Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?

[BlackAkuma]

Ugh. Warm fuzzies. Dizzy had all of them.

This wasn’t exactly how she’d expected this all to go when she’d thrown the idea out, but then, she hadn't really had a concrete picture at any point. She just knew she wanted to see Alicia again and hoped she and her mother could get to a good place. While she was reasonably sure they at least had grudging respect after nearly knocking each other's heads out, she wanted to make sure that they were solid, especially if she was going to make seeing the Latina a regular, non-sneaky affair. Getting some genuine reactions out of her mother was an unexpected plus, though, as she finally opened up a little more about her early life, one of her least favorite topics. That she was willing to do so in front of Alicia, someone who could potential use it as ammunition in their little sniping war, was a big step, and she was likely the only one at the table who realized just how much.

Pride? She was proud of her mother. Come to think of it, she always was, but especially so today.

Dizzy sank into the chair, happy to glow and eat for a moment, as a warm silence overtook the table. She placed a small bet on who’d be the first to break it if not her, and she guessed right: Sure enough, Alicia got her jab in.

Dizzy and Gabby teamed up to give Alicia kicks, but she suspected hers was more playful than the sister’s. She snorted and covered up her face with her hands, as her mother sighed and looked towards her rival with a flat, bemused stare. ”Yes, bambina. Getting another person out of my body was a painful affair. I’m happy with the results, but I’m glad I never had to do it again.”

Dizzy managed to get herself under enough control to interject, reducing her giggles to a little smile as she ate. ”I don’t remember you writing about that in your book.” She shrugged. ”Come to think of it, you left out a lot of the early stuff.”

”Some things aren’t for everyone to know.” Her mother waved it off and returned the glass to her lips. ”Besides, the book was more aimed at wrestling fans, so I focused on my career with that for the most part. I didn’t want readers skipping chapters to find the selling point.”

[HotWheels]

Nasty. Nasty, Alicia.

Gabby had just started to understand why Alicia might have latched onto this family in whatever way despite her prickly self; the discussion left her wanting to go home and hug her own mom for the next three hours. But of course, her sister had to go and ruin the moment. That was her real talent. Gabby kicked her sister hard enough that she had to fish for her shoe under the table when it fell off, but she was sure the daggers she shot toward her sister could have done far more damage... to anyone who wasn't Alicia, anyway. She shoved food in her mouth so she wouldn't start lecturing her at the table.

Thankfully, Ms. Belti took it in relative stride. And Dizzy was entertained. Uh huh. Alicia had found the one person on earth who found her nonsense entertaining. Maybe that was another reason why she had let her shell crack enough that the two of them sat at dinner with relative strangers. Gabby dedicated her time to subtly watching the younger Belti as the conversation continued, but she was shaken from her analytic thoughts by the drop of a single word that turned her into a parrot.

"Book?"

She let them finish but intrigued brown eyes settled on the older woman. A wrestler who wrote? To Gabby's ill-informed brain, the connection didn't make. She thought she was the only person here nerdy enough to have an interest in producing any writing, but that was mostly because her view of wrestlers was based almost solely on Alicia. And Alicia had asked the younger Soto to write all her papers in high school, which was to say, she didn't write. "Did you write a book?"

"She writes romance crap."

Gabby had to fish for her shoe again.

[BlackAkuma]

Angela didn’t show much reaction to the shenanigans under the table, but she couldn't hold back the smallest smile, reminded of her spats with her own sisters. In those cases, she’d been the little brat getting kicked under the table for speaking too much of her mind at dinner. Annoying at the time, she looked back on those days fondly now, and a part of her wished she could’ve given Dizzy the same experiences. That wasn't the right path for her life, though - it was tough enough to be a single mother on the road with just one child; two would’ve been beyond her. Even so, having constant companionship would’ve done Dizzy some good growing up, instead of constantly uprooting…

She cast those thoughts aside, not wanting to get lost in What Ifs. It was far too easy to do such things as a parent, and no good could come of it. Besides, she was given something more interesting to divert her attention - namely, how Gabby’s interest seemed to perk up at the mention of her writing. She took notice of it as she spoke and was about to press the young lady when Alicia filled in the blanks for her. In her own unique, colorful way, of course.

