Seeds of Tomorrow

38

While Rocco was having one of the best days of his life, things were not going well for Victor. Or even for Mark. Mark was strung out on dope. And Victor was at home sitting on the porch drowning away his sorrows in a bottle.

Raquel had been served the eviction notice. As expected, the news was not taken well and she had blown his phone up with a dozen hateful messages accusing him of being spiteful she was moved on. First her vehicle, then her home? He wanted her left with nothing. When he pointed out she was taking a quarter of his paycheck she simply responded that it was his duty as Sergio's father, acting as if he was some deadbeat who would have avoided his responsibilities if she hadn't taken him to court.

Fernando and Uncle Frankie were vocal about their disdain for the bitch, stressing that a hoe like that ain't worth the tears. It wasn't that Victor didn't agree, it was his damn heart that couldn't let him get over the heartache.

Everyone was so eager for him to get out there and start dating but a relationship was the last thing he wanted. He was uncertain if he could even love another woman let alone trust one after everything Raquel had, and was still, putting him through. Pops and Frankie reminded him he don't need to wife no females but he can go out there and get his dick wet as if that would make him feel better.

He dreaded returning to his empty home where so many memories had been made. Birthday parties, holidays, all of the intimate moments he'd shared with Raquel...catching her in bed with the man whose name he still didn't know. Victor planned to toss everything beyond Sergio's things, assuming Raquel left them, remodel, repaint, and refurnish before moving back in. He debated on selling the house and buying something else but the way the housing market was, it didn't seem like the best financial option.

And then there was his Grandmother and her plans that had been made with Gloria and her granddaughter, Ashley. They'd be coming over the following afternoon for dinner. He didn't know why he didn't flat out tell the old woman absolutely not. He hoped this Ashley woman was feeling as apprehensive as he was.

"You know, you don't have to respond when she verbally attacks you," Madison told him, handing him a sandwich.

"I'm not hungry," he told her, trying to push it away.

"I don't care, you are going to thank me later," she told him, referring to the fact he'd been drinking on an empty stomach.

Victor took the sandwich, mumbling his gratitude, and asked her how he was supposed to ignore Raquel when she was saying such hateful shit.

"You don't respond, you don't engage, you don't take the bait. That's what she wasn't you to do," Madison replied, "Trust me, I dealt with the same thing with Gwen's dad, we ended up having to get a restraining order on him. His own mother included."

"She needed one on him?" He clarified.

Madison gave a heavy sigh, "Yup, he was furious that they were siding with me, as he viewed it anyway. He was upset that he had to pay child support. It wasn't like he was an active father as it was, had he been I don't know if I would have even gone that route...Well, I take that back, he wasn't exactly...I didn't want him around Gwen, for safety reasons."

She stared up at the pink sun as it sank behind the trees, "I mean, there was a lot more going on with him than just the child support but that's aside the point. He could be downright evil and vile to me, I'd be a liar if I said that the things he said didn't get under my skin but if I didn't reply, he didn't know."

Victor nodded, taking a bite of the sandwich, and realized how hungry he had been.

"And really...it seems like Raquel feels so much like she is in the right and you're wrong that nothing you say will make a difference. She is angry with herself but needs someone other than her to blame."

And with that, Victor was crying and blubbering like a heartbroken little bitch. He really was turning into Uncle Frankie.

"Ah, honey," Madison said in the same voice she used when Serafin wept over his broken Lego creations and held his head to her chest the same way. She shushed him like a baby, telling him to let it all out and that it was ok to cry.

"Pops, Victor's crying again," Serafin yelled from the front door, chocolate ice cream dripping from his cone onto his chest. Fernando told him to mind his own business and leave him alone.

After a good cry, Victor finished his sandwich and stumbled to his bedroom to pass out.

"I would almost feel better if he was his old angry self," Fernando told Madison as he smoked his evening blunt, "I don't know what to do with him all heartbroken and sad."

"I legit almost bawled my eyes out right there with him," Madi told her husband, "He's been so emotionally neutral since I've known him, it's hard to see him hurt especially when all he has done is be good to that bitch."

****

September was fast approaching, just about two weeks to go until his eighteenth birthday and he could get his ID, get a job, and get the fuck out of his cunt mother's. Mark was basically out of there anyway, he had himself a spot he was staying but hadn't completely moved his shit in.

Liam's ugly sister, Joanna, with the body like Gru from the Minions, had just secured herself an apartment that was being paid for by the government since she'd left a DV situation. All Mark had to do was fuck her and let her call him her boyfriend to move in. As long as he was spun out of his gourde, he didn't care. Pussy was pussy even if the bitch was busted looking.

It wasn't all bad, she got food stamps for her and her kids so there was food in the house, cable, and internet, and the complex even had a swimming pool. He just sat out on the front steps hitting the weed and flirting with the girls his own age who were actually fuckable. He planned to screw a few once Joanna started back to school, he let them know why he was with Joanna, and even if he hadn't, they were still down.

Joanna's baby dad was a cluck too, he'd come around to start shit even with an order of protection. Mark had to beat his ass once so that shit quit real fast. She had wanted to call the cops when he showed up but Mark told her he'd handle it and kept to his word. That night she sucked his cock real good and for a second, Mark forgot she was ugly.

She was gonna be getting a car with her financial aid refund and told him he could use it so long as he picked her up and dropped her off at school. That worked for him, he could mob around all day, maybe slang dope or something to stack his paper, fuck a few bitches.

Mark wasn't worried about her catching him with girls because she was dumb and didn't have much for self-esteem. He knew he could tell her that it was an accident and he wouldn't do it again, maybe eat her pussy good and brag about her on his Facebook, and she'd get over it. After all, he was the best-looking dude she'd ever been with and probably would ever be with.

He once asked how shit with Joanna and her baby dad had even escalated to the point of violence anyway. She seemed to do anything Mark wanted and damn near worshiped the ground he walked on. She told him that her man was staying gone all night and sleeping around so she would cry and go through his phone, he was up for a few and would tell her that stop with this shit and would put his hands on her.

Mark could handle crying, as long as she wasn't a cunt like his mother he'd keep his hands off her. He told her that dude sounded like a bitch but she had a good dude now so no need to worry.

Everyone other than Joanna knew why he was with her. They'd clown on him, call him a hobosexual, and send him memes about nobody falling in love faster than a homeless dude. Mark would laugh 'cause it was true, tell them they were just jealous that he had it better than him, even if it meant fucking that busted ass broad. 

Things were starting to look up for him and he was maybe even a little happy.