"Oh c'mon Ni" EJ pleads. "Please it's just eight days and will cost you nothing" Of course, just eight days to her is far too much time away from the recording studio. "I really really like her"
"You really really like practically anyone, remember Brenda?" She deadpans, throwing peppermint into cups of steaming hot chocolate.
"Hey!" , she gives him a funny look, like she's about to burst out laughing. "Okay fine yes I've liked some questionable people whatever"
"Some?" She raises her eyebrows, handing him a mug. "THE POINT IS, SHES DIFFERENT"
Nini laughs shamelessly at him. "Don't be such a bitch, you've met her you like her"
"True, she's an angel, no idea what she sees in you though" He rolls his eyes, deciding to ignore her. "It'll be fun! At least then we don't have to keep pretending it's not boiling outside" he points to the cooler Nini has turned on blasting in their faces. "Literally Nini you've turned out apartment into fucking Antarctica I can't do this anymore."
"I have to write before work starts again, it's literally ten days before I'm back to eleven hours a day six days a week"
"You can take your stuff, plus Ash and Red are gonna come along, you love writing with her" He smiles nervously, hoping that will be enough. He can see her walls of stubbornness starting to falter, his smile turns sly and she immediately gets up, death staring him, trying to escape. "Please please please please please please please please please please please please" he speed walks behind her, chanting continuously. She starts to run and he follows, easily putting a hand on both her arms, lifting her up. "Please please please please please"
"IF I SAY YES WILL YOU SHUT UP? JESUS CHRIST YES EJ YES I WILL GO TO YOUR STUPID HOLIDAY HOUSE IN ASPEN, PUT ME DOWN BEFORE I PUNCH YOU"
"YES THANK YOU" he puts her down. "And socialize with my girlfriend and her friends?" She glares at him again. "You know Nina, you really need to get those anger issues in check."
Before she gets a chance to respond, there's a loud thumping noise coming from below their feet.
"Keep it down you idiots! I'm going to call the police!" A voice croaks, they burst out laughing.
"Oh yeah? call th-!" EJ slaps his hand against her mouth, both of them still laughing uncontrollably. "SORRY MRS CRAWLEY". he yells out, unclasping his hand. "You're fucking crazy" he whispers, walking away from her, smiling. She follows him to the kitchen, pulling out Christmas dinner left overs from last night from the fridge.
He gets the plates out as she carefully unwraps Carol's neatly placed cling wrap and foil under the container. He had spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at the Salazar-Roberts house as usual, just as he had every year since senior year, Ashlyn had joined them for dinner too, after spending the day with her parents.
"Nothing beats Malou's fusion Christmas dinner" he says, already sitting at the table. She joins him a minute later. "You came home late last night, I didn't even hear you" she brings up, in an attempt to nonchalantly bring up how he disappeared shortly after dinner last night.
He blushes, looking down at his plate. "We went to the beach, she made eggnog and gingerbread cookies, watched the sun come up" he mumbles out, trying to mush the details. "Look at you living your little hallmark movie"
"Oh shut up, also we leave tomorrow morning then? Yeah?"
"Yeah" she says, seeing how happy he is "I'm happy for you Eej, you deserve this" her expression is genuine, he smiles, taking pride in her saying that.
He calls Gina after lunch, so excited that he's practically bouncing off the walls.
He heads to the office for a while after, checking on his schedule for next month. They're both almost two years out of college. EJ works as a producer, at one of the many Caswell companies, an extension he co-owns and runs, something he built by himself, much to the annoyance of his father who would rather he studied business and worked with him; that being one of the many reasons they don't really talk.
Nini is a whole different story, she works two jobs (a music composer at another company and as waitress at a high end restaurant-bar) right now to meet bills and rent to their shared apartment, stubbornly insistant that she pays her exact half (regardless of EJ trying to help her out) ; and is a music major from Berkeley trying to make it big, she's at the studio as much as she can be.
They've been roommates since college, and best friends since high school.
"She's bringing four of her friends" EJ tells her, sitting cross legged on her bed as she moves around, packing her bags. It's past seven by now. "Also pack bathing suits, there's hot tubs on the property"
"How are we getting there?"
