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Nicky may be six, but he is a very perceptive child - at least, that's what his mother always says. That comment usually comes whenever he catches something people are trying to hide from him, so he assumes it’s safe to say that perceptive means he’s really smart.
He starts the first day in his new school holding tight to that belief.
It's a bigger and better school than the one he’d been going to for the past 4 years. Mama likes to remind him of that all the time. Just like she likes to remind him that things are more important now. He'll learn how to read, how to write and how to do math! He must pay very close attention to all his lessons, she says.
He’s very nervous about all of it, but he looks forward to making new friends too.
Mama holds his hand as they walk down the long halls towards his classroom, then, when they reach the door, she lowers herself so she can look him in the eyes.
“You can do this, ok? I’m very proud of you.” She kisses both of his cheeks, his nose and his forehead, making him giggle. Sometimes he thinks she’s more nervous than he is. “Ok. Let’s go.”
Together, they walk into the classroom. It’s way bigger than Nicky was expecting, there are rows of desks filling half of the space, while the other half is filled with shelves with books, toys, games and a large alphabet themed mat on the floor. It truly is bigger than any classroom he’s ever been in and the reality of it scares him a little bit more.
They stop shortly behind someone Nicky thinks is his teacher. Her perfume reminds him of the camp trips he takes with his mama in the summer. It makes him feel safer immediately.
His mother clears her throat, tapping his teacher’s shoulder lightly, “Hello.” Her voice sounds strained, like it always does when she's trying very hard to be polite.
His teacher turns on her heels a bit too fast, a bit too enthusiastically. She ends up stopping a little too close to Mama, who, startled, takes a step back. They stare at each other, pink cheeked and wide eyed, for long enough to make it weird for Nicky who is just standing there feeling like one of the action figures on his shelf.
He shakes his mother's arm, a gentle reminder he's still there, and she immediately snaps her attention back to him.
“Right! Son!” She points at Nicky with a smile on her face, as if to make it clear to the teacher who she's talking about.
His teacher’s eyes fall to him, a warm smile accompanies it. She extends her hand to him, like he sees people doing in business meetings – like he sees his mama doing every time she takes him to the office with her.
“Hello! Who must you be?”
“Nicholas Harkness, Miss,” he says, standing proudly on his heels. “It's my first day.”
The smile on her face widens and Nicky decides then, he likes her very much already.
“Pleasure to meet you, Nicholas. I'm Rio Vidal, your teacher this year. Is that cool with you?”
Nicky giggles at the question and nods, “Yes, Miss Vidal.”
She winks conspiratorially to him, before turning her attention to his mother, “Mrs. Harkness, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m assuming the school has already informed you about our official parent-teacher communication channel?”
“I-uh, yeah,” For a woman with so much to say about everything at any time, his mother seems awfully short on words right now. “And it’s Miss, not Mrs.”
“Right,” Miss Vidal smiles. Are her cheeks getting pinker? That was a harmless assumption, one that happened all the time. In Nicky’s mind, there’s no reason to be embarrassed about it. “Apologies.”
“No worries. Just making sure you got it right.” The second the words leave his mother’s mouth, she starts to get pink in the cheeks. His eyes shift from Mama, to Miss Vidal, then back to Mama. Why are grown ups so weird? Maybe it's the first day jitters too.
Before he can ask them if they are ok, Miss Vidal gets their attention with an over the top clap, “Nicholas! Shall I show you around the room?”
While Nicky nods, happily so, he also wonders why in the world his teacher has just sounded british. She probably asks herself the same question, because she shakes her head and, in her normal voice, says, “Kiss your Mom goodbye first, yeah?.”
Mama, who seems to be trying not to laugh, bends down and places a kiss on the top of his head. Nicky, in turn, smacks a kiss on her cheek, then, for good measure, adds another one. He takes Ms. Vidal’s extended hand and waves, “Bye Mama. See you later!”
✦
“Soooo…” Mama starts as they walk to her car. “How was your first day?”