”Such a way with words, this one.” She closed her eyes and shook her head at the comment, knowing that would have to do. Chastising Alicia for dinner table etiquette wasn’t likely to get her anywhere. She brought her focus back to the more genial Soto and nodded. ”I wrote an autobiography after I had Dizzy, just to make a little money on the side and scratch an itch. It sort of grew into my…’side hustle’?” She look back to her daughter for confirmation. ”Did I use that right?”

”Close enough.”

She shrugged and took it, before looking back to Gabby. ”A steady sort of supplemental income. I’ve on-and-off published since then, mostly just short story collections. Gothic horror, fantasy, a dip into science fiction. Nothing earth-shaking, but I enjoy it.” She took a sip, then leaned forward with an intrigued eye. ”Romance, though? I’ve yet to touch that, could never dream up a good concept. Are you working on anything now?”

She asked half out of genuine interest and half because she had a strong suspicion it would irritate Alicia.

[HotWheels]

Alicia certainly hadn't lied.

She didn't mind reading, but fuck writing. Especially fuck writing that sappy crap she had read on her sister's laptop screen more than a few times while doing her duty as an older sister - bringing her daydreaming younger sister back to reality. Or giving her shit for writing that crap in public, mostly to take the attention off of herself. She protected her calf from further repercussions by hiding it behind the leg of the chair, but she wore the shit-eating pride on her face as she lorded over the rest of the delicious food remaining on her plate. And tried not to laugh at mama not knowing how to use the term "side hustle." She supposed she had fed them all enough of her sass for the moment, anyway. She'd let Gabby enthuse.

Based on the googly eyes Gabby was making in Angela's direction, she would be doing plenty of enthusing. Alicia avoided vomiting. "No waaaaay." Her embarrassment was forgotten at finding a fellow writer. "I love fantasy books especially." She wasn't lying. Alicia had tripped over her bookshelf and sent books covered in swords and dragons flying enough times that she should know. That fucking bookshelf. "Do you have any with you? Or- or are they on Kindle? I like a hard copy, but I'm so curious."

She became noticeably less vocal, however, when Angela put the question back to her. The shake of her head was sheepish, and Alicia snickered into her plate. "No, I mean... well it was only ever a little time-waster anyway when I was a bored teenager and I haven't written in a long time-"

"You were writing one two months before I left home."

Gabby's lips pursed. "I was... rewriting an old one. To stay in practice."

[BlackAkuma]

Dear God, Gabby was adorable. Dizzy was on the cusp of getting cavities.

As the younger Soto spoke and let her inner geek fly free, Dizzy looked between her and her bountiful, bouncing bombshell of a sister, trying to see the similarities. There were little things, like the hair color, the arch of their noses, and other subtle stuff around the face. She felt confident she would have pegged them as sisters in a lineup if it came down to it, but aside from those touches, the only way they could’ve been more unalike would be if one of them were a boy, and what a waste that would be. Both of them were so much what the other wasn’t, and it made her wonder what sort of woman the Mama Soto was like.

Huh. Wanting to meet the mother of a woman she was enamored with. That was a new feeling. She tucked that notion away for the moment, though, and brought her focus back to her mother, who was preening, a broad smile coming across her face as Gabby sheepishly talked about her writing. The poor girl didn’t know the land mine she’d just stepped on - if there was one thing her Mom liked to do, it was talk about her writing with another writer. She rarely got the chance to do it, but when she did…

She chuckled at Gabby’s admission and wagged a finger her way. ”Don’t sell yourself short. Mary Shelly was only about nineteen when she wrote Frankenstein.” She promptly pushed away from the table, stood up, and dusted a few crumbs off her lap. ”I’ve got a couple of spare hardcovers. You can have one if you like.”

