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Dating Mateo was kind of a dream for Victoria. She'd been flirting with him since her very first day in the Pitt, though she could admit that her initial attempts were unpracticed to say the least. He was always kind and open and sexy without ever giving her any indication that he felt anything for her. But he helped her study and called her Dr. J and baby and he brought her to spots in Pittsburgh she'd never been, despite living there her whole life. The closeness they developed did nothing to help her crush, but she'd taken his "no coworkers" rule very seriously and hadn't asked him out again. They were just friends! And they were, despite the disbelieving looks Santos gave at her denials or the smirks Cassie gave both of them. Still, she had been hoping that the only barrier really was the no dating coworkers rule and gave it one last shot very soon after she matched to psychiatry at Westbridge. To her shock, he said yes and said it was overdue, even.
It's hardly a secret— both Cassie and Trinity read it on their faces immediately— but they're careful about her parents. Her mother was on a hairpin trigger after Victoria had matched with psychiatry and there was no reason to bring up something else that was sure to infuriate her. It does feel a bit like she imagines it must in those teen romances she loves, with the lying to her parents that she was at Trinity's when really she was on dates with Mateo. Sometimes he'd bring her back to his place and they'd make out on his bed. She loves kissing him. It is pretty much her favorite activity in the world.
They don't even get that much time together, really. Victoria is a very busy resident with parents who want a detailed breakdown of her plans every time she leaves the house. Mateo is an ED nurse on the night shift. Neither of them has much time, but they do try to make their days off match as best they can. It works more often than not! Plus, some of the times Victoria tells her parents she's with Trinity she actually is, especially as Dennis has essentially moved onto the Miller Farm. She also makes sure to schedule time with Cassie and Harrison, and the cohort of interns at Westbridge do study together a decent amount. It's a change from PTMC, and one she can honestly admit she appreciates. It's nice to finally feel like she's part of a group instead of on the edges and pitied. Her world is expanding! Her TikTok account makes her secret money, too. Mateo had helped her set up an account without her parents knowledge. She rarely touches it, but it's nice to know there's some money that's just hers.
Her father is working today and her mother is at an event at Pitt that's supposed to take all day. She feels safe enough for the first time to invite Mateo into the house. Neither of her parents should be home for several hours. So she invites him inside and cooks them mac and cheese for lunch, to pay him back for all the times he's cooked for her. After they eat and he cleans up, she brings him up to her room. It's fairly bare, as her parents had never allowed her to do anything that might impact the resale value and would only rarely buy her such frivolous things as room decorations. Mateo doesn't comment on the gap between his room, which feels like someone actually lives there, and hers. Instead, he follows her direction when she pulls him down on the bed and kisses him. A quick glance at the clock confirms that her mother still has a few hours of her conference left. They have some time before she needs to drive him home, so she relaxes into him.
"Get out." They are startled out of their makeout session to see Eileen Shamsi standing in the doorway, cold as ice. "Stop touching my daughter and get out of my house. In fact, you will never go near my daughter again."
Mateo carefully pulls back from kissing her but doesn't leave. It's almost shocking how much that warms Victoria's heart. Victoria sits up and laces her fingers through his.
"No." She replies for both of them, a burst of courage making her bold, maybe stupid.
"No?"
"No," she repeats firmly. "Mateo is my boyfriend, mom. I am happy with him and he treats me well. I don't want him to leave or stop talking to me or whatever else you've decided about my life."
Her mother's face is a thunderstorm. "This boy is not worth neglecting your education."
"I'm not neglecting my education! I have glowing reviews from all of my superiors!" Victoria knows she should stay calm, it was the only way to handle her mother and have even an outside shot of winning, but her mother just infuriates her.
"Glowing reviews in psychiatry! Victoria, you know you can do better than that. It's not too late to move to surgery!"
Victoria can feel her anger flare up in response to her mother's insistence. Mateo subtly leans against her and squeezes her fingers and that grounds her enough to respond with grace. "I am happy in psychiatry and I am happy with Mateo. I am not going to change either of those things just because you want me to."
"I have given you far too much leeway, I see this now. I had hoped the time you were spending with Dr. Santos would help you, as she is an ambitious doctor. If you were going to date anyone, why you couldn't have dated her I don't understand. Not this, this nurse with no prospects who will probably get you pregnant." Her mother waves her hand dismissively. Victoria sees red and it is only because Mateo speaks first that she reins in her reaction.
