"Any luck?" Alicia asks, joining Ricardo and pressing her back solidly against his, resting her jaw against his shoulder.
"No," he mumbles, digging his fingers into his phone. "I'm still on hold."
Alicia sighs, knowing that their time is pretty much out. "I'm sorry."
"It sucks," he grouses. "I'm going to lose out on ever returning to Egypt if this doesn't..." He bites his lip hard, trying to focus elsewhere.
She strokes his sides, trying to sooth, distract him. Kisses his jaw and noses up his cheek. "Maybe I can distract you later," she murmurs into his ear.
He shrugs listless. "Doubt I'll be in the mood, sorry," he says, glowering down at the notes he'd made on a pad of paper, anxious scribbles covering it.
She hums. "Leave it to me," she tells him, kissing below his ear before standing up and walking off to their bedroom.
Ricardo allows himself to look up and watch her go before turning his troubled gaze back down to the notes he'd made while struggling to get some sort of answer that would give him some comfort about traveling to Egypt.
When someone finally takes him off hold, the answer they give him is far from what he'd been hoping for and he exhales long and loud, tossing his phone aside before scraping his hands up over his face, tearing at his hair and gritting his teeth. Curses in English, Spanish, and every language he knows pours from his lips until finally he feels a little more in control of himself. Pulling himself to his feet, he makes his way to the bedroom and sprawls out on the bed, pressing his arm over his eyes and waiting.
"No go?" Alicia asks softly, joining him.
"No," he mumbles.
She sighs. "I'm sorry, Ricardo." She's warm, hovering over him, and he enjoys the feel of it, but he doesn't move or look. "Hon, could you look at me for a minute? I have a couple new outfits and I want you to take a quick look, tell me what you think."
He sighs but obliges, pulling his arm away and dropping it down listlessly onto the bed. Immediately he stops, his breath stuttering in his chest. "Oh," he mumbles, staring at her with wide eyes. "Wow."
Slinky, light brown fabric slips over her skin, complimenting her skintone and her eyes so well that she looks like she's glowing in the soft lamplight by the bed, and he gapes at her, enthralled. "Do you like it?" she wonders. "I designed this."
He nods dumbly, fingers twitching as she leans into him, allowing him to feel the sleek shimmer of the fabric against his knuckles, down his wrist. "Wow," he breathes, stroking it. "You're... you're beautiful, Alicia."
She smiles at him. "What do you think?"
He searches for a word, trying to remember the one she'd used recently. "Um. It... It looks nobby."
She laughs softly, kissing him. "You do listen!"
"I try," he says. "You, uh. You said there was more than one?"
"Yeah," she says. "There is. You really want me to take this one off?"
He sighs, grazing his fingers over it. "You can always put it back on later, right?"
She chuckles. "Yes, hon. I absolutely can."
"Then, yeah, go ahead and try the other one on."
She hums. Leans in to kiss him. "You in a better mood now?"
"Yeah," he sighs, missing her as soon as she turns and ducks into the bathroom to change. He's still aching at the thought of missing out on one of the best career opportunities he's had in a long time, but Alicia dances out in a cream colored outfit that looks similar to the brown one, but somehow even more complimentary of her skintone, and he forgets entirely that his life remains on hold because of this damn pandemic.
"What do you think?"
"I think the brown outfit may need to wait," he says, jaw dropping as he guides her over to settle on the bed, allowing him to guide his fingers from the soft fabric to her warm flesh and back. "God, Alicia. I love you. You're so talented with fashion."
She smiles at him and wraps her arms around his neck, pressing flush against him. "I love you too," she murmurs into his ear, pleased to get even closer and help distract him from everything that's gone wrong in the last couple of days.