She started stepping out of the kitchen and motioned for Gabby to follow, with a warm tone under her voice that Dizzy only heard when she was genuinely excited for something. ”Come along, I want to show you a few things.”

Dizzy sat back and watched, staying quiet, only looking back to Alicia with the occasional knowing glance. She only spoke up once the two of them were alone and out of earshot, after she had a soft, haggard sigh. She immediately switched modes without even thinking, her shoulders slagging, bringing out some more bass in her voice, gazing back to Alicia with half-lidded eyes. Relaxed, calm, cool.

”I think my Mom wants to adopt your sister.” She snickered and propped her head up against her fist, canting her head to the side as she looked Alicia over. ”Love the dress, by the way.” She winked and reached for her glass, ready to finish it off. ”How’ve you been? Really really.”

[HotWheels]

Alicia didn't know anything about Mary Shelley, but apparently, Gabby thought it was the greatest comparison she had ever heard based on the way her entire face lit up like it was Christmas. The elder Soto rolled her eyes again, but at least mama wasn't being catty - more like a lioness, she supposed - with Gabby the way she had first been with Alicia herself. There was good reason for that, sure, but at least Gabby was getting something out of this get-together. Alicia had been stuck between wanting to bring her and not saying a word to her. But Gabby was a decent distraction when she wasn't being a prude.

In fact, she was dragging Mama Belti away from the table. Good. Alicia needed a little break from the disapproving glares. "Really!? I mean I wouldn't want to take it without compensating you. But I would love love love to see it. I never run into any other authors." With the way she was hurrying to her feet and behind the bigger Italian, she might have beaten her to the other side of the apartment. "Do you have any favorite authors or anyone who inspired you? I don't know many Italian authors, but I..." Alicia couldn't hear the rest of what she said as they disappeared, but it wouldn't have meant a thing to her anyway.

She watched where they had disappeared for several more seconds to find a much more at-ease Dizzy looking back at her. She had looked weird being in noble daughter mode, so the sight put Alicia at ease enough that she became several inches shorter, turning the dining chair into a lounge chair and reaching far enough that she almost put her feet in mama's chair. Even she wasn't that bold. Her own mama would have kicked her ass for putting shoes in a dining chair.

"She can have her," she retorted, without hesitation. "If she's gonna stay here and play wrestler with me." There was only the mildest vitriol behind her words. More exasperation. As if she hadn't realized what she was wearing, she looked down at herself in the dress. It was pretty fuckin' hot, wasn't it? And while she didn't care for playing dress-up or having anyone else playing dress-up... "You don't look too bad, neither."

How had she been? Alicia's long sigh probably told the surface of the story, but she twisted her mouth to replace a shrug. "Outside 'a dealin' with her... good." It was true, really. She was still just a few weeks off of a bigger early career win than most wrestlers got months into their time on the LAW roster. Things at home were better than they had been before she started sending home checks, and her mom was happy in other ways, too. She had most everything together here. She was letting Gabby get to her more than she ought, too.

It hit her why she wasn't feeling all the goodness, however, and she had spoken it aloud before she realized it. "I just don't trust things goin' smooth for too long."

She ran her tongue along her teeth and decided not to let that be her last word. She gestured where the other two had gone. "You an' mama figure anything out?"

[BlackAkuma]

This. This was why Dizzy had been so eager to see Alicia again.

It had taken them being apart for a while to make her realize what the woman meant for her, what void she’d filled by being around. Alicia was hot, but it wasn’t like LAW had some shortage of hot women. She could go to the gym and practically drown in flesh. The physical attraction was real, but not the main focus.

No, it was this. Just sitting around, hanging out with someone she was on the same wavelength with. Not flirting, at least no more than she was by nature. Not like with her Mom, where she had to mind all her Ps and Qs. Not like with Allie, who she loved to death, but took on the role of a friendly mentor and emotional sponge. Just someone she could chill with.

