Alicia looks over her shoulder at Ricardo, nudging him with her feet. He chuckles, lightly swatting at her as he pets Zero. Sneaking in to get his pets while Alberto and Paige were on the road had been something he'd taken too long to do, reluctant to upend them again, but he'd finally given up and done so, not wanting them there while he was in England. Alicia and the animals had immediately grown attached, Zero eagerly licking her face as soon as he'd seen her, and she chuckles at the memory as Misty wanders around, tail whipping around haughtingly. "I'm not sure it's my apartment anymore," she jokes, eyes gleaming as he pushes Zero aside gently and shifts, leaning over her.
"It's not bugging you, is it? My cats and dog living here? I could find somewhere else..."
She immediately rolls onto her back, looking up at him. "Your pets are fine- you are fine, right where you're at," she tells him, hands warm against his forearms. "Don't worry about it, I wouldn't have invited you here if I didn't know what I was getting myself into. Cats and dogs, and whatever else."
"Oh my," he says lowly and she giggles, both of them blinking as it dawns on them at the same time the position they're in. "Huh," he says softly, his chest pressed against her side. "I, I guess I should-" But she cups his face, draws him in and breathes in as she kisses him, holding him close. "Alicia..."
"I'm gonna miss you when you leave," she tells him softly. "England, a couple of months... I know it's gonna go fast, while I'm on the road, but the house is going to be really empty when I come back to it every week."
His hands are gentle against her side, stroking along her ribcage and she exhales, kissing him again. "My hotel or wherever the Knights are going to put me are going to be really empty too," he confesses. "I'm going to miss hanging out with you. It's been probably the best thing that could've happened to me after everything with Paige fell apart..."
Alicia nods. "Same for me, with Alex," she murmurs, stroking his back with sure fingers. She rests her head back, allowing her hair to fan out around her head and shoulders and he smiles down at her, taking in her beauty. "I wonder if I'll get drafted away from Paige," she muses. "It doesn't matter either way, we're not friends any more and I don't even have to deal with her on Total Divas since they took me off this coming year, but... hm." She makes a soft sound deep in her throat when his lips rest carefully on her shoulder, kissing over to her throat. "Ricardo..."
Once they're eye to eye again, Ricardo nuzzles closer to her. "Listen, I appreciate you wanting to defend me or whatever, but I don't want you getting into trouble because of me. She's not worth it, Alberto's not worth it. This draft opens up all kinds of possibilities, so just... seize them, and ignore the petty drama. Alright? I know you want another opportunity at the women's belt... so go for it."
"Oh alright," she sighs, her tone that of exaggeratedly put-upon as he laughs at her and slowly kisses her again, their eyes closing as one. It's sweet, it's calm, whatever this is between them. Not the heady sharpness that her friends with benefits relationship she'd formed with Alex, or his tenuous long-term friendship with Paige, that had become something intense and impossible to maintain for very long. They had been acquaintances first, then friends and roommates, and now... well.
He rolls off of her, clicking at Zero as he lifts his eyes and stares back at his owner, tongue poking out of his mouth lazily. "Silly dog," he sighs affectionately, clapping his hands together and standing, reaching out for Alicia. "Come with me."
It's new, working together to get through day by day in this weird, complicated business, but Alicia thinks she wouldn't change a thing as they sit outside, holding hands and meditating through the early evening hours, the setting sun and rising tide only easing them in their calm focus.
-x
Alicia gets drafted to Raw. So does Paige. Alberto gets drafted to Smackdown, with Zack, Dolph, and a handful of others that Ricardo would be interested to consider the ramifications of if he wasn't so distracted by his own feelings and thoughts.
He meditates, he strives to learn more, to understand, to be a better person. Sometimes he thinks he succeeds. This night, however, he knows he fails, even as he half-heartedly watches his former best friend's lifeless interview after the draft announcement.
Among all of his mixed emotions, at the very core of the matter, lies vindicated pleasure at their being separated.
