Another Lifetime

Chapter 68: Santa Monica pt 2

Monse's POV:
I take a shower and change but Cesar's still just laying in bed. "Go shower!" I yell while I change into a black dress. Cesar walks into the bathroom and I can feel him staring at me. "Stop I'm trying to get ready." I try not to laugh while I do my eyeliner. I'm leaning towards the mirror and he pulls me against him. "You look good." He puts his hands on my hips. "Yeah, and you still gotta get ready. Unless this is more of a sweatpants thing." I try pushing him away but he pulls me even closer. "Later." He says and I laugh. I go back to doing my makeup but he still doesn't let me go. I make eye contact with him in the mirror. "I know what you're trying to do and it's not gonna happen. You're the one who didn't wanna stay in bed." I laugh. "So I can't change my mind?" He wraps his arms around me. "Not when I'm almost ready." I shake my head. When I stand up straight and start fixing my hair Cesar kisses my neck. "That's not gonna work." I roll my eyes. "It's working for me." He says and I laugh. "Yeah Cesar, I can tell." I roll my eyes. I finish my makeup and turn so I'm facing him. "Shower." I kiss him and I try to walk away. He pulls me back and lifts me on the counter. "Ok, now you actually have to get ready." I kiss him. "I will." He looks at my lips so I give him a quick kiss. "Good enough?" I ask. "No." He leans back in and I wrap my arms over his shoulders. He gets between my legs and pushes up my dress. "Cesar." I say against his lips and he walks away. "Now I'm good." He smirks. "What?" I grab his hand. "Remember when we were in bed and you got on top of me and then you got up and took a shower?" He asks. "Vaguely." I roll my eyes. "This is like that." Cesar whispers and then he kisses me.

"Ready?" Cesar asks like he's been waiting for me. "Yeah, let's go." I turn around. "Damn." He stops me in front of a full length mirror. "I know. We look good." I say. "All you baby." He kisses me.

We get in his car after maybe five minutes of him trying to get me to take a picture. "I'm just trying to show you off." Is his only excuse. "So where are we going?" I ask him and he smiles. "Just wait." Cesar smiles. We pull up to the pier and I shake my head. "You could've told me before I wore a dress!" I laugh. "No, we're gonna be overdressed and look better than everyone here." Cesar says. "I'm at least gonna change my shoes." I take off my heels. "Why?" He asks and I show him. "We got ready together. How do you not know what I'm wearing?" I ask. "I was busy look at other things." He smirks. "Shut up." I grab my vans from the backseat and we go.

"There's no way you've never been on a rollercoaster. Please tell me you're joking." I tease Cesar and he shakes his head. "I didn't even go to the beach until I was in high school." He says. "Poor baby." I squeeze his hand. "We're going on one today." I say and I can tell he's nervous. "This mean I don't have to get you something expensive for your birthday?" He asks. "Sure." I laugh. "Bet let's go right now." Cesar pulls me in the line. He squeezes my hand at first but by the end we're both screaming our lungs out with our hands up. I feel like a nineteen-year-old got the first time in a really long time. "Let's do that again!" Cesar smiles. "So you hated it?" I say sarcastically. He just cups my face in his hands and kisses me. "Come on." I drag him onto the ferris wheel. "Wow." He looks around as we go up. "Yeah." I nod. It's a little after sunset and everything just looks better now. "We gotta bring Mona and Kyrie here when she's older." He says. "I want them to see how much there is outside of Freeridge." Cesar tells me but he actually sounds like he has hope for once. I lay my head on his shoulder and we just watch the city lights turn on. I wish this could just last all day.

We spend a few more hours just walking around, going on rides, and eating ice cream. Cesar leads the way down to the beach and we sit in the sand and talk. "Here." Cesar gives me his hoodie 'cause I'm obviously freezing. "You wanna just runaway here?" I ask him. "What?" He laughs. "I don't know. We could just pack everything, get a studio for the three of us. It'd be small and shitty, Mona would hate it when she grows up, but we'd have the beach and the pier." I know it'll never happen. "Yeah." He nods. "We'll come here every night and talk about how crazy everything used to be." He kisses me.

"I'm gonna go shower." I tell him when we get back to the apartment. "What do you wanna eat?" He asks and I just smile. "No." He shakes his head. "It's my birthday!" I laugh. "I'm not driving to Inglewood for food!" Cesar doesn't give in. "Please?" I just look at him and I can see the minute he gives up. "Fine." He kisses me.

I get out of the shower and grab one of his flannels out of his bag. "I got it." Cesar holds up two bags of Dominican food from the place I love. "You're the best." I snatch one of the bags away from him and lay down on the couch. "I swear this is all you've been wanting to eat lately." He sits down and puts my legs on his lap. My smile fades when I process what he said. "Cesar." I say and he just looks confused. "This all I've been wanting to eat." I repeat what he said. "Yeah." He nods. "When I was pregnant, I cried 'cause of how much I wanted this food." I raise my eyebrows and he still doesn't get it. I let him think about it and he looks at my stomach and back at my eyes. "No way." He laughs but he's nervous. "Cesar, go get me a pregnancy test." I say.