Broken

The lonely boy walked back to his mother's house, still wearing the big smile on his face. He turned the knob on the door and went to the backyard where his mother was eating her salad. Vic sat down on his seat and his mother smiled at him as she stabbed her fork on a lettuce. She knew having Vic see Danielle would be the perfect medicine for his son.

"How did it go?"

"Good. She still has that scar from her birthday party." He laughed quietly. “I never thought I’d see her again.” He zone out while staring at the plate on the table. Memories of Danielle and him during her birthday party played in his head.

"Will she be joining me for dinner?" His mother interrupted his trip to memory lane. His smiled dropped to a frown as he repeated the sentence in his head.

"I'm not invited?"

"Ladies night. I apologize but I'm sure you'll have your time with her." She set the fork and knife down on her plate and wiped her mouth, keeping her eyes to Victor.

"I told her I'd see her tonight."

"She'll understand. I'll tell her you had an errand to run or some other excuse. There are some things I'd like to discuss with her. I'm sure you won't mind."

Vic only pursed his lips and nodded. He began eating his chicken salad and had a conversation with his mother. She didn't ask about Cara nor mentioned anything about it. She wanted Vic to stay the way he left Danielle's house, cheerful.

Victor returned back home when his mother started dinner. He walked into a dark empty house. His mood shifted and he went upstairs to his room. He put on some music and lied down in bed, staring at the wedding invitation on his night stand. He grabbed it and started to read it again—over and over. He thought it was all a nightmare and he's still waiting to wake up.

He tossed the invite to the floor and cranked up his music, letting the music help escape him from his problems. But when a slow sad song came up, it only made it worse. He still didn’t know what to do. He thought of going to the wedding to make her happy but it would make him hurt even more. He thought of not going but he didn’t want to upset her. He had his reasons though. He needed to find a way to convince her to not marry Andrew because he still thinks she belongs to him. He needed some advice and decided he would visit his mother tomorrow and have her give him some advice.


“You won’t believe who moved back into San Diego,” Vic told his little brother who was on the couch again watching television. Mike kept his attention towards the TV and popped some gummy bears in his mouth.

“Danni O’Brien,” he spoke with his mouth full of gummies.

“You knew also? Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

“Mom told me not to tell you. She wanted to tell you herself. How is she, by the way?” He shifted his eyes to Victor who was leaning back on the wall, staring at Mike. He was rubbing his chin. “I heard she’s hot.”

“She’s beautiful like she’s always been. And don’t call her hot. Learn how to address a girl as beautiful or pretty. Not sexy, hot or whatever words you call your girlfriend.”

“You know you want to bang her.” Mike joked, laughing to himself.

“No, I don’t. I know you’d probably would.”

“If she has a pussy then most definitely I will. But since she was your first girlfriend, I’ll pass.”

“Whatever, Mike. I’m going to mom’s.” He started to walk to the front door.

“Tell Danni I said yo!” Mikey shouted from the living room. Vic ignored him and got inside his car. He drove to his parent’s house and opened the front door. His mother was standing on a chair, grabbing something from the top shelf of the cupboard. Vic scurried over to her.

“Mom, you’re going to fall. Why didn’t you tell dad to get it for you?”

His mother climbed off the chair with the pot that she was trying to grab. “He got called in to do another job in Oceanside. He’ll be back soon though.” Vic grabbed the pot and set it down on the counter. He then helped his mother off the chair.

"You want to talk about Cara or Danielle first?" His mother fixed her shirt and stared at her boy.

"You know, you never fail to amaze me."

"I am pretty amazing, aren't I?" She joked and grabbed the pot to rinse it. "Which one is it?"

"You already know who. I'm positive Mike told you about the wedding."

"Are you going to attend it?"

"You really think I would go?"

"If she invited you that means she wants you to be there. It's a big day for her."

"So I should forget what happened between us and watch her marry another guy?"

His mother turned off the facet and turned to face him. "Do you want me to tell you what you want to hear or what you should do?"

"I know I'm being selfish but I don't want to see the girl marry someone other than me. It's basically watching dad marry someone else when you know he belongs to you."

"If it's meant to be, she won't get married with him. Something would stop her from walking that aisle."

"So I should be the one stopping her from making a mistake?"

"Vincent, I didn't say th—"

"I'm gonna drive all the way to Texas and stop her. I'm gonna tell her how I feel and try to convince her to move back to California with me." He smiled but his mother shook her head.

"Don't be foolish, Vincent. Ainsley needs her father. Are you willing to raise a baby that's not yours?"