Mateo shows no fear facing her mother. "I understand that your plans for Victoria have no place for me in them. But she is an adult who can make her own choices. I am lucky to be one of them and I will do everything I can to make her happy. I'm sorry for the distress this is clearly causing you, but I love her and I won't be leaving her."
Her mother turns her attention back to Mateo instantly. "You are not good enough for my daughter," she spits out. "I know exactly who you are. You are an ED nurse. You cannot give my daughter a tenth of the life she deserves. You work the night shift, so that is even less stability. How could you be the right partner for her? You can't be. There are plenty of actually appropriate partners for my daughter that can offer far more than you."
Mateo opens his mouth to defend himself, but Victoria jumps in. "I don't want to date the stupid children of your friends. I want Mateo. Who gives a shit that he isn't making an attending's salary? I'm going to be a doctor! I don't need him to be! And besides, the hospital would fall apart without nurses and you know that. He's great at his job and more importantly, he's so kind. He cares about me!"
Mateo squeezes her hand again, and she realizes she'd started yelling. She settles back down and sucks in a deep breath. It's fine. Her mother can't actually control her whole life. She's 22, for fuck's sake. She's making money from residency, though admittedly not a lot, and she has people who will support her if this goes south, including her psychiatry attending. It is going to be okay. Really, this fight has been a long time coming.
Her mother's voice is colder than she's ever heard it when she finally speaks. "Be that as it may, you live under my roof so you will obey my rules. This boy will leave and you will not see him again."
Victoria can feel Mateo shifting away to leave. Not forever, she knows, but she's sure he wants to de-escalate this whole thing. It's what he's good at and what makes him such a good nurse and a good boyfriend. Instead though, she grips his hand tighter. It's time for her to make a real stand.
"No. If he goes, I go." Her words hang in the air. Her mother's eyes narrow with fury and she hears the intake of breath from Mateo. Her mother's eyes are flint and her mouth has a hard set she's never seen before.
"Then go."
Her mother turns and sweeps out of the room. Victoria is frozen in Mateo's arms— she hadn't actually expected her mother to kick her out. Mateo folds her in tighter, hugging her with what feels like all his strength.
"Don't worry about it, just pack what you need, like you're going away for a week or so. We will figure it out."
Mechanically, she follows Mateo's directions. She pulls out her suitcase and begins packing clothes into it. Shorts, t-shirts, a couple of dresses. She dumps all her underwear and bras in too, no reason to leave those behind. She's never seen her mother like this. She knows down to her toes that this is going to radically alter her life, and yet, she doesn't cry. She just keeps packing clothing and the few keepsakes she actually cares about.
Victoria follows Mateo out to her car. She hasn't spoken since her mother left the room. She has no idea what to say. Mateo gently helps her step into her car and puts her suitcase in the trunk. Then he gets into the driver's seat and starts driving, after tapping out a quick message on his phone.
"What am I going to do?" Victoria finally croaks. Mateo reaches over and squeezes her hand.
"Well, right now we're going to drive over to Trinity's. She's offered up Dennis' bed, at least for tonight. And I think you should be there, where you feel safe." He lets go of her so he can put both hands on the wheel again. "I also told Cassie what's going on. I should have waited for your permission, I know, but I thought if you needed to talk, she might be the right choice. I know she's who I want to talk to."
Victoria's breath catches and her eyes flood with tears. She determinedly blinks them away for the moment. She pulls out her phone to see a message of support from Cassie waiting for her and quickly texts her to see if she can meet up tomorrow.
"No, you did exactly the right thing." Victoria glances at her phone to see a response from Cassie confirming her availability. "I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Well, you probably wouldn't be in this situation without me."
"Maybe not. But without you I think I'd still just be a doll for my mother without any real opinions of my own." She reaches her hand out to squeeze his quickly. "I don't regret it, you know."
He swallows hard. "I will do my best for you, I hope you know that." Victoria doesn't get a chance to reply beyond a reassuring smile as they pull up to Trinity's building. Mateo parks and then grabs her suitcase while she climbs out. Trinity has evidently been watching from her window because she opens the door before they even get the chance to ring the bell.
"Welcome to my crib, Crash. Mi casa es su casa." She takes the suitcase from Mateo and drags them to Dennis' room. "So ground rules, don't take my shit, don't go in my room without permission, and don't leave your shit everywhere. If you can do that, we'll be fine." Victoria nods. She's slept over a few times so she has a general idea of the rules. "If Huckleberry comes back, he can take the couch. You're here for as long as you want."
