Ricky swallowed as the Instagram video on his phone began to loop, before clicking his phone off and tossing it on the bed, delaying the inevitable for as long as he could.
"I do Ricky, I love you," Nini repeated, shifting closer to Ricky on her twin bed, as Ricky cleared his throat and looked up at his girlfriend, who had just announced to the world, or to the students at East High that she was in love with him.
"Oh," Ricky shifted his gaze downwards again, clearing his throat. Nini had been dropping hints for the past few weeks leading up to their anniversary that she was ready to tell him how she felt, but Ricky had successfully dodged having the "talk" with her until now, but it seemed his luck was running out.
"Oh?" Nini pulled back as Ricky watched her hopeful expression wash away into one of confusion and nervousness.
"Yeah, um, it's just, that's a- a really big thing to post online," Ricky felt his phone buzzing in his pocket as he finished stammering out a reply to Nini, wiping his now clammy hands on his jeans nervously. "Look, um, I've been thinking and you're just going to be out of town for like a month, right?" Ricky steamrolled through his nervous rambling, even as he saw Nini open her mouth to respond to him. "And you'll probably have no reception in the woods and maybe we should just like, chill for a minute, like you know, take a temporary pause?"
Ricky watched as Nini's expression widened in confusion before her eyes began to fill with the hint of tears. He listened to her agree with his suggestion of a temporary pause, even as he knew neither of them wanted this.
"I should" Ricky looked down at his phone, buzzing again with another string of texts from his mom. "It's my mom. She's been out of town working for like ever." Ricky turned to grab his shoes, not wanting to look at Nini, who had frozen on the edge of her bed. After promising to text Nini, a promise both of them knew he wouldn't keep, he closed the door to her room, pretending not to hear the muffled sob as the door clicked shut.
Wiping his eyes, Ricky shuffled to the stairway, shoving his earbuds in his ear as he neared the door, ready to skate home and hope that Big Red was willing to come over and listen to him rant about how he had just ruined his relationship with Nini. Just as he got to the front door, eyes welling up with unshed tears, he hit a solid wall and startled, looked up from his phone.
"Oh-, um, hi Carol. I've gotta- my mom just got home so". Ricky tried to pass Carol without letting her see how upset he was, but Nini's moms were nothing if not aware of Ricky's quirks.
"Hi, Ricky," Carol spoke softly, as Ricky pivoted his gaze to her necklace instead of his phone. As Ricky slowly drew his gaze up to Carol's eyes, while his hands fidgeted with the hem of his henley, Carol's brain clicked into comprehension. A few weeks back, Carol had picked up Ricky at the skate park late and driven him home, as Mike had called her and explained that he and Lynne had been held up at couples counseling. Mike had confided in her that Lynne was going to be moving to Chicago and that they hadn't decided how to tell Ricky yet, but that he certainly wasn't blind to the fact they had been having problems for months, if not years.
Ricky squeezed his eyes shut at Carol's kind voice, trying desperately to keep himself together until he could get to his own bed and cry into his pillow.
"Ricky, is everything okay?" Carol ushered Ricky over to the living room, sitting him down on the sofa. "Do you want to talk to me about anything honey?"
Ricky, finally letting all of the stress and frustration pent up from the past few weeks come tumbling out, turned into Carol's chest and began to cry. He could feel Carol's hands brushing through his hair as she attempted to soothe him, and he hoped that Nini couldn't hear him having a breakdown on her couch. Finally, after what felt like forever, he began to pull back, sniffling as he wiped his nose on his jacket.
