Broken

Danielle and Vic stayed at the park after he blew out his candle. They shared the cup cake and continued chatting. Vic was still shocked that she would still remember his birthday. He assumed his mother reminded her. Danni wanted to take him out for dinner to celebrate and she had another gift for him waiting, but she didn’t say anything about it.

They went to the swings and continued their conversation until Vic decided to go on the merry-go-round. They slowly spun around then lied next to each other in opposite directions and stared up at the cold cloudy night sky. The fog was starting to clear which meant Vic had work to get to.

“I rather stay here than go to work,” he rubbed his eyes while yawning. He sat up and kicked the wood chips on the ground. Danielle checked the time on her phone and was surprised to see that it was a little after three.

“Did we really spend all night at the park?”

“It only felt like an hour,” Victor stood up and walked over to Danni. She sat up and just stared at him from above. She felt guilty for keeping him up, but he reassured her that it was alright and it was better than sleeping.

“You need to go home and get ready for work,” she told him, standing up and grabbing her bags.

“You can work for me. I should stay home today and celebrate my birthday by being lazy all day and drinking beer.” He stretched and his shirt lifted up a little, revealing his happy trail. He swung his arms around and smiled at Danielle.

“Let me cut my hair, get a nose piercing and invade your closet. Oh and become more lame.”

“Ha! You're such a comedian.”

“I actually considered becoming one,” she stuck her tongue out and walked with him to his car. Vic threw his arms to the side to hug her. She threw hers around his neck and pulled him into a warm embrace, nuzzling her head on his neck. “Happy birthday, Vicster.” He rubbed her back and the corners of his lips curved upward.

“I’ll see you later on today for dinner.” He said before pulling away and climbing inside his car. She watched him drive off before heading inside her house.

Five o’clock came by quickly and Vic came home tired and sleepy, but he didn’t want to sleep because he was supposed to get ready for dinner. He took another quick shower that day and wore a button up dress shirt and his favorite pair of black jeans. He added clone and fixed his hair the way he liked it. He gussied up on the mirror before heading down stairs to open the door for Danielle.

“Well, look at you,” she wolf whistled then winked and that caused him to flush red. She gently grabbed his arm and walked him to her car. She opened the passenger door for him and acted like a man. Victor held his head and laughed. Danni took him to a restaurant where more memories were shared. She squealed again in excitement after putting the car on park.

“You are just—”

“Incredible? Wonderful? Amazing? Marvelous?” She shined her teeth at him while removing her seatbelt.

“I was going to say lame but sure, let’s go with those.” He chuckled and she smacked his arm playfully. They entered the restaurant and took their seats on the blue booth. They received their menus and ordered their drinks. “So?” He rubbed his hands under the table, getting a little be nervous.

“I have two presents. One can wait after dinner.”

“What’s my first gift tonight?”

“I thought about it for a few hours and I decided I’ll take you up on that road trip offer.”

“Seriously?” He raised his voice in excitement. “It’ll be fun and I promise you won’t get annoyed by me.” Danielle laughed.

“But...before we go to Texas, I was wondering if we can visit Rosarito for a day. I kind of wanted to visit there since I saw pictures and videos and everything. And plus since you’re part Mexican, I won’t need a translator on our visit.” She bit her bottom lip as she smiled.

“You want to cross the border to visit Mexico? I’m not fluent in Spanish but I know there will be tourists there.”

“So was that a yes?”

“Of course! I’m happy that you chose to come with me. We’ll stop by anywhere you want.” Vic took a sip of the cup of water that was on the table. “On our way to Texas that is.”

“Just Rosarito. I want to go to the beach over there and have a piña colada. And we have to stop by the thrift store to find a camera where we can watch that tape we made.”

“Right. I’ll ask my parents to see if they have anything that will help us watch what little shenanigans we recorded.” He folded his arms on the table and leaned forward.

“I’m already embarrassed just thinking about what we recorded.” Danni cupped her cheeks and made a face.

“It can’t be that bad.” The waiter came back with their drinks and set them down in front of them.

“I’m sure it is.” She closed the menu and hand it over to the man standing in front of their table. They ordered their food and continued their conversation. Vic excused himself and left to the man’s room. Danielle got her phone out of her purse and sent her roommate a text message. When Vic returned they went back to talking.

