Victoria rattled the box of cigarettes in her hands, a bit fascinated by the tobacco product. With how dominant flicker was in Blackerd’s Ghetto, it was extremely rare for another substance to be lying around the area. She flipped the box around, getting a feel for its weight. She then opened the box and peeked inside. Since her customer had forgotten the box, certainly they wouldn’t mind if she poked around a bit. The blond woman gingerly picked out a cigarette and rolled the smoke between her fingers. She then lifted the open end to her nose and took a cautious whiff, causing her face to wrinkle in disgust. Sure, the smell was extremely faint, but it was unpleasant regardless. 44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEUQb1d122T
Victoria was squishing the cigarette between her fingers as her pocket buzzed. The woman pulled out her flip phone and checked the caller I.D., her eyes lighting up upon recognizing the name. She flicked the cigarette to the curb and immediately flipped open the phone.
“Hiya Huck!”
The deep voice on the other end grunted. “Hey, Vic’. You busy?”
Victoria leaned against a trash bin and sighed with a sultry undertone. “You know I’m on the clock for another two hours. However, for you, Hucky? Anything…and I do mean anything.”
There was a sigh on the other end of the call, causing her to cackle. “Look, I need your help with something. Can you stop by?”
Victoria raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Deadass? We actually doing it?”
There was silence on the other end. She grinned. “Kidding, kidding. I’m just messing with you, anyways. Kinda. Unless you wanna?”
“I need help with a kid.”
Victoria stopped fiddling with the cigarette box in her hands, causing it to tumble between her fingers. As she failed to catch it midair, she softly cursed as it landed facedown on the pavement.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd8DZ04uKMi
“Wait. What? I thought… huh? Who’s the chick? I… I’m at a loss for words. Do I congratulate you or…”
She could feel Huck rubbing the bridge of his nose across the line. “No, it’s not mine. It’s someone I picked off the street. Kiddo might be staying with us for a while, so I need help picking up toiletries and stuff. I don’t live with kids, so…”
“What, is she like, ten?”
“He’s fifteen.”
Victoria raised an eyebrow. “I mean… I’ll try? No promises or anything like that, and I need to stop by Dante’s first, ok?”
“Yeah, sure. Take your time.”
“Alrighty then, see you in twenty-ish minutes?”
“Mhm.”
As she clasped her phone shut, Victoria slowly crushed the cigarette box under her heel. Huck needing babysitting? Well… it was an interesting idea, at least. The woman stretched, brushed her fingers on her dress, and began to walk to Dante’s.
...
Forty minutes later, she knocked on the door of Huck’s apartment. Heavy footsteps echoed towards the door, before Huck opened the door with a scowl.
“You’re late.”
Victoria shrugged. “Hey, Ally needed help with some homework. You understand, right?”
Huck grunted as he held the door open for her. She winked at him as she stepped into the living room. As she scanned the room, she locked eyes with a boy sitting with a cereal bowl at the kitchen table. Upon making eye contact, the boy seemed to garner a sudden interest in his cereal. 44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvpSBCPpmzT
She smiled as she walked towards him, and stuck her hand out. “Hiya. I’m Victoria, but feel free to call me Vic’. Nice to meetcha!”
The boy hesitated before looking up shyly and softly taking her hand. “...I’m Joel.”
She turned to Huck, who stood in the living room with his arms crossed. “So, what did I need to do again?”
Huck walked over to his desk in the living room to retrieve an envelope, then nodded as he handed it over to her. “Use this money to buy whatever he needs. Also, sign him up for some classes at the school if you can.”
Victoria quietly peeked inside the envelope. She frowned as she looked up. “Hey…”
Huck stepped back. “Don’t want to hear it.”
“This is way too much for some toiletries.”
“Toothpaste is expensive nowadays. I trust you, so no need to keep the receipt.”44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdBdX6CuC9W
“I don’t need this much.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, this is for the kid.”
“Which kid?”44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1prVr73QuB
Victoria and Huck locked glares. The blond woman squinted her eyes at Huck, while the stoic man simply held his emotionless expression and stance. Joel quietly watched this exchange happen before him, his eyes darting between the two parties as he chewed his raisinless Raisin Bran. 44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvgJ9jeyzrD
After a minute of silence, Victoria let out an exasperated sigh as she turned from Huck to face Joel. “I’m only buying the bare minimum, and returning the rest.”44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf0U4r5PHrs
Huck’s eye twitched as he nodded to no one in particular. 44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNXXAgIWK42
Victoria looked at Joel as he froze mid-chew. She glanced at his bowl before looking back at Joel and smiling.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡruE5CoymoV
“You hate raisins too? You’re just like my little sister. Take your time finishing the bowl, we can leave after.”
...
