Ricardo is almost afraid to open his eyes the next morning. For one thing, his head hurts. For another, Alicia is wandering around the house and he doesn't want to face her, not after last night. His throat is impossibly dry and he feels sticky and disgusting, though, so he can't stay buried in the couch cushions all day long. Rolling off, he catches his balance before he hits the floor and hisses, digging his knuckles into his eyes before looking out. Alberto's car isn't here, to his relief, so he squares his shoulders and heads into the kitchen, where Alicia is sitting at the table, staring out at the bright blue sky.
He closes his eyes and drops down across from her, staring at his hands. "Alicia?" She turns to look at him quietly and he exhales. "I'm sorry. About last night. Just... a lot of things hit me at once and I... I didn't mean to do that. You deserve better than that. Especially after what Alex put you through." She doesn't say anything and he leans forward, burying his face in his hands. "I don't even know what to say right now."
Her hand is warm as she rests it on his shoulder, squeezing gently. "Ricardo, I'm not mad. You don't have to keep apologizing. I understand. Especially since I talked with Alberto. He saw your instagram post and we kind of just put things together." She stands up long enough to sit in his lap, pressing soft kisses to his forehead. "Listen, you're allowed to melt down now and again, ok? It hurts me because I don't like seeing you in pain, but I'm not going to shy away from it... I'm not going to be weak. The reason it didn't work with Alex is because he was always angry and bitter. You are not, you at least try to better yourself and be a good guy. We all have bad days, if anyone can attest to that, it would definitely be me. I can't judge you."
"You're really not mad?" he asks, swallowing hard. "I wouldn't blame you if you were..." She starts to rub his forehead and kissing softly along his nose and mouth.
"You were really patient with me," she says. "While Cedric, Noam and then Rich Swann were all showing some level of interest in me. So you've had a bad night, I'm not going to hold it against you." She runs her fingers through his hair and smiles at him sadly. "Do you need tylonel? Some water? Anything else?"
He pauses. Squeezes her hip. "Just... lemme hold you for a little bit? Please?" She nods and he follows through, kissing her shoulder and resting his head against her chest. She hugs him and listens to him breathe as he rests. "Did Alberto say anything?"
"Not really," she says. "I think he was mostly worried about you, but he's not going to push. I told him not to, that you're still far from forgiving him for things."
"Thank you," Ricardo murmurs, realizing anew just how much he owes her. "Thank you so much."
She cuddles with him for awhile before getting him some pain killers and water, moving to make up some eggs and toast. "I know you're probably a little queasy," she says sympathetically as she puts the plate down in front of him. "But you need to eat, so just try to keep it down."
He nods morosely, digging his fork through the eggs and chewing slowly on the toast. "You take such good care of me," he murmurs, smiling at her. "I don't desrve you."
She rolls her eyes and kisses him noisily. "That's how I feel about you," she shares before joining him, holding his hand while he slowly eats, managing to hold it down.
He rests for most of the day, Alicia taking care of him until she has to fly out for WWE touring. He stares at the empty apartment before him, tempted to text Alberto, say something, but he can't find the words. "Dammit," he mumbles, wishing that this whole situation could be easier.
His next few days is a mess of busy things. Alicia competes against Dana Brook and loses within minutes, he spends hours training kids at the local school, and tries not to think too seriously about his dream to run a school of his own in California. He's in-between lessons when he spots Alberto tweeting about WWE, dissing their treatment of Paige and Total Divas and whatever else. Ricardo's on the outside looking in, unsure of the exact circumstances that led both to Alberto leaving the company again and Paige's suspension, neck injury and everything else, but he throws caution to the wind. RTs it.
He sits in the window and stares at the sky beyond when his phone buzzes in his hand. He exhales and stares at the screen, not that surprised to find a text from Alberto waiting. Hola, Ricardo. I hope I'm not bothering you, but you weren't in such great shape last time I saw you... and I just wanted to know if you're doing alright.
I'm fine, he responds after a moment, fingers resting shakily over the buttons as he considers what he most wants to say. I apologize for that. It was a rough night, I drank too much, and... it's no excuse but it's the truth.
It's fine, you have nothing to be ashamed about. Alberto is silent for awhile, then, Ricardo, if you wouldn't mind... may we meet somewhere? I just... I miss my friend, si? It can be your choice of venue and time, I just want to catch up with you, if that's something you think you can tolerate. Ricardo says nothing, eyes scanning and re-scanning these words, and then, I miss my hermano.
It tips Ricardo's hand. Fine. We can meet.