"I still can't believe Vic did that," Selene said delicately while looking out the passenger window. Her arms were crossed and her head turned away from Quang. 

"I know you say that you can't believe it, but is that actually true?" Quang asked, forcing himself to stop from letting his eyes drift to the side and remain on the road. "You've only known him for a few days but that's all you really need for a crash course on Vic."

"Is he really going to be like this all the time?" Selene turned her head around, her frustration visible on her face. "It's like dealing with a rude teenager! Even when I was child in school, I was more well-behaved than him!"

Quang's shoulders bobbed up and then slowly back down while his eyes stayed glued onto the road. The asphalt began to glisten while small beads of water obscured the windshield. He pulled the lever to the wiper only for the mechanism to get stuck halfway, splitting the rain. "Great. Stuck again. And yeah, like I said before, Vic never really had a chance to grow up normally."

"I know his backstory all too well, Quang. You've told it to me. Rodney helped to elaborate on it. But there's no reason why someone at his age should be going into bars and insulting people just because he doesn't like the way they sang his favorite song!"

"What do you want us to do about it? I've expressed my concern about his behavior countless time before. The dude just doesn't listen."

"But that doesn't mean you have to keep putting up with it, Quang! You have to stop letting him walk all over you!" Selene smacked the back of one hand into the palm of the other. "Everything he wants from you, he gets. Rides. Food. Money. You have to stop encouraging this kind of behavior."

Quang winced, shaking his head. "I can't do that, Selene. Me and Vic. We've got too much history together."

"If you really cared for him, you'd let him know that what he's been doing is not acceptable."

"You two know that I can hear everything you're saying, right?" Vic pushed head between the two seats only to have Selene push his head back. 

"I'm not his parent though, Selene. He's not going to listen to me no matter what I do."

"Oh, but you spoil him like he’s your kid!” A short silence followed as Quang’s mind lingered on Selene’s statement. “There's a way to get him to act right. You ever have a pet?"

"No."

"You've got to show a pet that you're the one in charge. Remember, they need you to survive." 

"Hey, wait a second Selene," Vic said with a low voice. "Maybe we can talk about this. I can learn to act better. I promise!"

"Okay Selene. I see where you're coming from. Maybe together we can get Vic acting right. You know, it'd be nice if Vic could start footing the bill every now and then."

"Exactly," Selene said with relief. "You two have been in a one-way relationship for too long. You give. He gets. That's not how friendships are supposed to work, Quang."

"Yeah. You're right. Maybe I need to start rethinking how I deal with him. What? Am I supposed to feed him until he's in his forties?"

"Hey, come on Quang!" Vic said, his voice shaky from his nerves. "You don't have to listen to what Selene says! It's not like she's a therapist or anything!" 

Neither Quang nor Selene paid the backseat passenger any mind. "No. Not at all. If you think about it, what you're doing is only going to hurt him in the long run. Do you really think with how he is now that he's going to be able to keep himself off the streets if he loses the one main thing that makes him Vic?"

"One thing?" Quang stole a side glance towards the passenger. "What would that one thing be?"

"His ability to fight. Let's something happens to him—"

"Nothing's gonna happen!" Vic called out as he propped himself against the tattering cushion of his seat. "You ever see me get hit in a fight, Quang? Tell her that I don't get hit!"

"I-I don't know what he'd do," Quang answered, not moving his head away from looking straight ahead towards the drenched pavement. "But what I do is know that his mouth would still get him into all sorts of trouble. And then he wouldn't have the ability to back up what he says."

"My point exactly, Quang. A bit of tough love could do him a lot of good. I love Vic, but even I can tell with the short time that I've known him that he's a bit of a wild card. Just because you tell him no doesn't mean that you're not his friend."

"Quang! I know you can hear me, dude!"

"Thanks for the advice, Selene." There was a slight nod from Quang's head. "I'm going to start doing that from now on. I think I could start by having him pay for his next meal at Pho 68."