"I have the company plane for tomorrow, but we're gonna have to drive back from Aspen on the fourth."
"What is that, like thirteen-fourteen hours?"
"Give or take yeah."
Nini finishes packing her clothes and toiletries, she's trying to figure out what instruments she can take. "There's a grand piano at the house there, please don't carry that godforsaken keyboard" EJ groans, referring to the keyboard that he has gotten into multiple accidents trying to carry around.
"Fine I'll take a guitar" she says, picking up her favorite one and putting it in a case. "Okay out now let me finish packing, you need to finish too" she kicks him out of her room. Nini puts her songwriting book, mini recording mic, picks and her smaller soundboard she hasn't used since high school into her huge backpack, with her laptop and headphones. She throws in her tape recorder and a few pencils.
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At five am, Nini bangs on EJ's bedroom door "AWAKEN" she bellows. He drags himself out of bed, walking into the kitchen. She's drinking coffee, hair messily falling over her face. "We have to leave in an hour" he mumbles, grabbing a mug from the closet. "going for a shower" she replies dragging herself back to her room. "We are so not morning people"
Fifty minutes later, EJ screams out from the kitchen "HURRY UP COME ON"
"I'm coming can you relax" she says, walking out of her room. Long wet hair tucked carelessly behind her ear in a rush. She tilts her head, drying it with her towel. She's wearing loose shorts and a full sleeve crop top; EJ frowns. "You're going to freeze like a popsicle stick when we land"
"What lovely analogies, I'm carrying pants" He passes her a sandwich, she looks up at him confused. "Eat, you're grumpy if you don't eat" She rolls her eyes "see, grumpy"
He walks away after that, putting their bags near the lift.
She eats quickly, grabbing her backpack and guitar case from her room. They double check that everything is off and locked, draw all the curtains and walk out the door. There's a company car downstairs with a driver to drop them to the airport. He's nervous in the car, she can tell; she knows he wants to make a good impression, wants her friends to like him. Though admittedly he's had quite a few wacky girlfriends, somewhere in her mind, Nini knows something's different this time.
When they reach the airport, they go through a separate security section to the private planes. They're the first two there, EJ paces around her, it's dizzying. "eej cmon, breathe" she grabs his arm gently, so that he stops moving around so much.
"It's gonna be fine you're overthinking this, look, they're here" she says, nodding her head at three figures in the distance. Gina is walking towards them, her hair in two long braids, there's two guys behind her. "Nini!" She beams, hugging her tightly.
They had grown familiar with each other over the past couple months, a few awkward run in's where she'd come home in the middle of the night from work and they were hooking up on the couch, no but that aside, she had been out with them a few times, dinners on the weekend or just to the beach for a while, she was quite fond of Gina. That was very validating for EJ, not in the sense that he would dislike Gina if Nini didn't like her, he didn't want her approval; it was more so that it felt safe, knowing that Nini doesn't like people as quickly as he does, it was reassuring to him.
She leaves Nini's arms, giving EJ a hug, they linger for a second, she almost kisses him. They giggle a little, cheeks flushing red. Nini smiles, it's cute, watching them be all nervous and flustered, all of this being new. Her two friends seem to think so too, they're holding hands, Nini assumes they're together.
"So, this is Carlos, you've met him" she looks at EJ, "and this is Seb, they were both with me at Juilliard"
"I'm Nina, but you can call me Nini" she introduces herself, Seb kisses her cheek. She can tell that they're already going to be friends. "You must know Ash then, from Juilliard?"
"Yes, we had different classes most of the time but I remember her, she was a year above us" Carlos replies, thinking back to college. EJ looks down at his phone "they're gonna be here in a few minutes"
"Same" Gina says texting the rest of her friends. Seb, Los and Nini take amusement in their embarrassment.
Ashlyn and Big Red are hurrying towards them, lugging their suitcases. Ash hugs EJ first, Red hugging Nini tight. Ash Carlos and Seb reintroduce themselves to each other, Ashlyn knows Gina well by now, they were friends the last few months of college too, plus she had been the fourth wheel with Nini at a few dinners.
