.
The look of relief on your face becomes obvious, which Stella responds to with, "Good. You're finally getting with the program." It makes you bend over, your head lowered and resting in your hands, trying to calm down your panicked heart.
"How much did you end up drinking last night? Do you have a hangover?" Stella asks with concern.
"No. Not a hangover. Just... calming myself down. I kinda panicked when I thought that everything that happened yesterday just happened in my head" you answer her honestly.
"Would that be so bad?" Stella asks. You lift your head from your hands to look at her, and she looks genuinely curious about what you'd answer.
"As long as you'd always forgive me for flaking on you? Then no, repeating yesterday wouldn't be so bad", you answer her with a smile. She smiles back, happy with your answer.
"How about a timeline where you actually don't flake on us?" Stella jokingly asks. With your head much clearer, you respond by leaning back, hands behind your head, and raising your feet on the couch.
"Nah", you respond, shaking your head jokingly.
Stella pounces on you. You let out an 'oof' as you suddenly feel her weight on your body. She shifts her body to the side of the sofa with the backrest, so that you're both laying on the couch squeezed together. Then she punches your chest playfully. "Jerk" she says jokingly, and proceeds to rest her head on your shoulder and hugs you with one arm.
You remember laying like this with her since she was a kid, having her head sleep on your chest as you stared at the ceiling trying to think of a way to break out of the countless writer's blocks you've experienced. It's comforting to know she still enjoys doing this with you. You guys lay there peacefully, savoring the moment, and just enjoying the fact you're back home together again. You weren't really able to do it yesterday due to having to clean up the mess that became your apartment.
You look away from the ceiling and down to your daughter, her eyes closed resting on your chest. She takes a deep inhale through her nose, almost as if she was taking in your scent, and lets out a moan as she exhales. She hugs you tighter. "I've missed this", Stella admits to you.
"Me too baby." you reply. "More than you know.", you add in a quieter tone, almost under your breath so Stella won't hear.
"No, Dad. I know. I'd know more than anyone." she replies in a somber tone. She goes back to resting her head on your chest and you go back to staring at the ceiling. You hate to admit it, but despite wanting to learn more about how she was coping with the divorce yesterday, you really weren't able to learn much; but what she told you right now speaks volumes.
She does understand more than anyone. You both lost the same person. Not that Diane's dead, but you're both acting like she is. Hell, Diane's doing the same thing. She hasn't contacted you since the divorce and Stella most likely doesn't want to hear from her mom based on what she last told her. You may have lost someone you've been with half your life, but Stella lost someone she's known for the entirety of hers. It makes you return the hug she's giving you and kiss the top of her head. She moans again like before.
"I'm sorry you had to babysit me yesterday," you tell her. "But I'm doing much better now, now that you're here. Much better than I've been in months. So it's time I start acting like I'm the parent around here, and not the other way around." "Dad--" "Yes. Exactly. Dad. I'm your Dad. So you need to listen to me little lady", you jokingly tell her while booping her nose. She just smiles, and goes back to resting her head on your chest.
"With that being said, as supreme father, patriarch of this apartment", you say in a fake booming voice to make her laugh and soften the blow of what you're about to say next. "I think you need to make amends with your mother."
Stella immediately pushes off of you and stands up from the couch. "WHAT THE SOYBOY BETA CUCK SHIT IS THAT!?"
CHAPTER 20.1
How do you respond?
Like a parent, Pt. 2
"Hey! Language!" you shout back at her, after having stood up from the couch as well, trying to assert back your authority.
"Oh, eat a bag of dicks!" Stella responds with hostility. You're about to shout back, but you realize that that's not the best approach right now. So you close your eyes and take a deep breath instead. When you open your eyes, you see Stella still looking at you feeling like you betrayed her. "I chose
you
, Dad! It was supposed to be us against her! We were supposed to--", you hold her by her shoulders which cuts off what she was about to say.
"That's exactly my point, Stella. As much as I resent her for doing what she did--" this time she cuts you off.
"Resent? RESENT!? You should fucking hate her for what she did to us! To our family!" Stella shouted, her eyes becoming watery from emotion.
Yeah, she may have been holding it together yesterday just for you
.
"Why the sudden change of heart,
Dad?
", 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.