"If it means I get to live my life with Cara, then yeah. You always told me to follow my heart. My heart beats for her so I'm gonna go and try to win her back." His mother smiled since she did tell him that. There wouldn't be a way to talk him out of it so she just nodded her head.

"Are you going to take Christopher?"

"No! He's annoying. I'll go alone. The weddings not until three weeks." He clasped his hands together and rubbed them.

"If it makes you happy, then I approve, but I just don't want you to go alone. It's a long way from here. If anything happens I want someone to call me to inform me."

"I'll find someone. Maybe Daniel will come? I'll ask around." He fixed his beanie and smiled at his mother.

"When are you going to cut your hair? You're starting to look like a girl." She pulled his hair and went back to making dinner.

"I like my long hair. I feel....cooler. Makes me look beautiful.”

"Well, your dad always wanted a daughter from me." She smiled. Vic poked her sides then went around the counter to sit on the tall chair. He grabbed some crackers from the jar and watched his mother cook.

"How was dinner last night with Danielle?" He kicked his feet.

"Wonderful. She's grown up to be a very beautiful and intelligent woman. She reminds me of her father and she has his smile."

"Did you tell her that you kicked me out?" He pouted.

"No, but I told her that you're taking her out for dinner today to ketchup."

"You what?"

She wiped her hands and checked her watch. "You're supposed to be there at five. You have a few minutes." She stared back at Vic. "Oh don't give me that look. This is the part where you thank me and tell me I'm the best."

"I'm taking her out to dinner? Does it look like I'm dressed for dinner? I got off work at three and I didn't even take a shower."

"You can always shower here. You still have some of your clothes up stairs from your niece's student of the month last month. I washed them for you and they're hung up on the closet in the guest room. Now hurry up." She shooed him out of the kitchen while he shook his head.

He walked up the stairs and grabbed a towel from the towel closet and went to the bathroom. He took a hot shower and let the water stream down his face for a few minutes. Once he finished, he got out and wrapped the towel around his waist. Making his way to the closet, he stopped just at the front of the closet door. He noticed a picture of him playing a guitar when he was in junior high. He smiled and opened the closet door. He blow dried his hair and decided to straighten it. He checked the time and it was six minutes before five. He quickly changed and left down stairs to the kitchen.

"See, you look handsome," Vivian cradled his face and smiled.

"That's because I'm the good looking child." He smirked and kissed her cheek. "I'm leaving. I'll call you soon."

"Enjoy yourselves."

He left the kitchen then out the door to her house. He knocked on her door and waited for her to answer. A few seconds later the door swings opens and out rushed Danielle wearing a white ruffled blouse with a leather jacket over it, denim jeans and ankle heel boots. Her hair was flipped out and she had a huge smile when she saw Vic. She greeted him with a big hug.

"Let's ketchup today," she joked, making both of them laugh. They walked down to his car and drove off. Vic didn't know where to take her since it was all last minute. He decided a nice dine-in restaurant was appropriate. "So, how's everything? I want to know your whole life story since I left."

"You left, I was heartbroken. Life sucked and now you're back." He crossed his arms over his chest and smirked as they waited in line to get seated.

"Oh, nice story! They should make that into a movie." She replied sarcastically, faking an enthusiasm.

"I'm totally kidding. What would you like to know—junior high, high school or college?” The hostess walked them to their table and took their drink order. Danielle removed her jacket and left it hanging on her seat.

"Um, I’d like to know about your love life, life in general, job, anything and everything—whatever you feel comfortable telling me about.” She folded her arms on top of the table and stared at Vic sitting across from her. He interlaced his hands together.

"My love life is non-existent. My life consists of waking up at four am and going to work until three and coming home to argue with Mike and either playing pool or going to the bar with my roommates or friends. You can say my life sucks. No need to fake an enthusiasm."

She giggled. "Where do you work at?"

“I work at a really boring place. I’m kidding. I—uh—work at a global company with one of my roommates. It’s actually pretty fun but there are times I want to kill myself. What about you?”

“I’m still job searching, but I have an interview at the elementary school we went to.” She shined her pearly whites at him. “I’m pretty stoked. I kind of miss my old job back in Colorado, but I know I’ll love teaching the kids here.”

“You really did become a teacher, didn’t you?”

“Second grade teacher, I love it.”

“Well you always did played teacher when we were little and I’m sure kids love you.”

The conversation continued until they finished eating. They caught up in a lot of major parts in their lives but still had a lot more to catch up on. They were still getting to know the new them and what characteristics stuck with them.

They walked around the plaza afterwards until they started freezing to death. They walked over to his car and drove to her house. They stayed inside with the heater on until she had to go. She hugged him and left inside with a smile on her face.