A good night's rest in her childhood bed was the perfect cure for anything Nina had going on in her life. Despite her room having been turned into a guest room, with the walls and some of the furniture she had grown up with changing over time, the essence of her childhood still lingered, which always brought comfort to Nina.
Her eyes opened slowly, although she had been awake for a awhile, she had been laying there willing herself to go back to sleep. The long flight yesterday caused her to get home late even with the time difference, therefore Nina had been able to dodge the unavoidable elephant in the room: her baby. She was grateful for that, and to have some extra time to gather what she was going to say to her mother's and her Lola now that they were face to face. Of course the whole family was aware of what was happening, but that didn't mean Nina wasn't going to have to give every minute detail now that she was in person with all of the people who have only been informed through face time calls.
Waking up meant facing another unavoidable elephant in the room, but one that was just less obvious: her and Ricky had sex. Again.
And it was just as incredible as Nina had remembered it being.
Him sweeping her off her feet and carrying her off to her room was on replay in her mind.
"Oh god." Nina sat up, pushing the singer off of her. "I'm gonna be late for my flight I completely forgot."
She jumped out of bed, the singer following suit. The two began to quickly redress. "Here, I'll call you a cab and just meet me down there with your stuff." Ricky ran out of the room and down the flights of stairs.
Nina frantically made sure she had everything and that she was back to her normal put together self. With a quick glance in the mirror, she rushed out the door, the elevator thankfully already open onto her floor.
As promised, Ricky was waiting with a cab out in front of her building, holding the door open for her and throwing her suitcase in the trunk. After doing so, he slid into the backseat next to her.
"JFK. Please." Nina said curtly to the driver before looking at Ricky. In a hushed tone, she asked "Why did you get into the cab with me."
"I'm coming with you." Before Nina could reply he caught himself, "not to Salt Lake, I mean... that would be weird. I just meant to the airport. I want to make sure you get in okay. Carry your bag for you."
"You really don't have to do this." She replied.
"I want to." He smiled, moving closer to her and began pressing his lips lightly to her neck.
Nina caught the driver eyeing them in the rear view mirror, and she gently shoved Ricky off.
"We shouldn't." Nina said with a more serious inflection in her voice. "We can't. Ever again."
With those words, Ricky moved away from her and Nina turned to face the window.
The rest of the ride was silent, save a few comments and questions from the driver. When they arrived at the airport, Ricky jumped out of the car to grab her bag, promising the cab driver a fabulous tip if he held the cab for minutes.
"I can pay my own fare." She said coldly, not meeting his eyes.
"I wanted to. Plus I need to take the cab back to the city anyways might as well just pay it all at once."
There was silence before she finally said, "I'll call you when I'm back, okay?"
"What if something happens?"
"Then I'll call then." She shrugged. "I need to get going."
And though he didn't want to let her go, he said "Okay. Safe travels." And watched her walk off.
Nina rolled over, deciding she would spend the day in bed after reliving the events of yesterday for the hundredth time, hating herself even more than she did before.
As sad as it seemed, Ricky was pleased to be spending Thanksgiving alone. Of course, he would've loved an invite to Salt Lake with Nina, but that wasn't ever even an option, so alone it was. Being alone on Thanksgiving wasn't a bad thing for Ricky, though. As far back as he can remember Thanksgiving never went right for the Bowen household. Even when his parents were still married Thanksgiving, a time for being thankful, always sparked some sort of argument.
They weren't fun memories to relive, and it seemed like with every year that passed, especially now that Ricky's time was so valuable, it became a battle as to where he was going to spend it.
In Chicago with mom or in the valley with dad... both options sucked. Each parent just wanted to one-up what the other had done last year, and even though Ricky was a grown adult his parents still fawned over him like they were trying to please a toddler. So, he decided he would spend it alone.
He made that decision his first year of fame, but this is the first year he was spending it actually alone.
He woke up alone in his apartment, way too early and way too hungover. After Nina had left him at the airport, he took the cab to a bar and drank until the bar closed. He didn't remember much from the night, just that he was wearing the same clothes. He instinctively looked around for Nina, but she was nowhere to be found. And that's when it hit him that she had gone, and she'd be gone for at least the rest of this week and he was alone. So instead of getting up and trying to make the most of the day, he took a swig of whatever was in the bottle on the floor next to his bed and fell back asleep.
He wasn't even ashamed of his behavior when he woke up three hours later. He just rolled out of bed and poured himself another class of whiskey and he just walked aimlessly around his apartment.
He was drunk by noon.
Sometime after then, after spending lots of time with himself, he began to get a soft melody stuck in his head, so he grabbed his guitar and began to write, because what else was there to do?
Nina had spent the week leading up to the holiday lying in bed and avoiding conversation with her mothers and only leaving her room to speak to Lola and for food. Her mothers didn't press her to talk, but Nina knew she couldn't avoid them much longer, especially since the whole premise of Thanksgiving was to sit around a table and talk about all of the things you're grateful for.
