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KITTY AND RICHIE HAVEN'T HAD any alone time since the weekend. A day neither of them brought up but both still thought about it. Every time Richie did he felt himself grinning. Thinking back to how pure and natural the day felt. And even Eva had been gushing about it to her mom, causing Tiffany to call Richie.
("Seriously, Richie, you need to tell her how you feel," Tiffany had said.
"Erm...Hello to you too," Richie responded, feeling confused as to what Tiffany was talking about.
"Yeah, hi. Are you going to tell her?"
"Tell who what?" Richie questioned, utterly lost with the topic of the unprompted conversation. He was balancing his phone up to his ear using his shoulder as he prepared dinner. A microwave lasagna for one.
"Kitty, obviously!"
Richie's head shot up. His phone slipping off his shoulder, but before it could smash onto the floor, he managed to catch it and quickly lifted it up to his ear. Glad that no-one was around to have seen his reaction, "Wh-What, Tiff--"
"I'm not blind, Richie," Tiffany scoffed, "Just let yourself finally be happy, please?")
Kitty, too, couldn't stop thinking about that day. It felt so natural to be in the presence of Richie lately, something that she never thought she would feel around the guy. What she did hate, though, was the relentless teasing she succumbed to from Neil and Ted. No matter what she did and how much she threatened her brothers, they would still grin at her with teasing smiles on their faces.
Neil only stopped once Kitty had been close enough to power tools whilst at The Bear, with the renovations still happening at the restaurant and only seven weeks until the re-opening, the whole team was helping out, trying to do the best that they could themselves so that they would be able to save as much money as they could. The money found in the tomato cans was a hell of a lot, but still not enough to comfortably renovate the entire restaurant and be in the clear with the previous debts that Mikey had mounted up.
"...This is my problem and I don't want this to change anything," Sugar's muffled voice was suddenly heard through the surprisingly thin walls when Neil turned off his power tool and although hammering continued on the walls, Sugar's voice was still heard through it all.
Kitty looked over towards the wall that was conjoined to the office. And it wasn't long before everyone else also gained interest in the conversation happening in private, glancing towards the wall with curious gazes.
"Okay? I don't wanna be treated any different, okay? I am... completely terrified," Sugar sighed, "And I'm only telling you because...I dunno. Just-just in case. And don't take this like I'm not excited because I am so excited. Because of how we grew up and everything in our lives, I really want this to be loving and good and happy. I just...I don't want anyone to know."
"Sure," Carmy's voice was much quieter.
"Okay. Like, I really don't want Richie to know."
Kitty looked over at the other side of the room at Richie. He looked slightly taken aback having heard Sugar's words.
"Because somehow it feels more in my control to decide when and where...that I'm pregnant," Sugar stammered when the wall suddenly came crashing down, revealing her and Carmy to everyone once the cloud of dust settled.
"Congratulations!" Richie cheered.
Neil began to clap, grinning from ear to ear.
Kitty sent Sugar a sympathetic smile. She understood why Sugar had wanted to keep it a secret for now, with all the stressors of the restaurant she most definitely wasn't looking for people to start treating her differently and not taking her serious whilst she herself tried to wrap her head around the surprise pregnancy, especially with the fear that she had told Kitty about worrying that she wouldn't make a good mom; like her own one.
"I fuckin' knew it!" Richie yelled, laughing excitedly.
Kitty scoffed, "No way you did."
Richie stepped closer to her whilst everyone else began going back to their work as well as congratulating Sugar on the news, "Erm, I'll have you know that I totally did," Richie told her, coming to stand right beside her.
Kitty crossed her arms over her chest, her arm brushing against Richie's. She wasn't wearing her jacket and so her exposed arm felt every slide of her skin against Richie's, causing the hair on it to stand.
Kitty looked at him surprised. Not that he had put it together, if he wanted to he could actually be quite smart with certain things, but the fact that he had actually noticed something as casual as Sugar going off to the toilets at (usually) the same time each day and coming back out with a slight sheen on her face.
"Didn't realise you were that observant," Kitty teased, poking him in the chest.
Richie glanced down at her hand before looking back at her face and shrugging, "I notice everything."
Kitty raised a brow and tilted her head slightly as she looked at him, "Sure you do," She muttered, her eyes locked on his.
Their bodies surprisingly close. The hadn't even realised they'd been inching closer and closer to each other. As if their bodies were magnified to each other, needing to be as close as possible to feel comfortable.
"Nat, the wall fell," Neil commented.
Kitty broke out of her stare. She snickered at her brother's comment and turned her head to look his way. Whilst Richie stayed standing there. As stiff as cardboard. His eyes watching Kitty's every move. Almost as if he couldn't bring himself to look away from her.