Victoria can't hold back anymore. She bursts into tears. Mateo folds her into a hug and she can hear Trinity walk away. That makes her weep all the harder. She doesn't want Trinity to be mad at her. Then she hears Trinity re-enter and set something down. She relaxes into Mateo's hold, knowing that Trinity isn't going to abandon her and she's not upset like she'd feared.
It takes a little while before she's calmed down, but eventually Victoria's sobs turn to sniffles and she unpeels herself from Mateo. Trinity silently hands her a glass of water and Victoria drinks the whole thing down. To her surprise, it does calm her and make her feel better.
"What's going to happen next?" She can hear how small and pathetic her voice sounds and she hates it.
"Well," says Trinity, "you can stay here for as long as you want. So that's one thing sorted."
"I don't know how much I can pay you for rent," Victoria sniffs.
Trinity rolls her eyes. "I'm not charging you when I have an empty room and no one in it. Don't be ridiculous. Besides, you can't be worse than my college roommate. It's fine."
Victoria swallows the response at the tip of her tongue, than she can pay her something, that she doesn't want to put Trinity out. She's been around Trinity enough to know that the older girl is laser-focused on ensuring that everyone around her is safe, even if she doesn't say it in so many words. Pushing will make her feel like she's being rejected. Working in psychiatry hasn't given her a window into Trinity's soul, by any means, but talking to so many patients has made Victoria understand Trinity's motivations and behaviors better. That and spending more time with her. She wishes she had understood that earlier, but she's there now.
"Okay!" says Trinity, pulling out her phone. "Let's get dinner ordered. Pizza work?" Victoria nods. "I know Crash's order, but what's yours, Peeta?"
"Peeta?" Mateo asks, his eyebrows raised.
"Yeah, because you're a lover boy. Like in Hunger Games." Mateo laughs at that and Victoria can tell that Trinity is privately delighted that one of her nicknames has worked as intended.
"I'm not picky, whatever is fine." At Trinity's hard look though he continues. "Well, my favorite is a veggie pizza?"
"Not a meat lover's? I thought all men were really into their protein."
Mateo chuckles and shrugs in response. "I like a meat lover's too, but veggie is my absolutely favorite. But whatever you like is fine!" Trinity ignores him and finishes sending in the order. Victoria knows she ordered the veggie pizza without even looking.
While they wait for the pizza to arrive, they unpack the suitcase with the stuff Victoria managed to grab. It feels very weird. Final. Like she's never going to return home again. She doesn't know how to feel about that. What she does know, though, is that she's glad that she grabbed her favorite clothes, her passport, her stuffed bunny and raggedy baby blanket, a few pieces of jewelry. She doesn't know how her mother will react to all of this, but she does know that the chances that her mother will discard everything, every trace of her daughter, is not zero. Even if her father talks her mother down, Victoria doesn't know if there is any way to come back from this. Her breath catches at that. She pushes it away, though. It isn't exactly helpful, and Mateo is right— whatever happens, it will be fine.
It's funny, having seen Trinity repeatedly bat her eyes at her mother to try to smooth her path to double boarding in surgery, Victoria would never have expected her to invite her into her home like this. And yet, despite the fact that she's about to turn into Public Enemy #3, after herself and Mateo, and is definitely not getting that rec into surgery now, Trinity doesn't seem sorry at all. There's no sign of regret on her face, ever, at any point during any of the conversations they have that night. The first day they met, Victoria could have never imagined that she'd be here, in Trinity's apartment. Mateo? Him she never really lost hope in. But the friendship she's built with the prickly EM resident is constantly a surprise to her.
Lying in Dennis' bed, trying to fall asleep after Mateo heads into work, Victoria feels like her brain is spinning far too much to actually sleep. The door squeaks open and she sees Trinity's head pop into the room, though everything is shadowed.
"Crash? You asleep?" Trinity hisses into the room.
"Not even a little bit," Victoria grumbles back. She thinks she can make out a smile flickering across Trinity's face. The other woman slips into the room and crawls into the bed with her.
It feels a bit like a sleepover, even more than other times Victoria has stayed over at Trinity's. It's kind of soothing, to have Trinity in the bed with her. She probably would feel differently if it was a less fraught situation, but right now it feels right. Safe.
"You know it'll be okay, right?" Trinity whispers.
