want to be with anyone else other than Logan, he loved him more than the world. He had to face his parents...

"You have to face your parents," Kendall said, restating what Carlos had already told himself seconds before. "I know you respect them, but they have no right to affect who you decide to be with."

Carlos took his last sip of root beer out of his soda can. "You're right," he jumped up and threw his helmet on. "I've got something I need to do. Thanks, Kendall."

Kendall just nodded and watched his friend pat his helmet and bounce away out of the room.

Carlos managed to get his parents to come back to his residence, and he sat them down on the orange couch.

"Mama, papa," Carlos stood firmly in front of them; he was convinced that he wasn't going to take anything but blessings from them.

His parents responded by giving him their undivided attention; his mother looked slightly worried, but his dad retained an unreadable poker face.

"What I'm about to tell you...you may not like, in fact, you probably won't," Carlos began, taking a deep breath.

"Well, spit it out, son," Mr. Garcia responded, he never was one for dragging on in conversations.

"I'm gay," Carlos sighed, keeping his shoulders broad.

His parents flashed a look of disbelief, which caused Carlos to become slightly nervous.

"You're...gay...?" Mr. Garcia questioned, his glare almost skin-piercing.

"Carlos..." Mrs. Garcia began. "Well, are you with someone?"

"Yes."

"...well who is it?"

The door opened softly and slowly, revealing a sweating Logan with a couple bags of groceries in his hands. "Man, it's hot out there," he dropped the bags on the counter and wiped some sweat off his head. He soon felt the tense atmosphere of the room and looked at Carlos and his parents confusedly.

"But it seems a lot more heated in here..."

"It's Logan..." Carlos dug his hands in his pockets, his once impenetrable stance broken.

Mr. and Mrs. Garcia dug deep holes into Logan with their eyes, causing the pale boy to become slightly uncomfortable.

"How long has this been going on?" Mr. Garcia questioned his son, though he glanced at Logan for an answer as well.

"A while, papa," Carlos answered. He noticed his mother was quiet, and he getting more and more worried.

"Is Logan the only other boy you've been with?" Mr. Garcia asked.

"Yes," Carlos replied.

"Well I must say," Mr. Garcia finally piped up, standing up on her feet and shaking her head. "I am muy disappointed in you, son, how could my son, my son...?"

Carlos felt a wave of defiance. "Papa, I am sorry for any disrespect I may show in what I'm about to say, but you need to hear this. I don't care if you don't approve of this, because I love him. Yes, I love that boy over there. I love you, papa, but nothing you say or do will ever change that. You might as well disown me now, because if that's how you feel about this, than I don't want to be linked to you anymore."

The room was silent; Mr. Garcia's disbelief look had reappeared.

Logan stood there in awe: Carlos had finally did it. He'd stood up to his parents for the two of them. He'd said that he loved him...in front of his parents...

"Son," Mrs. Garcia stood up, finally piping into the conversation after a long period of silence. Then, unexpectedly, she hugged Carlos.

"Mama?"

"I'm so proud of you son," his mother told him, tears in her eyes.

"You approve of this?" Mr. Garcia asked, obviously surprised.

"Oh, hush," she responded. "If our son feels that passionately about Logan, that who are we to tell him he can't love him? He's obviously happy, isn't that what we've always wanted for him?"

Mr. Garcia grunted, and stayed silent for a couple seconds. "I'm sorry for the way I responded," he said to Carlos and then to Logan, his gruff disposition done away with. "I really am happy for you two, it's just..."

"Uncle Jose?" Carlos asked.

His father nodded.

Logan started to piece things together; he remembered Carlos telling him of an Uncle Jose, who was homosexual. He was Mr. Garcia's favorite brother of his six total, they were inseparable. Then one day, back when Mr. Garcia and Jose were kids in high school, he found Jose beaten nearly to death in a dark alleyway, and when he got him to a hospital, the hospital couldn't treat his wounds...he had died.

Just thinking of the story brought tears to Logan's eyes.

"I just don't want you to end up like him, son!"

Logan was surprised to hear Mr. Garcia weeping harshly.

Carlos pulled his hands out of his pockets and hugged his father tightly. He didn't know what to say at this point.

"He was beaten to death, just because he was different, just because he liked boys," Mr. Garcia continued. "If that happened to you, I don't know what I'd do...I just..."

"It's okay, papa, its okay," Carlos continued to console his weeping father, while Logan and Mrs. Garcia silently shed a few tears themselves.

But Carlos deep down was glad that he finally got this off his chest, even though it lead to this sad moment. And even more, his parents accepted him...for who he really was.

To be continued.

Preview for next chapter:
"We've known about you two for a while now, and it's obvious that you two love each other."