Chapter 38: Ahliyah

We ate breakfast at the kitchen island before Lorenzo and Mercedes left. " I almost forgot. Leticia wants all of you to come to her birthday party tonight." Lorenzo said shoving a piece of bacon in his mouth.

Carter looked at me and nodded his head. Lorenzo and Mercedes left to get ready for the party. We packed our things to leave the beach house. I leaned on the couch watching as Carter cleaned the dishes and put them back in the cabinet.

He leaned back on the kitchen island and folded his arms. " I really wish our time here lasted longer." He said.

" I wish we could've spent longer to. Shouldn't we be getting ready for the birthday party?" I asked.

He slowly walked to me and grabbed me by my waist. " We should go to the party but there's something I want to give you first." He said pulling a box out of his pockets. " I gave you this locker  a long time ago and got it engraved with your name on it and there's a picture of us inside."

There it was the necklace I'd been scared to wear because he gave it to me. The same locket that belonged to his mother.

" You didn't have to do this, Carter." I said.

" I did and I'm not sorry for doing it." He put the locket around my neck and he pulled my hair back. I smiled at the locket in awe and then I smiled at him.

" What if I lose it? It means so much to you and I don't want to lose it."

" You're not going to lose it. In plus, you look cute with it on."

Mercedes sat on my bed as I put on my black dress. " So, the locket belonged to his mother. Y'all are so cute that it hurts to look at you two when you're together."

" Yeah, I'm just scared I'm going to lose it." I said.

" You're not going to lose it and you look beautiful." She smiled.

We walked out of my room together and when walked into the front room Carter and Lorenzo stood up for us. Mercedes smiled giving me a thumbs up as she walked out the door.

" You look beautiful." He wrapped his arm in mine and walked me to the car. I got in playing with the locket around my neck. As we rode to the birthday party, I kept playing with my necklace until we got to the party.

The house was decorated with different shades of black and white for Lorenzo sister. Carter held my hand as we walked in and we were greeted by Lorenzo's family as we moved through the house.

" Carter is that you?" A women asked.

" Yes, Mrs. Martinez it's me." He smiled.

He let my hand go to give her a hug and Mrs.Martinez's eyes met mine, she let go of Carter and gave me a big hug.

" You are so beautiful. You must be his girlfriend, Lorenzo has told us so much about." She smiled.

" I am his girlfriend. You must be Lorenzo's mother." I smiled.

She nodded her head and grabbed my hand pulling us to the birthday girl. Leticia ran up to Carter and embraced him. She laughed and giggled as she hugged him. " I thought you weren't going to come because you haven't been around the house for awhile and.. and I thought you forgot my birthday." She said sadly.

He kneeled down holding the girl by her waist and smiled. " I may not be at the house but I'm still here. How could I ever forget your birthday? No one should ever forget it." He smiled.

Leticia looked at me eyebrows raised, " Wow, you are beautiful. You're Carter's girlfriend I overheard Lorenzo talking about you with mom and Mercedes." She smiled.

" Thank you." Leticia smiled going around to greet her other guest.

" This is my second family. I stayed here for awhile when I was figuring things out with my parents. They treated me like family. When I moved, I didn't realize that they would miss me." Carter said.

" Of course they would miss you. His family loves you like you were their son." 

" Yeah, things got complicated and I couldn't stay here, but there door has always been open to me if I needed it."

As the night went on, We danced on the dance floor until we couldn't dance anymore. Lorenzo cut the cake for his sister ending the night of celebration.  We cleaned up the house and sat in the living room talking about what was next.

" I've been sober for a month and I haven't had any suicidal thoughts in awhile. I'm might go somewhere to clear my head and get away for awhile." Lorenzo said.

Mercedes played with her fingers looking down at her shoes. " I got a call from a museum in Texas and they want me to put my art in their museum. Thanks to Ahliyah, I have somewhere to come back to once I'm done traveling."

Carter smiled sadly sitting up on the couch. " Look at you two embracing all these good things going in your lives. I guess Ahliyah and I would stay here for awhile, but I wanted to say thank you Lorenzo. Your family took me in even though you didn't have to and that means a lot."

They looked at me with their arms folded waiting for me to say something good. I didn't really know what was good at the moment, I guess everything was what I wanted it to be.

" I'm glad I have you all because without you, I think without any of you I would've spiraled and ended up like my father. I'm going to stay here for awhile, but I've been thinking about going back to Texas." I said.

Mercedes moves next to me and smiled.  " I didn't tell the whole truth when I said I was going to Texas," she looked down at her hands and her lips trembled. " I'm actually moving there with the person I was telling you about. Everything about the museum was true, but.. but telling Lorenzo would hurt him and I don't want that for him."

" Why hold it from him then?" I asked.

She sighed rubbing her arms, " The first time we broke up, he wanted to kilo himself because he thought he didn't have anyone else. He was taking different drugs and I thought I was going to lose him. I have to make sure he stays happy." She said.

" He'll be happy for you behind the scenes and he'll be proud that you're putting yourself first. " I smiled.

" I know. If you ever stop by or decide you wanna stay in Texas long term. I'm gonna need a roommate and I thought maybe you could stay with me when you come and visit." She shrugged her shoulders.

I sat next to Carter putting my legs in his lap and leaned back. " It's nice to see your other family." I said,

" It was nice to come back and see them too. Are you really thinking about going back to Texas?" He asked.

" It was a thought, but I don't really know."

He leaned back holding my legs. " I think it would be nice to go back to Texas. I'm we would be getting the fresh start we asked for."

Sometimes good things come with a cost, but it was cost I was ready to live with for myself and Carter.