I wasn't sure where to go with this. I could hardly get a read on where Ritsu was at, let alone what I should do about it. Treading lightly seemed to be the way to go, "Your…Mom?"
"Yeah," Ritsu's voice broke, "My mom."
"What brought that on?" I wondered, cuddling closer to him.
"I have a slight confession to make," he took my hand, "When we were in New York, I called her."
"Ritsu…" I awed, "Why would you keep that from me? That's wonderful."
"We just got done at the cemetery," Ritsu went on, "It was just…Something about seeing you with your mom. It just…It just fucking hit me, ok? It hit me in a place I didn't think even existed, but it did!"
"That's fine," I settled him.
"New York did a fucking number on me, Rei," he admitted, "I know it's hard for you to believe, but I never got the warm, fuzzy family like you did."
"It wasn't always warm and fuzzy," I pointed out, "You know that."
"But you were there for each other," Ritsu shook, laying in my shoulder, "I've had loyalty before, but never like that. Between your dad and Abuelita…It fucked me up. For the first time in a very, very, very long time, I felt like I had a family. Even though I didn't share a drop of blood with any of you, they still treated me like I was one of their own."
"Because that's how we work," I assured, "You know damn well none of us would leave you out in the cold."
"I love you, Rei," he hugged me tight, "I fucking love you so much."
"I love you, too," I kissed the top of his head, doing my best to calm him down. It's weird, though. I've never seen Ritsu so vulnerable. I mean, there was the first time he ever told me about his mom, but even then, he wasn't nearly this bad, "If you don't mind me asking, what did your mom say?"
"She wants to see me," Ritsu steadied his breathing, "It's probably been…Eight years…since I last saw her."
"Do you want to see her?" I asked.
"Of course I do," he sat up, "But…I know damn well the old man would get in the way of that. Should I do it?"
"I would," I didn't even hesitate. It's been seven since I last saw my mom. And I'd give anything I had to see her again. But I didn't want to guilt Ritsu into it. This has to be a decision he makes on his own.
"We can't be seen together," Ritsu let out a heavy, depressed sigh, "I'd hate for that to get back to him."
"Then," I suggested, "Go somewhere completely neutral. And secluded. If we were doing this back home, I'd let you use one of our warehouses in the narrows."
"Rei…" he perked up, "I think I know where we could be. It's secluded. It's neutral. It'd work."
"That's good," I applauded, "Where's that?"
"I know it's a big ask," Ritsu bit his lip, "But do you think we could not borrow a warehouse, but your penthouse?"
"What?" my stomach dropped, "You…Want to use my penthouse?"
"It's neutral territory," he explained, "It's far away enough from the compound. It's totally off the radar. If we wanted the seclusion, we could always go to the roof. Please?"
"Ritsu…" I curled into his lap, laying my head on his chest, "I'm disappointed you thought you had to ask. Of course. I'd give anything to be able to see Mama again. Who am I to keep you from living that dream?"
"Thank you," Ritsu hugged me tight, "Really, Rei. This means the fucking world to me."
"You're welcome," I swallowed the swelling lump in my throat. Keep that shit under lock and key. Ritsu doesn't need to deal with that right now. He's already emotionally fragile. If I break down, it'd only make him worse, "Invite her here for dinner tomorrow night. That way, if shit goes bad, you can emotionally eat yourself into a food coma."
"I like the way you think," he gave me a little kiss, "I think I'm going to head home."
"Are you sure?" I worried, "You know you're more than welcome to crash here for the night."
"Yeah," Ritsu nodded, "I'll be ok. Besides, if all else fails, I know I'll be seeing you tomorrow morning and I can unload everything then."
"That's right, baby," I got one last kiss out of him, "I love you. I'll see you in the morning."
"I love you, too."
And there he went. Down the elevator by himself. Once those doors closed, I knew I was more than allowed to finally get the breakdown I needed. I've never been so happy for this boy in my life. More than when Daddy invited him into the family. He might be getting his mom back in his life. It got me thinking about my own. Granted, I'll never see Mama in this life again, but something about a touching family reunion got to me. And it'll be happening in my penthouse! Tomorrow.
The next morning, Ritsu and I got to class in record time, both of us tapping our feet anxiously, waiting for that final bell to ring. Because once it did, we were going to have to haul ass. I don't know when she'd be coming or if she was coming at all. Ritsu told me she got the invitation. I didn't know much about the woman, but if she was good enough for Ritsu, she's good enough for me. It got me thinking about when Ritsu met Daddy for the first time. All Ritsu knew was that he was horribly important to me and treated him as such. There's no telling that she'd even want me to be there. But I know damn well Ritsu's not going to want to do this alone. He hadn't seen the woman in eight years. He had every right to be nervous.
