Translucent Melody || rini au

21

a/n: just for you all to understand, they now are on winter break :)

"let me get that for you," the brunette girl smiles as she takes a finished plate from a table

she makes her way around to the counter and puts the plate on the kitchen windowsill before turning to face ej

"oh my god," nini breathes in fright, bringing her hand up to her chest

ej laughs "sorry, i'm just excited!" he exclaims

nini raises an eyebrow "for-?"

"christmas?! nini, it's literally our families' tradition to have dana's homemade chocolate fudge brownie sundae!"

nini shakes her head with a smile "i still don't understand how you find it logical to eat ice cream during winter-"

"have you tasted the sundae?!" he defends

the girl laughs "of course i have, and i'm excited for leia caswell's famous cinnamon hot chocolates," she smirks

ej chuckles "yeah, my mom does make the best comfort hot drinks." he agrees

"remember when we found the stack of her gingerbread cookies and ate them in secret?" she reminds him with a smile

"oh yeah! i got in trouble for that." he says sheepishly, making his best friend laugh

"yeah, whereas i got extra gingerbread cookies." she winks

he shakes his head and rolls his eyes playfully "that was unfair."

the two laugh before they hear the bell ring and ricky walks in through the doorway with big red and ashlyn

"dude, if your dad is working-"

"i don't want to talk about it guys," ricky sighs as they sit at the table nearest to the entrance

nini knits her eyebrows in confusion as she looks back to ej, who just shrugs his shoulders

she takes a deep breath and continues working since it wasn't her side of the diner that they were on, worried due to the look that was on ricky's face

***

"-guys please just drop it." ricky says quietly

"but we could change our holiday plans so that-"

"no," he interrupts the red-headed girl

"but your dad is working on christmas dude, you can't spend it alone. it's in a few days, we still have time-"

"and you'll be able to use that time to spend your christmas with your family while i spend it at home! i'll be fine. it's just a day." ricky exclaims

the two red heads didn't know exactly why ricky's dad was working on christmas day. the story he tells his friends is that his dad is really into his job and that it takes up a lot of his time. he never opened up about their financial situation so that meant he couldn't let his guard down whatsoever.

ashlyn sighs and big red opens his mouth to say something, but gets cut off

"hey, what can i get for you guys," ej asks, taking his notepad out

"i'll have a hot chocolate," ashlyn orders

ej nods and writes it down before looking at big red

"i'll take the same," big red smiles

ej looks at ricky, who kept his eyes glued to the table before big red nudges him

"uh-what?" he asks

"do you want anything?" the raven-haired boy asks kindly

ricky opens his mouth "uh-no, thanks. i'm good."

ej looks at him for a few seconds before nodding and walking off to the counter to see nini looking at him in question

"why would you think i know what's up with him?" he asks her

nini sighs and looks over at the boy "i don't know! he seems down-"

"well, go talk to him. he's your boyfriend-"

"he is not my boyfriend!" nini whispers

"but you wish he was." he smirks

the girl rolls her eyes and sighs as she looks up at the clock to see she had a few minutes of her shift left

she continued working, glancing at the curly-haired boy every once in a while before finally finishing up and taking her apron off

she sees that ricky, big red and ashlyn all stood up and started making their way out of the diner as she and ej did the same from the back door

the two walk over to where ej's car was parked, seeing ricky making his way over to his own after saying bye to his friends

"you okay?" ej asks

nini looks at her best friend before back at the curly-haired boy "yeah-uh-just one sec,"

she adjusts the strap of her satchel and quickly rushes over to ricky before he could get in his car

"hey," she breathes, hugging her arms as the cold air surrounded them

ricky looked up and closed his car door "oh hey," he smiles

she notices how down he is and takes a deep breath "uh-you okay?"

he raises his eyebrows and laughs weakly "why would you think otherwise?"

"well, you-just seemed a bit sad in there," she replies, gesturing to the diner

he looks back at it before returning his gaze to her

"oh-it's-it's nothing-"

"you know, i would believe that if i didn't know you well enough," she grins

ricky sighs and swallows before looking down at his hands "it's-stupid-"

"ricky," she says softly, taking a step towards him

he glances up at her face, seeing the sincere expression that held in her eyes before he took a deep breath

"uh-well, my-my dad is working on christmas, so-that means i have to spend it alone." he mutters

nini frowns slightly at the thought of ricky having to spend one of the best days of the year all alone

"-and i know that he doesn't want to miss it, but he can't-and i can't let my friends know about it." he admits "i just-i didn't expect it either..."

the girl looks at him for a few seconds before opening her mouth, an idea in her mind

"uh-y-you know," she begins "my family and ej's family are having christmas together. i'm sure one more person couldn't hurt?"

ricky looks up at her and shakes his head "oh-no-nini i don't want to intr-"

"your not intruding if i'm inviting you," she argues "you'll have the best homemade chocolate fudge brownie sundaes!"

he chuckles "sundaes in winter?"

"that's what i said!" she laughs

he joins her before it fades and they both stand there looking at each other

"so?" nini asks, breaking the silence between them

he takes a deep breath and nods "yeah. okay,"

she squeals quietly and jumps "great! okay, so, christmas day at twelve." she tells him

he nods and watches her turn away, walking off as they both don't hesitate to hide the huge smiles on their faces