Alberto has a new tattoo. It's an idle observation, one that isn't really important in the grand scheme of things, but for some reason Ricardo can't take his eyes off of it. It's large, and spreads along Del Rio's side, and at first Ricardo has trouble making it out, but after some switching from image to image, he comes across a decent enough angle that he thinks he knows. It's a sword with a banner wrapped around it- silk, his mind implies. Because it's Alberto, it always has to be silk, right?, the word VIVA imprinted around it in bold, dark print.

Paige isn't Ricardo's concern anymore, Alberto isn't either, but still. An irrational kind of anger pools in his veins as he stares at the picture. Imagines the same tattoo needle that had tarnished Paige's finger doing this, touching both of their skin, marking them for the foreseeable future. He idly traces the tattoos along his own skin, aged and well-worn, experiencing so many things with him over the years. Putting his phone down, he drops his arm over his face and stares up at the blurry lines along his forearm, remembering how it'd felt, fresh into wrestling and wanting to stand out, using the first bit of money he'd saved up just for the lines crisscrossing along his flesh.

Footsteps approach him and he swallows hard as Alicia pokes at him. "Hey, are you awake? I need your help with something," she says cheerfully, the full force of just how she's forcing it becoming evident to him when he pulls his arm away and actually looks at her.

There's still so much sadness in her eyes that he sits up and nods. "What do you need?"

He regrets it, kind of. Sitting on this plush bench for a good two hours, bored out of his mind, watching as Alicia tries on one outfit after the other, tilting hats this way and that, trying to make herself look smashing in them. "There's nothing like a few new outfits to make you feel better about things," she says chipperly, posing with her head down, eyes batting innocently at him as he stares impassively back at her. "What do you think?"

Ricardo wants to say something, anything, to make this torture end but the monstrosity of a dress looks like it's trying to swallow her alive, poofy purple material billowing out around her legs and concerning him as it seems to multiple in size with each blink of his eyes. He thinks she's looked better at home, relaxing in simple white tank tops and creamy brown skirts, but she seems settled on things to dress up in so he shakes his head, watching as her face falls just a little. She returns to the dressing room to change and he scrubs at his face, wondering how many more outfits she could possibly have.

Getting up, he wanders around the racks, browsing and remembering when his sister was younger, before the children. Before his becoming a wrestler. When they were pretty much each other's worlds. It's actions without thought, really, as he dwells on all of the times he'd helped her find clothes, not in a fancy boutique like this, of course, but he figures it still counts as he plucks a dress up without much thought. Deciding against choosing accessories or shoes, he takes his place back on the bench and watches as Alicia comes out, looking downtrodden as she places the pile of unimpressive outfits on the desk by the dressing rooms. "Sorry," she says lowly to the woman standing there who merely smiles patiently and takes them to re-hang them around the store.

Alicia is still standing there, lost in thought, when Ricardo scoops up what he's selected and walks up to her, holding out the dress. "Maybe you should try this on," he suggests. She turns to stare at him, confused, before her eyes light on the dress. It is a simple, low cut, brown dress with little cream swirls here and there that she had completely ignored for the more flashy options around it.

"It looks like my old wrestling gear," she swallows, reaching out for it and running her fingers along the fabric. Sold, she grabs it and runs back to the dressing room, Ricardo's lips quirking up into a smile as he browses a little more, looking for things that have similar color schemes to the clothes she's worn around the house and looked good in.

He's just chose a third outfit when he hears her clear her throat behind him and he turns to look, almost dropping the soft, seagreen dress right out of his fingers. "Ay dios mio," he mumbles, eyes wide as she giggles and twirls, the skirt moving with her in a beautiful swish. "You're beautiful." It's as though he's seeing her for the first time, although he's observed her in dresses before, at WWE events and things like the Hall of Fame, but something about this feels different. More... organic...

She beams and rushes forward, taking the rest of the dresses from his slack hands and examining them briefly. "You might become my new personal shopper," she tells him, swooping in cheerfully and kissing him on the cheek. "Be right back!" Once more happy to be shopping, she starts the fashion show all over again, modeling the three other options for him, each just as breathtaking as the last. All he can do is sit on the bench and gape, nodding his approval after each one. All three- a short dress a shade somewhere between pink and purple, a sleeveless black dress and the seagreen ensemble that shows off her lower back perfectly, along with the brown dress, rounds off the afternoon and Alicia all but coos over each one as they're rung up.

The cashier laughs and motions towards Ricardo while they wait for the transaction to go through. "You're a lucky woman," she says. "This one's definitely a keeper."

It takes them both a few moments to realize what she means, and by then, it's too late to correct her, the cash register clicking and making rough noises as it prints out the receipt confirming her credit card had been charged. She quietly takes the slip of paper, thanks the woman profusely, and grabs her bags, walking out to the car with Ricardo. Delicately laying the clothes out like they're sleeping children, Alicia slips back into the passenger seat and sits there for a moment before looking over at Ricardo.

Their eyes lock and immediately Alicia starts to giggle, choking out something about the look on Ricardo's face after the fifth failure of a dress, and Ricardo responding with his thoughts on that awful purple dress from earlier, Alicia almost folding in on herself at his vivid description of it.

And if his cheek is still tingling just a little from where her lips had pressed against his skin earlier, well, ... now is definitely not the time to over-react to that, so instead he focuses everything on the freeing, beautiful sensation it is to just laugh like a maniac for the first time since he'd learned his best friend was involved with his fiancee.