“Would you guys like to order dessert?”

“Um,” Danni faced Victor. “Not tonight. Thank you though. Can we have the check, please?” The waiter faced the brown boy so Danielle did the same in confusion.

“I paid already,” he scratched his head and made an awkward smile. Danni’s jaw dropped.

“What!? This was supposed to be one of my presents for your birthday!” She kicked him lightly under the table.

“I can’t let you pay,” he smiled. “A man should never let a woman pay for something. My mom taught me that.”

She glared at him. “I’m disappointed in you, Vincent.” She looked away while crossing her arms. Vic just laughed and got up from the table. He pulled her out and hugged her, rocking her.

“Hey, don’t get mad. You know you can’t stay mad at me. I’m too cute for you to ignore me.” She giggled then slapped his chest.

“I’m still mad at you.” She pouted. Vic left his arm around her and walked out the restaurant.

“You won’t be for long. Just look at me.” He held his chin with his free hand.

“All I see is a dork face walking me outside.” Vic pulled his bottom lip out. “Oh stop. Only cute people can pull that off.”

He placed his hand on his chest. “Ouch.” She laughed and walked over to her car. She opened the door for him and he stared at him.

“Ladies first.” She said. He laughed and entered the car. Danni turned on the heater and the radio as they drove back to Vic’s house. She started singing along to an R&B song that was playing. “I would love to talk to you in persoon. But I understand why that can't bee. I'll leave you alone for good I promise. If you answer this one question for mee-ee. I just woooondeer, do you eeeeeveer, think of meee anymooore, do yooou?” As Vic took those lyrics in, he started to think of Cara how it described the way he felt about her exactly. “First off let me say congratulations. Heard that you just had a baby girl. If she looks anything like her mother, she's the prettiest thin—”

He immediately changed the radio station before it got him feeling blue. Danielle stared at him for a second and before she could open her mouth but stopped when she saw how quiet and sad he became. It made her upset. She pulled into his driveway and put the car in park then cut off the ignition. She removed the seatbelt and stared at Vic. He was still staring out the window and pondering. She fixed her eyes to the garage and just remained quiet. She didn’t know what to say to cheer him up.

“Oh we’re here?” He finally moved his attention to her. She only nodded her head with a small grin. He unbuckled his seat. “I dozed off, I’m sorry.”

“No need to apologize.” They got out of her car and walked to the front door. “Since this was supposed to be my night to take you out, I will walk you to the door.”

“I believe that’s my job also.”

She smiled. “I still owe you dinner.”

“You can cook for me one night.” He shoved his hands inside his pocket. “That way you won’t have to worry about me paying.”

“Dinner it is.” It got quiet and it made them nervous. “Well, happy birthday, Vincent.” She circled her arms around his neck.

“Thank you. Good night.” He smiled after they pulled apart from the long hug. He turned the door knob and pushed opened the door. Danielle smile and when Vic looked inside, the whole crowd shouted “HAPPY BIRTHDAY VIC!” A huge smile formed on his mouth.

“That’s my second gift for you.”

He turned around and faced Danni. “You’re the best, you know that?”

“Yeah, I think I know that,” she giggled and gave him a side hug. “Let’s partaaaay!” She threw her arms in the air and everyone cheered with her. Vic thanked Jonny, Daniel and his brother since he knew they were in on it. Spotting the girl behind Vic, Jonny faked a cough and shoved the opening of the bottle on his mouth.

“Jonny, Daniel, this is Danielle.” Vic rubbed his hands.

“Hi,” she held her hand out for each of them to shake.

“Nice to finally meet you.” Daniel said.

“We heard so much about you.” Jonny commented with a huge smile. “You and Vic ma—ow!” Mike slapped the back of his head.

“Christopher!” She exclaimed and threw her arms around his middle.

“Danni!” He smiled back.

“You're so tall! I feel like a midget.” He laughed and pulled away from her. “And you're covered in tattoos.” Her eyes grew wide. “I think you beat me.”

“You have a tattoo?!” All four of them said simultaneously with the same face expressions. She covered her mouth like a kid saying a bad word was going to get spanked.