Her mothers decided it was best to have a small celebration this year, just so that Nina could have the privacy she wanted and not feel overwhelmed with questions and concerns about her baby that was almost obviously on the way now. She woke up that morning at a decent time, deciding that she wasn't going to let her depression surrounding this whole situation sour the short amounts of time she had with her mothers.
"Nini, you're up." Carol smiled sweetly as she noticed her tired daughter trek down the stairs.
Dana checked the clock timer on the stove, "I think this is the earliest you've been up since you've been home."
"Yeah, sorry about that. Morning sickness has been keeping me up at night." Nina lied.
Carol rubbed her daughters back, "That's okay, we're just happy you're home and healthy."
Nina gave her mom the strongest smile she could muster and headed for her old chair at the kitchen table where Dana had a cup of coffee waiting for her. Nina took a grateful sip of the coffee, but didn't bother to say anything, not feeling in the mood for talking even after avoiding conversation for the last three days. Her two mothers took their place in the remaining chairs at the table, Carol only daring to speak when Dana had given her the signal.
Carol was definitely the more gentler parent, but Dana has always been able to read Nina better.
"Honey," Carol started, "We're not going to force you to talk us, but we just have so many questions." Nina looked between her mothers. "I mean this is the first time we've seen you since all of... this started."
"And-" Dana interjected, "We knew it was gonna be hard for you, so that's why we have a surprise for you."
"Surprise?" Nina asked with an eyebrow raised.
"Is it time from me to come in?" A voice said from the back door.
Nina knew that voice anywhere, it was her beloved grandmother, Townes Roberts.
"Grandma!" Nina exclaimed, practically running to give her grandmother a hug. "What're you doing here?" She asked, breaking the embrace.
Townes tucked a piece of hair behind her granddaughter's ear, "I just wanted to see you and I know everything has been very tough on you recently, so I figured you'd need some Carolina sun to brighten your break a little."
Nina nodded, tears brimming her eyes, and although she would later chalk it up to hormones, for that brief moment Nina forgot everything horrible and confusing thing going on in her life and was able to focus on the present.
Not even bothering to disguise himself, save for the sunglasses due to his hangover, knowing the streets would be cleared after the parade had ended earlier that morning, Ricky (in his drunken state) decided that he did, in fact, want the Turkey dinner, the whole nine yards!
But because of it being the holiday, everywhere and everything was sold out, save for the bodega at the end of Ricky's block.
He entered the small convenience store and scanned the aisles.
Microwave mashed potatoes, canned green beans, and a few pieces of "fresh" turkey from the small deli. It wasn't much but it would do.
Oh, and a bottle of wine.
Ricky checked out with ease, because there was not a single other soul in the entire area that was out on the street let alone in the bodega, so he headed for home and got to work preparing his makeshift thanksgiving dinner.
It was only when he set the measly plate down at the head of his dining room table and took a seat that he realized how absolutely pathetic this was.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket, hoping that he'd at least have a quick message from Nina, but there was nothing. Not a missed call or a text message or anything. It had been almost four days and he hadn't heard a word, not even when her plane first landed in Salt Lake did she bother to tell him that she made it safe and the baby was okay.
Ricky wasn't sure if it was the consuming feeling of loneliness or not but he began to wonder if he should call her. He decided not to, at least not at this very moment, but it didn't stop him from walking over to her apartment. He knew she wasn't there, but just to feel close to her. It was a feeling only a person as drunk as Ricky could rationalize.
He hardly bothered to bundle up for his walk, even though it had begun to snow. He just decided to trudge through it.
The walk to Nina's wasn't terribly long, but it felt like so in the bitter cold, a feeling Ricky hadn't been used to in awhile after living in LA for so many years.
When he arrived outside her building, he had no idea what the game plan was. He honestly hadn't thought this far ahead. He wondered if he should keep walking or if should just stop and go in, sit in the lobby for a little bit.
Ricky was sure the doorman wouldn't be pleased about that, especially not on a Holiday, so instead her sat his famous ass down on the pavement, a dry spot under a ledge off the building that hadn't gotten wet with snow yet. He just rested his head against the wall, a few lyrics to fill the melody he had began to start on earlier and the image of his empty dining room table began filling his mind. Again, he checked his phone, nothing from Nina.
After what seemed like an eternity, Ricky decided that it was time to go back home. He stood up, brushing some snowflakes off of his joggers and shoved his hands in the pockets of his denim jacket, keeping his head down.
Of course, whenever Ricky kept his head down he bumped into someone, it was just his celebrity luck to get recognized on Thanksgiving.
But when he looked up, it was a face he could recognize from miles away.
Darren.
"Ricky?" Darren said coldly, carrying a cardboard box. "What the hell are you going here? You know she home for break right?"
Ricky nodded, "Yeah, I was just... dropping something off. What about you? Why aren't you with your family?"