”Mmm, nah. She’s cute, but no. I’m too used to only having my stuff under the Christmas tree.” Though, now that she had some income, she would have to start thinking about getting her own presents, right? Should get on that. Oh, and she would have to get Allie something, and Alicia, and her mother would want her to get something for Gabby, too, and…

Later, later.

“Thaaaaaaaank you.” She cooed as her dress was complimented, glad it got a reaction. It might not have sounded like much to the typical ear, but Alicia wasn’t the type to throw out unearned praise. She'd been giving her legs extra attention in the gym ever since the talk of chicken legs, and she was eager to show off the resulting toned thighs. Dizzy swung her leg under the table, occasionally letting her bare toes ‘accidentally’ brush up against Alicia’s thighs, as she let her friend speak.

Alicia was always sort of low-key, but Dizzy couldn't shake the feeling that something was a little off. Something in the tone, the way she carried herself, her overall vibe. She got the impression that Gabby was part of it, but not just Gabby, and while she didn’t want to pry too hard, she couldn't resist a concerned poke.

Sure enough, her fishing produced results, and her lazy smile turned into a wilting frown at the admission. It stayed, even as the subject moved her way. ”She’s eased off a bit since the match. I think you knocked a little sense into her, so thanks for that.” Her smile returned for a moment. Just the one. ”Starting to seed the idea of moving out sometime next year, getting enough money to make it happen, and she’s not totally shooting the idea down, just doing the whole ‘worrying Mom’ thing. So that’s a good sign.”

There was also her little side project with Allie, but no way was she mentioning that within a mile of her mother.

Dizzy propped her elbow up on the table and leaned forward, head slightly tilted to get the best angle on Alicia’s face. ”I’m good. Mostly. But why the worry for you? Feel like something bad’s on the horizon? Trouble?”

***

”It’s not trouble at all.” Angela happily led Gabby through the apartment, careful not to move too fast. The downstairs neighbors complained when her heavy footsteps made too much noise, and she didn’t feel like dealing with them today. ”If anything, you’d be doing me a favor by taking a book or two home. I could certainly use the space.”

Angela wanted to say that Gabby reminded herself when she was younger, but the truth was more that she wished that was the case. When she was the young woman’s age, her biggest priorities were bodybuilding, clothing, and dating, in that order, living a wild life that had almost consumed her. She didn’t like looking back and contemplating what-ifs, but it was hard not to in a case like this. If she’d been a little more like Gabby during those times, more demure and thoughtful, maybe she could’ve settled into a more stable lifestyle, something with a better foundation for Desdemona. Marriage? Possibly.

Wistful thoughts, they never did her any good. She brushed them aside as they came into her study room, where it would become clear that she wasn’t joking about the space issue. The room was practically stacked with filled bookshelves, crammed against every wall, with precious little space left for the writing desk and a small incense table. There was just enough room for Angela and Gabby to move around in, but not much else.

Angela reached on top of the furthest bookcase, pulled a box down, and carefully set it on the floor, as if she were handling a priceless artifact—not too far from the truth, in her opinion. She opened up her desk drawer and fished around for the boxcutter. ”One second.” Such a cluttered mess, she needed to organize. ”Tell me a little about your story. The one you’re rewriting.”

Angela had a way of putting commands into her tone without thinking, but she did her best to tone it down. The curiosity was real.

[HotWheels]

Alicia's nod was slow but understanding. There were definitely times when Alicia had wanted to be the only one getting anything under the Christmas tree. Most years their mama could only afford them a couple pieces of new clothes. It had been stupid for her to wish for more, but she was fuckin' glad she could remedy all those money problems lately. That's why she wore the short shorts - to make that money. Come to think of it, she should get Dizzy something, she guessed. Wasn't that far off now. And she might even get Mama Belti somethin'. Her autograph on a picture of Alicia throwing her off that turnbuckle. She almost snickered to herself at the thought.

