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I growled at him when he still kept me rooted to the toilet by my hands and knees. "I'm done. Can I go to bed now?"
"Oh, well. If you insist. Looks like we'll have to keep up with the old bucket hack again...you know...just in case you ever need to do one," he said and began lifting me up. "Up, up, up, up!" he exclaimed and continued to prop me up under my dead weight. I let myself fall on my weight purposely to piss him off...to teach him never to interrupt a drunk woman.
It seemed he had a few lessons he also wanted to teach me too because instead of taking me upstairs to my room, he let me fall on the chair where I proceeded to fall asleep, chattering curses at him as I did.
I woke up to see him playing with Artemis and joking with her to get her to eat. I was really smudgy so I didn't bother making up scenarios in my head about how Artemis would make him do some nice cleanups by messing the place up drastically.
"Sleeping ugly. Good morning," he jeered at me when I finally sat up.
"Good morning, mama!" Artemis exclaimed from her chair. She had just dodged a spoon coming to her in the form of an 'airplane' and I waved in response, proud of her defiance.
"Fuck you, Carlos," I cursed and tried to adjust myself to the day light. There was only one thing on my mind.Aspirins. If I continued like this, I was going to get migraines.
"Oh my, Sienna. Language!" I heard a familiar voice exclaim. I whipped my head frantically around trying to pinpoint the source and if not for my hazy vision, I would have seen her earlier.
"Mrs. Ricci," I trembled
Okay, I may or may not have fucked up and I didn't know how to classify this one fuck up. I had placed a restraining order on literally everyone in the Aurora Syndicate except Mrs. Ricci. It was even literally stated in the order so that they'll see my preference. I just couldn't bring myself to exclude her from the life of her granddaughter. I loved her too much.
"Goo...good m... morning," I stuttered, unsure of what to do. I just kept staring at her soft warm features that screamed an invitation to comfort. She smiled at me and spread her arms ever so slightly and I obliged. Running to her, I buried myself in her body and sunk my face in her hair that I noticed she left flowing today. Long, lush softness. I could've slept again in the darkness of her accommodating hair. We didn't do anything. No cries, no laughs, no asking how the other had been; she just held me, and I crushed her back wallowing in the understanding silence for as long as I could hold on to it.
**************************
"You know...I didn't include you in the restraining order," I told her as she played with Artemis.
"Oh really!" she exclaimed. "I must have been so lucky for coming here in total oblivion then without the fear of breaching the law."
I could've face-palmed. I did facepalm. "Oh shit, yeah. I'm sorry. It was stated..."
"You don't have to apologize for anything my dear," she laughed. "I should be the one apologizing. I knew about the restraining order, and I haven't visited since, knowing I was clearly excluded."
"No, really I didn't feel angry at all. I guess it was worth the abstinence, you know...gave me time to recover," I shrugged.
She shrugged too.
"How have you been holding up? Is he..." she asked suggestively about Carlos who also threw a suggestive glance at me. On any normal day, I'd have opted to smack that stupid smugness off his face, but I held myself now. He was for later.
"Oh? Oh. No. Nah... pfft. He's my very good friend. That's all. I can't possibly fathom any other relationship," I laughed, and she joined in her natural manner.
"You've given up on relationships?"
I nodded.
"My dear, you're still young. There's too much time on your hands to make mistakes. You fall into the wrong hole, you climb out again," she smiled sweetly. Her thighs kept bouncing with Artemis on them. She had developed a new play tool by opening her mouth and humming while her grandma bounced making the sound break in waves. It got really interesting for her when Mrs. Ricci bounced them in particular patterns making her voice breaks come out in the same patterns.
I nodded and leaned in on her shoulder.
"Mrs. Ricci?"
"Yes baby," she answered. I could have sworn I saw a pang of jealousy flash across Artemis' eyes, and I poked out my tongue at her, making her lunge at me.
"What about Alessandro's dad? Your husband. I don't hear much of him," I quizzed.
"Ah. Perhaps the very story I had planned to come to you with today."
"Yay!"
I had always loved Mrs. Ricci's stories. From her tales in high school alone, I felt like I was part of her growing up life in Pisaand her high school romance that eventually led to her marriage. Now, I wanted to continue embedding myself in that life.