Victoria walked around Blackerd, introducing Joel to the different buildings and residents. Gustavo’s bar, the church, the joint school that contained all grade levels, the police station, the fire station, the library, the gym, the town’s doctor, and the small town center containing multiple locally owned businesses. She made sure to cut across certain back alleys and streets to avoid certain stores and the infamous Ghetto. No reason for a minor to be exposed to such debauchery, right? 44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK7hMfZNKA5
As they stopped at the town center, Victoria brought him into a fashion outlet to purchase new clothes. After an hour of forcing Joel to model different outfits, she selected a few reasonable pieces to check out. 44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEFd3ZAtRat
From there, they made pit stops at a pharmacy (for a phone charger and toiletries), the school (to see if he could register for a few small classes), and the park (because Victoria wanted ice cream, and she randomly heard the jingle of the ice cream truck).44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgyMYg32Q3s
After buying a deformed (and frankly, overpriced) Spongebob pop for herself and a fudge pop for Joel, they both took shelter in the shade of a tree that grew on a grassy hill. Kicking off her shoes, Victoria sighed as she leaned into the cool shade. Joel, on the other hand, stiffly sat on the hill, obviously a bit uncomfortable around her. Despite this air of formality, Victoria glanced over at Joel and gestured with Spongebob’s lobotomized face.
“So… what’s your deal?”
Joel flinched before looking at Spongebob’s asymmetrical forehead. “Huh?”
She bit off Spongebob’s remaining eyeball and crunched into the stale gum. Chewing a bit, she nodded. “Well, I’m just a bit curious about you. I’m guessing that since Huck had me buy you stuff, you’re gonna be staying for a while. Huck isn’t the kinda guy to let a kid crash at his place like that under normal conditions. Plus, toiletries means that he found you without your stuff, so that means you didn’t plan on staying here either. On top of that, you’re like, what, half Asian? That means you aren’t related to Huck, not closely anyways.”44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVOqiUA70Jt
Victoria closely watched his reaction as she noted his shoulders hunching up ever so slightly. She shrugged and looked at the sky. “Eh, well I’m just making a buncha assumptions. I could be wrong, but I still am curious. How do you know Huck?”
Joel looked down, allowing a drop of his fudge pop to plop onto the grass. Noticing this, he hastily licked up the melting treat to ensure no more drops went to waste. Once ensuring that he was in the clear, the teenager took a deep breath.
“I, uh, got into an argument, I guess? I tripped, Huck found me, and we talked. He agreed to let me stay over and organize my thoughts.”
Victoria stared at Joel’s fingers intently. She noticed him fidgeting with the popsicle stick, his fingers squeezing tightly at certain words. She took a quiet mental note and said nothing. 44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdhJdEmVHuW
The two of them slowly finished their popsicles in silence, with the sound of distant children's laughter from the park playground filling the otherwise serene air. Once Victoria finished, she began to chew her stick, grinding it between her molars until the soft wood began to splinter in her mouth. After another minute, Joel finished his treat and began to do the same.
Victoria chewed a bit of wood that came off the stick as she spoke. “Y’know, Huck may seem really scary, but he’s a good guy. I get that he might come off as suffocating, so if you ever need to talk to anyone about anything, I’m here, alright? I promise that I won’t judge whatever you wanna talk about.”
Joel pulled the popsicle stick from his mouth and began to twirl it. After a few twirls, he sighed. “Sorry, I’m just not that good at socializing, and I’m not that good of a talker. Sorry.”
Victoria laughed and softly punched Joel’s shoulder. “You act so much like Huck, it’s hilarious. I bet when you guys first talked, neither one of you knew what to do. It’s fine if you aren’t a good talker, I get it. Still, if you ever need anyone to just sit with you under the shade of a tree like this, I’m more than happy to keep you company.”
He quietly nodded, and both of them stared ahead at the park’s playground. As a kid jumped from the swingset and fell on his hands, Victoria winced while Joel’s facial expression remained constant. After a few minutes, the boy broke the comfortable silence with a question.
“Hey, can you tell me about Huck?”
Victoria looked at him with an arched eyebrow. “Oh? What about him?”
Joel shrugged. “I dunno… just in general? Like, how do you know him?”
She laughed as she uncomfortably rubbed her arms. “Honestly? I met him at this park. It was a cold morning and he lent me his coat. We talked a bit, then slowly grew closer over time. Stuff happened, and well…here we are.” She chuckled as she twirled her splintered popsicle stick in her fingers, staring off into green leaves that danced above her. “He’s a…good friend. Yeah.”
Joel looked at Victoria as she wistfully gazed at the branches above them. He lay down and looked up towards the heavens, with the sun peeking through the cracks in between the leaves of the park’s trees.
He turned his head in Victoria’s direction. “Do you have any stories about him?”
The blond woman chuckled. “Oh yeah, a bunch. But if he asks how you heard of them, you never heard it from me.”
“Deal.”
The two spent an hour under the cool shade and warm sky, with Victoria enthusiastically recalling the times when Huck’s demeanor resulted in hilarious hijinks, with Joel laughing at the idea of Huck’s fumbles.
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