Late to update 'cause of work. Whoops
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The next morning, Nini feels herself waking up. She sighs heavily, not wanting to actually get up. She refuses to open her eyes yet smiles thinking about the previous day. She reaches around in the bed yet her eyes fly open when all she feels is the cold sheets.
She sat up and looked around, completely puzzled. Where did he go? The bathroom door was open, so he wasn't in there. She got out of bed, becoming disheartened when she saw his shoes were gone from the door. She turned her phone on and didn't see any texts from him and felt even more despondent. She went to the window and saw that there was still plenty of snow in people's yards yet not tons on the roads. She couldn't see the driveway from her room, so she decided to go downstairs and see if his car was still there.
Nini turned her doorknob slowly, knowing the twins were still asleep; it was nine in the morning. As she tiptoed down the stairs, she heard noises coming from the kitchen. She peeked around the corner when she made it to the bottom and smiled when she saw Ricky standing over the stove. He was entirely engrossed in whatever he was doing. He was still wearing the same outfit as yesterday, so she took that as a sign that he hadn't left the house yet today.
Nini made her way over to him, and he jumped a little when he turned around. "Oh, h- hey," he stuttered. "I, uh... I was hoping to get this done before you woke up, but, um... here we are," he shrugged. His eyes quickly flickered over her body, and he grinned, still loving the way his hoodie was slightly too big for her.
She noticed his eyes too and giggled at his babbling. He's too cute for his own good. "What'd you make?" she wondered.
"I just looked through the cabinets to see what you had. I- I hope that that was ok. I wanted to do something for you since you let me stay."
"No repayment necessary," she said instantly. "You can come here anytime you want. You're always welcome."
Ricky smiled. "Well, I have pancakes, eggs, and sausage biscuits. I- I'm assuming you're still a vegetarian, so I can just put the other sausages in a container for the twins to eat later," he rambled. "There wasn't any, uh, vegan meat breakfast foods that I could find, b- but I hope you like it anyway."
Nini's heart melted at his kindness and boyish grin. He was obviously proud of himself for what he had made, even if he was nervous about presenting it. She then laughed a little at the situation. Get a grip; you're literally swooning over food. "Everything looks and smells perfect," she complimented.
"Great," he grinned. "It's almost all done." He turned back around and continued stirring eggs in a pan.
Nini went over and hugged him from behind, getting on her toes to press a tender kiss to the back of his neck. She heard him sigh, and one of his hands came over hers. The perfect person. She let go of him and went to grab plates from the cabinet. The grin on her face wasn't going to disappear any time soon. She has dreamed about a situation like this for years: an ideal future where they would get to be together every day. This wasn't exactly like her fantasies, yet she was still enjoying the moment.
Once everything was done, they sat together on the couch and ate the delicious breakfast Ricky had made. Nini complimented him on his cooking, a little shocked that he had seemingly improved.
"Nia still says I'm shit at cooking," he laughed.
"Well, I guess it just depends on the situation. Like, I don't have much confidence in you making a whole dinner," she giggled.
"Hey! I'm not awful."
"Agree to disagree."
They laughed as they continued to eat. They were both silent as they enjoyed the food, not wanting to talk with their mouths full. They both had a few thoughts about the conversation that was going to occur after all the food was gone.
Nini was tremendously eager to continue what was going on the night before, her curiosity only growing more the longer she thought about it; she was just afraid of overstepping. He probably doesn't want to reminisce on those memories first thing in the morning.
Ricky pondered over if he should bring up his nightmare. He normally talked about it with Nia, only because she experienced them too and knew she would understand some of his irrational scenarios, even if most sounded ridiculous. He was equally as curious regarding what she had said before he fell back asleep. Maybe she doesn't even remember. She was only half asleep.
Once both of their plates were empty, Nini repositioned herself to have her legs bent next to her as she leaned on the couch cushion, facing him. "Who knew you could actually cook something?" she joked.
"Again, I'm not awful."
"Well, you didn't cause a fire, so that's a plus."
It grew silent, both of them wanting to say something to fill the space. "Hey," they said at the same time. They laughed, and then Nini said, "You go first."
"Ok, um..." He was much more anxious now. "Do you remember what you said last night?"
Nini furrowed her brows and internally panicked, fearing she had said something stupid in her sleep. "N- No. What was it?"
Ricky grinned and blushed, which she noticed. "You called me bubba."
