i believed in you || rini au

24. stumbling night

ricky looked over at where the brunette girl was standing with gina, talking about something while he stood near the couch, listening to something lily was saying

"ricky!" she exclaimed, snapping her fingers in front of his face to catch his attention

"huh-what?"

"you okay?" lily frowned

ricky put on a smile and nodded "yeah! oh yeah, i'm just-i've got a lazy eye."

lily raised an eyebrow "oh yeah?"

ricky smile faded and he sighed "i don't-i don't know, i just-i don't know what she wants me to do."

"what do you mean?"

"she broke up with me because of this," he reminded her, gesturing between the both of them while lily nodded "but, she also was the one telling me to go for it! i didn't want to do this, and yeah maybe we played into it too much for the public, i know how nini sometimes gets a little insecure, but she shouldn't! you know?"

lily nodded "yeah..."

ricky exhaled "i miss her."

lily shook her head "it'll work out ricky. trust me."

"really?" he asked slightly hopeful

lily nodded "of course. you should go talk to her."

ricky hesitated "what do i say?"

"you've known her for half of your life," lily chuckled "you'll be able to come up with a topic of conversation."

the boy nodded and exhaled "okay, uh-do i look okay?"

lily bit the inside of her cheek as she looked at him and opened her mouth "wait-"

she reached her hand up to his hair, moving his curls while ricky raised his eyebrows and chuckled

"i don't think it'll work, many people have tried and my hair just can't really be fixed. it's like harry potter." he joked

lily laughed, stepping away "yeah, you're right there but i can at least say i tried to tame the ricky bowen's hair."

ricky smiled and took another deep breath "okay, i'm going now. wish me luck."

lily put her thumbs up as she watched him walk away to find nini.

he looked around the living room first, not finding her where she was previously so he went over to gina.

"hey gi..."

gina looked up from her phone, shaking her head "not tonight bowen-"

"no please please-" he sighed "i just-i want to find nini."

"oh so soon?" she asked sarcastically, folding her arms

"gina-"

"what are you doing ricky?" gina asked "i'm genuinely confused. do you still love nini?"

"what kind of question is that?" ricky asked, taken aback

"with the way things have been going and the way you've been acting, a very very good, much-needed answered one!"

"of course i love her gi." ricky said firmly

"then why are you with lily?" gina asked, gesturing to the blonde girl who was talking with dani and a few other people

"she's my fake girlfriend and-"

"oh i'm sorry, i didn't know there were fans and paparazzi around here!" gina exclaimed with a fake gasp "i should've brought my sunglasses-"

"she's also my friend and we have to spend time together so the party came up in conversation! what? did you just not want me to invite her?!" he asked

"yes!" gina replied before sighing "okay-look, i'm going to just tell you where she is before i get too mad because tonight is really not the night for me to lose my temper."

ricky looked at her and blinked in realization before he opened his mouth "right... you-"

"she's in the kitchen. i suggest you go now because i'm pretty sure she got a drink...or drinks" gina said

ricky widened his eyes "and you didn't follow her?!"

"i'm sort of dealing with my own stuff ricky." she said with a glare, ricky sighing as he nodded and quickly turned to head towards the kitchen.

when he walked in, he saw the brunette girl alone in the kitchen with a cup in her hand before she stumbled when trying to walk, ricky rushing towards her

"neens," he sighed

nini looked up at the sound of his voice, laughing as she put her arms up "look who's here! it's ricky. rick ricardo ricky."

the curly-haired boy raised his eyebrows "how much did you drink??"

nini looked around them before she gestured for him to come closer, ricky doing that in confusion before she whispered "almost an entire bottle of tequila. don't tell ej. he'll get mad."

ricky widened his eyes "nini!"

"that's me!" she nodded

ricky sighed again, knowing how lightweight she is, which meant she was completely drunk if she drank a whole bottle.

"okay, that's enough of this." he told her, taking the red cup from her hand

"hey! that's mine!" she exclaimed as she reached forward for the cup but instead tripping over herself and falling forward into his arms

"okay," he huffed, catching her as he put the cup down onto the counter

"i can stand on my own!" she groaned, trying to push him off of her but she fell again "i'm my own person and i listen to others."

"i know you are, but we have to get you home." he said

nini rolled her eyes "i don't want to go home."

"nini-"

"you should be with rapunzel goldilocks." she told him, pointing to the door "she must've chosen juuust right to get you to take her to this party!"

ricky shook his head "that's not-" he stopped and took a deep breath "i'm going to tell ej and gina that i'm going to bring you home."

he sat her down at the kitchen table and looked at her

"don't move."

he quickly left the kitchen and found ej, who was sitting on the couch holding a drink deep in thought

"hey-ej, i've gotta-"

"do you think it was a bad idea?" ej asked suddenly

ricky raised his eyebrows "what?"

"like, inviting her to this..."

"inviting who to this?" he asked

"gina." ej whispered "i mean-there's all the history and stuff..."

ricky took a deep breath and sat down in front of him "you and gi were friends before you dated. and-it didn't end in the best way, but i'm sure she's happy you're happy. right?"

ej looked at ricky and nodded slowly "yeah..."

the curly-haired boy smiled assuringly and took a deep breath "okay, i was telling you that i'm going to take nini home."

"wait what-"

"she's sort of...drunk." ricky explained, standing up "i'll see you tomorrow."

"i'll tell gina," ej exclaimed after the boy who disappeared back into the kitchen to get nini.