what a wonderful world

Aleksi nodded, “Yeah, I mean … I didn’t even know if he had the same last name still, or where he might be. I never knew how to find him, so for it to happen like this, just randomly … I still can’t really believe it.” he said, shaking his head softly. “Yeah, yeah. That’s what I’m trying to do. I asked Danny to meet me here in a couple days.” he added, hoping that meeting would go well.

“That’s truly insane. My aunt Paloma would say it’s a real miracle. In this case, I’m tempted to believe her,” he replied, chuckling softly even though he was rather serious. “Oh gosh, well good luck! I hope you two get along. I suppose there must be quite a few expectations tacked on at the moment.”

“Hey man no worries, I’ve walked into weirder places,” Javi said with a laugh. “I am making a kind of marinade for some chicken I’m gonna make later but this also kind of doubles as salsa for chips so it’s gonna get a lot of use.” he grabbed a few chips and set them on the counter and then a little bowl of the sauce. “Taste that and let me know what you think.”

“True. I guess student housing isn’t that weird of a place to end up.” It was a bit of a relief, because even if Charlton was a safe and relatively quiet town, Raphael could’ve interrupted some creepy old dude reading the paper or a young couple just about to get their infant to fall asleep or something equally unfortunate. “That sounds delicious,” he said honestly, walking over and grabbing a chip, scooping up the marinade and giving it a try. “It tastes delicious, too! This is awesome. A good amount of flavor in there.”

Kara laughed, “That’s still more then me,and I am sure you have more knowledge then me when it comes to this.” She giggled looking at him and listened for a moment, “Well that‘s still something. Maybe we could make it longer then five months?” She said looking up smiling a little looking at him, ot entirely sure why she was in such a good mood apart from the fact that she had just agreed to be his girlfriend. “Well that is very true and we can just see where this goes to be honest, it could turn out fantastically and amazing. I just want to remain happy.”

“But I have no knowledge when it comes to dating you, and that’s what’s really going to matter here,” he pointed out with a slight laugh. “I’d like that! Hey, at midnight, we’ll already be one day closer to that goal.” His smile was large and dopey, but he didn’t care in the least. Being with Kara always made him feel like life was even better than usual. “I just want you to remain happy, too. And I’d love to help that happen, if I can. And we do have a dance to attend together very soon.”

“Lleva, llévame en tu bicicleta, Pa’ que juguemos bola e'trapo alla chancleta…” Javi sang along loudly as the music blasted from his laptop and he moved around the kitchen. The weekend meant he had time to cook and after his big haul of groceries he was ready to throw down in the kitchen. He smiled as he saw someone coming through the door. “Hey! Are you allergic to anything? I want you to try this sauce I just made.”

Taking a break from his boatload of homework assignments, Raphael decided to go for a walk and visit some people he maybe didn’t see as often because they didn’t live right on campus. However, it had clearly been too long since he’d been to some of his friends’ residences, because when he opened the door and looked into the kitchen, he realized he was in the wrong building altogether. “Whoops, my bad!” He gave an apologetic wave. “What kind of sauce are you making? It smells great?” Raphael knew he should probably just leave and stop interrupting anyone’s day, but he was a sucker for the wonderful smell of food and felt curious.

Ella stood there she didn’t know if going to see Raphael was the right thing to do but she also knew if she could choose one person in the house who she knew would listen no matter was going on with them was Raph. Standing there looking at him biting her lip as she took a seat on his bed feeling the comfortable. As she heard his question she shrugged, “I don’t know, everything, I’m just exhausted from all this, you know emotions and everything. It’s pretty much tearing me down and I hate it.”

Ella had been so distant recently, and Raphael found her façade incredibly understandable. She’d been struggling since before he knew her with deep personal challenges, and it was amazing she’d made it this far while remaining so strong. “Emotions can suck,” he stated plainly, not about to pretend otherwise. Getting up from his chair, he walked over and sat beside her on the bed. “Has anything been different about all of it lately? Do you want to talk about it?”

@raphaelxcortez

Raphael was pretty sure his head might explode as he sat there reading his philosophy textbook. The material wasn’t too hard and he hadn’t been reading for too long, but the subject was mind-boggling. As a result, it was with rather great relief that he heard a knock on his door. Swiveling around in his seat, he saw Ella peeking in and then entering. “Yeah, of course. C’mon inside and take a seat,” he gestured toward the expanse of his bed, wanting to let her get comfortable. Raph marked his page and closed the book, turning back toward his friend so he could give her his full attention. “What’s going on?”

She smiled feeling his hand run through her hair, it was a feeling she was used to and loved a lot, she could probably fall asleep to him doing that. As of right now no matter how long ago their relationship had started she was quite happy with the way it was going so far.  She smiled and nodded, “I absolutely agree, this is quite comfortable and well you probably have a little more experience with the dating realm then I do. All I know I get from books.” She laughed and nodded, “It feels like it’s working out so far.”

“You are right when you say ‘a little more.’ It’s not like I was the big man on campus in high school or anything,” he laughed at his own expense, highlighting what Kara already knew. “I had a girlfriend for five months when I was a senior and that is the summary of my long, dramatic dating history.” Grinning, he couldn’t help but feel happy sitting there with Kara. She probably made him too content for his own good. Diego would’ve made so much fun of him if he’d been there; good thing his cousin was nowhere in sight. “Since we’re both pretty much novices and you have some book guidance, the great thing is, I’m pretty sure we can decide for ourselves how we want this to go. Unless there are some almighty dating regulations I’m not privy to yet.”

Kara looked up at Raph and couldn’t help but smile softly looking at him placing her head on his shoulder softly for a moment, “But Aladdin’s the best Disney movie, i love that film. I am glad you like me more.” She giggled and listened to him as she heard the mention of boyfriend and it was still giving her goosebumps as of right now. She was happy that was true but she was a tiny bit scared, “Well you make a very good point there.” She smiled softly.

With her head on his shoulder, he naturally began to stroke her hair as he always had, giving some sort of hum-chuckle mixture by way of agreement. Even if their relationship had only formally begun moments ago, things between them felt just comfortable as usual, which made him incredibly happy. “You know, I don’t think it’s going to take me very long to get used to this. I may have very little experience in the dating realm, but I’d like to think it’s working out so far,” he joked.

Aleksi blew out a breath, “Yeah, it’s really crazy! I mean, I’m glad it happened though. I’m not sure I ever would have been able to find him otherwise. I wasn’t even sure he still had the same last name.” he explained with a small shrug. “But, I mean, yeah. I’m kind of excited, I mean, I want to get to know him. But it’s definitely weird too. I’m not even sure he likes me? I mean I couldn’t tell, really. I don’t want to annoy him.”

“That’s a good point. Tracking down people can’t be an easy task, so having him here is like a miracle, in a way,” he reasoned. Raphael still found it pretty insane that Aleksi had managed to find his half-brother, and at Charlton of all places. “I mean, I don’t see why he wouldn’t like you! Though this is probably weird for him, too. I can’t imagine discovering yet another cousin or something like that... Maybe just try to take it slowly? Like meet up somewhere busy to get to know each other a little bit, but don’t try to push it too soon?” He shrugged, wanting to be helpful but not wanting to intrude.