Nini felt her heart stop. "Oh."
And Ricky felt his heart drop. "Y- Yeah, I, uh... I didn't think you'd remember."
Nini caught on to his disappointment and wondered, "H- How'd you respond?"
He smiled weakly and leaned his head on the couch. "I just said, 'goodnight, angel.'"
Nini's smile grew. "Really?"
He nodded. "Mhm."
"Well... would you want to bring that back?"
He perked up immediately. "Whatever you want." Despite the nonchalant answer, Nini could see the giddiness on his face.
"I'd like that," she confessed.
Ricky reached a hand out to her and laced their fingers together. "Perfect, angel."
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For the next few hours, the two were just endlessly talking as they lay together on the couch. They truly felt like teenagers as the conversation effortlessly bounced between topics, continuing indefinitely.
His voice started fading as Nini looked up at him from her place on his chest and just admired him; she stared intently at his features, not believing he was real. She wished for moments like these all the time where they could just relax together whenever they wanted.
He finished his story and was a little confused when she didn't say anything; he thought she looked absolutely adorable with her brown doe eyes and grin though. "Neens?"
"Hmm?" she mumbled.
"What's going on in that head of yours?"
She didn't answer, and her smile got wider as she pushed herself higher to make their heads level. She didn't say anything as she kissed him deeply, cupping his cheek with one hand and gripping his arm with the other. Ricky reciprocated with just as much passion, pressing both of his hands into her back.
He smiled into the kiss, not entirely believing that this was his life. It amazed him how he could be on this couch right now with the girl of his dreams in front of him after the years of shit endured.
Nini ran her tongue along his bottom lip and climbed into his lap at the same time their tongues met. Ricky grunted at the new position, and his hands fell to grip her waist. She began combing her fingers through his hair as she leaned into him more; he was now completely flushed against the couch cushion.
Nini shivered and lightly moaned when his hands slipped under her (his) hoodie, his cool hands on her warm skin. He groaned every time she would grip fistfuls of his hair.
The moment is unfortunately disrupted when they both hear Ricky's phone vibrating on the coffee table. Nini tries to turn around and look at the screen, but Ricky just moves to kiss her neck. "Mmm, hey," she mumbled, her eyes closing on their own. Her head tipped back as her hands grasped his neck and hair.
"Hmm?" he hummed, having no intention of moving.
"Y- Your... phone." She was trying to catch her breath yet also biting her lip at the same time; Nini was sure this was going to leave a mark on her neck.
"I'd rather not answer," he murmured against her.
"It might be important though."
Ricky fought his wishes and eventually stopped, and Nini sat next to him and wrapped her arms around him while he reached for his phone. The screen said Nia. "Hey," he answered.
"Hey, how's the snow over there?"
"It has surprisingly let up quite a bit. Is Noah awake yet?"
"Nope. He probably will in a few hours. When do you plan on coming back?"
Ricky clicked his tongue and looked at Nini. "Um, I'm not sure. Why? Has something happened?"
"No, everything is fine. I just..."
He heard her sigh; she sounded regretful. "What is it?"
"I feel like Noah wanted to do more for your birthday."
"What do you mean? We did the cupcake tradition." Noah would smash a cupcake on Ricky's face every year for his birthday, and the same for Nia's birthday. The boy enjoyed making a mess of the dessert.
"Yeah, I know. Maybe it was just a little weird this time since the snow trapped you."
Ricky felt a little guilty since he was only at the apartment for some hours. A lightbulb went off in his head though, and he snapped his fingers. "Hey, I have an idea: what if you two come here and everyone plays in the snow?" He was looking at Nini too to see what her response would be.
"Are you sure about that? What about the twins? And Nini?"
"Hold on." He moved the phone away from his ear and put her on hold. "What do you think?" he asked Nini.
She obviously had been listening to the conversation. "I mean... we could. Do you think everyone would be comfortable with it though?"
"Yeah, of course! Plus, pelting parents with snow is always a great bonding exercise."
"If they're ok with it, that's fine. I say we wait until everyone is up though, just to be sure."
"Ok, perfect." Ricky told Nia to call back when Noah was awake, and they would plan it then. He was incredibly ecstatic since he wanted all the kids to get along as that would make situations way easier. This is going to be great.
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Yesterday was the longest day of my life. Woke up at 6:30 for school and then had work until 11:15.
I'm fINe.