“It was fun!” Nicky offers excitedly as he thinks about his activities. “I made three new friends! Billy, Tommy and Monica. Billy and Tommy are twins! Can I have a twin, Mama?”
She chuckles, “Twins are siblings who grew in their Mama's bellies together, so, unfortunately, it's a little too late for you, buddy.”
Nicholas pouts, “Can I have just a brother then?”
“Ha!” Mama shakes her head to herself then swiftly changes the topic. “What else did you do?”
Nicky then proceeds to tell her, adding every unnecessary detail possible, exactly what he did during his classes and recess, and Agatha listens to him with the utmost attention. He mentions that storytime was his favorite part of class and he goes on and on about the book his teacher read to them, The Day You Begin . That leads to Agatha asking if he likes his new teacher. She pretends to forget her name for a beat, but Nicky knows she’s just being silly. His mother never forgets anything. Especially when it’s related to him.
“Yeah, Miss Vidal is really cool. And she’s funny too. She kept making silly voices and it was very fun!”
Mama hums as if considering this new piece of information, then she abruptly changes the topic to their plans for the rest of day.
Tuesday rolls in and Nicky, despite his usual confidence, still feels a little nervous to walk all the way up to class by himself, so he begs his mom to accompany him to the door.
“Miss Vidal!” He greets her when they get to the classroom and find his teacher standing in the doorway.
“Nicky! What’s up, little one?” She holds her fist out for him to bump, which he does very enthusiastically.
He then places his Jurassic Park backpack in the designated spot and points to his mom, “That's my mom.”
Miss Vidal chuckles, “I remember.” She turns to Agatha and with a small crooked smile, she adds, “Nice seeing you again, Miss Harkness.”
Just like yesterday, Nicky doesn’t miss the way their cheeks turn a dark shade of pink; they look like he does whenever he runs really fast, which is funny because no one is running.
“You can just call me Agatha,” His mother says in response, while she plays with a strand of her hair.
“Oh. Improving, are we?” Miss Vidal says. Then, her face gets even pinker as she scrunches up her nose and points to the classroom over her shoulder. “I've gotta go.”
She hurries into the room and Nicky hears his mother chuckling. What just happened?
“You ok, Mama?” Nicky asks, just in case.
“I am, baby,” She says, smiling at him. “Are you ok?”
“Yeah.” They look at each other for a while. “You can go now, Mama. I'll be fine.”
“Right! Ok. I'll see you later, love.” She plants a kiss on his forehead and winks before heading back out.
A few minutes later, with the class all present, Miss Vidal asks them to ditch their desks and come sit with her on the alphabet mat. Since their class has only 10 students, she asks them to make a circle, so everyone can see everyone.
“Welcome back everyone, how are you all doing?” There are many happy shouts of ‘good’ in response. “I am so glad to hear! We are going to start today with a get-to-know game, does anyone know what that is?”
When everyone shakes their head, Miss Vidal explains that it's a question game she likes to play in the beginning of every other class. She'll ask them a question and they will all, one by one, answer it. That way they could all get to know each other a bit better.
“Our lessons are also going to follow the same theme as our get-to-know question of the day. So what do you say, d’you want to play?” More excited shouts fill the room. “Alright, alright!” She chuckles. “Do you have a pet? Micah, why don't you go first?”
Miss Vidal points to the little boy next to her, who very shyly answers the question. It's Monica's turn next, then Billy's. Miss Vidal calls them out randomly and Nicky pays attention to everyone's answer, trying to memorize the names.
When it's finally his turn, he grins excitedly, “I have a bunny! His name is Señor Scratchy and he's 6 years old like me! My mama got him on a trip to Colombia — that’s why we call him Señor — right before she found out she was pregnant with me!”
“Oh, that's awesome, Nicky! Thank you for sharing.” She smiles at Nicky who smiles back, feeling very proud of himself.
After every kid has had the chance to talk about their pets, or lack thereof, Nicky raises his hand.
“Yes, Nicholas.”
“Do you have a pet, Miss Vidal?”