Lastly, a few minutes later, there's two more people running towards them. Gina sighs in relief, still upset that they were late, more embarrassed than upset actually. There's a guy and a girl. The girl hugs Seb and Carlos immediately. The guy goes up behind Gina and whispers "sorry" in her ear; at least that's what Nini can make out from a distance.
The girl has light brown hair, and just about the sweetest smile Nini's ever seen. "I'm Maddie, Maddox" she greets them, shaking everyone's hands, lingering a while longer at Ashlyn.
Nini turns her attention to the guy, guitar case in his right hand. He's tall, with curly locks of brown hair, messily falling on his forehead; he has pretty eyes, she notices,the sun makes them look golden almost. "Ricky" he smiles.
"Nini" she says, nodding once, keeping her distance.
Everyone gets on the plane, knowing they're late. It's past nine by now. On one side there's four recliner chairs per section, facing each other with a table in the middle, there's two tables, eight seats. On the other side there's a long nook like seat, a few windows long. Nini settles into a corner of the long seat, her backpack tucked to her side, the guitar strapped in on the same seat. EJ, Gina, Maddox and Ricky sit in the four seats parallel to Nini's. Ashlyn, Red, Carlos and Seb in the next section.
The pilot gives out the basic information on the intercom as they get ready for take off, everyone's engaged in conversation. Ricky's gaze flickers over to her every few seconds, she plugs earphones into her ears, making sure they're literally stuffed in there. He finds it intriguing, maybe she doesn't like to fly, he wonders. The plane starts moving and he sees her put two pieces of gum in her mouth, turning the volume up on her phone, her knees close to her chest. As they take off, she closes her eyes tight, a silly habit, she thinks to herself. He's amused, but refrains from making a joke, knowing Gina would slap him.
A few minutes after they take off, everyone shuffles around, Maddox moving into Ricky's seat with him so Seb and Carlos sit in her seat. Gina moves into EJ's seat with him so Ashlyn can take her seat. Red moves Nini's guitar, much to her annoyance; he lays down on her seat, head to the pillow in her lap.
"So are you guys dating?" Carlos asks, referring to Ashlyn and Red. Seb purses his lips at how direct his boyfriend is. Ashlyn and Red both laugh. "We dated in high school" she starts off.
"She was my first love" Red says dramatically clutching his heart. Nini rolls her eyes goofily at their little speech, having heard it almost every-time they meet new people.
"And he was mine"
"And now we're both gay" they say in unison. Maddie snorts accidentally, immediately embarrassed, luckily most people are too busy laughing to notice. "Barely an hour into this trip and you're already crushing" Ricky whispers cheekily into her ear, she elbows his chest.
"We're best friends, no idea why it works but it just does, I don't think life would be much of anything without her" Red finishes, smiling.
Everyone goes around the room saying what they do, Maddox is an artist, she works as a graphic designer at a firm to make money but she'd much rather be a painter. Ash goes back and forth between LA and NYC, trying to make it big on Broadway. Gina wants to be an actress and dancer, she's a teacher at this high end studio in Malibu, she does her auditions on the side, hoping for a big break. Seb plays jazz at clubs and restaurants, sings at some places, though musical theatre is more his calling. Carlos is a junior assistant producer for a film company. Ricky is quite similar to Nini, a music major too, he works part time as a basketball coach at a community center and part time as a busboy, recording and writing whenever he has time. Red is a vlogger, though he's striving to open his own tap studio; he often travels back and forth with Ashlyn since his boyfriend lives in New York, and most of his auditions are there. Then of course there's Nini and EJ.
"So basically" Nini says "we're the starving artists club, plus Elton"
"Your name is Elton?!" Ricky almost spits out the water in his mouth, Gina shoots him a glare. "Wait wait, EJ, ELTON JOHN?" Nini bursts out laughing at his realization.
The conversation drifts around for a bit, everyone's wide awake for the plane ride. They land around eleven thirty, the car ride after to the Caswell lodge cabins is long and upwards. It's almost two by the time they reach.
Everyone's exhausted now, the buzz from earlier a little worn out. Nini realized she was not wearing enough layers half way through the car ride when they stopped for lunch, Seb realized he gets motion sick at that altitude and Big Red was deemed a horrible driver; he claims it's because it was a mini bus and not a normal car.