"Perfect!" Selene clapped her hands together and giggled. "You know, I heard that he got a few dollars from a bet! I think that would be a great way to get Vic to start adapting to normal society."

"No!" Vic's eyes widened as he stared at the rearview mirror. "I've been saving up for a piece of Groovestand merch down at the record store. You know how long it takes for me to get money? I can't start spending it on food now. Especially not when I'm this close!"

Quang opened his mouth, only for it to linger as his eyes came across a silhouette formed in the rain on the side of the road. As the vehicle got closer, a boxy structure took shape. He slowed the vehicle down to get a better look. After passing, it was clear that it was a bus stop. 

"Everything okay, Quang?" Selene asked she poked her head around, trying to get a view past the driver's head. 

"Is that—" The car passed the bus stop, stopping a few yards away. Quang parked the car on the side of the road. He turned his body as much as he could to the left while pointing towards the building. Selene took a gaze through the back window on the driver's side. 

"Hualing!" Selene shouted.

Both Quang and Selene turned towards the backseat, both staring at him with narrow eyes. "Listen here, Vic." Quang muttered. "If you say anything to Hualing, I'm going to do everything that me and Selene just talked about."

"But—" Vic said while raising a finger.

"No buts!" Selene shot back. "Say anything and you'll be paying for your own Pho from now on."

Defeated, Vic leaned forward and pressed his head against the back of Selene’s seat. He let out a long groan and rubbed the back of his neck. "Fine..."

Quang shifted into reverse and pushed down on the pedal. He parked the car in front of the booth and rolled the window down. Hualing sat on the bench, her head hung low as rain dripped in through the leaky roof and onto her now-frayed black hair. 

"Hualing?" Quang called out from his window. The singer remained hunched over, her long hair hiding over her face. "Hualing! You okay?"

The woman remained silent. She kept her head low but brushed away her dangling hair to the side. 

"Come on Hualing, hop in!" Selene said with a friendly tone. "I know you're upset but there's no need for you to mope around in the rain underneath a broken bus stop booth!"

"Haven't... you three done enough already?" the singer replied with a weary voice. 

"Don't be like that Hualing," Quang said with an escalated tone to overcome the sound of passing cars. A sedan passed by, but not before blaring on the horns. "You've been working here long enough to know how dangerous this part of town is! Don't let your pride make you go through with a dumb decision!"

"Is... he with you?" Hualing said as she lifted her head. Even through the rain, her red eyes and tears were still visible. 

Quang turned around to face Selene. "You want to switch seats?" he whispered. 

Selene nodded and unbuckled her seatbelt. "Come on Vic. You're sitting up front."

"Awesome!"

"It's not awesome," Quang said. "You're sitting up here because you don't know how to behave yourself. Think of it as being in timeout. You can't speak. You don't get to handle the radio. Just... sit there and think about what you've done."

"Man..." Vic unbuckled himself. After taking a moment to see if there was any traffic coming through, Selene and Vic swapped seats. 

"All right, Hualing. Vic's with us but you don't have to sit next to him," Quang said. "And we made sure he'll be quiet for the rest of the ride. How does that sound?"

Hualing got up from the bench, her arms wrapped around her body as she pressed the palms of her hands around her arms and shivered. Selene reached forward across the backseat and pushed the door open with one hand. Hualing slid into the back of the driver's side, her straight and wet hair dripping onto the back cushions. 

"Where do you live, Hualing?" Quang said. 

"I... uh..." she replied raspy.

"Hey," Selene placed a hand on Hualing's shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"I... don't actually have a place to stay. For the moment."

"You were really going to let us drive off while you spent the night underneath a leaky bus station?" Breathless, Selene put her hand to her chest, taken back.

"Well..."

"Don't worry about telling us everything now, Hualing. We'll be heading back to my family's restaurant. We've got air conditioning there. And Pho." 

"Sure..." Hualing sighed, keeping her angled down. True to his word, Vic remained silent as he watched the rain fall outside. The ensuing silence that was broken by a series of blaring honks was the cue for Quang to put his foot on the accelerator.