Translucent Melody || rini au

14

ricky looked down at the address he got from the receptionist.

okay, she didn't give it to him, but he sort of snuck into the school system when the office was empty and got it himself.

he wasn't proud of it, but it was bothering him that nini wasn't replying and went m.i.a for three days, leaving him a few days to do the project. that was the only reason for it.

when ricky arrives at the house, he looks around to see the cars parked in the driveway and the little christmas lights decorated around the porch

he walks up to the front door and knocks on it three times, taking a step back before he hears muffled footsteps

nini opened the door and felt her eyes go wide at the sight of ricky, quickly putting her body in between the doorway and minimizing the space so that he could barely see the interior of the house

"r-ricky-w-"

"you went missing for three days without a word and we have a project to do. i texted you, you didn't answer so what the hell is going on?" he asks frustrated

honestly, when he said all of this, he felt a little bad on how blunt and mean it may sound, but he was also really annoyed that, even though they aren't at a place where they're even close to friends, she didn't tell him or warn him. they're still partners for a project.

"i-y-you have to go." she says nervously

"no." he replies

nini raises her eyebrows and opens her mouth, dumbfounded "what?"

"i'm not leaving until you tell me what's going on." he demands

"i don't owe you an explanation-"

"seeing as we're partners, you actually kind of do." he snaps

nini felt her eyes start stinging and her heart pounding against her rib cage.

"nini, honey, who's at the-oh!" carol exclaims, opening the door wider

nini closes her eyes, her heart rate accelerating even further. this couldn't be happening. she couldn't have something happen like this.

the boy looked at carol and put a smile on his face "hi mrs salazar-roberts, i'm ricky, nini's partner for english-"

"please, call me carol." the woman smiles before noticing how cold it was "you must be freezing, how about you come inside-"

"mom-" nini tries to intervene but her voice was so quiet that they didn't hear her, so ricky was now walking inside her house

he felt the warmth flood through him and looked around to see the house full of pictures and - a few bags near the stairs

carol lead ricky to the living room where it was decorated with a christmas tree and many different ornaments and lights on it, more family pictures on the mantle and a few couches

one had a blanket and pillows, almost resembling a bed

"would you like something to drink ricky?" carol asks as she entered the kitchen

the boy opens his mouth to say something but he hears another voice

"mom, have you seen my book?!"

nini gulped nervously as she stayed standing near the doorway to the living room, her breathing was shallow and you could barely hear her. her face was white from the nerves and anxiety she was feeling

owen raises his eyebrows in confusion as he looked at the curly-haired boy who had his eyes now on nini

"okay; two questions. where's mom and who's this dude?"