The Perfect Gift

Ch. 22

She shook her head.

"No, we came here so you could see them so that's what we're gonna do. Whatever your dad has to tell you is obviously important, otherwise he probably would've already said it over the phone." She said as she laid her head against his shoulder.

They were silent for a few more minutes before Nini broke it.

"Do you think she really meant what she said, or do you think it was just a petty way to try and split us up?" She asked quietly.

Ricky looked at her in disbelief. "First of all... I will never ever break up with you. Regardless of what she thinks. As for whether or not she meant it... I really hope she didn't." He said.

She nodded her head. "Will you take a hot bath with me?" She whispered.

He nodded, leaning down and kissing her quickly.

"I'd love nothing more than to do that."

******

She doesn't know how he does it, but Ricky never fails to make her feel better.

He created a hot bubble bath for them, sitting behind Nini and massaging her shoulders as he let her vent her frustrations, especially about his mom. He also saw this as an opportunity for her to let out her frustrations in other ways, and he was not one to complain.

After their... activities, Ricky and Nini decided to curl up in bed under the warm blankets and watch a movie.

Ricky was scrolling through the channel guide to find something when Nini noticed High School Musical playing on the Disney channel. "That one!" Nini said excitedly as she pointed at the tv.

Ricky looked down at her, confused. "Huh?" Nini rolled her eyes. "High school musical, Ricky. If you love me, you'll turn that one on." He groaned. "But, we just watched HSM like two days ago. Can't we find like a scary movie or something?" He complained.

Nini stared blankly at her boyfriend before raising her eyebrows.

"Let me rephrase... if you value this relationship then you'll turn on HSM." She told him dryly. He furrowed his eyebrows together, ready to battle over the movie selection when ultimately, he was defeated by her cute pouty face, which he can never say no to.

Stupid puppy dog eyes and stupid adorable face, he thought as he flipped on her favorite Disney movie.

Although he was jokingly complaining about it, he knew he lost before he even started and he was okay with that- as long as she was happy. It was about half way through the movie when Ricky broke their comfortable silence.

"Hey Neens?" He said quietly, looking down at his favorite person.

"Yeah?" She replied, tiredly.

"Will you do me the honors of going on a date with me tomorrow?" She looked up at him with her sleep filled eyes and gave him a small smile.

"Why yes, Mr. Bowen. It would be my pleasure to go on a date with a man as handsome as you." She joked before nuzzling back into his arms.

He grinned and placed a kiss on the top of her head, mentally planning what he wanted to do tomorrow night, falling asleep not long after.

*****

This was it.

The day Nini had secretly been dreading ever since Ricky asked her to come home with him.

It's not that she dreaded seeing Lynne again- although she definitely wasn't excited for that- but she knew deep in her gut that whatever Mike and Lynne planned on telling Ricky wasn't going to be good, and she wasn't sure how he was gonna handle it.