Seasons of Love || Richard Camacho

40

May 13th

Richard is sitting on the floor, laughing at a little girl who's laughing at the tv. I recognize her immediately. It's Aaliyah. His daughter. He is introducing me to his daughter. Holy shit. Holy shit. Stay calm. It's just a little girl. Richard finally notices me and points at me while looking at Aaliyah. She looks at me as well and she laughs. Even the way she walks towards me is cute. She lifts her arms up in the air and I pick her up. 'Hola.' Does she speak English? 'Hi.' Her little hands play with my hair. Richard gets up and touches Aaliyah's cheek with the back of his hand. 'This is my little princess. I wanted her to meet my big princess.' Aaliyah repeats the word princess in the cutest way ever and pats my cheek. This is too much. How am I supposed to deal with this? We sit down in front of the tv and the little girl on my lap tells me exactly what's going on in her own little language. It doesn't take long before she gets more quiet and more quiet. 'Rich, I think she's sleeping?' He shakes his head. 'Nah, she only sleeps when she's in bed.' 'Well I'm pretty sure she's sleeping, she's drooling on my arm.' 'Tiffany, it's cute that you want me to think that-' He stops mid-sentence. 'She's sleeping.' He looks surprised and there's a hint of something else playing on his face. He's not about to cry, is he? Just as I am about to wake her up, Richard grabs his phone from the table and takes a few pictures. 'What are you doing Richmond?' He doesn't answer and he puts his phone away.

After putting Aaliyah to bed, Richard and I cuddle up on the couch and we watch tv. Just when Sandy ditches Tom for Danny, my phone rings. Kat? What the fuck does she want? I sit up and scoot away from Richard. 'Girl, you okay with facetiming?' She doesn't even say hello. 'Sure.' We switch to facetime and I see Kat lying in bed. 'Isa and Christopher had sex.' Richard chokes on his water and starts laughing. 'Hi Kat!' He laughs and excuses himself. 'Oh shit. Hi Richard.' I tell her that he's gone and ask her why she is facetiming me to tell me this. She sits up, sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. 'They didn't use protection.' 'Sorry, what?' 'They didn't use protection. The only condom they had broke and he thought she was using the pill and she thought it would be okay because her ovulation app said it was okay to have sex now.' I facepalm myself. Katarina tells me that Isa hasn't told Christopher about this pregnancy "scare" yet. Scare between quotation marks apparently she's not scared, but happy. I tell her that I need time to come up with a reaction, as I might say rude things about them when I would react now. They have been together for a few days. Known each other for a few months. Oh lord. But okay. If she's happy...

When we're in bed, Richard asks about Isa and Christopher. I tell him it's not my story to tell. 'You girls are so mysterious sometimes. Katarina said the same thing when I asked about your past.' His fingers trace my jawline and he looks into my eyes. Katarina, you queen. 'Yeah, I might tell you soon though. But not now, okay?' He nods and kisses my nose. Nuh-uh boy, I don't think so. My hand moves to the back of his neck and I lean in to kiss his lips. He smiles and he pulls me closer by my hips. The kiss starts off sweet, but intensifies quickly. Hungry, would that be the right word? His hands travel over my body and I bite his bottom lip before I let my tongue trace his lips. When he starts to roll his hips into mine and I moan, I stop him. 'Richard.' His stare finds mine and we are both trying to catch our breaths. His lips are slightly parted and I want to suck his bottom lip into my mouth. Fucking hell. 'I don' t want to go further than this yet. I am so sorry. But this means something. I don't want this to be like...' He kisses me to shut me up. 'I understand. It's okay. We can wait as long as you want to.' I smile and give him a short peck on his lips. His arms wrap around me and we cuddle. Honestly, I am waiting for shit to go wrong. It is not possible for a guy to be like this. He is poking the bubble plastic around my heart and in the back of my head I am constantly trying to fix the bubbles. Because I am falling and I am trying to prepare myself and my heart for the impact of hitting the ground.