His teacher gives him a huge smile, making him super happy to have asked that question, “Thanks for asking, Nicky. I do have a pet. I have a tarantula. Her name is Victoria.”
“A TARANTULA?”
“AAAAAAH!”
“What's a tarantula?”
All get shouted at the same time.
“It’s a spider,” Billy explains to his brother.
“YOU HAVE A SPIDER?”
Miss Vidal laughs and nods, “I do. Maybe if you all behave I'll bring her around one day.”
They all immediately shut up. Even Monica, who Nicky was pretty sure screamed in fear at the news, kinda looked like she wanted to meet Victoria now.
Nicky he does.
Once the commotion dies down, Miss Vidal asks them to go back to their desks as she writes, on the white board, a list of every pet mentioned. Their English class starts from there as she helps them with the phonetics and spelling of animal related words.
Nicky ends the day with ‘Señor Scratchy loves carrots’ written on a plain sheet of paper and a carefully drawn portrait of Scratchy.
“Wow! That looks really good, buddy,” Miss Vidal says, playing with his hair gently.
“Really?” He asks, looking up at her starry eyed.
“Yeah! You got some serious talent.”
He doesn't stop beaming for the rest of the day.
✦
That night, Nicky is curled up against his mother’s lap, with Scratchy laying on top of his belly, as they watch one of his mother’s favorite romantic comedies. The name slips Nicky’s mind, but he likes this one because one of the characters in it reminds him of Mama and it makes him happy.
“Mama?” He calls when he notices something in the movie he had never noticed before.
“Yes, honey.”
“Why are their cheeks pink?”
“What?”
“Why are their cheeks pink?” He repeats his question. Agatha pauses the movie to look at him, she looks confused, like he has just grown another head. He doesn’t understand why. It’s a very valid question and it would also explain why her cheeks got pink whenever she talked to Miss Vidal.
His mother seems to consider, “Uh, I… You see, when people are, like, uh…” She takes a deep breath. Nicky didn’t think it was something so complex. “Sometimes, when you’re an adult, you see someone you like and you get a little flustered, you know? A little shy, because that person is cute and… yeah.”
Nicky’s brow furrows, “Like romantically?”
“Yeah.”
“So, does that mean you like Miss Vidal?”
Mama chokes on air, “WHAT?”
“Your cheeks always get pink when you talk to her”
“No! No. I don’t. I– no.”
“You sure?” Nicky asks, mostly because she doesn’t look sure at all. “Because sometimes you know things about me before I know it, maybe I know things about you before you know it too.”
Agatha looks shocked, mad, amused and embarrassed at the same time. Her expression is actually quite funny and Nicky has to make an effort not to laugh.
“You know what, Mister?” She says, shaking her head. “No more romcoms for you.”
He is very aware that she dodged the question, but, for tonight, he lets it slide.
After the first week of class, Mama rarely takes him all the way to his classroom door. Actually, in two months, she only did it once; the day after he stayed home with a fever. She wanted to make sure Miss Vidal would call her if he started to get feverish again. It was a brief and curt interaction that didn’t spark any pink cheeks, much to Nicky's dismay.
He knows that he should absolutely not be doing this, he should not be this invested in his mother’s love life, but he can’t help it.
Truth is, Mama looks sad sometimes, lonely. Although she has told him a million times that he's everything she'll ever need, Nicky can't help but worry. He can see the look in her eyes whenever someone asks about his other parent .
He just doesn't want her to be sad anymore.
Hence why he's been plotting a way to get them in the same room again to further his investigations.
His work starts with Miss Vidal. Her cheeks also got pink when talking to Mama, so that could mean she thought Mama was cute (in a romantic way) too. But he needs to be sure before setting his mother up for failure. He needs to find out if Miss Vidal likes girls like his Mama does.
He starts to pay more attention to his teacher; the way she talks, the way she dresses and styles her hair. But as perceptive as Nicky may be, he has not a single clue about what makes someone gay and how you can tell by just looking at them.
Still, he tried his best for 3 whole weeks. In the 4th, however, he gave up.