They walk into the wooden house, it's beautiful. EJ looks at Gina's face as it lights up, it instantly makes him happier. "Okay so guys" he starts out as everyone stands in the living room "there are five rooms, two downstairs and three upstairs, and two rooms have twin beds, how do you want to split up?"
"Seb and I are good in one room" Carlos says. Gina walks over to EJ "we can share" she smiles, it's silly of course since they had both assumed they were going to share, but they had been nervous to bring it up to each other.
"Ash?" Red faces her "the twin beds then?"
"I was gonna ask Neens, but sure okay"
That leaves Ricky, Maddox and Nini.
Ricky and Nini make eye contact for a split second, Nini blinks, questioning her existence.
"The other twin beds Rick?" Maddox asks, thinking it would be awkward for her to share with Nini since they don't know each other. Nini sighs in relief, Ricky shakes himself out of his thoughts "yeah yup sure"
"Okay then" EJ says, "I guess we're sorted"
EJ and Gina take the master bedroom upstairs, Madi and Ricky are in the room next to them; Nini is in the last room upstairs with a single bed. Carlos and Seb are in one room downstairs, Red and Ashlyn in the other room with two beds. Everyone decides to rest for a few hours, going into their rooms. EJ and Nini stay in the living room.
"Hey eej? Before you go up, can you show me the piano room." He nods, taking her through the house, "it's huge" she remarks as they walk. They reach a room with high ceilings and long glass pane windows, similar to French windows, and a chandelier with crystals white and light shades of blue hanging at the center. She's in awe, there's a large black grand piano in the middle on top of a faux white fur carpet. A few couches and couch chairs with hand knit throw blankets matching the colors of the room around the piano; Nini recognizes the blankets, quite familiar with EJ's mom's knitting; there's a warmth to the room. She runs her palm over the cold glass of the windows, having to look up to see the whole view, snow covered mountains and forest; she loves how the frost forms at the bottom corners of the windows. There's a fireplace behind the piano, parallel to it, at a good distance; it isn't lit right now. "I love it" she mumbles, he knows.
They both go to their rooms after that, Nini gets all her stuff into her room, changing her clothes after freshening up. She puts on something warmer, a fluffy white knits sweater over a pair of jeans and christmas socks, now opening her hair. Thirty minutes later she walks down and makes her way to the piano room , guitar on her back, bag in her hand.
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By six, the sun has already set, as much as she'd hate to admit it, Nini likes the change of pace.
Around six ten, everyone gathers in the living room, other than Nini. "The hot tubs outside are working" EJ mentions "everyone wanna go before we head out for dinner? I figure we'd go out in to the city tonight"
There's overlapping yeses, everyone leaving to go get changed, agreeing to meet in the tub in twenty minutes. "Hey uh, where's Nini?" Ricky asks EJ, him and Gi still downstairs. "I was just gonna go get her, I think she's in the piano room, right through there" EJ points. "Do you wanna..?"
"Sure yeah I can- yeah" he fumbles, already walking towards the piano room. Gina makes a weird face at him, confused at his antics. EJ lifts her up goofily carrying her up the stairs.
Ricky wanders through the house, finally finding the room. There's no door in the frame but he pauses, watching her play a melody slowly, then scribble quickly into a book. "Cause someday I'll be everything to somebody else" she sings softly, he stands there dumbfounded, mesmerized by her voice. "And they'll think that I am so exciting, and you'll be.." she pauses, glancing at her book; "and you'll be be the one who's crying" her tone is vulnerable and it makes him feel deeply emotional which he finds unusual.
He clears his throat accidentally, making her hand slip in surprise, a bunch of keys getting pressed at once. She turns to look at him, pushing the hair out of her face gently.
"Hey"
"Hey"
"Ricky?" She asks after he's quiet for a minute. "Yeah?" She widens her eyes a little, he realizes she's asking why he's here. "Right so um we're all going to the hot tub outside for a while before we go into the city for dinner, EJ was gonna come tell you but I figured I'd let Gina and him be" he says, well, at least it's not a complete lie? He thinks to himself.
