Do you love me, James?

Letting Go Part 2

"The cemetery," I said before we drove off.

I pulled up in the cemetery. It was a good walk, but I had managed to make it in time to see Carlos, dressed in a suit, standing in front of a tombstone holding flowers in his hands

"Hey Mom, sorry I only visit you on this day. You know I've been busy lately since I'm in my senior year and all. Don't worry, I still find time to hang out with Liberty and I'm still trying my best at school though I haven't learned much. I guess I'm just not that good at the whole studying thing. A bit anyway, did you hear Wonder woman just got greenlit for another live-action movie? It's coming out today. I was supposed to go, but you know. Anyways, I've been really good... Liberty still nags me a lot and I'm still failing my classes, but I'm doing well medically at least. Dad? He's in a pretty bad place, but he'll be fine tomorrow. I wish he'd drink less though. Aside from that everything's fine. I wish you were here though. I really miss you and I'm... I'm really sorry Mom..." he said, tears in his eyes

"Carlos it's not your fault," I said making him aware of my presence.

"Yes, it is"

"No, it's not"

"Do you know the story?" he said as he gave a sad smile

"Carlos, I know. Your mom left town and got caught during the storm. It was unexpected, but she chose to go. It wasn't your fault"

"Do know why?"

"What?"

"Don't you want to know why she went in the storm"

"Whatever the reason it's not your fault"

"Yes, it is, it was the day before my birthday there was a new action figure on sale two towns over. I begged and pleaded that my mom buy it for me. Even though I knew full well that a storm was coming. I told her she could leave that day and return before the storm. Of course, she refused but then I told her I'd die if I didn't get it so she finally gave in and went. She never came back. I stay in the house with the babysitter cursing my mom on my birthday while she was racing a freaking storm. About a week later they found her car in a river with all her stuff inside it including the action figure. Even to this day, I haven't opened it," Carlos explained tears running down his face with a sad smile on his face, eyes filled with self-loathing

"Carlos...." I wanted to say something else but couldn't. I had no idea Carlos was carrying something like that on his chest for so long

"Anyway, after that, my Dad left the force and decided to stay in town with me. I could tell he wanted to say something, but he didn't, so neither did I. We both pretended everything was okay and continued on, neither of us willing to show the other our pain. Both putting up the charade of being okay. So tell me James is it my fault? Can you stand there and tell me it isn't my fault?"

"I think we should go," I said

"I've got you a gift," I added unable to say anything else. Words of condolence should be coming out of my mouth, but I could only mention the stupid gift. It was probably for the best anyways. He's probably heard every word of condolence a thousand times. I prayed for something, anything, to happen because I had no idea what I should do or even say now

"It's cool you can drop it off tomorrow," Carlos said before my phone rang and luckily it was Liberty.

Remembering what she told me to do, I let out a sigh of relief and answered before putting it on speaker

"JAMES!! OH MY GOD, I NEED YOUR HELP! IT WON'T STOP CHASING ME PLEASE. GET CARLOS HELP ME PLEASE----" she said frantically before the call disconnected

"Carlos?" I said, but he had already gotten up

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING ON? LET'S GO!!" He yelled before we ran to the car

"Carlos this is Rebecca," I said as he entered the back

"I don't care who it is. Drive James! Drive!!" Carlos rushed before I drove off.

"Alright, just let me track her phone," I said, pretending to do just that. After that, I rushed to the beach

It was silent and dark as we ran through the sand rushing to where the party

As we turned the corner and Carlos stepped out an explosion of party favors and chili pepper lights went off

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!" Everyone exploded at Carlos before the music started then Liberty, Carl, Betty-Ann, Sophie, Finn, and Fred came running up to us out of the crowd

"What. The. Hell?" Carlos said

(Carlos)

"What's all this?" I asked

"A surprise, Liberty planned all of this," James said

"Oh," I said

"Okay, Sophie and I are gonna go do our project. Betty-Ann, you wanna tag along" James said

"Sorry, but not interested," She said before turning towards Rebecca

"Wanna get a drink?" Betty-Ann asked

"Sure," Rebecca answered before they left

"I guess it's just the two of us," James said before he and Sophie left

"Well, I'm gonna head over to the snack bar," Carl said

"You shouldn't do that?" Brittney said

"Why not?" Carl asked

"Because we're going on the water slide silly and we wouldn't want you to puke on yourself again."

