𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐘𝐎𝐔 [a rini au]

- THIRTY-ONE!

the day was finally upon her – the day of ricky's return to los angeles. on any other occasion, nini would've been bursting at the seams with excitement and anticipation. but, there was a greater part of her that was now uneasy over ricky's comeback.

the past few weeks had been out of the ordinary for the couple. ever since the night they argued over facetime, the same night ricky shamelessly embarked on a clubbing journey while nini got sickly crossed at that one party, things hadn't been quite the same. their contact was limited to a few measly text messages every couple of hours. what was once three phone calls a day decreased to two a day, two to one, and eventually to a few a week.

nini was too preoccupied with avoiding the "possessive" label, even if she was taking that separation too far. she had been using her time away from ricky to get closer to her friends still in los angeles, and if it weren't for devon specifically giving her insights into ricky's psyche–the two boys paralleled one another in more ways she'd come to learn–nini would've spiraled into insanity.

ricky was coping similarly on the east coast, basking in the glory of his fame as he befriended more and more popular names. as the end of his deal with cosmopolitan approached, it gifted him ample free time to accompany gina, ej, and aaliyah to nightclubs and theme nights at bars. kourtney had even found her way to the big apple as ricky's time was coming to a close, the photographer actually securing an internship with cosmopolitan as well and using her similar schedule as ricky's to join him and the group throughout their rambunctious endeavors. kourtney had information to share about nini considering the time the girls had been spending together, but ricky reluctantly informed her that ignorance was bliss. he decided that after kourtney illustrated nini's experience getting crossed at devon's friend's party, something nini never bothered to share with ricky; he could deduce why. it was the first time ricky had batted an eye at devon laurier's name, but soon he would discover it wouldn't be the last.

the day of ricky's homecoming happened to land on the day of margo richardson's second ep release party. unfortunately, he would not arrive back on the west coast in time for the formal celebration with pacific stars, but he was on the guest list for a, quote, after party "rager" at margo's sister's house. he couldn't help but laugh at margo's description of the event, but he knew it somehow involved her getting drunk in celebration of her hard work. it also meant reuniting with nini for the first time after months of being apart.

of course ricky was looking forward to it; he was in love with the girl, after all. but, something in him changed in new york. his experiences, the people he met – it all brewed into a maturing concoction inhabiting his veins that california could never touch. ricky just hoped nini was willing to accept it.