𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞

08. the kiss

"You kissed her..."

"What?" the boy did not understand. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't pretend like you don't know." Nina rolled her eyes, holding back tears.

"No, I really don't know." he shook his head, wondering what kiss she meant.

The brunette took a deep breath. "After I received an offer to become a singer, I packed my bags and flew to LA." she began to tell her side of the story. "I didn't even call or text you because I was looking forward to surprising you and telling you the good news in person. So I quickly packed my suitcase and got on the plane here."

"But that didn't happen." the boy interrupted her with his thoughts. "You came to the city but you didn't come to see me. Why? What changed?"

Nina didn't know how to say what she was planning to say. It was hard for her to remember this.

She took a deep breath. "I did come to see you." she confessed.

"What?" Ricky didn't understand. "No, you didn't. I would remember that."

"The day I came to LA, I immediately ran to your studio. In my head I imagined it as some scene from a movie... I would come there, hug you and I would tell you about the incredible offer I received and we would live together here in LA our happily ever after... Now that I think about it, it's ridiculous..."

"It's not ridiculous." the curly haired boy shook his head. "That's exactly what would happen if you came."

"But I came! You just didn't see me." she said sadly and sat back down on the couch.

"What do you mean?" he asked curiously and sat down next to her.

With one more deep breath the girl decided to tell him everything. "I wanted to surprise you in the studio because I knew you were recording that day. But the security didn't t want to let me in because I was neither a singer nor an employee. They didn't believe me that you wanted to see me, that's why I wanted to call you to tell them that I'm not some crazy fan and that they can let me in. But I left my phone in my bag in the car. So I returned to the parking lot. When I was walking back, I saw you in the distance just coming out of the door. I was happy and immediately wanted to run to you, but..."

"But?"

"You weren't alone." Nini said looking down at the ground. "A certain blonde was walking a few steps behind you."

"Lily." the boy said seeing the brunette nod. He was suddenly beginning to understand what moment she was talking about.

"You stopped and started to say something to her. I was too far away so I didn't hear anything. But I know what I saw... that kiss. You kissed her."

"No no no! Nini, she kissed me!" the boy shook his head. "I swear I'm telling the truth!"

"You didn't pull away." the girl said trying not to blink so Ricky wouldn't see her cry.

"I was in shock! But right after that I told her to understand that I was dating you and to leave me alone!" he explained. "Didn't you see how I yelled at her there?"

Nina shook her head. "I couldn't look at it, so I quickly ran away."

"You have to believe me Nini, she kissed me! I would have never kissed her!"

"And then you just started dating her? After you yelled at her to leave you alone, you have a two-year relationship with her? Sorry, if that's just hard to believe."

"But you just have to trust me! Come on Nini you know me. Do you really think I would cheat on you?" he asked her. "I would never do that and you know that."

"You didn't tell me about the kiss."

"I would tell you but you didn't answer my calls!" the boy explained.

"But I read your texts and listened to your voicemails and you never mentioned the kiss!"

"Because my girlfriend stopped communicating with me out of nowhere and I didn't know what was going on!" he defended himself. "Do you even know how scared I was? I didn't know you were here! I thought you were in Salt Lake and if you were, you couldn't have known about the kiss with Lily! So I'm sorry but my first thought was definitely not that you saw it and it wasn't my priority to text you about it because for god's sake I thought something had happened to you!"

Nina just stood there quietly listening to the curly haired boy. She didn't know what to say to him.

"Why didn't you just tell me what happened?" Richard calmed his voice.

"So it's my fault now?" she raised an eyebrow.

"No, I'm not saying that... it's not your fault," he shook his head. "it's the fault of both of us because we didn't communicate." Nini looked the boy in the eyes as he continued. "I wish I knew then what I know now. I would never let Lily break us up."

"Don't say that." she slowly shook her head. "She's your girlfriend now."

"But I never wanted that!" the boy said out of frustration.

"Huh?"

Ricky did not plan to reveal this secret, but it was probably too late. "Zach wanted me to date Lily for publicity. I refused, but when you broke up with me, he finally convinced me."

"So it was all fake?"

"Everything." he nodded. "I'm so sorry that things went wrong between us." Nina froze as the boy's hand touched her. "If I could turn back time-"

"Well you can't." she interrupted him. "It's too late now."

"Yeah... but I still wish it wasn't."

Both were looking into each other's eyes and neither did nor wanted to interrupt this moment.

"I can't believe it was all just a big misunderstanding. I feel so stupid now." she said.

"If we communicated better, we would never have broken up." the boy said.

Their hands were still touching. Not one of them realized how close they actually were. Their noses were almost touching, but neither of them cared.

...when suddenly one of the phones rang.

"Um sorry..." the brunette girl said as she pulled away and stood up. "I have to take this, it's Theo. My boyfriend."

She didn't even know why she needed to specify it, but she did.

She was freaked out of the moment she and Ricky shared a few seconds ago. Nini was sure that her feelings for the curly boy were in the past. But were they?
  
   
   
   
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Hello!!! I know I am the worst at being active, but I have big plans for this book and I really appreciate you reading!!

Love, Sof <3