She would rather think on that or grab Dizzy's wandering foot and pretend like she was gonna twist it off than try to analyze whatever it was that was eating her. At least her question about the Italian dynasty's new understanding of each other got that conversation going instead of her own. Alicia had hoped that mama might have learned something by having the local bimbo beat her ass to pulp in a match, and it sounded like she had gotten her wish. Moving out shouldn't have been a monumental step, but she got the idea it was in this situation. She nodded her genuine approval. "Good. An' here, with the shit you're into, ain't like you gotta go beggin' for matches or runnin' back to mama for money when there ain't any." She fixed Dizzy with a challenging look. Hell, LAW would give her a hundred thousand a year to be a stepstool, way things went around here.

But the conversation swung back before Alicia could continue on that line of thought. She didn't entirely avoid Dizzy's scrutiny, but she did hide her features behind a shrug, a sip of her drink, and a hand running through her hair to ensure a few bunches fell across her face. But while she might have shut just about anyone else out and accuse them of false concern... that didn't work for this situation. And she could probably explain it better than she could even admit to herself.

"It's nothin' real," she finally said like it was stuck in her throat and she was spitting it out just to keep from choking. "Just used to everyone else-" She gestured vaguely where Gabby could be heard on the other side of the apartment. "-stickin' to one thing or stayin' in one place, and me bein' the one to go out and do the crazy shit to get what I want."

hat was the sum of it, she supposed. Their mama and Gabby had stayed home and safe her whole life, and Alicia had gone to do the hard stuff that wasn't guaranteed to work but that would have only hurt her if it didn't work out. Now Gabby was here, mama was starting a new life- "Gettin' my head around it."

____________________________________________

A library.

That was what it looked like to Gabby, anyway. Writing room, library, a bunch of bookshelves shoved into place, whatever. Gabby had never had such a place to do her reading, store her books, or do her writing. She never had more than one chunky, industrial bookshelf a family friend had made for her, and Alicia (and their mom too on occasion) had knocked that over a million times since Gabby had been forced to put it almost on top of her door since her room had been so tiny and needed to fit a million other things. She had plans to make something better happen here, but for the time being, she would stand with her palms on her cheeks and admire the beauty of Ms. Belti's study.

"I have to get something like this." Of course, even as avid of a reader as Gabby was, she didn't own this many books herself. This was a lifetime reader's collection, and if Gabby had been uncertain about meeting these two strangers before, she no longer had any doubts. The temptation to run her hand across the row of books struck her, but she resisted, deciding to remain the only Soto sister with any amount of self-control. In fact, she was surprised she didn't hear Alicia in the other room swinging from the ceiling light now that she had been left alone for a minute.

Angela's words, to her ears, did sound like an order, and her wide-eyed fascination quickly morphed into straightening up and playing with her fingers. Why had Alicia had to bring that up? "Ummm..." She tried to think of some other story she had written in the last couple of years - one she hadn't been rewriting specifically to add more sensual elements to it - but naturally she couldn't think of anything with her put on the spot. She... stuck to describing the vanilla elements. "It's, ah, not the most interesting story. I didn't get far in the rewrite, either. It's about two adventurers who are trying to make their marriage work after coming home from those adventures. Very dry."

[BlackAkuma]

Gabby had no way of knowing this, but the ‘library’ was a recent addition to her life. This was the first time she and Dizzy had ever truly settled in one place for a real amount of time. Before, having a bunch of hard copies to carry around would’ve been an impossible burden, and she’d only dreamed of having a room like this. With Japan being her home for the foreseeable future, it was the first chance Angela had to just sit down and build, to craft a space for her and only her. A room, her world, where she could take a step away from one passion and enjoy another.

She looked over her shoulder to see Gabby fidgeting, maybe nervous. It brought a frown over her - she really did have to work on that. Not every young woman she encountered was her daughter; she didn’t expect them to be so formal. It was good for Gabby to be respectful, but she could be at ease, too.

