I turned to see Ric looking all sleepy. No wonder he stayed this long to open the door.
"Hi."
"Hey Bee"
"Sorry I woke you from sleep" I said feeling a little guilty about that.
"It's okay." He said, his gaze drops to the box am holding.
"What's that?" He asked.
"I also have no idea. But I must say, am sure it's something really funny." I said laughing and he laughs too.
"That can only be from either my mum or yours." He said in certainty which is not surprising given how well we know our mothers and what they are capable of.
"Your mum sent it but i think it's probably both of them on this one." I said and he groans in response.
"I hope not. One of them is drama, not to talk of both. You know how they can be. I can't think of anything good coming out of this thing." He said taking the box from me.
You want some coffee?" Ric asks as we go to his living room.
"Sure, that'd be great," I say, sitting on his couch.
I hold up the box from Aunt. "So are you gonna open this? I want to see what's inside."
Ric looks at the box carefully. "Knowing mum, it could be something really embarrassing. Maybe I should open it later when I'm alone."
I shake my head with a grin. ( There's no way am leaving here without seeing whatever is inside).
"Ah come on, don't be such a baby! We've known each other forever. What could she have that would make you uncomfortable?"
He raises an eyebrow but I can see him giving in. With a sigh, Ric takes the box from me. "Alright, alright. But don't say I didn't warn you."
Sitting beside me, he breaks the seal and opens the box. We both lean in...and immediately start laughing. Inside are some silly self-help dating books with funny titles.
(Lol).
Ric groans but laughs. "Wow, she's really mocking me for being single a long time."
"That's not all!" I giggle, pulling out another box. It's filled with Ric's baby pictures - him naked, him messy with food, embarrassing photos. ( I just knew it).
"Oh man, I'm gonna get her!" Ric laughs, as we look through the pictures.
I just shake my head, feeling happy. Sure, our friendship has been hard lately, but moments like these remind me why Ric and I have been best friends for so long. We continue going through the pictures. Some included me as well as the other guys, after all we've all been close growing up.
"Remember when we pretended to be doctors and nurses?" I laughed, looking at the old photos. "We gave all our stuffed animals check-ups." I said laughing at the memory.
Ric laughed too. "Oh yeah! We thought we were so serious. I think we operated on Mr. Teddy like twenty times."
"And we tried to wrap up your cat Tingle like she was our patient!" He continued and i giggled, remembering her grumpy face.
Ric smiled. "My poor mom. We made such a mess playing hospital in the living room."
We kept talking about all the doctor games we used to play for hours. We would give pretend vaccinations with spray bottles and wrap each other up in toilet paper "bandages." We loved animals.
"Remember when we wanted to open our own secret animal clinic together?" Ric said, shaking his head.
"We were little business kids!" I nudged him. "Just...very confused about how real hospitals work." I added. We had it planned out. A hospital with just the two of us. (Imagine).
We laughed so hard remembering all the silly things we did, like trying to treat Ric's dog and getting in trouble for using kitchen stuff as surgery tools.
"I really missed this," Ric said after we finally stopped laughing. "Just being totally goofy together again."
I smiled, feeling happy and nostalgic. No matter what, Ric and I would always have these dumb childhood memories.
Just then, Ric's phone started ringing. He glanced at it and his entire demeanor changed. I had a feeling about who was calling because his eyes lifted to meet mine before he stood up heading to his room without a word.
I felt a pang of reality hit me. I had almost forgotten about the complicated situation between us lately. I got too caught up in the fun memories.
I sat there in the living waiting for him to come back but the phone call took so long that I started thinking about leaving before he came back strutting out of the room.
I should get going anyway," I said, standing to my feet. "Thanks for the trip down memory lane. It was really nice." I said feeling a bit uneasy. I hate this feeling.
I quickly grap my bag and head to the door but stopped abruptly when I get engolfed in a hug from behind. We stay that way for minutes. Not a word.
"Let go Ric." I finally said sounding desperate but he doesn't let go. Infact, he held on tighter.
"Don't do this Ric, please." I said in a pleading tone but he doesn't say a word neither does he release me. I just stood still not knowing what else to do. The place entirely quiet except for his breath sounding close to my ears.
"Please, Ric." I try again but still get nothing.
I use a bit of force to untangle myself from him but he grips my wrist instead. I turn, looking up to meet his eyes and see that his expression is unreadable. I can't tell what's going through his mind at all. I wish I could.
"Let me go, Ric" I said and he shakes his head in disagreement.
"I can't, Bee" he mutters under his breath, I almost missed it.
"Why are you doing this? Why?" I said resignatedly. I didn't want him to behave like this. It's killing me.
"We can give this a try, Bee. Please" he said and I felt my shoulders sag in dejection.
"We can't. We just can't." I responded
"Let's try, Bee. It'll be okay, I promise." He said.
"Don't promise the impossible, Ric. Don't. And besides we already talked about this. How many times are we going to dance around this issue. Just let it go, Ric. It will ruin us. We already decided."
To my surprise, he let out a soft huff of laughter, shaking his head. "Pretty sure we were both lying to ourselves about that."
He lifts his hands to my face, his thumb stroked along my cheekbone as he maintained eye contact. "The only thing that would ruin us is not taking this chance, not seeing where this crazy, messed up thing could go between us. I don't want to spend the rest of my life wondering 'what if'." He said, hope glimmering in his eyes.
Before I could second-guess it, he slowly leaned in until our foreheads were touching.
"One chance, Bee. That's all I'm asking for," he murmured roughly. "Just give us one shot to figure this out together."
His words fanned warmly over my face, and I knew there was only one answer I could give as my eyes slipped closed.
"Okay," I breathed out, and then it was too late for me to take that back. So I just let it out again.
"Okay, Ric. Let's try it out."