Mesmerized

veinticinco.

I'd been asleep for a total of three hours until I wriggled out of Mahdi's hold and left my room in search of Lani. No matter how amazing Mahdi was, Leilani was my anchor on reality; I needed her take on the situation that I'd be walking into later on that day. When I opened the door to her room, her frame was hidden under a duvet. Naturally, I climbed under with her.

"Lani." I whispered. "Lani!" I said a little louder while tapping her shoulder.

She groaned, opening one eye before kicking the covers off of us. "You're annoying."

"I'm meeting his daughter in a few hours!" My eyes widened as I attempted to convey my emotions to her.

Lani sat up, mirroring my expression. "Oh wow, okay." She coughed, "Is this anxiety or excitement that you're trying to convey right now?"

"Can it be both?" I asked her, "I'm not trying to be dramatic but she's his whole entire universe, it will crush me if we don't get along."

Lani shook her head and hugged me, "Take a deep breath, kids love you! Don't blow this out of proportion, even if she doesn't immediately warm to you, it won't be the end of the world. She's only seen her dad one way for her entire life, it might catch the poor kid off guard."

"You're right, I just want us to get along." I pouted slightly.

She sighed and kissed my forehead, "You'll have a better chance of getting along if you don't approach her with all of this nervous energy. Let's eat some breakfast while you decompress."

"We have to be quiet because Mahdi is asleep in my room." I bit my lip with a shrug.

Lani looked at me as though I'd grown a second head, "Some things never change Ari." She chuckled, "Wouldn't it have been better to wake him up to express where your head is at about meeting his daughter?"

"Maybe, but you're my best friend and I wanted to talk to you about it." I shrugged.

She froze for a second, before hugging me again, "You're damn right, I'm your best friend! And as much as I would like to bask in that comment for the rest of the day, he knows his daughter best. Not to mention that the two of you are in a relationship; let's go wake him up so that you guys can talk."

Before I could respond, Lani had dashed out of her room and across our apartment to mine. I followed her, feeling better after our conversation, and found her jumping up and down on my bed.

"Time to wake up Mahdi! If I can't sleep in, then neither can you!" Lani laughed as he slowly came to beneath her. "Good morning!" She sang.

Mahdi shielded his eyes from the light which shone through my windows. "It's amazing how no matter where I am, I still get woken up by a three-year-old."

"Ouch, that really hurt my feelings." Lani responded, monotony. "I'm going to make myself a smoothie while you two chat it up." Mahdi's eyebrows knitted together at her statement before shifting his gaze to me.

Lani pecked me on the cheek and gave me a knowing look as she left my room. I bit the inside of my cheek as I hesitantly sat next to Mahdi. Usually, I had no issues with being upfront with him, but I didn't want him to mistake my nervousness for anything but that.

"What's up, Santos?" Mahdi asked while opening his arms in invitation.

I gladly obliged and felt a little more at ease in his comforting embrace, "I'm kind of worried that Cairo won't like me." I mumbled into his chest.

"What? Why? Talk to me." Mahdi lightly pulled me away from him by my shoulders so that he could have a clear view of my face while I spoke.

I shrugged, "This is a big step and I'm afraid that it'll make or break us."