"Oh okay cool" she stands up "I'll go change" she closes her book, putting it away carefully with her tape recorder before they walk back to to their respective rooms, exchanging small talk.
She changes into a tie up black two piece, putting her hair up into a bun because she wants to avoid getting it wet. She puts on a fuzzy bathrobe from the closet; and her slippers, knowing the snow from the stone path to the tub has been cleared. She puts her phone in an airtight ziplock bag just in case water gets on her robe. She walks downstairs, there's no one in the living room or kitchen, it's dark outside. She assumes they're already at the hot tub and steps out the centrally heated house.
A chill immediately runs up her spin, goosebumps on her legs. She wraps her robe tighter around herself, shakily walking down the narrow path to the hot tub. When she gets there she realizes she's the first one. It's too cold too wait so she takes off her robe, placing it on the little rack next to the tub, and takes the slippers off, the cold wind making her tremble. She climbs into the tub, immediately submerging herself in the hot water, settling herself right near the tub ladder, shoulder deep when she sits criss crossed. She's amused by the little portable speaker floating in the hot tub , completely occupied with trying to get it to work and connect to her phone.
She doesn't notice someone approaching the tub, he's shaking more than she was, having made the stupid decision to just carry the robe for later, only in a pair of swim shorts. In a hurry to climb in, he doesn't realize how close she is to the ladder.
He finds himself hovering over her, hands on the rim of the tub on either side of her. The speaker floats away from her, both their faces turning more than slightly red, eyes wandering. He gulps, quickly moving back into the center on the tub "sorry I didn't-"
"no I- me neither-" she's flustered.
He sits opposite her, back to the other side of the tub. They can see the rest of their friends at a distance now, some behind some closer; she finally gets the speaker on, letting soft music play in the background. Ash is the first to reach, she stands behind Nini, outside the tub, arms loosely around her shoulders, Nini smiles brightly; his eyes are only on her.
"I love your costume so much" Nini looks at her, admiringly.
"You look so hot" Ashlyn says, making her giggle. He catches her eye again, smirking ever so slightly. He looks down then back at her, that stupid cocky grin still on his face, she reciprocates, playing along to silent eye contact.
Ash gets in, sitting next to Nini. By now everyone has walked up where they are. Ricky bursts out laughing when he sees Carlos, everyone else trying to stifle a laugh, but failing miserably. He's wearing the most pouffy shower cap, all his hair tucked away. "Oh shut up there's no way I'm sitting and washing my hair in the night, it's like y'all are asking for a cold" he points to the thick blanket of snow everywhere. "Mm I agree, ten out of ten the dedication" Nini says reaching her hand out towards him. "See this one gets it" Carlos says, sitting on Nini's other side. Everyone else gets in, Ricky sitting between Red and EJ (plus Gina who's sitting in the front of EJ, his arms around her waist). They settle on playing truth or dare, there's something childlike about which creates nostalgia; plus the game is fun no matter how silly it seems.
"Okay Maddox, what's the most wasted you've ever been?" EJ asks. She snorts out loud. "I was probably like, nineteen or something, and it was like the first day after fall semester ended, I had this girlfriend and they decided to dump me in front of like half my friends, but then I found out I was top of my class and that whole day was like the most emotional rollercoaster type of situation and a bunch of drama happened between some of the theatre majors, so basically me and my friend, we went to this frat house party and we were both like, miserable. Some context, I was on antibiotics cause i was recovering from like the flu, anyways. So we stupidly decided to grab multiple bottles of whiskey or something and go to the roof. We were so wasted I barely remember was happened after that, some couple fought in front of us and then the next morning we woke up still on the roof; someone had thrown a blanket over us, I've never had such a horrendous headache in my entire life."
"I have no words"
"You speak so fast.." red mutters in shock, Madi is very pleased with herself. "Alrighty then, Nina dearest" Red continues "truth or dare?" He does hand gestures. "Truth"
"Boring" she sees Ricky mouth to her from the corner of her eye, she rolls her eyes. Carlos claps his hands excitedly "out of all the people EJ has dated before, who has been your least favorite and why"
She can't control her laughter, looking at EJ. "God no Nini I'll fucking kill you" Gina can't stop laughing either. "Okay fine if not crazy Brenda, then that chick who always ate with her mouth open and ended up stealing stuff from our apartment AND my closet"
"Ava something" EJ says trying to remember, "Ava Thompson?"
