what more can i say | rini au

16.

The next morning, the loud sound of someone knocking on her door startles Nini enough to get her up off the couch.

She goes to answer it and finds Aspen and Kourtney there on her front porch.

"Hey Nini. We're taking you out to breakfast because Ricky reached out and told us you were pretty upset last night..." Kourtney explains, Aspen nodding in agreement.

"I- I don't know guys, I kinda wanted to wallow in this a bit." She admits, looking at her friends sheepishly.

"Like you and Ricky have been doing all week... I'm kind of impressed he's gone actually, as weird as that sounds. It means he's gonna feel his feelings and get past them. That's what we want." Aspen confesses, her words gentle as Nini does let them into the house.

The mewing sound of her cat comes into the room and when Nini sees Chesa meandering around she thinks the little creature is looking for Ricky. She picks her up and smiles. "Ricky's not here is he Chesa? Yeah he left us a little early." She talks to the cat in a soft voice like one would a child, letting her friends get comfortable on the couch. "We're gonna be okay without him huh? Yeah. We will be. Maybe not today, but definitely tomorrow." Nini's last words are quite resolute which pleases her friends.

"Do you want to talk about it?"Aspen asks her gently, patting the spot beside her on the couch which Nini takes.

"Sure..." She drags the word out enough to make clear her hesitancy, but she probably does need to address the situation.

"Ricky told me yesterday morning in bed that he wanted one more night, so me being me, and knowing him, was going about my day expecting that I would have one last night with him, whatever opportunities that presented."

Nini sighs, leaning against Kourtney's shoulder as she continues. "We had our whole day today, you know, and um when I met him at the skate park to talk about the gina thing with Ashlyn's comment about fifth wheeling... And he told me he needed to go home. I mean obviously good for him being ready, but I don't have to be thrilled about it either if that makes sense? It feels like a broken promise and I just- I was looking forward to our last night."

"He said he told you some things he maybe shouldn't have... Do you know what that could have been?" Kourtney can't help but ask her, curious eyes on her friend.

Nini has a few ideas, but she's also admittedly a bit nervous to tell her friends for fear they'll think she's overselling the situation, or at least reading far too much into it. Except maybe not, maybe she wasn't if Ricky was saying he shouldn't have said some of it to her."

"I love you Nini, and you don't have to say, but it might help to get it off your chest..." Kourtney remarks, trying to help her friend.

"Should I talk to him about it?" She asks, realizing that might be her best bet for answers. If he's willing to give them yet himself.

"I don't know Neen, do you think he's going to be able to answer you better today than he did last night?" Aspen asks her gently.

"I mean since he said he didn't understand it himself maybe not... But I do wish I could know what was going on."

"I think that's understandable. On both parts honestly. Do you want to talk about exactly what went down? Ricky kept things a bit vague but I could hear his dad in the background on the phone so..." Kourtney asks, her mind slipping to earlier that morning as she explains.

"I can? It was all a bit weird. Good, bad I don't know... Both probably? It felt almost flirtatious, but that's hard to believe." She thinks back to the previous night's events with a sigh falling heavily from her lips.