the love hypothesis- a rini au

chapter 1

if you told nini a few months ago that she'd be at a party, she would have looked at you and thought that you were crazy. although now, here she was, dancing with her best friend, gina and her other friend seb as they screamed the lyrics to some song that the dj was playing.

she was looking around at all the newcomers as it marked the integration stage, meaning that all the new members who were going to stem had to meet each other.

she had met a few people briefly in passing, such as big red (yes that was his actual name) and howie, who seemed as though he was having a crisis with his long distance girlfriend, kourtney.

a few weeks ago, nini observed her classroom, most of her classmates were boys and that made nini increasingly uncomfortable.

she knew that if she was going to be in a room full of grown ass boys, she would probably puke and run out of that door, just like she did when most situations got far too hard to handle but instead, she spoke to soon.

"hey, gosh, is it just me or does something smell of body odour? i mean, it's not you, its definitely not you, it's one of these guys in here and oh my gosh, i'm rambling so imma just cut to the chase, i'm gina, gina porter, it's so nice to meet you" the girl said.

"hi, i'm nina, nina salazar roberts but um, you can call me nini, just because it sounds super similar to your name"

"nice to meet you, i'm glad that i'm not the only girl here"

"me either, i was stressing out of my mind that i was going to have to cope, in this room, with so many men"

"that sounds traumatic but hey, you have me and we will get through stem together"

-

at the party, she was kinda cursing herself out. she had just put in contact lenses for the first time and ouch, they hurt so bad. her eyes were stinging, not to mention that she was feeling tipsy from the amount of alcohol that she had that night.

gina had gone off with ej, another student who seemed to be polite and kind and seb had well, decided to play some pride anthems.

she waddled into the bathroom, her feet dragging along as she tried to lean on the door for support. the bathroom, as far as she was aware, despite not seeing anything was a bit rusty so she decided to just use the mirror to fix herself.

"i don't know whether messing with your eyes and poking at them is a good idea" she hears a deep, voice, a lot deeper than hers and a lot different than gina or seb's.

"why do you care? it's not like i'm causing anyone any harm"

"well from the looks of it miss, it seems as though you are harming your eyes"

"that's just the alcohol kicking in"

"uh huh, sure it is"

"look mr tall guy or whatever the hell your name is, this is the girls bathroom so do you mind leaving me alone?"

"actually, it's a gender neutral bathroom"

"since when was that a thing?"

"since most of the students here have decided that they don't identify as straight" she winced slightly. he did have a good point but maybe she was wincing because of the contacts, yep, it definitely was the contacts.

"look, i seriously don't know what i'm doing, i thought that going to a party and socialising would be fun but my best friend, gina, went to go and have fun with ej, who i used to have a crush on before i came here so that's awkward and then my i decided to wear contacts because i wanted a change from my annoying glasses and turns out that i put them in the wrong way and my eyes are now burning!"

she was ranting, quite frankly to a guy she had never met and even if she had met him before, she couldn't exactly see his face.

"i see..." the man says looking up at the girl. nini turning to him, getting a glimpse through her dodgy contacts.

he looked tall, about 5ft 9, possibly taller but nini wasn't walking around with a gigantic measuring tape. he was standing, by the looks of it with his back against the wall, staring intently at the girl who was trying to get a closer look at him.

he probably thought she was a weirdo, i mean, she was practically telling him everything and this poor guy didn't even have a clue.

"so i uh, i better go" she says walking out of the bathroom slightly.

she only pushes the door, only a little bit to see gina staring at her, her eyes doing all the talking for her.

gina was a big fan of romance. she didn't know much about nini's love life but she tried in her own way, to get nini to experiment with other boys and so, nini agreed that she'll try, but she definitely wasn't planning on trying tonight, her priority was to have fun, not to kiss a boy who she couldn't even see.

and so, she did something that night that she never intended on doing, she just kissed the nearest person who she could. she could have blamed the alcohol but she actually was thinking clearly, well she thought she was.

he was a good kisser, she wasn't going to lie with the obvious facts. he pulled her closer and kissed her with so much passion that it almost made her weak in the knees.

she smiled against his lips and that's when it hit her, she was enjoying this, far too much. she eventually let go of him, gina was no longer staring but the sudden realisation hit her.

she had just kissed a complete stranger and she liked it.

"i'm sorry, i have to go but we'll talk soon, ok?" she tells him, dreading the words that were flowing out of her mouth like a waterfall.

she was screwed...