3 Years

27 - Falling

They all slap their hands over their mouths and silently scream. "You did what!?!!"

"Shh!" Nini hisses, "There are other people in the house!" They're silent for a moment in case either of the twins heard them. No noise comes from upstairs, so they should be clear.

"You can't just drop that big of a bomb on us and not expect an extreme reaction!" Gina whisper shouts. The others nod with her.

"How did it happen? When did this happen? Why are you just now telling us?" Ashlyn says very fast.

"It just kinda did; it was when I first invited him over and revealed the whole... children thing; and because I didn't know how to go about bringing it up," she answers.

"Who initiated it?" Seb asked.

"H- He did." This is high school gossip all over again.

Gina smirks. "And you enjoyed it I'm assuming?" Nini's face flushes. "Well then," she flips her hair, "we have our answer."

"C'mon, ask him out," Kourtney urges.

"What?! No way."

"What are you waiting for?" Ashlyn asks, "If you say you want to know his feelings first, don't; that man loves you, and we've been through this process already."

"Do you guys not realize how much could go wrong? There are children involved in this, and I will not put them at risk of that kind of heartbreak."

"But if this goes well, he'd be in their life more. Don't you want that?" Seb argues.

Nini sighs. "Of course. That's all I've ever wanted."

"Then what's stopping you?" Nini didn't have an answer; she was just scared of this whole. What if he leaves?

Kourtney goes into the living room to get Nini's phone. "Call him. Start over." Nini hesitantly takes it from her, looking at their four faces, which all nod at her. Her thumb shakes slightly as she dials his number. Here we go again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey, Mr. Bowen," EJ says when he answers.

"Hey. What are you guys doing here?"

"Just came to see Ricky," Big Red answers.

"Oh, ok. He's upstairs." The older man lets the three friends in, and they quickly go up the steps to their old friend's childhood room.

They knock on the door, and Carlos says, "Ricky, you in there?"

"Uh, yeah, one minute." They hear rustling papers and many drawers shutting before the door finally opens. "What are you all doing here?"

"Just wanted to catch up. You know... away from the whole group."

"Uh, sure. I don't know what else to tell you though." Not a total lie but pretty close; there were still many parts to the last fifteen years Ricky hasn't talked about and wishes to avoid.

"We have one question in particular," Big Red says. Ricky swallows in anticipation.

"Stop beating around the bush," Carlos blurts, "Do you love Nini? Yes or no?"

Ricky has a poker face they've never seen before; he was always one of the worst liars and could almost always be easily caught, especially when it came to Nini, but now he was just a stone, completely neutral. Damn, I guess that really does show how fast time changes, Big Red observes.

"What do you mean?" he finally says. Ricky wasn't stupid; he knew his feelings, and he knew what they wanted to hear. He still didn't want to open up about this.

"Don't do that. You know what we mean," Carlos says sternly.

"Well, she is the mother of my children," he says without changing his expression.

"That doesn't answer the question," EJ says.

Ricky lets out a small breath; luckily, it doesn't seem like the others heard it. These guys are the worst when it comes to secrets; I want her to hear this from me, not someone else.

He's saved by his phone ringing. He looks down at the screen and smiles a little; that doesn't go unnoticed by the others. "Hey," he answers.

"Hey... what are you doing this weekend?" she says nervously.

"Nothing, why?"

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