After unpacking everything and finally being able to relax, my family and Alex's family decided to have one big dinner later. Alex, me, the twins, and Carlos decided to head over to her family's cabin after a couple of hours of talking with my family and catching up. Carlos came too as he was still talking with Haley trying to get with her, but he's been telling me that this Andy guy is making it hard to win Haley over.
"Come on in and see the crazy," Luke says after opening the door to their cabin and walking towards the woods with Manny right behind him.
"Luke, Manny, where are you guys going?" Alex says seeing them leave with annoyed faces.
"Just away from the crazies!" Manny says as Luke nods his head and they keep walking. We all share a confused look before hearing some arguing inside the cabin.
"Shouldn't be more insane than usual," I say with a shrug as Alex just sighs.
We all enter the cabin to see Haley talking with her family and Andy there too, as he has this guilty look on his face. Everyone seems to be just as confused, shocked, and annoyed having heard whatever it is they were just talking about. Though they all go quiet seeing us all enter the cabin.
"What'd we miss?" I say as they all look at us, with Phil giving me a look of distress and Claire like she is ready to smack someone.
"Carlos?!" Haley says seeing Carlos enter right after everyone else did. That's when I realized that Haley and he were closer than Carlos told me.
'Shit! Did they already sleep together?!' I think to myself seeing the two share a look, as Carlos sees Andy and has a very angry look on his face.
"Alex… This is going to be a very interesting vacation," I whisper to Alex who is just standing next to me with a defeated look on her face.
"Haley?! Did… NO!" Claire says seeing Carlos and her share a look, now realizing the situation has only gotten much worse.
"We should go… and… clear our heads on a nice walk, it is pretty warm outside," I say seeing the tension quickly rising even more.
"Yeah, we all should," Haley says as I give her a 'wtf' look.
"Wait…" I start to say as Alex elbows me to stop.
Then Alex, me, the twins, Carlos, Haley, and Andy all walk outside leaving everyone else inside. As we all walk there is nothing but an awkward silence so thick you could almost see it. Even I was feeling extremely awkward and unsure of what to say.
"So… is it always this warm in California even during the winter?" Eric says breaking the thick silence.
"Yeah…" Alex says trying to keep the conversation going but it is just too weird right now.
"Ok, fuck this, you three talk this out right now," I say as I point to the three idiots who are causing this issue.
"Gabe!" Alex says seeing me just immediately throw gas back on the fire.
"Alex, Gabe is right… Carlos, Andy… I'm sorry," Haley says looking at the two guys who are staring at her and then back to each other. I silently move behind Carlos to stop him from fighting if it comes to that, while Eric does the same to Andy.
"Haley, what the hell! I thought we were just starting to get serious and then apparently you sleep with this guy!" Carlos says while gesturing to Andy with a look ready to fight at a second notice.
"Carlos it's not what you think, we–" Haley starts to say as Andy nods his head.
"What, what don't I know?!" Carlos says interrupting her, very upset right now, so I put my hand on his shoulder to calm him down. Carlos looks back at me as I give him a serious look and he lets out a deep breath calming down slightly.
"We aren't sleeping together… but we did almost sleep together… I got confused and Andy was just trying to be a good friend. My feelings were all over the place and at the time we just started to talk about going out," Haley says trying to explain the misunderstanding.
"Then what's with everyone freaking out in there?" Alex says before Carlos can freak out again, as he looks confused and angry still.
"Dad was the one who caught us making out in one of the houses he was trying to sell. He thought… he thought we did more than that because it was a weird situation. My clothes had just gotten messed up, so I needed to clean them and I was only wearing a robe while waiting for them to finish cleaning. Then Andy and I started to kiss and things started to heat up quickly, that's when Dad walked in on us," Haley says as I grimaced hearing it, since that is not the greatest thing to hear.
"So you are saying if your Dad didn't come in things would have gone all the way? Even if you say they wouldn't, how could I believe that?" Carlos says with a much calmer voice, but still very angry look on his face.
"I know and all I can say is… I have no idea if things would have gotten that far," Haley says as Andy is quiet this whole time.
"I'd like to say things wouldn't have gotten that far too, but… at that moment they might have," Andy says coming clean that he would have fallen to the temptation even though he is currently engaged to his fiancée.
"That's what I thought," Carlos says giving them both a very angry look before walking back to our family's cabin.
"Haley…" Alex says as Haley just looks ready to cry and walks back to her family's cabin, with Andy giving us all an awkward look before quickly following after Haley.