“Two. Maybe four.”


“What’s for dinner?” Victor smirked as he stared at Danni inside his kitchen. She sat down on the counter and smiled at him. She had almost everything ready. She just needed her noodles to boil and dinner would be served afterwards.

“It’s a surprised and I’m not telling you after paying for dinner last week!” She pretended to kick him, but she was out of reach. Victor frowned.

“But but..I’m hungry.”

“You can wait a few hours.” She joked, grabbing a bag of cookies from a jar and opened them up. “Maybe a few days. As a matter of fact, I’ll leave you starving. Mwahaha.”

“Meanie. I’m going to my room.” He said something mean in a playful way that made her follow him. Vic started to run so she went after her down the hallway then up the stairs. Vic ran to his room but Danni jumped on his back and tackled him on his bed.

“Vic!” She shouted when he buried his face under his pillow. “Take that back!”

“NEVER! You’ll never take alive!” They both laughed and she just tickled him. Vic turned around and tickled her back, making her laugh out loud uncontrollably. He flipped her over and grabbed her wrist before she pushed him away. “Say uncle.”

“VICTOR!” She continued laughing. “Uncle!” He let go of her wrists and removed himself from her. He lied back in bed and stared at the ceiling with her. “You know, you need to clean your room and make your bed.”

“Nah. Us men don’t clean.”

“Sexist?” She sat up on his bed pretending to be offended.

“You wanna clean my room for me? I’ll pay you with hugs and smiles.” He faked a huge smile.

“Only because I can’t stand seeing things on the floor.” She threw him a shirt and got up from his bed. She tidied up his room while he laid in bed talking to her. She ended up invading his closet and trying on his clothes. Then she gasped and ran out the door and down the stairs to the kitchen. She checked on the food and was lucky that nothing was over cooked or burned. Vic went down stairs and to the kitchen.

“You’re a bad cook.” He shook his head, faking a disappointment.

“Can you cook?”

“Yes. I specialize in cereal and eggs. I can also make a mean ol’ cup noodle.” Danni laughed and took out two plates from the cabinets. “You know, it’s not nice to make fun of someone.”

“That’s not even considered cooking. My d—dad can make eggs. Even a ten year old.”

“Oh, look who’s being sexist now.”

“Ha ha! Statics show that women are better cooks than men. So basically I’m not being sexist.”

“I can cook. I’ll even show you one day.”

“Eggs for dinner doesn’t really sound tempting.” She joked as she served some pasta on the second plate.

“It’s still considered cooking.” He defended himself.

“Level 0 of cooking. See, what I made is level 4. Take some notes.” She passed the plate to him. He took the plate and mocked her playfully.

“One day, I will cook you some delicious Mexican plate that’ll have you begging. ‘Oh Vic, please be my personal chef’.”

“Hm, twenty says you burn the food.” They both walked over to the dining table.

“Let’s shake on it.” He extended his hand out for her. She grabbed it and shook it. She went back to the kitchen and took out the bottle of wine she brought from her home. She also grabbed two glass cups and went back to the table

“Pasta and wine go perfect.”

“Careful. Don’t want you driving drunk.”

She smiled, opening the bottle. “One glass doesn’t get me drunk.”

“You were pretty wasted at my party.” Vic wiped his mouth trying to act like he knows how to handle alcohol more than her.

“No I wasn’t! I had to drive your friends home. You don’t even remember what happened that night.” She poured some on his glass.

“Yes I do. We went to eat, I paid, you took me home, surprise party and now you made me dinner.”

She moved the hairs away from her face and moved it to one side. “You don’t remember anything from the party.” He shook his head while chewing his food. When he swallowed he parted his mouth.

“But I do. You showed me your tattoos, we drank booze, danced, partied and I woke up with the worse hangover ever.”

“You passed out on the living room floor and I had to drag you up stairs. For a small guy you weigh a ton!”

“Nah-uh.”

Mike came home just a few minutes before they finished eating. He came home with his girlfriend and smiled when he saw Vic and Danielle laughing and smiling. He hasn’t seen his brother this happy in so long and he was grateful for Danni’s return. He also didn’t want to interrupt so he took his girlfriend straight to his room upstairs.