By the time I got to kendo, the day felt like three of them. It just dragged on and on and on. And maybe a little physical activity in the form of beating the shit out of Mori, no holds barred, will make me feel better. I grabbed my staff, ready to swing wildly, yet completely focused. Anything to center me at this point was more than welcomed. However, Mori managed to get me off my feet in the first couple minutes of our fight. Bullshit! I last a hell of a lot longer than that on a good day!
"Rei…" Mori kept his voice down, "You're on edge."
"Horribly," I admitted, "Why do you ask?"
"Kasanoda's on edge, too," he noticed, "Why?"
"Well…" It'd be nice to have someone to vent to. And it's Mori. As far as our friends are concerned, when it comes to shit about Ritsu and me, Mori's the best place to go, "It's just…I'm meeting his mom today."
"That's nice."
"I don't think you understand," I elaborated, "I'm meeting his mom. He hasn't seen his mom in eight years because of his dad and it's a clusterfuck that I probably shouldn't even be telling you about, but dammit, I need to vent, too. I'm sure he's a mess, but I'm nervous as shit, too."
"You can be sweet, Rei," Mori smiled a little, "Sometimes."
"Thanks, Mori," I laid my head on his shoulder.
"And you have host charms in you," he pointed out, "Think about it."
Mori knew what he was talking about. I had a shit ton of girls I had never met before and didn't know a damn thing about me all swooning over me. Hell, I'm the reason why the line to the host club had doubled in size. Granted, that was mostly because of Kyoya's excellent marketing skills, but they stayed because of me, right? They had to. I had a client list a mile long from being whatever they wanted to see. Thank God, I had Daddy's ability to read people like an open book.
"You know, Mori," I wrapped myself around his arm, "When you speak, you speak volumes. Did you know that?"
"Kind of," Mori shrugged, "Are you going to be ok?"
"Eventually," I figured, "It's a little late for me to back out of it now. It's already happening and it's going down in my penthouse. If I back out of it, I'm just the bitch that kept someone from having a heartfelt reunion with his mom. I will be goddamned if I do that to someone as undeserving as Ritsu."
"Good luck," he wrapped his arms around me.
"Thanks, Mori," I got up from the floor and changed back into my uniform. I met Ritsu outside the kendo room and slipped my hand into his, "You ready?"
"As ready as I'm going to be," Ritsu put an arm around me. By the looks of it, he's calmed down considerably. I had, too. Who would've thought a little time in my kendo class would put me on the straight and narrow?
"Hey," I wondered on our way out, "We need to stop at the grocery store first."
"Ok…?" he gave me a look, "Care to fill me in?"
"Do you trust me?"
"With everything I got," Ritsu didn't even hesitate. That gives a girl the warm and fuzzy feelings, "Why do you ask?"
"Let me make dinner tonight," I insisted, "I know what I'm doing and there's no fucking way I'm letting you do this on takeout. Not to mention, you fell in love with an Italian Spaniard. If I can't cook, we can blame Mama for that. I can cook like a dream, but Daddy always said Mama could burn water, so we don't need to worry about that."
"Alright," he backed off, "Grocery store, it is. On one condition."
"What's that, baby?" I threw my leg over his bike.
"You let me help," Ritsu stipulated, "You know I can cook, too. And I could probably put up with you in a kitchen."
"Put up with me?" I gasped, "Quieres atrapar estas manos, hijo de puta?"
"Te amo, tambien," he cranked his neck back, kissing my cheek, "My Spanish isn't quite there yet, Rei. Care to translate?"
"No particularmente," I shot him down.
"You exhaust me…"
"I know," I laid my head between his shoulder blades, "I love you, too. And I'd consider it a great honor if we shared my kitchen."
"Thank you."
I love my boyfriend. I really do. But he says I exhaust him? This boy's mood swings are a fucking yoyo and yet he says I exhaust him. Well…I understand that mine can be just as bad, but…I really had no room to talk here, did I? The two of us took off from the Ouran parking lot and headed for the supermarket. If I remember correctly, Haruhi's place is somewhere around here. Here nor there. I wasn't quite sure what to make tonight. When I want to impress someone, I usually go for risotto. It comes off hella fancy, but it's so fucking easy to make. Could I make that in my rice cooker, though? No. That's best I do it with instant rice.
There's one thing. I can't just make a risotto. It's times like these were I wish I had more recipes from the other side of the family. Those were recipes passed down through six or seven generations and I remember getting them on Christmas whenever we had to deal with Mama's side of the family and all of my cousins from Mama's side of the family would treat me like a disease. That's the poor one. That's the one that took Vanessa away from the rest of us. Mostly generational prejudice. If they actually had the decency to play with me, I'm sure we would've gotten along famously. Right now, that's not something I need to worry about. I wonder if Daddy happened to snake some of them when Mama was still alive. Just in case some shit went down with that side of the family. Lo and behold.