“Miss Vidal, may I ask you a question?” Nicky asks while she sits by his desk correcting his spelling exercises. Today, they talked about hobbies, toys and games they like to play. He was currently finishing a card for his mother that read ‘I love singing with you’ and had the best drawing of their karaoke nights Nicky could muster.
“Sure, kiddo.”
“Will you get mad?”
That piques her interest and she looks at him with a frown. “Well, that depends…”
Nicky sucks in a breath and decides to take the risk anyway. Whispering, he asks, “Are you a lesbian?”
The pen Miss Vidal was holding ends up on the other side of the classroom, a testament to her shock. She looks at Nicky, a mix of desperation and confusion in her face, “W-what?”
“Are you a lesbian?” He repeats himself, not sure why she looks so choked up.
Her cheeks are starting to get red, but not in the same way they were when she was talking to his mom. This time, it takes over her entire face and she looks like she's in pain.
“I’m, uh…” Ms. Vidal looks at the other students present. None seemed to be paying attention to their conversation, “Not sure I should be discussing this with you. You mom may…”
Nicky places his hand on top of Miss Vidal's, “It's ok, Miss Vidal. You don't need to hide. My mom is a lesbian too and it's really not a big deal. You should embrace all of you!”
His teacher looks taken aback by his words. She blinks a couple of times before she chuckles and shakes her head, “That was, uh, very nice of you to say, Nicholas. Thank you.”
“You're welcome,” Nicky beams. Then, batting his eyelashes, he asks, “Now. Do you have a girlfriend?”
“Okay. Back to your drawing, will you? I have to check on some other students.”
Nicky sighs. Why are adults always dodging his questions?
✦
“Ok, honey. I'll pick you up tomorrow after breakfast, ok?” Agatha kisses the top of Nicky’s head.
She looks very pretty tonight and Nicky makes sure to tell her that. Her hair is down and wild, and she wears a short suede dress paired with high heeled boots.
It's Jen's birthday party tonight, an old friend of Mama’s, but since the party will be held in a bar, she opted to leave Nicky with Auntie Lilia for the night. The boy doesn’t mind in the slightest. He loves Auntie Lilia. She's funny, she has a bunch of cool rocks and she also promised to teach him how to tell the future ‘one of these days’ .
“Ok, Mama. Have fun,” Nicky says, waving her goodbye.
With his mom out of the picture, Nicky turns to Lilia with a wide mischievous grin, “Can we read some cards?”
Lilia chuckles, pulling his ponytail playfully, “Sure, kid.”
With the table all set and the cards laid neatly in a pile in front of Nicky, Lilia instructs him on how to start.
“What would you like to know, darling?”
Nicky thinks about it for a while. Then, “Is Mama, oops, sorry. Is Agatha in love with Rio, Miss Vidal?”
Lilia chokes on thin air. One moment she's watching him intently and the other she is coughing so hard, Nicky gets concerned for her life.
“Are you ok, Auntie Lilia?” He gets up, rounding the table to gently pat his aunt's back.
Once her coughing fit subsides, several minutes later, she nods at him and asks exactly what he meant by that question. He tells her about the pink cheeks and the elusive way they dodged his questions.
“Oh, darling,” She chuckles while playing with his hair. “Agatha may have a crush on your teacher, but love… Well, love is a little harder to come by. She would certainly need to spend more time with this Vidal woman to start harboring real feelings.”
Nicky ponders about it for a while, thinking back to all the romantic movies he has watched with his mother. It is true that the characters always spend some time together before the big ‘I'm in love with you’ revelation.
“Uhm,” He nods. “Do you think she can fall in love with Miss Vidal? If they spend more time together.”
Lilia chuckles again, “Now, that's a question to ask the cards.”
They play a 3-card spread. It’s one of the best to read about love and relationships, Auntie Lilia explains, “The first card represents how your mother sees herself, where she is in life right now. The second will tell you about the situation, what we can expect from it. Then we have the challenges.”
