i believed in you || rini au

41. confrontation

the man looked down at his list and nodded, opening up the door "welcome."

nini gave the man a small smile to thank him before entering the venue.

the music filled her ears with every step she took, hearing voices and seeing colored lights beam around her, filling every sort of surface there was around.

nini fiddled with her fingers as she saw the brunette girl with a bright smile rush towards her

"nini!" the girl beamed "it's so nice to meet you!"

"hi," nini smiled "thanks for the invite."

"of course," grace chuckled "it's a bit big, but i think you'll see a few familiar faces maybe."

nini nodded "that's great."

grace's eyes diverted attention behind nini to other people arriving and gasped "i have to go greet others but it was great to meet you!"

"you too. i'll see you later." nini said kindly

"i'll look for you!"

nini exhaled deeply as she felt grace walk past her, leaving the girl to be alone in the crowded space.

it was quite overwhelming as she made through the crowd to try and find a clearer place to stay or try and see if she could find anyone she knew.

suddenly she bumped into someone, turning instantly

"i'm so sorry-"

but then she froze when she saw lily standing there, looking at her apologetically before a slight worry overtook the expression

"it's-um-okay..." lily said with a smile "it's nice to see you nini,"

the brunette girl scoffed as she shook her head "don't to do that."

"sorry?"

"don't act like that with me. we're not friends." nini snapped, turning around to leave but lily stopped her and lead her to a corner where no one else was "get off-"

"nini, we ended the relationship." she said in a lower tone "for you and him to be together."

nini let out a laugh "wow. thanks! i'm proud of you for having the courage to do it seeing how much you like him."

lily opened her mouth "i-i don't-"

"i saw you tell him so you can stop right there." nini interrupted "and i want nothing to do with you. got it?"

nini moved further away from the blonde girl, suddenly feeling suffocated by the people around her and needing air.

she couldn't deal with this. having to be in the same place as lily for hours? impossible.

exiting through the back door into a secluded alley, nini exhaled deeply before she closed her eyes and groaned when hearing her name being called by the same voice.

"i said i wanted nothing to do with you lily. leave me alone-"

"nini, i can't help my feelings." lily said pleadingly "i can't control who i like or don't like. you don't get that i spent three months with him every day, spending time with him and hanging out with him-!"

nini stopped, her heart pounding against her chest as she shook her head with a scoff of disbelief.

she turned around on her heel, glaring at the blonde as she took a step towards her

"i don't get it?" she questioned "you're telling me you had three months? you know what i had? fifteen years! eleven years worth of friendship. and four years of the two of us being more than that. fifteen years of spending every single day with him. of calling him and texting him every day. of being by his side at his worst. we know each other like no one else does. i know all his favorite songs. i know his favorite books, movies, shows. i know that he hates strawberries but loves strawberry ice cream because he says it's just how his taste is. he loves roller skating and doing parkour stunts and loves to scare people for fun. his favorite holiday is valentines because he's a hopeless romantic. and i know that when he says he's 'fine' he's never actually fine and needs someone there for him. not to talk to him or give him advice but just to hold him and care for him! but apparently that didn't matter-"

"i get that you're hurting." lily frowned

"hurting?" nini asked before shaking her head "i'm not just hurting. i'm completely hopeless without him. he's my person, lily. all of the things we did felt like it just never happened in a matter of days. you don't get that."

"i didn't like being in this position. i don't like being the girl who's known for 'stealing' someone else's boyfriend. especially if it's a happy relationship."

nini folded her arms, looking at her "then why did you do it?"

lily took a deep breath "because it would help my career? i guess?" she replied uncertainly "ricky's a huge actor in the business and it would've helped me to be seen with someone other than in the music industry."

nini raised her eyebrows, rolling her eyes "i wish my manager had that thought before..."

lily shrugged her shoulders with a small smile before watching nini sit down on an old bench, looking down at her lap.

"he loves you, you know?"

nini shook her head as she felt her eyes sting "honestly, i don't know..."

lily sighed as she made her way towards the brunette, sitting down next to her "why do you say that?"

nini shuddered a breath as she looked up "he's been trying." she said with a small nod "i know. i saw. b-but-it seemed like he was only trying for me. because of what i was feeling...not him. not because he wanted to." she said as her voice broke slightly

lily frowned as she watched nini sniffle and wipe a tear that fell from her eye before shuddering a breath

"and when you told him." nini continued with a quivering lip "h-he had this look in his eyes that made me think that... that maybe he could've felt the same."

lily swallowed as she shook her head "but...he doesn't."

nini shook her head again but lily interrupted her

"no, nini, he doesn't." lily said with a sad laugh "he's been driving himself crazy trying to get you back. even if it looked like it was just for you - it was actually because he wanted to see you happy but with him and... maybe he had this 'look' in his eyes. but trust me, he's never looked at me or anyone the way he looks at you. and he never will. he talks about you all the time. i know basically everything there is to know about you. in a non-creepy way..."

nini let out a small laugh as she sniffled her tears back along with lily, her smile fading slightly as she took a deep breath

"he loves you."

"he does?" nini asked quietly, full of hope

lily nodded "i spent the three months having to listen to stories of ricky and nini. like the famous first kiss braces incident-"

nini gasped in embarrassment "oh my god-"

the girls laughed with each other, nini feeling more relieved inside. but she still felt hurt...

"i-i can't just go back to how it was though." she admitted, looking down at her feet

"no. you can't. but what you can do, is talk to him." lily said evidently

nini glanced at her "you're a good person lily."

lily nodded "yeah. sometimes i hate that." she joked, making nini laugh again

"well, i'm glad you are."

"thanks." lily smiled "now, i think we should get back to this party."

"i don't know-"

"come on! we're at grace addlington's party! i think i heard taylor swift and ariana grande are here-"

"let's go, don't want to miss the party!"