"Will it? Because I have no idea who I am outside of this perfect little doctor my parents molded me into. I don't know if I have money to pay you rent, or what my next move is. I have no idea if I am good at anything except medicine. Like, should I keep going with my residency? Should I quit? Who am I, if not their daughter?" She hadn't wanted to make Mateo feel even worse about this whole thing, but Trinity? Trinity will tell her the truth.
Trinity wraps her arms around Victoria and pulls her close. "I think," she says firmly, "you should do whatever the hell you want. You did a brave thing, standing up for yourself and Mateo. Yeah it sucks when your family rejects you like that, but now you can do whatever you want. Doesn't that feel freeing?"
"It doesn't feel freeing, I feel unmoored! Like I don't have anything solid to hold on to!"
Trinity is silent for a long moment before speaking. "The last time I spoke to any member of my family was when I was 18 and getting in my car to go to college. I made some choices that disappointed my mother and she made some that disappointed me, too. I wasn't kicked out, that's true, but it stopped being home a long time ago. Making it on my own was terrifying. I had no support system at all. But I made it, and here I am! A doctor, who can pay the unexpected help I got when I was young forward." A beat. "You have a support system already, Vic. None of us are going to let you fall through the cracks. We'll figure it out together."
"Okay." Victoria's voice cracks and Trinity gives her a squeeze. They lie like that until Victoria, soothed by the sound of Trinity's breathing, falls asleep.
The next morning, the anxiety in the pit of her stomach is roiling. The dread that Mateo and Trinity had managed to calm the night before is back in full force. She's deeply thankful that she already made plans with Cassie or she'd probably have rotted the entire day in bed, filled to the brim with dread. Cassie has a way of making even the most difficult decisions and situations feel surmountable and she needs that.
In the light of day, rooting through the small selection of clothes she managed to grab, Victoria is extremely aware of the choice she made. She grabs an outfit she feels good in— her life may be falling apart, but she can still look like she's got it together. She goes to put on some makeup before realizing oh, I didn't grab any. Tears well up, because as stupid as she knows it is to cry over makeup, it's yet another sharp reminder that she walked out of her parents' house and left her whole life behind. She scrubs at her eyes roughly and instead texts Cassie that she's on her way. She's so grateful that Mateo had the presence of mind to get them bundled into her own car so she still has access to it.
Cassie wraps Victoria into a hug the moment she sees her. Victoria can't stop the great, hiccuping sobs that come out as soon as she gets the maternal affection she craves from her former coworker and mentor. Cassie just rubs her back and hums, rocking her back and forth until the sobs subside.
"What am I going to do? I know Mateo is going to be there for me and Trinity promised to be too, but I've never made anything more complicated than mac and cheese for dinner on my own! I don't know how to be independent!"
Cassie just smiles at her. "So you'll learn. You'll learn how to cook and how to be a good roommate and how to budget and how to be a whole person separately from your parents. That's what we all do. Some of us just take different paths to get there."
It really is absurd, how much calmer Cassie makes her immediately. She has so much surety in her voice, surety that Victoria knows is as hard-won as it comes. If Cassie is confident in her, then she must be right. Still, it is a scary thought, jumping into the deep end. What if she fails? She is Victoria Javadi. Failure is not an option.
"Look," says Cassie, pouring both of them a seltzer, "the situation sucks, no doubt about it. My parents had every right not to support me when I was knee deep in my addiction but they never gave up on me. I can't even fathom why your mother would act like that. But we can process that later! Right now, I think we should talk about the absolute basics. Like…do you want to go back? What are you willing to give up, either way? We can figure this out."
So, Victoria thinks. Yeah, if she went back and promised to never see Mateo again and to switch to surgery at PTMC under the watchful eyes of her mother she could probably beg her way back into her parents' home. But she finds that she doesn't want that. No matter how afraid she is of what her life will look like going forward, she feels very sure of that.
"I'm not going back," she finally says. "I don't want to give up Mateo or my psychiatric residency or any of the freedoms I have managed to snatch. And that's what going back would do." She punctuates that statement with a firm nod. Yes. She is sure.
Cassie grins at her. "Okay! So, let's talk next steps." She guides Victoria to her couch, where she has a pad of paper already waiting there. Victoria smothers a smile seeing the setup. Cassie can't help herself. She's such a stereotype of a mom right now. It feels good to have that care directed at her, especially from Cassie.
