Wattpad has been kinda dead lately.
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Nini sat in shock; she wasn't sure what to say. "Ricky... I- I don't know about that." She felt like things were moving a little too fast.
"It doesn't have to be anything formal. Just us here."
"Are you sure?"
"I am if you are."
"Ricky... that's a big deal. I mean... I just found out about it."
"You don't have to if it's too weird or uncomfortable right now."
She was nervous, nervous as hell. But she also knew they wouldn't be able to get anywhere without this. "L- Let's do it," she murmurs.
"A- Are you sure about this? This isn't an obligation."
Well, it kinda is. "Ricky, there's no point in waiting."
"So... when should we do this?"
"Probably as soon as possible."
Ricky wipes his sweaty palms on his jeans. "Ok. When?"
"Your choice."
I don't want to choose. "Well, what's most convenient for you?"
"It doesn't matter." At this point, let's just hope the next surprise isn't a nuclear bomb.
"Do you have any plans for Thursday?" She shakes her head. "Is that fine?"
"Yeah, it'll be fine." I hope.
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A few days later, Nini finds herself standing outside the Bowens' house. She takes a deep breath before knocking. A few minutes later, Mike opens the door. "Hey, Nini." He quickly hugs her before moving to let her in.
"Hey." When she walks in, Nini can't help but notice how quiet the house is. Most of the lights were off as well. "Where's Ricky?"
"I asked him to run out and get some groceries. This house's food supply isn't exactly the greatest," he chuckles. Nini laughs a little with him. "I'll be upstairs if you guys need anything." She nods at the older man as he goes up the steps.
A few minutes later, the front door opens, and in comes Ricky with a bunch of bags. Nini stands up and takes a few of them from him, following him into the kitchen. "Thanks."
"No problem."
"We have instant mash potatoes and chicken wings," he laughs.
"Quite the delicacy," she chuckles with him.
"There's also ground beef, beans, and other stuff for tacos if you'd rather have that."
"That might taste a little better."
"I can start making it if you wanna relax a bit."
"It's fine; I wouldn't mind helping." That way I can distract myself from the purpose of tonight. Nini walks over to the cabinet, grabs a pan for the beef, and preheats the oven. "Now, let's not leave anything unattended; the last thing we need is a kitchen fire."
"I'm not that bad of a cook."
Nini just glares at him. "Sure."
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"Ok, I think the shells are about done," Nini says, peering into the oven.
"Good, I'm starving," Ricky says, grabbing the food from the fridge.
Nini takes the tray out of the oven, and they divide them up among the plates. As Ricky's putting some cheese into his taco shell, he flicks some over at Nini. She sees the shreds land next to her hand and looks at him from the corner of her eye. "Yes?"
"Yes what?" he asks, playing innocent. She playfully rolls her eyes while he has a childish grin on his face.
"Ok, I'm done with the cheese." While Ricky turns around to check on the meat, Nini has an idea for getting him back for his little childish ways.
"I think you missed a spot," she says, looking inside his shells that only have cheese in them at the moment.
Ricky comes back over to his plate and looks at the food. "Where?"
"Right here." Nini takes her finger and puts some sour cream on his face.
Ricky's jaw is dropped, but there's a smile on his face. "You did not just do that."
"Do what?" she shrugs. Her hands were clean now, having wiped off any evidence.
"You wanna play that game?" he asks, grabbing a paper towel to clean his face off.
"I have no idea what you are talking about," she says, prepping her own food.
Ricky has a sly smile on his face. Instead of wasting food, he grabs a water bottle from the cabinet and begins filling it up in the sink. Nini sees this, having an idea of what he might do. "What are you-?" She turns around to face him, and he sprays a little water in her face.
"Oops."
"Oh, you're gonna pay." Nini snatches the water bottle from his hands and does the same as he did to her, only a bit more.
"Hey, I didn't even-" He's cut off when she does it a second time. He charges at her without saying a word, and they end up running circles around the kitchen island as they laugh like crazy kids again.
Mike hears the commotion as their voices travel upstairs; he figures checking on them couldn't hurt. He slowly walks down the steps, trying not to alert them that he was coming. He peeks around the corner and hears his son and pretty much daughter laughing as they wreck his kitchen.
The sight warms the older man's heart; he takes a picture of them and will send it to Ricky later, knowing he'd want to see and remember this.
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By now, the kitchen floor was a mess. The hardwood floor was covered with random water puddles; their faces had water dripping off them, the necklines of their shirts not any better. They had calmed down, now cleaning everything up.
Ricky grabbed the water bottle again, going to put it in the sink, but Nini thinks otherwise. "What are you doing?" she asks.
"I'm just putting it back," he says honestly.
"Let me do it; I don't trust you," she says, smiling.
"Nini, I got it." He raises his arm so that it's out of her reach.
Despite knowing she can't reach it, Nini still at least tries. "Ricky, I-" As she's reaching for it, she steps too far forward and ends up tripping, but Ricky catches her at the last minute.
"You ok?" he asks.
"Uh, yeah."
They stare at each other while they're holding onto the other; Nini's almost positive they're both looking at the other's mouth. Ricky's lips part as he looks at her; his brain is telling him to stop, but he ignores it. Nini knows this is probably stupid, but that doesn't seem to be stopping her. As he's leaning down toward her, the doorbell rings.
That ring knocks Nini's mind out of wherever it went and back to reality; she stands up and awkwardly clears her throat. "Uh, I'll get it," Ricky says, going to the front door. Nini nods and stays in the kitchen, continuing to prepare their food.
Ricky takes a deep breath before opening the door. "Hey."
"Hi," the woman says. They quickly hug before Ricky guides her into the kitchen.
"Nini," Ricky says, catching her attention, "this is, um..." Ricky looks at her, and she lightly shakes her head. "This is Veronica. Roni, Nini."
She walks towards Nini with her hand out. "It's so good to finally meet you," she says nervously. "I've heard so much about you." Nini smiles a bit and timidly shakes her hand. Funny, because I haven't heard a damn thing about you.
The woman had dark skin, black hair with loose curls, and brown eyes. She was about Nini's height, but her shoes added a couple of inches. Around her slim figure, she wore a jacket with a black turtleneck under it. She had a few scars on her face; a faded one on her cheek, and two slightly more noticeable ones along her jaw.
"Um, we were about to start eating," Nini said, holding up her plate. "Hope you're hungry."
She smiles a little and relaxes some. "Yes, very."
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What do you think of Veronica?