I once again didn't realize this book had hit another milestone. 4,000 reads... Why do I never notice these things!?!😅
This song is a masterpiece!
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*Friday*
Ricky and Nini have been mentally preparing for this talk. Nini's more nervous than Ricky, but that's not important at the moment.
She doesn't know how to bring up the whole kid situation, but it'll come to her. Surely. Everyone's planning on being there, so they'll probably help move the conversation along. Knowing her, it most likely won't be talked about today.
Ricky's kinda nervous, but not as much as Nini. He knows what he has to talk about. But he also has many questions. The issue: most of his questions seem invasive. He doesn't want to bombard them (specifically Nini) with questions when it's their life. He missed the past fifteen years; he can't question how they decided to live their lives. He just hopes this could mean new beginnings for all of them.
Ricky starts walking towards her house. Jayden and Lauren are gone by now, so Nini's nerves are a little calmer. The group was showing up to her house one by one, eager to get this going.
"How deep are we getting?" Gina asks.
"We all know Nini's side isn't going anywhere," Kourtney comments. Nini couldn't even argue with her.
"Let's just figure out why he's been away for so long first, ok?" Big Red suggests.
A few minutes later, the doorbell rings, making Nini jump on the inside. "I'll get it," Ashlyn says. She quickly goes to the door and hugs Ricky when he comes through.
"Hey, Ashlyn," he greets. She leads him into the living room with everyone else.
He and Nini make eye contact as he approaches her couch. This was the first time she really noticed his appearance. His hair had grown out considerably, but it was still curled; he was dressed in a hoodie and jeans, a classic high school look that apparently hasn't left; the hoodie was a little tight on him, and that was one of the things Nini saw first. Not now.
Ricky sits down slowly, kinda scared of something going wrong. The room is full of awkward silence until he says, "I guess I'm starting?"
"Well, you were the one who was gone for over a decade, so yeah, that would be nice," Kourtney says.
"Ok, um... god, where do I even start?" he mumbles. The others wait for him to start with great interest.
"We were in a submarine. There was this, uh, missing trunk that had ended up in enemy territory somehow. I was on the night shift with my partner, Justin, and it was the same as every other night: not much activity and pitch black. I was looking out the windshield, thinking about how I had only four to five more months of this. He claimed to have seen something through one of the side windows, so I got out of my chair to look with him. I didn't see anything at first, just a lot of mud and sand. But then it was there."
Ricky takes a moment to swallow the lump in his throat. He hasn't talked about this since he told his dad everything a few days ago, and for some reason, it felt so much harder to talk with them.
"I stupidly thought it was some animal, but it was far from it. The next few minutes are such a blur. Up was down; left was right; it felt like I was on a bad rollercoaster ride. We'd been hit by a torpedo. I- I don't know who was shooting, but I just remember everything became a chaotic frenzy. Justin had run off to find everybody, and I tried to steer us away from whoever was shooting. The controls were failing, and the inside of the sub looked like a wreck. Another person came up behind me. I could see the fear in her eyes, and that scared me more than anything. She tried different buttons and switches, but... just about everything was unresponsive. I told her to continue trying while I went to find Justin. I found him and told him to have everyone get to the escape pods. Nothing was working so... so they were our last hope."
Ricky looks around the room, and some people's eyes are glossed over. Carlos has also made a bowl of popcorn appear.
"By the time the attack had slowed down, there were seven of us still on the sub out of the ten. Six of the ten pods were damaged, so only one more person could go. Once he was sent away, we tried to fix the sub. We managed to steer away from whatever was shooting us, but the engine didn't have enough power to reach the surface. We just floated around the ocean, waiting for a rescue team. Jump ahead a month, there's no rescue team. The oxygen levels were dangerously low, so we didn't talk to each other unless it was absolutely necessary. Someone said they heard footsteps, and we didn't know what was happening. The six of us that were on the sub were all in the same room. The lights went out, and everything turned black. I remember grabbing someone's arm, but then something hit the back of my head."
The air in the room felt thicker. Ricky finishes with, "And that's the beginning."
Everyone stared at him with dropped jaws. They didn't know what to say. There are a few more seconds of silence until the questions come.
"What happened next?"
"Who were they?"
"Where did they take you?"
"But the diving team? Where were they?"
Similar questions kept coming, but Ricky couldn't think straight. Flashes of all that happened came flooding back: the imprisonment, the running... not being able to come home.
Nini hesitantly puts her hand on his shoulder. "I think we can stop there for today," she says to everyone while looking at him. The others nod and look at him sadly. "Do you wanna stop?" she whispers to him.
