faking it | rini

sixteen

"I can't believe you don't like coffee," Ricky exclaimed, sitting down at their table.

Nini huffed, "It's too bitter! If I really need caffeine, I drown it out with milk and sugar and chocolate."

"That's gross."

"You're gross."

Ricky rolled his eyes, "Wow, very mature."

"Thanks, I try," Nini smiled and reached out to take her hot chocolate from his hands. She took a sip and licked the milk off her lips. "Alright. How did you woo me?"

Ricky let out a confused laugh, eyebrows furrowing. "What?"

Nini's back straightened slightly, her lips pursing and her eyebrows raising, as if getting into a character. "I'm a very unapproachable woman. I have unbelievably high standards. How did you manage to get me on this date?"

"I asked if you liked coffee. You lied," he gave her a pointed look. "Now here we are."

"That's boring. And extremely unrealistic." Her character slid back in as she finished her last sentence, a posh accent leaving her lips.

Ricky rolled his eyes, an amused smile still piercing through. His eyes lowered to his coffee as he thought, "Hum. I tricked you. I pretended that it was gonna be a group hang out but, plot twist! It was only me! You were quite shocked at first but my amazing personality more than made up for it."

"You really started our relationship on a lie?" Nini became overly offended and concerned, making overdramatic hand gestures as she talked. "Is that really a healthy base?  I mean, how can I even trust you!"

"You're difficult."

"I told you I was an unapproachable woman."

"Well, maybe you're the one who asked me out. How did you woo me?"

"I only had to smile and you were already in my spell." Nini flashed a smile.

Ricky scoffed, "Yeah right. More like you begged and begged, day and night, and I finally gave in."

Nini faked offense, "Nuh-huh. You're the one who kept asking me to practice our kissing scenes."

"We don't even have kissing scenes yet."

"I know, that's why it was suspicious."

Ricky took a sip of his coffee to kill his laugh, a smile still peeking through. Nini looked at him, as if proud that she made him smile. He looked away, his gaze flying to the window. His smile dropped. "Shit. Paparazzis. Laugh. Pretend you're having fun!" He turned back to Nini, wide eyed, panicked.

"You just made this way less natural than it could've been!" Nini exclaimed, stressed too.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know what to do! Should I hold your hand?"

"On the first date?" She said in disbelief.

"Calm down, I didn't say I was gonna kiss you," Ricky claimed, clearly thinking she was exaggerating.

"We want this to be like..." Nini looked away to search for words, "Friends hanging out with potential romantic interest lurking."

Ricky cut her, "That's awfully specific."

"The longer we drag out us officially "getting together" the less time we'll spend fake dating."

"That's kinda smart," Ricky mumbled. A cheeky smile appeared on Nini's lips.

A silence fell. Ricky seemed deep in thoughts. "Are you okay?" Nini asked.

"It's just... real. This is actually gonna be our life."