"So, let's figure out what you have, what you need, everything." Victoria nods at her. "So you're staying with Santos, right?" Another nod. "Great. So that's housing handled. It's Santos, you'll have time to figure that out. We can tackle budgeting another day. What about clothing? You got clothes?"
Victoria makes a face. "I have some stuff, but it wasn't the biggest focus on my mind. I have enough for a few days at least. I could use more, though I guess that's probably not a high priority."
"Hmm," says Cassie, and then writes a note on the pad she has. "What about your documents? Like, your driver's license, passport, social security card, birth certificate, your identity documentation?"
"Uhhhh I have my driver's license, of course. And I grabbed my passport since I had it in my room because of the whole REAL ID thing. But my birth certificate and social security card are kept with my parents' important documents. I don't have them."
Cassie's lips thin. "That is important, unfortunately. But we'll come back to it." Victoria nods in reply, heart racing. "You should talk to your attending at Westbridge. Even if you don't tell her everything, you should make sure that she knows you have a new address and a new emergency contact."
Victoria's eyes go wide. "Oh my god. I didn't even think about that!"
Cassie gives her a squeeze. "That's what I'm here for. You want your new emergency contact to be Mateo? Or as your roommate, Santos is also a good option."
"Both my parents are currently my emergency contacts. Could I do that with Mateo and Trinity?"
"Probably! You can at least ask your attending and see. If not, you should be able to list one as first preference and the other as a backup." Cassie tilts her head in thought. "What about your car?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I saw that you took your car, but is it yours? Do you own it?"
Victoria nods firmly. "Yes, I do. Mateo helped me find something safe and within my budget. I bought it used from an older woman who was going into a nursing home and just wanted to get rid of it. I bought it myself, no loan or anything."
"That's wonderful!" Cassie beams at her. "Do you have the paperwork for all of that?"
Victoria squints as she tries to remember the flurry yesterday. "Yes," she says slowly, "I keep it with my passport and I grabbed the whole folder. So yes. I have paperwork for my car!"
Cassie high fives Victoria, who giggles about how out of place that feels, and they lapse into silence. The silence is companionable— she thinks Cassie is probably giving her a chance to absorb the enormity of what she's chosen here. She feels a rush of gratitude for the older woman, who has been so patient with her right from the first moment they had met. She really is her mentor. And she knows Mateo came here when he got off of work, too overwhelmed to go back home to his chaotic apartment. He's tucked away in Harrison's room right now. She's glad that he had somewhere safe to go after the stress of the day and that Cassie is a safe space for him too. For him even more than her, truthfully.
Cassie finally breaks the silence again. "Unless you think it's unsafe, I really think you should to go back to your parents' and get your birth certificate and social security card. Yes, you can get new copies if needed, but it is always best to have all that in your control, not theirs. Plus while you're there you can grab some more clothes. I can lend you my giant suitcase so you can fit as much as possible. And you should go as soon as possible. Today, ideally."
"Are you absolutely sure?"
Cassie laughs softly. "You don't have to do it, but you will be much better protected if you have control of those documents. And it's smart to get as much of your clothing as possible."
Victoria chews her lip as she thinks. On one hand, she trusts Cassie's judgment here implicitly and her mother has a big, fancy surgery scheduled today that's supposed to last very late, so at most they would see her father. On the other, she really doesn't want to go back to her former home. She thinks of running into her father and feels a pang when she checks her phone to confirm that no, he still hasn't reached out to her. She knew that her mother was not going to budge and extend a hand to her, but she had really been hoping that her father would break free of her. It looks like he hasn't, though.
The floor creaks and Victoria flicks her eyes up to see Mateo enter the room. He clearly just woke up, but somehow that makes him even more adorable. Her heart twists because yeah, that smile is absolutely worth fighting for. She's making the right choice.
"Whatcha talking about?" He asks.
Cassie raises an eyebrow at Victoria, so she takes that as her cue to speak. "We were just discussing me going back to get more clothes and my birth certificate."
"Cool," he shrugs, "I can be ready in like 20 minutes and we can go."
"Oh, I couldn't possibly ask you to go back there!"
He rolls his eyes at her. "You're not asking, I'm offering. You think I'm letting you anywhere near your parents without me glued to your side? Don't be ridiculous." Warmth spreads through Victoria and she nods.
"20 minutes then."