Nicky takes a deep breath before cutting the pile like Auntie Lilia taught him to. He pours his intention as he draws the cards, placing them carefully in a line in front of him.
First comes the Magician upright and Nicky grins. This is one of the few cards he remembers the meaning of; “You possess what it takes to accomplish what you are set out to do.”
Next comes— “DEATH? IS MAMA GOING TO DIE?”
Before Nicky can start fully sobbing, Lilia holds both his shoulders forcing him to look at her. “Death can be good. In this scenario, pulling this card is good. Your mom is not going to die, just like she is not a magician.”
“Okay. Okay.” Nicky takes a deep calming breath, counting up to 10 in his head, like his mother taught him.
“Death symbolizes a major shift in life. One phase is coming to an end while another begins,” Lilia hums to herself, as if surprised by the direction this is going. “Turn the last one.”
Nicky does what he's told.
“Two of pentacles,” Lilia says, her eyes roaming the table.
“What does that mean? What is the challenge?”
“Balance. Adapting to the changes.”
Nicky frowns, “Well, that's not too bad. Mama always says she's the best with changes. She helped me when I was afraid to change schools!”
Lilia nods absentmindedly, “She is the correct path. She's ready for whatever new phase life throws at her and if she manages to fit everything in, then… Well, kid. You may be getting yourself a new Mommy.”
That was the absolute worst thing to say to a six year old raised on romcoms and who seems to share his mother's willpower to get exactly what he wants.
Nicky's first plan to get his mother to spend more time with Miss Vidal, kind of backfires. Well, not really. But it wasn’t nearly as well thought out as it should've been, which left him with an evasive answer from Miss Vidal and a yelled ‘you did what? ’ from his mother later that day.
It's simple. They are currently in November. Nicky turns 7 in January. Inviting Miss Vidal to his birthday party seemed like a logical thing to do. She blinks slowly at him when he suggests it, pointing out he will invite everyone from school so it would make sense for her to come.
“Nicky, I don't think that's a good idea,” She says, giving him a sad smile.
“If you are worried because you are a grown-up, all my mom’s friends are going to be there. Auntie Jen, her new girlfriend Alice, Auntie Lilia…” But as much as Nicky tries, her response remains the same.
He complains about it to his Mama later that day. That's when the yell happens.
“Nicholas, you can't just go around inviting people to your birthday!”
The use of his full name tells him this is serious. He doesn't budge though, “It's my birthday! You said I could invite anyone I wanted!”
“Yeah, well, I meant kids .”
He can't understand what's the big deal about inviting his teacher for his birthday. Even if she wasn’t his mother’s potential love interest, Nicky would still like for her to come. She's cool and kind and always makes him feel heard. He feels comforted by her presence, just like he feels around Auntie Lilia. So, why can only one of them go to his party? It's not fair.
His frown runs deep that night and he goes to sleep still mad at his mom for not taking his side.
✦
After another 3 weeks of failed attempts to get Miss Vidal to hang out with him and his mom outside school property, Nicky pulls out the big guns.
If she won't leave, he'll make Mama come to her.
He starts with a shameful and unsuccessful attempt to look at some other student's answer during a mock test. It only got him a stern but kind reprimand from Miss Vidal, who reassured him he was too smart to copy someone's answer and that he just needed to trust himself.
Second came the property damage. He wrote a huge ‘Nicky’ on his desk with a compass, which, once again, only landed him a conversation with Miss Vidal by the end of the class.
He then stole an eraser from Billy, a pen from Micah, and three coloring pencils from Monica. His mom got nothing but a notification in the school's daily journal about it.
“This isn't you, Nicky,” Agatha had said to him during dinner that night. “What's going on?”
It was the same question Miss Vidal had asked him earlier, paired with a “Is everything ok at home?” .
To both he had merely shrugged in reply.
He is not exactly proud of his fourth and final attempt, but, at least, it got him what he wanted.
Not exactly comfortable with violence, Nicky only used it as his last resort. He was running out of ideas. So, when an older kid was mean to one of his friends, Nicky punched him in the face. At least the kid deserved it.