But that would mean waking Daddy up at an ungodly hour and I knew better than to do that. He'd kick my ass for that. But then, he'd realize it was me and be totally cool with it. No. I could manage without him. I had plenty of spices and plenty of knowhow. I got this. Besides, I had Ritsu in my kitchen, too. When in doubt, I always had Ritsu. I wish I had time to throw together a crème brulee, too. That was another thing that was super easy to make that came off really fancy. No time. I could make a damn good chocolate tart, though. That would work. That, a baked chicken, a damn good risotto, and a chocolate raspberry tart. HOT DAMN, that sounded good!
"Hey, Ritsu," I wondered as he and I stood outside the grocery store with more bags than what we probably needed for this, "I just had a thought."
"What's that, Rei?"
"How in the hell are we supposed to get all this to my penthouse?"
All the color drained from Ritsu's face, "Shit. You got a point."
"Wait a second!" the lightbulb in my head turned on and shined bright enough to guide ocean liners in the dead of night through a thick fog, "I got it!"
"All ears, Rei…"
"Hold on," I pulled my phone out of my bag and made a quick call.
"Hi, Rei!" the voice on the other end chimed. Don't get annoyed, Rei…You need him, "Is everything alright?"
"Hi, Roy," I saw Ritsu's eyes light up, "I'm fine. I do need you, though."
"Me?" he got way too fucking excited about that.
"Yes, Roy," I rolled my eyes, "You're the one on Daddy's payroll for this very reason. I need you to get to the supermarket as soon as you can. I got a shitload of groceries here and they can't fit on the back of Ritsu's bike. So, if you could get here yesterday, that'd be great."
"Ok!" Roy sang, ready to come out of his skin, "I'm getting in the car as we speak!"
"Alright then," I hung up my phone, "Fucking spazz."
"Love him or hate him," Ritsu shrugged, "You have to admit. He comes in handy."
"And he's so eager to please," I agreed, "Because if he pisses me off, I can run back and tell Daddy. That'll piss Daddy off. Nobody wants to be on the receiving end of that. People think Her Majesty is a bitch when she's having a bad day, they've never seen Daddy upset. It's not pretty."
"Does this mean I'm going to have to marry you?" he teased, "Because if I break up with you, then I'll have the wrath of Frankie to deal with. And I don't know about you, Rei, but I like your old man. He's alright. And I'd rather not have him want my head on a fucking spike."
"No," I shook my head, "No, no, no. I mean, I'm sure Daddy would be over the goddamn moon if you came to him and asked for my hand, but let me get my title first and then, we can see about that. But if you're wanting to break up with me, Ritsu, I'll be able to handle it. Yeah, shit's going to suck, but if we're not right for each other, then we're not right for each other. I'd rather us break it off than have us sitting across the table from each other for the next fifty years in a loveless marriage."
"I love you, Reila," Ritsu draped his arms around my shoulders, "You're so understanding."
"Don't get me wrong," I assured, "If this is your way of breaking up with me now, I'm going to be fucking pissed and you will meet Her Majesty at her palace in the narrows. You've seen what she can do."
"Yes, ma'am."
"You don't want to be on the receiving end of that, do you, Ritsu?"
"No, ma'am."
"Good," I kissed his cheek, "I know you're not breaking up with me right now, Ritsu. After last night, I'd say we're still pretty solid."
"After tonight, though," Ritsu held me tight, "Depending on how it goes, I may want to marry you."
"Easy, tiger," I slowed him down, "We are nowhere near ready for that kind of thing. I love you, Ritsu. That hasn't changed. But commitment so early in the game is not in the cards for me."
"And something tells me Frankie's pretty old school about that kind of thing," he figured, "If I didn't ask his permission before proposing to you, he'd probably have my ass handed to me."
"On the plus side, though," I laid my head in his chest, "You'd be pretty safe on that end."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because the person he usually has doing the ass handing," I smiled a little, "would be the girl you're proposing to. Pinky promise, I'd go gentle on you."
"Thanks, Rei."
"Rei!" Roy, you have the worst fucking timing. I hope you know that, "Hi, Ritsu!"
"Hi, Roy," Ritsu was just as irritated as I was. I could tell.
"Jesus, Rei," Roy surveyed the amount of bags at my feet, "What's all this food for? I mean, I'm glad you finally went grocery shopping for the first time since you've moved here, but this is a little excessive for just one person."
"I'm going to be having a special guest tonight," I filled him in, "And I'm cooking, so…Could you take this back to the penthouse?"
"Can do!" Immediately, he started loading the trunk. I know I've given Roy a lot of shit since day one, but I'm kind of glad to have him around.
"Hey," I got one last kiss from Ritsu, "I'm going to go back with Roy. Is that ok?"
"Fine by me," Ritsu let me go, "I'll see you at home?"
"I'll see you at home." I melted inside. I'm not sure, but I think he might like me a little bit. And as batshit crazy as this sounds, I think I like him, too.