Victoria is relieved that her key still works. She'll leave it on the table when she leaves, but at least she can get in and out without anyone knowing right now. They head up to her room first, Cassie's impressively large suitcase in tow, to pack the rest of her most important stuff. Until all of this, she'd thought her closet was contained. She was realizing now that she had a truly excessive amount of stuff. It feels freeing, actually, to shed all of that. She's still taking plenty of stuff, of course. No reason not to take as much as she can, and to grab things she thinks might be valuable. Her whole jewelry collection gets packed for that reason— her mother hadn't been stingy on jewelryand she'd been given something gold every birthday. She could sell the gold, at least. The thought brought her some comfort that she would not solely be dependant on Trinity's charity forever.
It feels odd, leaving her room, knowing that this really is the last time she can call it her room. Still, as she tangles her fingers with Mateo's, she knows it is the right decision. An overdue decision, even. One she is making permanent right now with far less regrets than she expected.
They have to sneak into her father's study now to get her documents. Her father might be home, but he probably will be working on dinner in the kitchen. Hopefully they can get out unseen. Fortunately, she knows exactly where her birth certificate and social security card are. They grab them quickly and as quietly as possible and Victoria clutches the folder to her chest. There is no way she's letting it out of her sight. Cassie had made that very clear.
They are leaving out the back door when she hears steps behind them. Her father. Mateo has his hands full with the suitcase but gives her a reassuring nod when she looks at him. They can do this, together.
"Hi sweetheart." Tears pool in her eyes immediately, hearing her dad's voice.
"Hi dad," Victoria says, voice cracking.
"Are you coming home now?" Wordlessly, she shakes her head. "Ah," he says, clearly disappointed, "I thought since you came back, you might have rethought everything. You know, your mother and I only want what's best for you. I'm sure this boy is a nice enough fellow, but is he truly your equal? You are so smart and you have such a bright future, even as a psychiatrist. He is just a nurse. Not like you, you are extraordinary. You don't want him holding you back. You can come back, get into surgery, or I'll pull some strings for dermatology, and we can forget these mistakes ever happened."
It's funny. Victoria would have expected a moment like this to feel like her heart was shattering, or perhaps like the numbness she felt after Pittfest. Instead, she feels almost empowered. Her father has squashed the very last doubt she might have had about her decision. Nothing he is saying is true and neither of her parents cared enough to even try to get to know Mateo and see why she likes him so much. No, they are simply placing him in a bin marked "unworthy" and moving on, a bin she has felt like she was relegated to many times herself. She is not about to let Mateo be placed there too.
"No, Dad. I am not coming back. And you do not get to talk to my boyfriend like that, you don't know him. In fact, do you even know his name? His name is Mateo and he is kind and generous and compassionate and an amazing nurse. I am sorry that you will never know that for yourself." She puts a hand on Mateo's shoulder. "Let's go. I have a suitcase to unpack and I'm sure Tr— my roommate is wondering where I am."
Victoria pivots back to the door and sets a brisk walk out. Mateo follows her without a sound. Once they are finally back in the car, with him in the driver's seat, she starts shaking. Adrenaline crash, she thinks. Her lips twitch into a smile at the thought of how Trinity would joke about her earning the nickname yet again if she were here. She looks up to see Mateo looking at her with concern. She leans over and gives him a kiss on the cheek to reassure him.
"I'm sorry you had to hear all that, you don't deserve any of it, mi sol. I'm really glad you were there with me though. Thank you."
Mateo gives a half chuckle. "Baby, you rocked it. I can't believe you said that to your dad!"
Victoria laughs lightly. "It needed to be said! I'm still sorry that my parents suck so much."
He reaches over the console to squeeze her hand quickly as he starts driving back to Trinity's. "Yeah, they do. But you don't. And hey, my family is begging to meet you. I know it's not the same, but they already love you. My mom has even researched how to make butter chicken, even though I have told her you didn't really eat it growing up, because she so badly wants you to be comfortable and that's the only Indian food she's ever eaten. You learning Spanish means a lot to her and she wants to return the favor. "
"That sounds nice. Let's text them and pick a day, now that I don't have to think of an acceptable lie for my parents."
The drive back is fine, not too remarkable. It is, however, remarkable to Victoria who, for the first time, feels like she is going to her real home. 22 years of living with her parents were nothing compared to a single night in Trinity's apartment. Despite the circumstances, and even though Victoria knows that there's going to be lots of days where her fear overrides her sense of peace and rightness, she basks in the feeling of contentment and surety she has right now. She chose correctly, she's confident of it.