Chapter Fourteen: Moving

It was my last night at home, but I even now I don't have a shred of remorse about leaving.

Victor opened the door to his bedroom and found his mother sitting on the edge of his bed. She didn't look up when he entered, and suddenly it seemed to him that she was very small. It was as though she had physically shrunk into herself, and all that was left was an old, tired shell.

"What are you doing in here, Mom?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Waiting for you. Where were you? You weren't home when I got back from the hospital yesterday."

How much was actually necessary to tell, he wondered. "I was out." He paused. "With Patty."

To his relief, his mother snorted and seemed to come out of her desperation. At least she was acting normal again. This feeling was short-lived however.

"I don't like that girl, Victor. I'm telling you, she'll break your heart."

"Mom-" Then he stopped and his shoulders drooped. He suddenly felt exhausted. "I'm moving out."

Sylvia laughed. "No you're not."

"Yeah, Mom," said Victor. "I am. I found out yesterday that I got the apartment I was looking at."

"You're not moving," she said shrilly. She stood up and came to stand in front of him. "You're too young. You can't possibly know what you want."

"I know I don't want to be here any more," Victor snapped. "You're suffocating. You drove out Nancy and Robert and now you've driven me out too."

She shook her head wildly, staring up at him. Had he ever been shorter than this woman?

"You can't, Victor," she pleaded. "I need you."

He swallowed the lump in his throat. "I'll give you my number when I get it. You can decide what to do with it. But right now I have to get ready for work."

"Victor, no," she said. But he walked away and entered the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind him.

x.x.x.x.

Despite Michael's absence and the necessity that Victor be at work until his uncle was back in commission, he arranged to take the weekend off to move, even going so far as to enlist the help of Patty and Barry. He had spent the week avoiding his mother. It wasn't hard; he spent long hours at the lot while she spent great deal of time at the hospital visiting her brother and comforting Angela.

Barry arrived first, early Friday morning, toting a huge cup of coffee and looking miserable. As soon as Victor answered the door, Barry launched into a lecture about how Victor had better appreciate his sacrifice of sleep. Victor responded by asking Barry if he'd brought his truck.

The pair were in the process of loading Victor's mattress into the back of Barry's pick-up when Patty arrived, strolling down the street.

"Hey," she said, approaching the pair. "Sorry I'm late. The bus didn't arrive on time, surprise-surprise."

"Hey," Victor responded, bending over and pecking Patty on the lips. He smiled down at her and she answered with a shy smile of her own.

Barry cleared his throat loudly. "This thing is fucking heavy," he said. "Can you two flirt later, when we're not trying to shove a mattress onto the back of a truck?"

"Sorry," muttered Victor, and he returned to shoving the mattress. Patty stuck her hands into the pockets of her jeans, and observed the process without comment. Once it was wedged in, Victor turned back to her and slung an arm over her shoulder. Barry rolled his eyes and started back toward the house.

"Aren't you going to introduce us?" asked Patty.

"Oh," said Victor. "Yeah. Well. That's Barry," he said, gesturing at Barry's back as he went up the steps. "Barry," he called, "this is Patty." Barry threw up a hand in response, but didn't turn.

"Nice to meet you too," Patty hollered back. She slipped her right arm around Victor's back and they started up the steps after Barry.

"Barry's not really a morning person," Victor explained.

"Who is?" asked Patty.

Victor smiled to himself.

At the door they separated and Patty looked around his house curiously. He ignored it, and slipped past her, starting up the stairs to his room. She followed suit, and soon they had joined Barry in Victor's room, which was littered with cardboard boxes not yet filled.

"You haven't started to pack yet?" asked Patty. Victor glanced over at her and realized the astonishment he heard in her voice was mirrored her face.

"I've been busy," he said defensively.

"Maybe you should've packed before you dragged the two of us out of bed at this ungodly hour," said Barry. He shook his head. "Asshole."

Patty chuckled at this.

"I thought you guys could help," said Victor lamely.