He shakes his head. "No, you deserve to know what happened."
"But I want you to be ok talking about it."
"I am."
"No, you're not." Even after all these years, she still knows him better than anyone. "You don't have to say any more today. We can pick it back up at a different time. Ok?"
"O- Ok."
"Gina," Nini says, standing up, "wanna help me get some waters?" She nods, and they walk into the kitchen.
EJ's the first one to speak. "I'm so sorry you went through that."
"It's not your fault. Honestly, I thought you guys would be mad."
"What? Why?" Seb asks.
"Because I didn't try to contact anyone."
"From the sounds of it, you didn't have an opportunity to," Ashlyn said.
Gina and Nini come back in with many glasses of water. Ricky gladly takes his cup and starts drinking it. He tries to pace himself, which kinda works (not really). Nobody's here; nobody's here. You're in Nini's house, and there's nobody here.
Nini notices he's shaking a little, but before she can say anything, Ricky says, "I'm gonna go outside for a second." He sets his glass on the table and walks out.
"I feel so bad for him," Ashlyn says once he's gone.
"I can't believe he thought we'd be mad at him," EJ adds.
"I think we should finish this story another day," Nini says.
"Probably. He doesn't look well right now," Gina says, moving her head to look outside.
"Hey, when are you gonna mention the kid thing?" Carlos asks casually.
"Are you kidding? You want to bring that up now?" Nini asked.
"Yes because he's here and should know as soon as possible," Kourtney says.
"I know, and I will. I just- I'm scared of his reaction. What if he flips? Or isn't happy? Or furious? Or, or..."
"Nini! I don't think anything negative will happen. He'll be ecstatic to learn that he has kids," Ashlyn says.
Nini looks out the window and sees Ricky pacing around on his phone. He was taking deep breaths and trying to pull himself together.
Ricky knew they had a right to know why he didn't come home after three years. C'mon, just breathe. They need to know everything. They deserve to know everything.
"But-" Nini starts.
"No buts. Just tell him," Seb urges. She sighs, knowing he's right.
Ricky comes back in, still a little shaken up but not as bad. "Sorry, the room suddenly got stuffier and-"
"There's no need to apologize," Ashlyn says.
"Yeah, we'll pick this back up another time. That's probably best," EJ says, standing up. Everyone else follows.
"Don't worry, you can take your time in recalling all this," Seb says. Everyone else says bye in various ways, and Ricky can only nod as he tries to get his mind clear again.
Once the last person has left, he turns to Nini and says, "I have a doctor's appointment, but I'm free whenever, obviously," he chuckles.
"Same here. I'll walk you to the door."
When they get on her porch, Ricky says, "I feel like an idiot."
Nini raises a brow at him and asks, "Why?"
"Because I was hoping to knock this story out in one day, and I couldn't."
"Stop beating yourself up for stuff that's not your fault. The way you react to things is out of your control."
"But I feel guilty. You guys have gone so long without an answer, and I want to clear the air."
"And everything will be cleared. It just might take time. Please don't drive yourself into the ground over this."
"How are you so calm? My first instinct was that you'd want nothing to do with me, and you'd hate me for randomly showing up like this."
"Because you couldn't do anything about what happened. Yes, I was very upset, heartbroken, and confused at first, but I realized something: I couldn't do anything about the situation. When your dad brought me those letters, I refused to believe it. I couldn't believe it. There were so many emotions coming out all at once but mad? Mad wasn't one of them." She wasn't mad at him when the letters came; she just couldn't believe the unfairness of the world. Out of all the people this could've happened to, it happened to him.
Even though he thought this was risky, Ricky pulls her in for a tighter hug than the ones from the other day. This is why you're the best person I've ever met.
Nini responds the same way, and both their eyes turn glossy. This hug felt like the last one they shared in her childhood bedroom right before he left.
"Thank you," he whispers, "for understanding." She pulls him tighter, and a few tears slip.
"Of course."
After a few more seconds, Ricky takes another risk in his next sentence, thinking he might accidentally make her feel uncomfortable. "And thank you for being the motivation for me coming home."
Nini felt her heart physically do a backflip. She was glad he was home, for good this time.
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After lots of hugging, Ricky left, and Nini went back inside. She went upstairs and into her nightstand. She feels around for a certain item and finds it after a few seconds: the picture frame holding the last moment they were together before he left.
She opens the back of it and pulls out the sonogram pictures of Lauren and Jayden. Her fingers graze over the blob that used to be her kids.
"Soon. It will be soon."
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So yeah... that happened.