Past, Present, and Future.

Chapter 6

"Who's this handsome young man? Why didn't you tell me we were having company Victoria?" Her moms fake friendly voice rang out loud in clear as Victoria introduced Dallas to her mother. Victoria knew that her mother was not happy for the unannounced guest, and she knew that Dallas could tell also. 

"He's my friend from school. I went to take him home today and he mentioned that his parents were out of town. I invited him over to have dinner and maybe watch a movie afterwards." Victoria shrugged off her mother's glare, and tried to act like the situation was completely normal and happened all the time. "Where's Ricky?"

Her mother looked taken aback as Victoria referred to her other brother, and questioned his whereabouts. "Like I know. We are talking about you, and how you should not bring guests over unannounced."

Victoria rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. She did so not want to have this conversation. "Mom, he's here, its done and over with. If you want we can leave and go out to dinner." She waited for her mother's response, but the woman simply turned on her heel and walked in the kitchen to start cooking dinner. Victoria shook her head and towed Dallas towards her room.

Once the door was shut, she tried to say sorry on her mother's behalf. Dallas shrugged off her attempt to form an excuse for her mother's behavior. With that the conversation died, and Victoria decided to change into different cloths and take off her shoes. Once changed she and Dallas left the room towards the living room. She didn't want to give her mother another reason to complain.

They heard hushed voices coming from the kitchen as they neared the living room. Her older brother must have been home, and his mother must have been complaining to him about Victoria's recent 'behavior'. Surely her brother was on her side, the siblings usually stuck up for one another. She remembered when she told her mom about her recent discovery of the pregnancy, although her brother wasn't too pleased, he still stood up for her. Plus he had had his fair share of pregnancy scares with his countless one night stands.

Victoria decided to ignore the conversation and continued towards the T.V. room with Dallas on her heels. They both sat down on the couch and had the T.V. playing in the background as they talked about school. She found out that he was in the same grade as her, but was a few months older. He was also in some of her classes. Guess she wasn't paying as much attention today as she though, but Dallas went on to explain that he was quiet and tended to stay in the back of the classrooms.

They chatted a few more minutes before her mother called that dinner was ready. Victoria got up and wandered her way over to the dining room with Dallas beside her. He had gone quiet, which she didn't blame him for.

Already seated at the table was her 19 year old brother, Ricky. Victoria introduced the two, and they politely said hello to each other. Ricky gave her a warning look as their mother entered the room. The look confirmed her suspicions from earlier, the two had been talking about her. She shook her head at Ricky, who in turn quickly kicked her under the table. She glared at him.

"Now Victoria be nice and stop giving those mean looks to people. They are not attractive. Someone else might dump you."

Victoria nearly spit out the water she had been sipping on. Ricky looked outraged but she gave him a face not to say anything. Dallas looked confused beyond belief. Victoria shook her head at him indicating that now was not the time to ask.

"Mother that was quite rude of you." Ricky stated ignoring his sister's look.

"Its true." Their mother had taken it upon herself to dish out the dinner of chicken, rice, and peas to everyone. "So..." her mother stated after a moment of silence. "Dallas? How's school?"

The tension built as Victoria held her breath waiting for him to reply. "Uh...good i guess. Today was only the first day so...."

Her mother nodded. "How long have you know my Victoria?" Her mother continued.

Shit.

Dallas cleared his throat. "Since she's been attending Fairview. We haven't talked much, or hung out much, but its hard to forget someone like her." Did Dallas just say that? She hadn't even knew the kid existed until he helped her in the parking lot today, And how he's talking about how they've known each other for three years?

Her mother nodded again. "Interesting." was all she said. Victoria knew that something was going to go wrong... and fast. She tried to give Ricky a warning look, but he wasn't looking at her. Shit shit shit.

"So...." Her mother started again. Oh no! Here it comes. Victoria chewed the inside of her cheek nervously. She didn't want anything to go wrong. Couldn't she just have one normal family dinner? Was that too much to ask? "Do you know about Victoria's.... condition? If you are going to date my daughter then you do have the right to know." The room filled with complete silence, No one moved, except Victoria's mother's eyes, which flicked between Dallas and Victoria.

Ricky broke the silence after about a minute. "MOTHER!" Victoria jumped at how loud his voice was in the small space. She looked at her brother's flashing blue eyes usually sweet and welcoming, now looking murderous.

Her mother looked taken aback at the sudden noise. She looked at her son, eyes wide and challenging. But it was Victoria that spoke up in a small quiet voice. "Is that what it is to you? A condition?" Her mother snapped her head in the direction of her daughter, who now felt small and even more alone.

Her mother smiled at her darkly. "Isn't that what it is? Especially at your age?" Victoria felt tears forming at the corners of her eyes. She looked at her other sibling for help, and he delivered. The desire to cry grew as they started to fight and argue with one another, voices and volume raising. She felt an arm wrap around her and pull her up from her chair. She looked up and saw Dallas helping her towards her car. She had forgotten that he was still here, what with all that was happening.

He opened the door and the cold air rushed across her face, making her shiver. Dallas held her tighter and opened the passenger side of her car. He helped her up then ran around to the other side and slid in behind the wheel. With the engine on, car moving, and sudden quiet atmosphere, Victoria started to cry, She cried for her baby, for the stress she was in, for what Dallas must think. But most of all she cried because she was scared. Where would she go? She can't raise a baby in the same house with her crazy mother.

She let it all out as Dallas drove. At that point she didn't car where they were going, she just wanted to cry. It wasn't until she noticed that some of the houses looked familiar. She blinked to clear out most of the water in her eyes to see better. Dallas pulled into a long driveway and parked the car.

"Tonight" he said "You are staying with me."