Translucent Melody || rini au

39

nini took a deep breath and clicked the accept button, waiting a few seconds before ricky's face came into view

"hey," he breathes

she smiles weakly "hi,"

"so, what's up?" he asks with a small smile

nini looks down at her comforter and starts fiddling with it "i-i had a-a panic attack. at school today..."

ricky's face fell at the sound of her words and he wished he could just take her hand

"are you okay now?"

she nods "yeah."

"can i ask-why?"

nini swallows and takes a deep breath "i-i was in the bathroom and-heard these girls talking about us."

ricky sighs deeply and runs his fingers through his curls "i'm sorry i couldn't have been there-"

"no! it's fine-actually. gina helped me." she assures him

he raises his eyebrows "gina? like my past best friend gina?"

nini nods "yeah...she told me how her mom gets panic attacks..."

ricky frowns and looks down "really?"

"yeah,"

"she never told us that," he frowns

nini stays silent and continues fiddling with the comforter, feeling ricky's eyes on her through the screen

he takes a deep breath "what did the girls say to you that got to you so bad?"

she snaps her eyes up at him and felt her heart rate increase "uhh-nothing-"

"nini," he pleads

they hold each other's gaze for a few seconds and she lets out a breath, looking down

"i-they kept asking each other why-why you would choose me..." she whispers "and-i started to think about that question too..."

ricky felt his heart drop further down his chest and he took a deep breath before checking the time and nodding "get ready."

she knits her eyebrows together "what?"

"get ready, i'll meet you in ten,"

he ends the call and nini was left staring at her screen in total confusion before she got up and put on a sweater with a pair of jeans

she was asking and wondering what ricky was talking about or thinking about doing

the doorbell was heard after exactly ten minutes and she went downstairs as fast as she could to avoid her family from opening it

"where are you off to?" dana asks from the living room

nini swallows "uh-out-with-ricky..."

"ricky?" carol smirks

"moms..." she trails off embarrassed

the two chuckle and sigh

"just be back before ten okay?"

nini nods with a smile before heading to the door and opening it to reveal the curly-haired boy

he beams at her "milady,"

she raises her eyebrows and folds her arms "milady?"

"it sounded more romantic in my head," he mutters sheepishly

nini shakes her head with a smile and walks out of the house, following ricky to his car

"do you want to tell me where you're taking me?" she asks

he shakes his head "nope,"

nini sighs "ricky!"

"it's something good i promise!" he laughs as he takes her hand

she smiles slightly and looks out of the window, trying to clear her mind of any negative thoughts

they arrive at a park that was filled with different people laying on blankets and pillows, holding something like light or a lamp

"where are we?" she asks confused

"city creek park," he answers evidently, opening trunk and handing her pillows while he takes a large blanket and a bag of snacks

"i know that," she says "but i mean-what's all of this?"

he closes the trunk, turning to face her with a grin "come on,"

he starts walking further into the park and she watches him for a few seconds before following him intrigued

they arrive to a secluded space near a large tree and he sets the blankets and pillows down properly before sighing in satisfaction

"okay, stay here, i'll be right back,"

she raises her eyebrows as he runs towards a stall of people with - what looked like - paper bags and he came back with two in his hands, a lighter, a bottle of paint and two paintbrushes

"there we go,"

nini looks at him "okay, you're actually going to have to start speaking in a way where i can understand what's going on-"

he laughs and nods, taking a deep breath as he sits down next to her and hands her a paper lamp

"what are you doing bowen?"

he opens up the bottle of paint and dips the brush in it before he begins to paint on his paper bag

a smile forms on ricky's face as he holds up the bag to show it to her

n.sr + r.b

nini can't stop herself from parting her mouth in a smile and she looks at him

"you told me you were having questions about what we are," he says, unfolding the paper carefully as he takes the lighter and lights it up "and i wanted to show you that i want us to be real."

she feels her heart flutter as he now shows her the lamp that was fully lit and clearly showed their initials on it

he carefully lets go of the lamp and it floats higher and higher into the air, becoming a yellow spark amongst the many clusters of stars

"you want to know why i like you?" he asks, taking her hands

she looks at him and he continues to speak

"i like you because you're smart, caring, selfless, beautiful inside and out and extremely talented." he begins "and you're the only person who gets me. and understands me. you made me get my confidence-my real confidence back. i feel like i can be myself with you and i'm never thinking of reality problems because with you-it's better."

she keeps her gaze on him and her heart kept fluttering at his words as she smiles lightly

"really?" she asks quietly

ricky smiles and nods "really."

the two kept each other's gaze before leaning in to connect their lips together for a short kiss, wide smiles on their faces as they now knew that they were officially each other's

"okay, what do you want the next one to say?" he asks her

nini laughs softly as the two start talking about what to put on the next lamp, sending it off when they had it and lying back together, watching the many lit up lanterns fade around in the night sky