Rika, the Cuban Flame

30. A Flame Ignited

Rika

Lucas and I have settled into a beautiful routine, one that I never thought I would enjoy or even have in my profession. He goes to class and I go train. I drop him off every morning and pick him up in the afternoon and sometimes meet him for lunch. A couple of months have passed, and with Lucas's fall semester over, it's the peak of the holiday season, which is a wonderful time of year. It's a time for cooking, being with family and friends, and spending quality time with the people we love. This year is special for me because Lucas will be right there by my side, a part of our familia, and as I've said, that is what's most important.

As we stand in front of my papa's home, I glance over at Lucas, our hands tightly locked together. I can sense his nervousness. All of his familiar nervous habits are on full display. Nothing escapes my attention. Especially with him. He nervously bites his bottom lip, and when he's not doing that, I know he bites the inside of his cheeks. His feet can't seem to find a steady position and he shifts his weight back and forth between his legs. There's a chill in the air tonight, and Lucas has his other hand in his jacket pocket, then he takes it out and clenches his fist, only for that same hand to plunge back into the pocket it emerged from.

"Hey," I say, now moving and facing him.

Lucas immediately looks at me. I've trained him well over these past months and he's loved every single second of that training, as have I. He knows to never divert his gaze from me for any reason. If I'm in front of him, I demand focus. If I'm talking to him, I demand his full attention. If my hand is on him, if I touch him, hold him, hug him, he's to respond and now, his body responds to me automatically. It's an incredible bond we have, and that's the bond I've been looking for my entire life. All of my friends, coaches, staff, everyone in the fighting world always said I need to date my own. I need to date another celebrity. I need to make headlines with who I'm dating and my name needs to be in the titles of articles. I've never thought that this unyielding love could come from a normal person, and I mean that in a good way. Lucas doesn't need to be a celebrity. To me, he already is, and that's all that matters.

The upcoming spring semester is his last, but after that he graduates and gets a break before we, yes, we, start hearing decisions from all the medical school applications he submitted. I've helped him with all of them and we've sent off well over 20. He didn't even want to submit any because he still thought there was no point with everything that's happened, including the publicity he's gotten. He kept getting up and walking away, making me submit him to sit him back down at the computer. Thighs around his head, headlock, leg locks, I did it all to make sure his ass sat right in that leather to work on every application. I'm pretty sure he continued to get out of the chair on purpose so I kept submitting him. That sneaky bastard.

With all these applications, it's sort of a throw-them-all-against-the-wall and we'll see what sticks. We capitalized on his popularity as #premedboner and incorporated our relationship into his personal statements, which were required for all applications. He could tell his story to every school in his own words. It's really a great journey we've had. It's been rough. It's been rocky. We've screamed at each other. I broke his arm. Humiliated him. But through all of that, we're together and I wouldn't have it any other way.

"Hey," Lucas repeats, staring into my eyes that squint from the piercing chill. The chilly wind smashes into me like a car accident to remind me I'm still standing outside with him. Though, he seems lost in his own head, too.

I let go of his hand to cup his face gently. "You have nothing to be nervous about."

Lucas takes a deep breath and relaxes more into my touch. I know him so well that I can recognize his different sighs, tones, and breaths, even when he's not speaking. The time we've spent in the study helps with that. I used that room as a library, but now it's become a dungeon.