Unfortunately for him, though, he got punched back. Which is how he ends up in the infirmary, sitting quietly beside Miss Vidal while they wait for his mom to come pick him up.
“Nicholas.” Miss Vidal sighs. “What's happening, buddy? You are one of the smartest kids I've ever taught. I know we only know each other for a while, but…”
She trails off as his hurricane of a mother comes barging into the door.
“You punched a kid?” Nicholas shrinked in the makeshift bed. He accounted for a lot of things, but his mom sounding disappointed instead of mad wasn't one of them.
Miss Vidal gets up from her place near his bed, her hands lifted as she tries to calm Agatha down, “Agatha, it was an accident.”
Nicky appreciates the help, but his mother won’t buy that for a second.
“How do you accidentally punch someone in the face?” She deadpans, proving his point. She walks toward his small frame, culled into a ball and holds his face for closer examination. “Oh baby, look at you. What have I told you about picking fights with people bigger than you?”
“To make sure to protect my head.” Nicky answers quietly, even though he isn’t sure she was actually looking for an actual answer.
“Is anything broken?” She asks, more to Miss Vidal than to Nicky.
“No. The nurse said he got lucky.”
“He sure did.” Agatha hums. With the reassurance her son was ok, she smiles mischievously at him, all traces of her disappointment gone, “Did he deserve it?”
Nicky nods, “He was bullying Micah.”
“Good. If you are gonna get a black eye, at least get it for something you believe in.” She kisses the top of his head and he lets a breath out in relief.
Miss Vidal coughs, breaking the mood and getting both of their attention. She points to Mama, “Can I, uh, can I talk to you?”
They move to a further corner of the room and talk in a low, hushed tone making it impossible for Nicky to make out any of their words. They are talking though. Nicky counts that as a win!
He watches them throw sneaky glances at him, while gesticulating wildly. Miss Vidal looks super nervous while Mama looks like she’s trying to hold back a laugh. Adults will alway be such weird creatures to him. But given his mom‘s apparent amusement, he thinks he is not getting suspended. Or worse.
“Ok, love. Let’s go,” Agatha says, once she’s done with her conversation with Miss Vidal.
“But I still have classes…” He still doesn’t know how to tell time on an analog clock, but he is pretty sure the small hand of the clock is not in the correct position.
“Yes, but Rio is letting you go home early. Say thank you, Miss Vidal.”
Nicky looks between them, but knowing better than to argue with his mom, he just nods, “Ok. Thank you, Miss Vidal.”
✦
Instead of taking him straight home, Mama took him to see Aunt Lilia. He doesn’t know what the woman can do that the nurse in the school wasn't able to, but his mother insists.
Aunt Lilia inspects his face, presses some specific points around his body and when he doesn't wince in pain, she nods and tells his mother he is ok.
Nicky was feeling how he looked though, pretty beat up, so he asked his mom if it was ok for him to take a nap there before they went home. It's been a while since she last hung out with Aunt Lilia and he knew she'd appreciate the time.
He is so very glad he did that, because when he woke up it was to his mom and Lilia having a heart to heart in the kitchen. Was it wrong to eavesdrop? Maybe, but if he hadn't he wouldn't know what he knows now.
“That's something I 'd pull when I was his age. He was always gentler,” He overhears his mother say. He stirs but doesn’t open his eyes. “I thought I was doing a good job.”
“You are,” Lilia reassures her. “But an apple never falls too far from the tree. Are you really surprised that your kid may have a little temper?” He hears his mother chuckling as Lilia continues, “At least he punched an asshole of a kid. Remember when you broke a kid's jaw because they grabbed your doll without asking first?”
He almost blows his cover with a giggle. Of course his mom did that.
“Well, it taught him a lesson.”
Lilia chuckles, “It sure did.”
They stay silent for a while and Nicky holds it especially still. He can feel his mother’s eyes on him and he doesn't want her to know he's awake.
“You know why he's acting out, right?” Lilia asks.
Nicky can pretty much hear his mother's eye roll, “Not you too.”
