Seeds of Tomorrow

18

"Rocco had Evie over today," Atira told her husband as they sat side by side on the porch steps.

Krist took a long drag from his joint, holding it in and exhaling, "Oh?" He said, "Glad she's not in trouble with her parents still."

Atira looked up at the setting sun through the trees, "I don't think they knew I was home," she told him, trying to phrase it tactfully.

Krist cocked his head.

"I think they thought...they were alone," Atira stressed, letting out a sigh, "They came downstairs when I was on a break and you saw it in their faces, Rocco wouldn't even look at me."

"Ooohhhh," Krist said, his mouth shaping an 'O' the way Donald Trump's did when he said the word "China".

"Yeah," she murmured, "I thought you'd want to talk to him. You know, make sure he did things right."

He sighed, rubbing his jaw, "Oh the fun part of parenting," he grumbled.

Atira leaned against him, "Right?" She groaned, "At least you didn't have to have the period talk with Audrey."

"Thank god...still have to talk to Gabe about all the awkward shit," Krist reminded her.

"Luckily, he will probably hear enough from Rocco that he won't need too much information," Atira suggested.

"Ugh..." he grumbled, "Man, it's crazy. I feel like Rocco was just a little ass kid who clowned on me all the time and now he's practically grown."

"He still clowns on you though," she laughed, "He learned to be a smart ass from the best."

Krist nodded, spitting out the corner of his mouth, "F'real. It's like when your parents say 'I hope you have a kid just like you were'...I mean, he's better than I was but his mouth...that's all me."

He squeezed Atira's shoulder before rising to his feet.

"Don't make a fuss about it," she told him with a soft smile, "He's a good kid."

Krist nodded, disappearing into the house. He found Rocco upstairs sitting cross-legged on his bed with a textbook open and a spiral notebook in front of him. As silly as it seemed, it was hard to not see his eldest as still a young kid but there he was on the cusp of adulthood and he looked the part.

Gone were his full cheeks and big eyes, replaced with chiseled features, high cheekbones, a strong jawline, and what Fernando called an Aztec nose. The only feature that gave him away as Krist's son was his grey-blue eyes, everything else was all Hernandez.

Rocco glanced up at him, "Suppers," he said very much trying to play it cool.

"Sooo," Krist began, "Your mom said Evie was over today?"

His caramel-colored cheeks flushed pink, "Oh yeah," he replied, his voice trailing off.

Krist rubbed his elbow uncomfortably. He could talk to other people's kids about all kinds of shit but somehow speaking to his own about serious topics was a struggle.

"So...did you...?"

Rocco diverted his eyes, a dead giveaway. Since he'd been a little boy, he couldn't lie to save his life. He couldn't look at his father or would get an uncontrollable smile. And that smile had just so happened to appear on Rocco's full lips though he fought to hide it.

Krist walked to Rocco's bookshelf, picking up a Dodgers hat and examining the stitching on it as he spoke, "Were you careful?"

"Yes..." Rocco said, his voice hardly above a whisper.

"So, like, I ain't mad at you," Krist told him, "I know you're a lot more smart and responsible than I was at your age...sooo...I was thinking, you're almost eighteen and all, why don't we put a lock on your door and do you need...ya know, protection, don't be embarrassed to ask."

"Ok..."

Krist turned to look at his son, "Don't be thinking it's gonna be a flop house or some shit though," he held back a chuckle, goddamn he sounded old, "So I don't want a bunch of girls up here but we will respect your privacy. Just don't be getting her pregnant or something."

Rocco furrowed his eyebrows, processing what had been said to him, "Thanks, Dad."

"I know I act like a douche a lot and probably annoy the shit out of you."

Rocco nodded in agreement, a shit-eating grin on his face, "probably?"

Krist rolled his eyes, "Bruh...Anyways...I trust you to make good choices and I am going to do my best to stop breathing down your neck," he said, pausing to think of something meaningful to say.

"Thanks, Dad," he replied, looking down at his schoolwork.

Krist stepped towards the door and hesitated as he twisted the knob, "Hey, I'm proud of you, ok?"

****

While things were seemingly going well for Rocco, they were not great for Mark. Olivia had gone to the free clinic in town with her sister to confirm her pregnancy, face-timing him with proof and a due date of January 20th, putting her at seven weeks.

Mark had handled the news like a jackass, instantly ending the video call and shutting his phone off. He wanted to believe that there was no way the baby could be his but when he went through his messages he only confirmed that it was possibly his.

Like an idiot he had decided to approach his mother for advice, hoping she would act reasonable and knowing she wouldn't.

Naveah was drunk but not bitchy that evening, sitting at the kitchen table with fried chicken and a tall can of Budweiser.

"You ain't gonna eat?" she asked her son, pointing in the direction of the KFC bucket.

Mark shrugged, solemnly grabbing a thigh and taking a seat across from her, "I got to tell you something and before you freak out, I'm gonna handle it."

Naveah froze, "What the hell did you do this time?"

"You know Olivia?"

He didn't even need to explain, Naveah knew instantly and was enraged, "Dammit Mark, I fuckin' told you to be careful, didn't I?"

Mark clicked his tongue against the back of his teeth, "Aint my fault she said she was on birth control?"

"I told you these little bitches will lie and pull this kind of shit when you playing them like you do," Naveah snapped, her voice raising, "That's what you get for fucking around, Mark."

He gritted his teeth, face tight.

"You better fucking wrap that shit up with the other little bitch, she's gonna find out that skank Olivia is pregnant and pull the same damn shit too. And then you're gonna wind up like that fucking brother of yours," Naveah bitterly took a long swig off her tall can.

She didn't have to say a name for him to know by brother, she meant Brad since she never said a single bad word about Krist. In fact, she sweated Krist so fucking much it made him nauseated. "Atira got lucky finding a man like that, your brother sure is one gooood man." 

Krist had been a fuckup too, just got himself together. As for Atira getting lucky, any rational person could look at her and then at his drunk floozy of a mother to see the difference in the type of men they attracted. No good man was gonna want to shack up with some blotchy-faced drunk with spider veins on her nose.

"You gonna get a job and support this fuckin' kid?" she wanted to know.

"Im gonna get money so she can get rid of it, I don't want no fucking kids," Mark snapped.

Naveah laughed, throwing her head back, "She ain't gonna get rid of it, she got you trapped. Better get yourself something under the table because she about to make your life hell for the next eighteen years."