Second Chances (Ricky + Nini)

chapter 12 - i'm the love of your life until i make you mad

Lunch with EJ, Kourtney and Gina went well as expected. They all just clicked together, especially EJ and Gina. EJ was nervous at first but he managed to calm himself down, and used what they'd taught him. He even mentioned the puppies! When they parted, Kourtney made a joke about letting Gina into their lunch gang, and they made sure to give EJ and Gina some privacy. Nini was pretty sure they were not going home.

Now that she was alone again at home, Nini found her mind drifting to Ricky again. The last time she saw him was when he was sick on Thursday, and he hadn't responded to her text from last night. Had he changed his mind? Was he unavailable tonight? Guess she would just have to wait and see. She sent him another text just in case he missed the previous one. She scooped Bob up in her lap and cuddled with the Labrador, she figured she might as well take a nap while waiting for the curly haired boy to respond to her texts.

Nini : Hey Ricky, just checking if you got my text.

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Ricky was actively avoiding Nini. He woke up at 11 am, smelling like booze and vomit, ate some food, and then took a shower. He tried to take his mind off her, but she kept texting and calling him.

(3.00 pm) Nini : Hey Ricky, just checking if you got my text.

(6.00 pm) Nini : Ricky you there? I'm starting to get worried.

(7.00 pm) 3 Missed calls from Nini.

He was about to have dinner alone and watch some sad movies when his phone buzzed again. It was Big Red. Nini had probably asked Red about him and now Red was worried. He sighed and picked up the phone.

"Ricky, you okay? Where are you?" Red asked. "Nini's worried."

"I'm just at home eating dinner Red." Ricky said, "Nini doesn't care."

"Yes she does. She's been trying to reach you."

"I know but I just don't want to talk to her right now." That was a lie. Ricky always wanted to talk to Nini, he just couldn't get the image of her and that guy out of his mind.

"Ricky, I thought you were in New York to fix things with her." Red said. "If she is with someone else, then what are you going to do? Are you just going to ignore her forever? At the risk of sounding selfish, I really don't want our trio to be disbanded."

"I don't know what I'm gonna do, Red, but I can't talk to her right now okay. It just hurts too much."

Red sighed, knowing that there was no way to talk to Ricky when he was like this.

"Okay. Do you want me to tell her you're sick or something?" Red asked, even though he hated lying to Nini.

"No. She'll just come over if you say that. Just come up with something, Red. Tell her I'm busy or something." Ricky hung up the phone and turned on the TV, ready to watch something depressing.
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By Sunday evening, Nini knew Ricky was avoiding her. She'd called Big Red to ask him if he had talked to Ricky, and the redhead mentioned that he wasn't sick, he was just busy. But she knew Ricky, and unless he had a wedding to photograph, Ricky would not be working on the weekend. She was also a little hurt because clearly Ricky had found some time to talk to Red, but couldn't respond to any of her texts? Had she done something wrong? Did she overstep her boundaries? Maybe she shouldn't have come to his place the other night when he was sick, that seems like something a girlfriend would do, and Nini's an ex-girlfriend. And then she had bombarded him with texts and calls, that definitely seems desperate. Nini can't help but feel like she made a fool of herself. She couldn't just assume that Ricky wanted to rekindle things between them. Maybe he just wanted to apologize and be friends?

After two hours of sitting around and driving herself crazy with her thoughts, Nini decided she would just have to confront Ricky, and ask him what's going on. She couldn't bear the thought of just being friends with him, but she had to know. So, she got dressed and headed to his place. Once she got there, she stopped in front of his door, and made sure she was doing something she wouldn't regret. She took a deep breath and knocked the door.

The door opened to reveal Ricky looking disheveled, and his eyes were glazed over as he looked at her. He was drunk. If she wasn't concerned before, she is now.

"Nini?" he asked flatly "What's going on?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing." Nini said, "Can I come in?"

Ricky said nothing, but opened the door wider for her to come in. It was messy inside, and it looked like he hadn't left the apartment in days. Nini looked down sadly, so he really was avoiding her.

Ricky cleared his throat, "What do you want, Nini?"

"You're drunk." Nini said.

"That's not what I asked." Ricky said coldly, but Nini could see the pain behind his eyes.                                 

"You didn't answer any of my texts, so I was worried. I just wanted to check on you."

Ricky chuckled bitterly. "Don't you have better things to do, Nini?"

"Ricky, did I do something? Why are you being like this? Just talk to me."

Ricky put his head in his hands. "You want me to talk to you... Why? Just so you can reject me?"

"What?" Nini was confused.

"I can't compete with him, Neens." Ricky said sadly. "Have fun with your new boyfriend... Just don't rub it in my face. I get it I'm the idiot who let you go. Just leave me alone!" 

The moment he raised his voice, Nini felt something shift in the air, and she took a step back.

Leave me alone. You're not my family.

Get out of my house. Now!

Ricky didn't notice the change in her posture, or the sheer panic in her eyes though, he just continued rambling, letting the alcohol in his system take over.

"Did you do it on purpose?" Ricky said raising his voice again. Almost crying. "You must have known that I came here to get you back. Did you do all those nice things for me, just to hurt me... I thought we were on the same page!"

Nini felt her throat constrict. Her vision became blurry. The look in Ricky's eyes terrified her. She kept backing up until she hit the wall and covered her ears, trying desperately to even out her breathing.

"Is this just a game we're playing ?!" Ricky yelled again and turned around to face Nini, finally noticing the pain and fear in her eyes. "Oh shit."

His facial expressions softened. He rubbed his eyes and ran his hand over his face, trying to sober up. He can't believe he just did it again.
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