“I'm just saying,” Lilia says. Nicky risks a quick glance and watches her lifting her hands in surrender. “Don't you think you should tell him why he’s sleeping over here much more frequently now?”
Mama takes a long breath, “I will. Just… I promised Rio I'd wait.”
Wait. Wait. Wait.
“You know he wants this, right? The kid even threw cards for the two of you!”
She laughs and Nicky risks another glance. Are they actually saying what he thinks they're saying?
“ I know. Rio is pretty convinced he hates her and it's been fun to watch her squirm.”
“You are a devious woman, you know that?”
Mama shrugs, “She likes it.”
“Oh, I don't dou—” Lilia’s eyes meet his. Damn it! He, too shocked by the information he overheard, forgot he had to close his eyes again. “Well, I think the cat is out of the bag.”
He finally closes his eyes again, but it's way too late. His mother is already moving towards him. She pulls his feet playfully and pokes his sides, making him yelp and squirm out of her grasp.
“What have I told you about eavesdropping on adult conversations?”
“I wasn’t eavesdropping. I was just laying here while you talked over there. It's not my fault you talk loudly.”
Aunt Lilia barks out a laugh while Mama just gasps at him, opening and closing her mouth without saying a word.
“So, are you and Miss Vidal dating?” He asks, blinking innocently at his mom.
“No. We are friends and we hang out sometimes.”
“Then why are you keeping it a secret?” When his mother doesn't respond, he adds, “Have you kissed?”
She points to Lilia, “This is your fault.”
“You are the one raising a hopeless romantic.”
Agatha shakes her head in defeat and, resigning herself to her fate, explains everything to Nicky. Rio is friends with Jen’s girlfriend, Alice, so they met again at Jen's birthday party. His mom very reluctantly tells him they did kiss, but that it was a one time thing. She was his teacher and neither of them wanted to jeopardize his experience at the new school. They remained friends and went out together sometimes, but that was it. They weren't a couple.
“But you like her?” Nicky asks, frowning. His mother nods. “And she likes you?” Another nod. “Then how is that gonna jeopardy my experience? It's not like I'm the one in love with Miss Vidal.”
“Woah, ok. Slow down. No one has said a word about love.”
“You adults are dumb,” He says matter of factly. “You hate too fast, but love too slow.”
“Well, I feel properly chastised,” Aunt Lilia says, shaking her head and sitting beside them on the couch.
“Alright,” Agatha slaps her thighs. “You know everything now, but under no circumstances say anything to Rio during classes, got it?”
“Got it.”
“And behave!”
“I will!”
Agatha nods, seemingly satisfied.
Unfortunately for Miss Vidal, Nicky took his mother's words a bit too literally and now, instead of raising havoc in school hours. He sits very still and talks as little as possible with his teacher. He knows he won't be able to keep his mouth shut if he starts talking to her and he doesn't want to disappoint his mom. He wants to complicate their relationship even less.
“Hey Nicholas, is everything ok with you, buddy?” Rio asks after one week of stoicism.
“Everything’s awesome,” He tries to convey he is actually ok with a more chipper tone than usual, but judging by Miss Vidal's small frown when she walks away, he failed miserably.
Later, when he catches his mom smiling at her phone, he asks, “Are you talking to Rio?”
After last week's revelation, Nicky has soon realized only two people make his mom smile this big and one is sitting beside her on the couch right now.
“I am,” She says, putting her phone down and fixing him with a stare. “Have you been terrorizing her?”
“What? No! I've been super quiet!”
“A little too quiet maybe,” Agatha mumbles.
“Does she still think I hate her?”
“Yeah. She's pretty convinced,” Mama says with a chuckle.
Nicky facepalms himself. Why are his plans always backfiring? He tries to apologize, but his mom only pulls him in for a kiss on the forehead and some extra tight cuddles. Scratch takes that as an invitation to join in and hops to Nicky’s lap.
“You know, I may have an idea…” His mom smiles at him mischievously. Nicky doesn’t need to know what idea that is, he already loves it.
