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Victoria listened to his story silently, wincing when he mentioned about guns, but also relieved that no one got hurt, especially Aria, Dante, or Daren. They were her only friends, and she didn't know what she would do without them. She watched him get up and come back with a bottle of vodka. She wrinkled her nose and glanced at him, disappointed but didn't say anything about it. She couldn't help but shed a tear when he stated that his life was falling apart.


She closed her eyes when he sent the bottle flying from the coffee table to the floor. She reopened them and turned slightly on the couch, so she was more facing him. She took one of his hands in her own and said softly, trying halfway to calm him down since he was beginning to act drunk and halfway because she was sincere about her upcoming words.

"Dante, listen to me." She took a deep breath before continuing. "First of all, your mom loves you greatly and I'm sure she wouldn't do anything irrational when she finds out whats happening. Yes, she might be a little disappointed with you at first-" At this she stopped and glanced at the bottle under the table- "But she loves you too much to do anything hurtful to you. Even when I only met her for a few minutes, I could tell she is a good, warm-hearted person. She seems very sweet, and a good parent to you. I didn't get a chance to tell this to my own mother, since..well, what happened to her I couldn't comprehend when I was younger."

At the mention of her mom, her voice broke off for a moment, but she continued just as strong as before. "Dante, I won't let you tear your life apart like this. Neither will Aria. We are both your friends, and friends don't let friends do this to themselves." She met his gaze, her brown eyes sparkling with tears she didn't know about. "I know you only drink because of what happened to Alex. I'm sure he was like your brother, the way you talk about him to me. I'm sorry for what happened, but the past cannot change. And Alex's death is no reason for you to drink yourself to death. I am your friend, and I hate seeing you do this!" Now tears were leaking out of her eyes as she still held his hand, her lower lip trembling a bit with the effort not to cry out loud or have a break down.

Aria smiled and wished that she could make everything better for everyone.

"Huh. I never went through with an act of rebellion. I guess dating a gang leader was my act, though my parents don't know about that...I was pretty messed up though, so they always suspected something was amiss."

She glanced at Daren.

"Speaking of parents, I should probably head home. I snuck out..heh heh. Walk me home? You know, again?"

Dante couldn't do anything but listen to her. She was right about a lot of things. He assumed his family only wanted the best, and they would take extreme measures to do so. But he couldn't understand how they could be that way when his whole family is like him. How could they disown his brother and him when they're just like them. Dante heard Victoria's question and looked up. "Go in the kitchen and it's the down the hallway on your left." Dante said as he began to think about what happened to his brother....

Jake was a good guy at first. Star quarterback for his high school football team, on Student Government, and one of the best behaved kids you could meet. But he soon got caught up in drugs. Everything that he was doing started to get to him. He had no energy for nothing. No strength to continue. So his friends introduced him to steroids and cocaine. He began to excel even more, but it came with a price. Jake began partying and his life began to implode. He got so deep that he dropped out of school, started to hang around local gang members, and getting in trouble. He went to jail a lot. The family started to disown him. He made a bad name for them. Jake couldn't handle this. Family was all that he had. He couldn't turn to Dante because Dante was only five. Jake was Dante's roll model. He left home and moved in with friends. The last party he went to, was the night he died. His friends could recall Jake not caring. They tried to stop him from his cocaine and alcohol binge that night, but it failed. After taking cocaine one last time, Jake started to have a seizure not even ten minutes later. Drugs and alcohol were everywhere. His "friends" didn't want to get in trouble, so they left Jake's lifeless body laying there without calling for help. His roommates returned the next day to find their friend dead on the floor.

Dante could see himself ending up like Jake. He didn't do the drugs, but he drank more than Jake. He had better friends, but some of them were not really his friends. Dante was always the troubled kid. Causing fights and everything else. He was introduced to things at a young age from watching his brother. He knew that Jake was doing something, but didn't know what. Maybe that's why Dante is like this. Maybe he wanted to be like his brother, and do what his brother did. but this wasn't certain.

Dante stopped thinking about his brother as his phone began to vibrate. He pulled it out and checked to see who it was. His mother sent him a text message...
Got off work early. I'll be home soon. Neighbors called me at work. I know you're still up, and we're going to have a serious talk.

Dante placed the phone on the table with the message still visible. "I guess there's no point in cleaning up the mess now. Can't hide what she already knows." Dante said to himself as he sat there. Dante got up from the couch and went to the bathroom door. He knocked on it. "Hey Victoria-" Dante paused. "My mom is going to be home soon. The neighbors called and told her everything. I think if you go home, so you don't get caught up in anything." Dante walked back to the couch and sat down. He picked up the bottle of the table and drank some more. His felt like he was drunk, but he didn't care. He continued to drink and the bottle was soon empty.

Victoria ran to the bathroom, stumbling into some empty alcohol bottles on the way, and kicking them to the side. Tears were now pouring down her face as she threw open the door and grabbed a rag from under the sink and pressed hot water onto it. She looked up at the mirror and saw her red, puffy eyes, and bags under them from not sleeping enough at night. Her dress was messed up with wrinkles and her hair was everywhere. She looked horrible.

She pressed the rags to her eyes, wiping her tears and trying to keep her eyes from puffing up anymore then they were by her tears. She kept patting, and she soon put it down, after the redness went down a little. She washed the rag again and hung it on the towel rack to dry. She was about to open the door when Dante knocked, and she blushed suddenly, wondering what he could want.

She opened the door and his words flowed into her ears. "Your mom is coming?" She said it in an a fearful way, and she pushed him gently aside as she went into the living room, staring at the mess from his party. She heard him say it didn't matter since his mom already knew what happened, but she shook her head at him.

