if i can't have you || rini au

23. falling for you

"-okay take a right here and the trail should be up there." seb mumbled as he pointed further ahead

nini smiled brightly as she walked alongside the blonde boy, wanting to be in front to take in the sights around her first.

"we haven't even started the trail?!" ej groaned, carlos agreeing with his exhaustion from walking for a merely five minutes

ricky shook his head with a smile as nini giggled

"look!" she squealed "there's the trail!"

"okay, how long until we get to the cliff edge?" gina asked interested with a smile as she adjusted the strap of her rucksack

"maybe about..." big red checked his watch "thirty to forty-five minutes?"

"if certain people don't slow us down." ashlyn grinned, looking right at carlos and ej who rolled their eyes in response

they all continued walking, nini soon coming to a stop to adjust the rucksack on her back that she was carrying, not entirely used to holding something this heavy - erica had insisted that she'd take snacks and a few extra belongings in case of any danger - which added quite the weight to the small girl.

"hey, you good?" ricky asked as he arrived towards her, letting gina pass as she dragged ej further up the trail

nini huffed but kept a smile on her face, nodding eagerly "yes! it's just a little heavy-"

"you wanna trade? mine doesn't have much in it." he suggested, gesturing to his back

the girl shook her head "oh, no, it's alright. i want to experience everything being a normal girl comes with, and if that's a sore back for half an hour, then so be it."

ricky chuckled as they both continued the trail at the back of the line, nini looking around her in awe

"it's so beautiful." she breathed, hearing chirps of the birds around her from the trees towering over.

ricky looked at her for a few seconds "...yeah..."

he quickly cleared his throat and looked in front of him when he noticed her move her gaze around again as they continued the way

"so, i'm guessing you didn't do much hiking back in...?"

"autonia." she reminded him, finishing the boy's sentence as they walked "and, no not at all." she laughed "i wasn't even allowed to be in the garden unsupervised."

"wow..." he exhaled "that's a little extreme..."

nini nodded "tell me about it."

"why not though? i thought there were like-gates around a castle to prevent people from entering."

"you'd be surprised the lengths people go to in order to retrieve something they want, ricky bowen." she told him as they arrived down a rocky path

ricky took a deep breath as he followed ej and carlos up the rocks, climbing carefully over a small barrier as he looked back at nini who seemed to be struggling

"here," he said, holding his hand out

nini looked up at him and smiled sweetly, reaching to grab ahold of it as she felt her heart race at the touch and climbed up

when he finished assisting her, she exhaled deeply and looked up at him "thank you..."

he nodded as he returned her gaze "you're welcome..."

they both looked down at there joint hands and pulled away from each other shyly before nini cleared her throat and let out a light laugh to diffuse the sudden tension