She turned about with the book tucked under her arm and put on her softest face. ”Gabriella, you are a guest in my home. Relax. Please.” She moved over to her desk and sat the book down. ”And your book sounds lovely. If you’re ever of a mind to print, let me know. I’ll gladly put you in contact with a publisher.” Not a small offer, as she wagered Gabby would know. Getting a publishing company even to notice you was the most challenging step, most times.

Angela flicked the light on, revealing her pride and joy, a hardcover copy of Wrestling With Life. A shining, fresh cover, showing the title above an empty wrestling ring. A younger version of her sat on the turnbuckle, staring at the reader while she was cast in shadow, face hardened in contemplation.

”350 pages. Translated to English, I wasn’t that fluent when I wrote it, but the guy I paid did a good job.” With no small satisfaction, she handed it to Gabby like it was a sacred tome. In a way, it was. ”I hope you like it. I talk a lot of wrestling culture in there, too, so that could help you along.”

Maybe she was being a little self-absorbed. ”So, why the interest in pro wrestling? If you don’t mind me asking. With Alicia, I understand. She’s a natural talent. Do not tell her I said that.” That authoritative tone returned with a flat gaze, before she eased up again. ”Is this something you’ve wanted to do for a while?”

***

Dizzy hummed at Alicia’s approval, small as it might have seemed. The idea of having a place of her own had been a fantasy of hers since she was old enough to have fantasies, and the thought of it being within reach filled her with no small amount of glee. A place for her to grow, expand, call her own, to start building her own life. It would be a lot easier to make decisions her mother would be against if she wasn’t always around her mother.

And, of course, there was the benefit of having a place to bring her partners back to. Just once, she wanted to wake up in her own bed after a wild night and not have to travel back home in her disheveled dress or borrowed clothes that didn’t fit.

”Oh, I’m in high demand, thanks to you. All the big ladies are coming to ride my face after you had a turn.” Only in her fantasies, but she would play it up all the same. ”But don’t worry. You always have first dibs.”

She flashed her trademarked grin and glanced down, before softening as things got a little serious. ”I get you. Now that the burden’s not all on your shoulders, you're worried they can’t carry the load.” Dizzy tried hard to wrap her head around it, what it would be like if she had a sister - or, rather a sister she knew about. But it was a hard thing to visualize. ”From my admittedly limited experience, though? Gabby seems to have her head on straight. In the clouds, but straight. I think she’ll do okay. And your mother raised two totally opposite people, so she’s gotta be something special.” She was already trying to picture the woman. They would have to stop by if she ever went to Hollywood with Alicia in tow.

Dizzy gave Alicia’s thigh a final poke with her toe and leaned in, planting her elbows on the table. ”Hey,” She thumped her chest, fighting back a mood-ruining burp. ”I’m…me. You know my deal pretty well by now, I think. But I can do more than just lick ears. I can lend them, too. You’re bigger and you’re stronger and you’re, like, the coolest person I’ve ever met, so there’s not a whole lot I could do to help you, ever, but I want to try. Even if it’s just being a sponge for whatever you’ve got to say. You’ve been great to me since we met, you helped me out with my Mom, you’re just fun be around, and I…I…”

She rolled her hand around trying to find the right word. Or rather, she knew the right word, but couldn't force it out. It wasn’t something she had told any girl she’d been around for any significant amount of time, didn’t come naturally.

Eventually, she just deflated and stared at the plate, exhaling with a long sigh. ”I’m not good at this. Sorry.”

[HotWheels]

Alicia had "warned" Gabby about Ms. Belti before this dinner; one of the few tidbits of information she had managed to glean about either the mother or the daughter was that the veteran was a "bossy old bag." Naturally, Gabby hadn't believed her since Alicia thought most people were bossy (and possibly old bags), but she could see the... authoritativeness in the woman. Hearing her compel Gabby to loosen up almost had the younger Latina tensing up even further, but she managed to shake it off, letting her shoulders fall and nodding her head.