Darren, unsure of why he was even engaging in conversation with Ricky, he held up the box in his hands. "Just dropping off some of Nini's stuff too actually, not that it's any of your business but we broke up, but I'm sure she already told you that." Darren looked down, and that's when Ricky noticed the strange shirt he was wearing, "And I was with my family, our thanksgiving traditions include getting head start on Black Friday shopping, just wanted to drop Nini's stuff off while she wasn't around." He replied curtly.
But Ricky hadn't heard a word he said, because he was so focused on the shirt that Darren was wearing, it was his old t-shirt.
Okay, well not his specifically, but it was a piece of his merch from his previous tour. Which only meant one thing.
Nina had given it to him.
Ricky suddenly felt sick, a combination of both the alcohol and seeing his band tee on Darren. "I- I'm sorry but I actually have to um— go. Happy Thanksgiving man, sorry for all the drama." Was all Ricky could say before immediately turning away from him and walking the other way.
The singer took out his phone and pulled up Nina's contact, ready to press call when yet again, he bumped into someone.
Some luck he was having tonight.
"Oh my god. You're—"
Ricky shushed the girl, which he couldn't help but immediately notice looked very similar to Nina. Not as pretty- of course- if he was being perfectly honest and not at all shallow... but still, she bared a resemblance that maybe only Ricky himself would notice.
"I'm trying not to get noticed." He quickly told the girl.
She shook her head, "No, of course, I just wasn't expecting to run into someone as famous as you... on Thanksgiving of all days!" She replied in awe.
"What's your name?" He asked, not really knowing why.
"Marie, why?"
And before he could stop himself, he found himself asking, "Marie, would you like to come back to my apartment with me?"
Stars filled the girl's eyes, "I would love to."
Thanksgiving dinner was going much better than Nina had thought it would, so much so that when her moms began to pry about her situation, she felt almost comfortable answering.
"So, how's Darren... have you told him yet?" Carol asked, having been finished asking questions about Ricky and the baby. By now everyone had finished dinner, and everyone was sitting around the table gabbing and digesting.
However, this question commanded the attention of the whole table.
The table in question consisted of Nina's two mothers, her Lola and her Grandmother, her aunt and a few cousins, no one Nina felt particularly uncomfortable with. In fact, she had already shared all the details about the affair between her and Ricky so what else did she have to hide?
"Uh, we are not together anymore," Nina started, no one reacting in one way or another, not that anyone would show it if they did, "I told him about everything, Ricky, the baby and we decided that we couldn't be together. Things weren't going to work between us, it was better to end it on a happier note, if there is something to be happy about regarding this situation."
"Well I think you're being very wise about this whole thing, besides, Darren didn't seem right for you anyways." Townes chimed in, sending her granddaughter a wink.
Nina couldn't help but smile, "Yeah, I'm just going to put me first from here on out. Besides, I need to be prepared in case anything goes awry with Ricky."
"Exactly, dear. I agree with Townes you are very wise about this." Dana smiled, patting her daughters leg under the table.
After a bit more chatter at the table, Nina helped her mothers with the dishes and the while most of the family left, the rest curled up in the living room.
Nina, Townes, and her mothers were halfway through their first Christmas movie of the upcoming season when it struck Nina that Ricky hadn't called once since she arrived in Salt Lake, he hadn't so much as sent her a text, which she knew was odd.
But it was good, she needed to get him and their moment from the other day out of her head. Like she had said aloud at dinner, she needed to focus on herself.
But as she said this, a ring came through on her phone.
Only, it wasn't Ricky calling. It was Darren
The morning after Thanksgiving, Ricky woke up in his bed, a complete hangover headache and girl next to him that he thought was Nina.
He tried to recollect the events from the previous night and it all came flooding back to him.
He remembered inviting this girl back, they had a few drinks and moved to his bedroom but when it came down to it, he pushed her off, leaving her to roll away from him with a breathy "whatever."
It wasn't a great feeling, but he felt better knowing that he hadn't betrayed Nina in that way, not that they were together or he owed her anything in this respect, but he felt so connected to Nina and having sex with someone else just felt so wrong. Especially when, despite the fact that she hadn't called all break, they were actually doing well.
He decided it was time to get his girl out of his room, he gently shook her away "Hey Ni-" and that's when he caught himself, talking a moment to remember her name, "Marie! Marie..." the girl awoke looking right at Ricky.
"Well good morning Ricky Bowen," she said with a flirtatious smile, which was met with a cold:
"You should go."
Only when Marie had said her few choice words for him and stormed out his apartment did Ricky stand up and go sit at his dining room table, starting on the song he was working on the previous day, a song that would be titled after his current place in his apartment.
author's note
before i get comments i just want to clarify that when i say "girl" in reference to marie i mean that she's his age. i just felt like adding that in there was clunky and that you as readers would use context clues to conclude that she was definitely old enough to be hooking up with ricky, but because i can already see the comments so i felt i should clarify!