✦
With winter break right around the corner, Mama thinks that coming clean with this entire situation might be the only way to keep Rio from offing herself and prevent Nicky from getting expelled from bouncing off his chair too much.
Her idea is simple: get Rio to come by their place with the excuse Nicky is out with Lilia — Mama assured him that's the only way she will set foot there — and having a heart to heart conversation.
Well, the first part goes according to plan.
The knock on their door comes at 11am sharp. Nicky bolts out of his room at the sound, fortunately he isn’t wearing any socks otherwise he would’ve most likely slipped as he ran downstairs.
“Oi! Slow down, Flash!” Agatha jokes, wiping her hands on her apron. She’s been cooking all morning, wanting to make sure everything was perfect for their first lunch together. She hasn’t told Nicky, but he is pretty sure she’s a nervous wreck. He can tell just by looking at her how much this means to her and he promised himself he would be on his best behaviour.
“Can I get the door? Please, please, please,” He begs, jumping up and down. His mother considers for half a second before agreeing. She follows him close by on his way to the door; just in case it isn’t Rio , she says. Who else could it be, he doesn’t know. Then again, maybe that’s his mother’s point.
“Boo!” He says, when the door slides open revealing a nervous Rio on the other side.
What he wasn’t expecting was for his silly scare attempt to actually work. Rio is startled so badly by his presence that she slips from her spot on the porch and the next thing he knows, she’s stumbling down the three steps of stairs and falling right on her butt on the grass.
He stares at the scene in pure disbelief while his mother is wheezing from laughing so hard somewhere behind him, neither of them moving to help his poor teacher.
The spell is broken when Rio lets out a low “Ouch.” Then both Nicky and Agatha are by her side helping her up.
“Are you ok? Did you break anything?” Agatha asks, lifting one of Rio’s arms as if to be sure.
“I, uh, I’m fine. My ego is pretty struck, though,” She says, cleaning up some grass that got stuck to her clothing.
“I’m sorry, Miss Vidal. I thought it’d be funny,” Nicky says, his eyes trailed to the ground. He feels awful for almost killing her.
“It was.” He hears his mother murmuring.
“Uh, it’s ok, buddy. It’s fine, really.” She strokes his hair gently until he looks up at her. “Shouldn't you be at your Aunt’s though?”
The question may be aimed at him, but the glare is for his mother and his mother alone.
Agatha shrugs, then turns around and walks back to the porch. She stops by the front door to look at them, “I knew you wouldn’t come if I told you he was here.”
“Right…” She looks at Agatha, then at Nicky, who’s run to be beside his mother. Getting no reaction, nor further explanation, Rio finally resigns and follows them up the stairs. “And, uh, w-why am I here, exactly?”
His mother remains silent for a while, as if considering which words won't send Rio tumbling down the stairs again.
“He knows about us,” She says then. “I want to, you know, have you two spend more time together outside of a classroom.”
“Agatha–”
“And talk about the fine print before you go from here straight to a mental institution.”
Nicky nods vehemently, “I promise I won’t say a word. I will be the most professional student you ever had.”
“See. He won’t say a word.”
Rio stares at them for the longest time. After what feels like forever, she sighs and says, “I’m gonna be in so much trouble.”
“Is that a ‘yes, I’ll stay for lunch and a movie’?” His mother asks, batting her eyelashes sweetly.
“What the hell, sure.”
“YEEEEEEEEY!” Nicky screams, latching himself onto Rio and making both women laugh. He then remembers a very thing, “Oh and just for the record, I’ve never hated you. I just want you to be my other mom.”
“Oh my God, Nicholas. I’m kicking you out of this lunch.” Agatha says. Her cheeks, however, are bright pink, which is how he knows she’s actually into what he just said. The cheeks never lie.
Rio just laughs and shakes her head, “Anyways, how did he even…”
She trails off as she tries to walk into the house with Nicky still dangling from her hip.
Agatha just shrugs, “He’s always been very perceptive.”
Yup. That he is.