", she asks, mockingly saying the word 'Dad'. You move your hands from her shoulders and caress her arms downwards, then hold her hands with yours. She visibly calms down again.
"Last night, someone made me realize what your mother may have been going through before our divorce and that--"
"Last night!? Did Cassie put you up to this!?" Stella says accusingly, before turning her head towards the direction of the guest bedroom and you instinctively turn your head towards that direction as well; resulting in both of you looking at an awkwardly standing Cassie, who may have been watching your father-daughter shouting match.
Well, this is awkward.
Cassie raises her hands up defensively. "Uhhhh... Stella. I-uh..." she tries to speak, alternating her gaze between you and Stella. From the looks of it, she doesn't want to throw you under the bus.
"Now I get it. You're both fucking with me. One movie night together and you guys bonded like the pseudo-father-daughter duo you used to be and decided to make me look like the tantrum throwing brat again. Well, HA-HA!
Real
funny" Stella shouts, laying the sarcasm on thick. "Stella, we wouldn't do that! That's not what happened!" Cassie shouts from the other side of the living room. You start rubbing the back of Stella's hands with your thumbs, trying to calm her down.
"It was Tanya, Stella." Stella turns to look at you so fast that her long hair whips you in the face, causing you to flinch.
"MS. RAMIREZ!?" Stella shouts in surprise and obvious confusion. "What... how?" The revelation seemed to calm her down. Stella turns to Cassie, looking to see if she knew about this.
Cassie in response, raises her hands back up defensively "I-I don't even know who that is", Cassie responds innocently.
"She doesn't know about it, baby", you tell her while shaking her hands a bit to get her to focus her attention on you. "I went out with Tanya last night after I..." You, thankfully, catch yourself. You were just about to admit to your daughter that you felt uncomfortable in your pants in relation to her best friend so you made up an excuse to go outside.
"I dared him to knock on her door!" Cassie interjects after your long pause. "We were...ummm... we were playing Truth or Dare. Yeah. That's it".
Bless her soul, she's trying to cover for you... but Stella's not stupid.
Not even turning towards Cassie, her eyes still looking at you, "I thought you didn't know who she was?", she asks Cassie rhetorically with a raised eyebrow. Cassie tries to stutter a response but it's your turn to save her this time.
"I told her I was going out to smoke..." you admit to Stella. The look of betrayal on her face matches the level of fury in her eyes. She punches you on the chest, not playfully this time. You react to the pain.
"You broke the pinky swear already!? No wonder you started understanding mom out of nowhere. Both of you are just a bunch of... oathbreakers!" She wanted to say 'liar', but even in the heat of anger she doesn't want to call you that.
"Baby, let me finish next time, okay? I went out to smoke, but I didn't. I remembered our promise." you caress the back of her arms again to calm her down, you notice she bites her lower lip, probably to stop herself from another outburst. "I met Tanya out in the hallway by accident. She was going on a night out, and well... she invited me to join her."
"That slut." Stella says. You're secure in the assumption that Stella's not calling her that because she thinks Tanya slept with you, that's just been the running joke in the building since Tanya moved in. You subconsciously react by squeezing her hands hard.
"Don't call her that," you tell Stella. She actually smirked at what you said, probably thinking it's cute you're defending Tanya. She was about to say something to probably mock you or Tanya, but you didn't let her.
"EVER." you say with an authority in your voice that you rarely used, but Stella immediately recognizes. The smirk disappears from Stella's face and immediately goes apologetic, and Stella nods to signify that she understood. A silence falls in the room, as all three of you don't want to break the momentary peace from the crashing waves of shouts that filled the room before.
"So--" Stella breaks the silence, testing the waters. "How'd she make you understand mom's point of v..." She trails off, obviously coming to a sudden realization of her own. "THAT WAS YOU!? LAST NIGHT!"
"YOU'RE '
PAPI
' OF THE WEEK!?"
CHAPTER 21.1
How does the conversation go from here?
Unresolved
"YOU'RE '
PAPI
' OF THE WEEK!?"
You rub the back of your neck in embarrassment.
"What's a puppy of the week?" Cassie asks in confusion.
'
Papi of the Week'
was a term coined by you and Stella as a joke back when you were still a judgmental gossipmonger like the rest of the building; or more accurately, before you became the possible subject of gossip for the building. When you and Stella coined it, it really was more of an award that's given to the partner that can make Tanya's shrieks and moans of pleasure penetrate the soundproofing of the building, so it wasn't a weekly award since Tanya doesn't always bring a guy home on her weekends.
However, due to Tanya getting on a hot streak for like 4 weekends straight, and Diane spreading the phrase to the rest of the building; the title's been misconstrued by the rest of your neighbors to mean that Tanya literally has a new lover every week who she calls '
papi
' so as to not bother learning their names.
Mental note, apologize to Tanya for coining that phrase
.
After Stella explains what '
Papi of the Week'
is to Cassie, Stella places a hand on her hip and looks you up and down as if checking you out, and having a big smile on her face.
"Good for you, you
'stud'
, you!" Stella says in an amused but mocking congratulatory way, after playfully punching your arm. You keep rubbing the back of your neck, it's probably red from chafing by now with how much you're doing it, and you look to the floor momentarily.
When you look back at Stella, it's only for a moment, but you notice that her look has changed from congratulatory to concern; and you swear she glanced at Cassie's direction for that brief moment, which makes you glance at Cassie too.
You see it. Before she could hide it, you see the same look she had in your dream. The same look of longing for what you could only dream as longing for you. With how quick it disappears, and Cassie's face turning into one of being amused at your embarrassment, you can't help but think you just imagined that longing look.
"Oh shit! What time is it?" Stella suddenly asks. It makes Cassie look at her watch and reply it's "9:15". "Crap!"Stella reacts at hearing the time.
"Did you guys have plans?" you ask them.
"I promised Cassie we were gonna go for a run today." Stella tells you. "Then, you. Had. To. Bring. Up. Mom.", Stella punches you in the arm for every word to emphasize her annoyance.
"We still need to talk about that by the way", you remind her, not letting her off the hook.
"And you still have to spill about Tanya."
Touche
.
"Pause for now, okay?" Stella replies, controlling herself from another outburst of emotion. You nod. She smiles and immediately hugs the arm she abused with punches and kisses you on the cheek. "Cook us breakfast, while I go get changed?" she asks you.
"How'd you get so good at manipulating me?" you ask her jokingly.
"A life of practice", she replies with a wink and walks towards her bedroom.
As she closes the door to her room, you're left looking at Cassie who you only just noticed is already dressed for their run. She's in a sporty halter top that's cropped to show her toned waist and jogging pants that cover her long legs up to her ankle. She gives you an awkward smile and the same awkward raising of her hand to say hi.
"Uhhh... over easy right?", you ask her, still very much uncomfortable being alone with her. She looks at you confused, not really understanding the question. "Oh, your eggs. You used to like them cooked over easy, right?" she smiles in response and nods, appreciating the fact that you remembered.