It still took her a moment to fully relax, but she did so easily enough to stroll over to the desk and prop up on one of the shelves beside it. "I don't know that I'm really at that level," she told her. Self-publishing was a lot different than actual publishing... and she frankly didn't want to see the look on any publisher or editor's face while they read her work. She would absolutely wilt. "I mostly stick to it as a hobby. Maybe someday. But I appreciate it anyway!" And that she did. Writers had to support each other because few others did in this day and age.

And support Angela's book, Gabby did, going full "oooh" and "aaah" and leaning in as she peered down at the book. "You should show Alicia that picture. It would make her jealous." It actually made the younger Soto wonder if Alicia wouldn't have a similar look in her forties and a daughter and- no, no.

Gabby took the book with as much reverence as it was handed to her, staring with pure, childlike fascination at what would amount to her entertainment on a full, late night of reading. She could typically tear through hundreds of pages in only a few hours, and this would be no exception, she was sure. "Thank you so much. I can't wait to dig into it." She said it to Angela, of course, but she continued staring at the book like she was thanking it, too.

It took several more of Ms. Belti's words for Gabby to lift her eyes, and she only did to nod her reassurance that she wouldn't tell Alicia anything that would go to that big head of hers. "Oh, don't worry. You would have to pay me to add to her ego."

But the question... that she didn't have the best answer for. It was a lot of things combined into one and at the same time, nothing at all except her desire to make something of herself in a field where she could meet new people and still have some connection to her family. Again, not something she would say aloud to Alicia, but it was there. She stared into space for several seconds before answering. "Well, helping more with money for the family was one thing. I'm not really an office job person." Ms. Belti had probably figured that one out. "But I was also jealous. Alicia was getting her adventure, and I was stuck at home. And I've done gymnastics and dance before, so I know how to move, and... I gave it a shot."

She was sure not all of that fully added up even with the explanation, but she shrugged, figuring that was the gist of it. She supposed it was an admission to herself that the wrestling itself wasn't what she wanted - it was the getting out and making something of life, whatever the opportunity.
______________________________________________________

Alicia, prone to fiddling when a meal was over and a dozen different play-pretties were in front of her, had already taken to pushing at a placemat corner with the blunt end of her fork by the time Dizzy had her forming a small, challenging smile. "You better not think any of 'em were as good," she stated, clearly not meaning it but needing it for the banter all the same. Admittedly, for all Alicia lacked the sex obsession of many women of her age, her looks, and her career, she could concede that Dizzy was pretty good at those things she did. No wonder people would be after her if there was any truth to it.

And apparently she was pretty good at picking up what Alicia was putting down with her mention of her current needless worries. The Hollywood hottie's fidgeting with the table increased while the Italian spoke, and though she tried to remain impassive, her mouth twitched with every new idea that left Dizzy's lips. While she wasn't as convinced as Dizzy that Gabby had her head on straight - she had witnessed her dating life - she was more mature now. Mama was no longer a morose woman chugging along doing her best to make a living for her daughters, but not truly happy. Maybe that was what bothered her. Shit was changing, and she didn't know how to keep up with it anymore.

She had almost sunken into staring into her plate, a million miles away, until Dizzy leaned in. While Alicia typically avoided anything resembling eye contact when serious conversations were taking place, especially those that involved Alicia herself, her gaze wandered back. It surprised her how much she wanted to hear what Dizzy said. And how much it made her care. She hadn't cared about much but making money and kicking ass in a long time, besides family. And while she didn't say anything aloud, her typically stoic face told enough of the story with the cracks that were forming. Shit, she hadn't realized all this stuff had been pent up in her. She didn't do this emotional shit.

Thankful but not thankful that Dizzy had brought herself to a stop, the Latina leaned back in her chair and let silence pass for a moment, again thumping the table with the fork. "Yeah. I'm shit at it too," she said, pushing a crooked smile to the surface. "Maybe when I sort more of it out, I'll... drop some more shit on you." Looking like it would almost kill her to say more, her lips all but twitched before she forced it out. "Thanks. You do plenty of shit for me."

Naturally, she couldn't leave it just like that. "Like make a good seat."