"No way! No way! I'm not going on one of those ever again" Carl protested

"Come on, It would be like our first date," She said

"That part of the date was horrible"

"There's a Ferris wheel as well"

"Well, see you later Carlos and happy birthday, I got you an action figure. It's a figure from the Superman and Batman crossover, I have guts to go puke out," Carl said while Brittney pulled him away

"I got you a model calendar with twelve of my best pictures," Brittney said before they vanished in the crowd.

"That was a dirty trick Liberty," I said

"Sorry I know, but I had no choice," she said

"One day Libbs. It's just one day I just wanted one day to grieve you. Tomorrow I would have been back to normal. Couldn't you have just given me today? I just really..... hate today," I said, tears running down my face

She smiled at me before wiping the tears from my eyes

"And that's why I couldn't. You can hate any other day, but not today. Not this day," she said, smiling as she put her hands around my neck

"Why not?" I asked

"Because today is my favorite day. Do you wanna know why?" She asked and I nodded

"Because it is the day you, my Comic book King, the man that I love, were born and any day that can do something like that has to be the best day ever," she said before trying to kiss me but I eased back out of her hug before turning my back to her

"What's so great about me, huh? I'm just a sad pathetic loser that got his mom killed over some stupid toy" I said, holding back the tears in my eyes, but then she turned me around and gave me one slap across my face. I was stunned. I couldn't believe it, she had hit me. Even now I can't believe it happened

"Don't you ever let me hear you say anything like that ever again? Carlos Antonio Estévez you are not a loser. You are a sweet, kind, and funny person that would go anywhere for his friends and don't dare call those things some stupid toy. Yeah, it may be less than worthless to everyone else, but it is the most important thing in the world to you. It's the reason you are you. And stop saying you killed your mom"

"Liberty you don't know. I was the one that-"`

"I do know Carlos," she said interrupting me

"She was the one that decided to go out knowing a storm was coming. She could have just found some hotel and stayed there, but instead, she tried racing against a storm to make it back here. Do you know why? Because she wanted to be there for her child's birthday. Even though there's a chance that she wouldn't beat the storm, she still tried because she wanted you to be happy she wanted to see your face light up"

"Happy? Liberty if she wanted me to be happy she should have come back. She should have stayed safe. She should have been there to tell me happy birthday. She should have put her health first if she really wanted me to be happy" I said bursting into tears

"But that's not how real mothers think. To mothers, their child's happiness is much more than anything. They put their child's happiness above their dreams, love life, and even their own health. Sometimes they hurt the child because they love them. You're hurting right now Carlos and blaming yourself, do you really think that's what your mom would have wanted Carlos?" she said hugging me tightly

"She doesn't want anything Liberty she's gone"

"That's bullshit Carlos and you know it. Your mom would have wanted you to enjoy your birthday. Not spend it in some cemetery. She'd want you to enjoy your life, not mourn her death"

"You're... " I wanted to retort, but I couldn't think of anything. I knew she was right, I knew this wasn't what my mother would have wanted. Unable to hold back any longer I started crying into her shoulder.

I was crying out a river unto Liberty's shoulder, but she just smiled while hushing me tenderly

"Are you finished crying?" she asked as I broke out of the hug and wiped my tears

"Yeah, thank you... Shining Star," I said, noticing her face light up. Without a single word, she tackled me to the ground kissing me

We kissed for five minutes before breaking for air

"Well, let's go celebrate my favorite day my King," she said, getting up before I smiled lifting her bridal style

"I love you," I said, spinning her around

"I love you more," she said before we could continue I heard someone clear their throat so I turned around to see my dad.