Barry shrugged, indifferent as usual. "What first?" he asked.

The trio spent the next four hours packing up Victor's life into boxes. Barry and Victor both favored a method that used very little organization, involving dumping as much as they could into a box. Patty, on the other hand, tried her hand at actually packing things neatly, warning Victor he'd never be able to find anything if he kept working his current way.

Around noon the pizza they had ordered arrived, and they sat down on the hard wood floor to eat.

"Is your mom locked up in her room crying again?" asked Barry, taking a huge bite of his slice.

"I have no clue where she is," said Victor. "The hospital maybe." He shrugged. "She didn't cry when Robert moved out. I don't think she will now either. It's not like I eloped." He shot a glance at Patty and explained, "My mom kind of cracked up when Nancy showed up married."

Barry laughed. "Went ballistic, is more like it. Your mom scares me."

"Me too," agreed Patty.

Victor rolled his eyes. "Stop exaggerating, guys. She's crazy, not scary."

"All I know," said Patty candidly, "is that every time I see her I nearly jump out of my skin. She looks at me like she wants to vanquish me or something."

"Oh, great word," said Barry. "'Vanquish.' That's your mom, Victor."

Patty dropped her head, looking a little sheepish. "Well, that's an exaggeration," she said. Victor shrugged.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "I don't care what you say. You're probably right."

"You're exactly right," said Barry. He grinned. "I like her, Vic."

The rest of the conversation melted down to a debate about whether or not anchovies were an appropriate pizza topping (Victor and Barry thought so, Patty disagreed). They spent the rest of the afternoon packing up the room, then Patty announced she had to leave for work and that she'd see Victor in the morning.

"You want to take the mattress and some of this stuff over tonight?" asked Barry once Patty was gone. "If you do we should leave soon. I've got a date tonight."

"Yeah," said Victor. He picked up a box. "Let's get as much over there tonight as we can."

They loaded up Barry's truck with about a third of the boxes, tying everything down, and set out for the new apartment. It took about an hour to unload everything, and then Barry drove Victor back home and left for his date.

It wasn't late, so Victor jumped in his car and went to Buddy's. He spent the rest of the evening eating french fries at the counter and talking to Patty when she was on break. When she got off for the night, he left too, driving her home and kissing her goodnight before they parted ways.

Just minutes after Victor had shut himself in his bedroom for his last night at home, there was a knock at his door.

"Come in," he called.

The door creaked open, and his father entered, carrying an envelope, which he twisted in his hands. He shut the door behind him.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi," said Victor. "What's going on?"

"Oh, you know," said Ivan. He tugged on his earlobe. "Look, I'm not one for words, but, uh, here." He held out the envelope and Victor furrowed his brow, standing and taking it. He opened it; inside was a check for two thousand dollars.

"Geez, Dad," he said.

"Take it," said Ivan. He shrugged. "I understand why you're leaving. Just promise you won't disappear, you know? That you'll, uh, call when you decide to marry the girl or something. Okay?"

"Yeah," said Victor. "Thanks. Thanks a lot, Dad." He reached out and gave his father a quick hug.

Ivan smiled slightly and then turned toward the door. "Oh," he added. "And please tell Nancy and Bobby that I, uh, you know. Love them. Whenever you talk to them."

Victor nodded. "Yeah. I will."

"'Night," said Ivan.

The door clicked softly behind him and Victor stared at the check in awe. Then he folded it and put it in his wallet. And it was right after this that he realized he didn't have any place to sleep that night.

"Crap," he said. He glanced around at the boxes, wondering which they had put the bedding in. "Please, God," he said, "let it be in one of the ones Patty packed. Hell, let it just be in the room."

He looked at all of Patty's boxes still left, first, since they were all clearly labeled in big letters, but none was labeled bedding. He swore under his breath, and started ripping open the boxes he and Barry had packed, but all the effort was to no avail. Apparently he and Barry had already moved the bedding.

Victor sighed, and decided to sleep on the couch.

By the next evening, he was living on his own.