"Welcome to the family drama," I say to the twins as Maya is looking around awkwardly, with Eric having an awkward one too.
"I'm gonna go talk with Carlos," I say as I quickly follow after Carlos and Eric follow me.
"I'll talk with Haley," Alex says with Maya following her as they go to find Haley.
"Carlos… you good?" I say seeing him standing behind our cabin while looking in the distance with a face lost in thoughts.
"Uh?... Oh, yeah… Just thinking," Carlos says absentmindedly.
"About?" I say trying to get him to open up more.
"If I should keep trying to be with Haley… I know we just started hanging out and it's nothing serious,... though I didn't even try to get with someone else. Relationships are a two-way street and even though we just started ours, I thought she'd be more serious about it. Maybe I acted too soon or not soon enough," Carlos says as Eric and I listen to him.
"Well, everyone makes mistakes and if you really like her you'll overlook this mistake. Try having a real heart-to-heart with her and see how she really feels. See if you both still want to keep trying," Eric says with surprising maturity that he rarely shows.
"Yeah, you're right," Carlos says nodding his head seeming more calm now.
"I'm gonna, go walk and clear my head. I want to be alone right now," Carlos says walking away and we both nod our heads watching him walk off.
"That was some good advice. Now I want to know what you are hiding from me," I say to Eric once Carlos leaves and we take a seat on the ground.
"I'm not hiding anything, I just can give good advice," Eric says but his eyes are telling me he is keeping a few secrets still.
"Fine, but just know that I am here if you need to talk bro," I say to him patting his shoulder and he gives me an appreciative smile.
"Thanks…" Eric says as we both sit in silence for a few minutes just enjoying the sounds of nature.
"You are one of the few people I met who are friends with me just because you like me for me. Most people want to use me for my connections or because of my family. What I am saying is you are like a brother to me," Eric says breaking the silence.
"Thanks and you are like a brother to me too," I say to him as we both go back to sitting in silence.
"So, I'll tell you some things, but please don't tell anyone. Not even Alex," Eric says to me turning serious.
"I promise," I say looking at him with a serious face.
"For starters, I am sure you are aware Maya and I do not have a good relationship with our father. That is because, like the stereotypical rich father, he doesn't care about us, more about his company. But it didn't used to be like that, he was different when our Mom was still alive, but she died when we were ten from cancer," Eric says to me as I listen quietly.
"After she died, he became much more distant. Only speaking with us at dinner and asking the same questions, like how was school or your day. Though he would only really talk with us if we got into trouble, which as you can imagine I did a lot when I was younger and still do. Now I don't try to get in trouble on purpose," Eric continues while sighing and thinking.
"Then I realized I don't really care about my father, as he doesn't care about us. So instead, I did everything I could to watch out for Maya. We argue a lot since we are the only family we really have for each other. Plus when we were in high school I found out a big secret about my sister," Eric says giving me a serious look again.
"I found her one day hooking up with her best friend at school. I learned that my sister is gay, something my Dad frowns upon heavily. After learning that I did everything in my power to hide it from him. However, he found last summer when we went on vacation with her friend and one of mine who I thought was a friend at the time," Eric says with a face of regret now.
"Maya and her secret girlfriend got drunk one night, then hooked up. They were caught by my friend whom I begged to keep a secret. Instead, he tried blackmailing me and I told him off, right after he told my Dad…" Eric says now with a face of deep anger and regret.
"My Dad flipped out and looked ready to disown Maya, so I compromised with my Dad. I told him I'd become the man he always wanted me to be and be his perfect son. In return, he'd not say anything to Maya and treat her the same as he always has. My father has kept his promise so far and Maya doesn't know he knows. However, I can see the disgust and disappointment in his eyes every time he looks at her," Eric says to me with a heavy sigh.
"So, I distract myself with being an idiot and trying to make my sister happy as much as I can. Sure I mess with her a lot, but I guess that is me just trying to distract myself from when she learns the truth, which I know she will eventually," Eric says to me now falling silent and looking in the distance with a defeated look on his face.
"Shit, bro, I'm sorry. I promise I won't say a word and if you ever need anything just ask," I say to Eric who gives me a smile and pats my shoulder.
"Thanks, you really are the only real friend I ever made. I'd never do anything to jeopardize it… No matter how hot your Aunt is," Eric says to me with a serious face and then smirks at the end. I just laugh shaking my head at him trying to break the serious atmosphere.