"You know what you do when something like this happens? You butter her up first." She didn't stay there to hear his protests, but instead ran to the kitchen, and took a few minutes looking around for a black trash bag. She opened it up and ran back into the living room, smiling proudly at him. "Watch."

She bent down easily and picked up a pile of empty beer cans, and took the a couple from the coffee table, putting them all in the trash bag. She began to work, focused and fast. Within a few minutes she had done the entire living room, and the trash bag was full. She grinned at him, waiting for his response to this, also hoping that she hadn't stepped over an invisible line with him.

Dante watched Victoria clean the mess. Is she really doing this right now? Dante asked himself. He watched the bag become full very fast, but the living room did look a whole lot better. He went over to the bag and placed it in the kitchen. He walked back out to her. "You didn't need to do that." Just as he said that he say lights pulling in the driveway. He heard his mothers voice and the car was soon pulling away. "Crap." Dante blurted out as he checked out the window. The lock on the door clicked and she came in. His mother set her purse and work belongings in the living room when she noticed Victoria. She looked at Dante with disappointment.

"I really hope that you didn't act a fool in front of her." Amy said with a sigh.
"She wasn't here mom. She actually just came here." Dante said in a content voice.
"What were you thinking Dante? Didn't I say that you had one last chance?" Amy was not angry. She was disappointed in him. She wanted Dante to be a nice kid.
"It's not my fault. Veto showed up here. I had to protect our home." Dante said defensively.
"Yeah because you brought the problems here." Amy was a little angry.

Dante was quiet. He didn't know what to say because she was right. He opened his mouth to speak but couldn't. He found the words that he was searching for.

"What was I supposed to do?" Dante asked.
"For one not bring that foolishness here. Two let it go Dante. You can't be the hero all the time." Amy pointed out the obvious.
"I can attempt at least." Dante exclaimed.
"Yeah you can attempt somewhere else. I'm sorry Dante but like I said, you had one last straw, and you blew it. I just feel that you need a little time to figure things out and for it to calm down." Amy said as she placed her hand on his shoulder.
"I guess you're right." Dante said as he went upstairs.

Dante went into his room and grabbed a few bags. He placed as much clothes as possible in them. He grabbed his wallet and bank card off his dresser. Gotta pay for a motel somehow Dante thought. He opened his closet and uncovered a small hole in his wall. Inside was the gun that he had and a couple of knives. He wrapped them up in a few shirts and placed them at the bottom of his bag. He left the room and went downstairs.

He stopped next to Victoria and in front of his mother.
"I'm sorry Dante. Can you at least call me and let me know you're alive? I promise that you won't have to stay away for long." Amy emotionally said as a few tears slid down her face.
Dante looked at his mother with sorrow. "It's the least that I could do."

Dante turned his head to Victoria. He patted her on the shoulder. "Are you ready to go? I'll walk you home." he asked her. It was probably awkward to stand there during Amy and Dante's talk.

Amy met eyes with Victoria. Amy was still silently as she mouthed the word, "sorry", to Victoria. She felt horrible for having the conversation in front of her. She didn't want Victoria to know the family was falling apart, let alone Dante, but it was obvious with him. She watched the two of them walk out the door.

Dante walked down the steps with Victoria. His tears were now gone. You couldn't tell that he was crying unless you looked at his eyes. They were red and wet still. As he walked down the sidewalk his neighbor came out of his house.

"Looks like your mom finally kicked your lowlife a** out." He said while laughing.
Dante looked over at the guy. He placed his bags on the ground. "Look Burt. Do you really want to do this? Do you really want your kids to visit you in the hospital?" Dante stared at the barely visible man on the porch.
Burt closed his mouth. Dante towered over Burt. He walked back in his house.

Dante picked his bags back up, when his phone started to ring. He placed both bags in his hand and answered the phone. It was Xavier. Dante put the phone on speaker phone so he didn't have to hold it up to his ear.

"Yeah?" Dante said as he continued to walk with Victoria.
"What did you mom say?" Xavier got right to the point of things.
"She told me to leave for a while. I can't come back." Dante started to walk slower as they reached the end of the sidewalk to his house.
"Where are you going to go? What about a car?" Xavier asked.
"Well to be honest, I'm going to a motel. I have no other place. As far as a car, I was looking at this one at a dealership that I wanted." Dante told him.
"A motel? You can't stay there. I'm sure you can afford a nicer place than that. And what car?" Xavier knew Dante's money situation. He knew Dante received a hefty amount from Alex's mother.
"I could, but you know I hate that life style. And that one older mustang at the classic car dealership across town."
"Oh that one! Dude that's pretty expensive. Wasn't it like thirty thousand?" Xavier warned him.
"Thirty-five but it's worth it. Plus I won't be able to spend all that money in my life time, even if I don't work." Dante told Xavier. And it was true. There was a lot of the story that Xavier didn't know.
"You couldn't of got that much." Xavier was now getting a little too deep into things.
"I got a lot more than what you think. You don't know exactly what happened during that settlement. I gotta get going. I'm walking Victoria home." Dante ended it there. No one needed to know what he had. His own mother never even knew what he had.
"All right man. If you get that car, bring it over, and we can detail it or something. I'll talk to you later." Xavier hung up the phone.

Dante put the phone away and carried the one bag in that hand again. He stopped at corner. "If you couldn't tell, Xavier likes to get too deep into things that he shouldn't know. He's been trying to figure out what I received from Alex's mother. Plus he's always been mad because his parents kicked him out of the house because Alex died there." Dante led Victoria to the bench on the corner. He sat down. He was sobering up. "I didn't think I had this much stuff in here." Dante said as he asked Victoria a question. "What time do you need to be home by?" He picked up a flyer off the bench for a local music venue and looked at it.