"Okay but Nini if you don't tell me about Brenda one of these days I swear to god" Carlos remarks, EJ splashes water in their direction. "Okay okay fine! No Brenda, Richard" Nini's eyes go wide, she purses her lips together trying not to laugh. "Richard?" She mouths, he's biting his tongue, trying not to smile and make an irritated face. "Truth or dare?"
"Dare" He says, a cocky smile on his face again, god she wishes she could slap that smile off his face.
"I have one" she speaks up, more comfortable with everyone now, more out of her shell. She has that smile on her face EJ has over the years dubbed as her 'evil face'.
"Go ahead" he gestures.
"Go stand over there" she twists herself, pointing to the snow covered garden right next to the tub, "barefoot with no robe, for six minutes"
He smiles nervously, fear visible in his eyes "nooo, c'mon" he arches his head back for a second. He tilts his head, trying to get her to be sympathetic.
"I'm serious Richard, or are you gonna back out?" She smirks.
"I like this side of Nini" Carlos whispers to Seb "I'm scared" he whispers back.
He stands up, everyone else watches in amusement as he steps out of pool, wet and shirtless as the cold wind hits his body. He hesitates to put a foot down onto the stone path, still lingering on the ladder. The stone feels like ice under his feet. "Alright, time starts now" someone says as he steps into the snow, it's deep enough to cover his entire foot, a little more in some spots. He waddles to the area where she had point, shaking like a twig. She's looking right at him, leaning over the rim, she can't help but laugh, a breathy chuckle escaping her mouth. I'm gonna get you back he thinks to himself.
His teeth start chattering a minute in, two minutes and and his nose is bright red, Maddox takes a picture (Nini smiling proudly in the corner of that picture). By three minutes, he's practically begging for a forfeit, but he didn't want to lose, EJ also realizes they should get going for dinner in a bit, so most of them get out and start walking to the house, Carlos and Seb still in the pool, arms around each other.
He waddles a little closer to the tub where she's leaning over, leaning in slightly. "I'm gonna fucking pee myself" he whispers, she can hear him shiver when he speaks. She closes her eyes trying to control her laughter, honestly feeling slightly bad for him.
On the other side of the tub, Seb gives Carlos a look, insinuating that they should leave. They get out, Carlos puts a hand on Nini's shoulder for a second as a way of letting her know they're going inside. Ricky let's them walk away a little bit. "Fuck it you win" he whispers before using his arms to literally jump into the hot tub instead of going to the ladder, she swerves before he can submerge her into the water. Still her reaches out an arm, putting it tightly around her waist, pulling her against him, back to his chest. He used the other hand to splash water in her face. She giggles, the sound makes him laugh; she can hear his heart beating as they breathe heavily.
He loosens his grip, letting her go, she turns to face him, smiling but still trying to catch her breath. "One day in and I already hate you" he says, chuckling lightly.
"We should go get ready" she says. "I'll be in in a bit, gotta defrost before I get pneumonia"
She floats to the ladder, standing up and getting out of the water. She can feel his gaze on her, she smiles to herself; he stays quiet. They continue their little eye contact game as she puts on her robe, before she walks back to the house in a hurry, trying to avoid the cold.
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Nini has to blow-dry her hair, a result of him splashing water on her. At a bit past eight thirty, everyone meets downstairs. They take two separate cars to the city, Nini sticking with EJ, Gina Carlos and Seb while the other four take the other car. Dinner is pleasant, she really does like these people, they explore the city after that. Ricky and Nini keep up their little game, the glances, the brushing of fingers against each other, footsie under the table, her big blue scarf around his neck by the end of the night; he doesn't give it back and she doesn't ask for it.
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The next day everyone except Madi and Nini are in the living room kitchen area. Big Red goes to open the fridge and Ricky stops him, telling him to sit down.
Madi's gone for a shower. Nini walks down the stairs, dressed for the day. A few minutes later she goes to the fridge to get juice and as soon as she opens it, he face and torso are covered in what she assumes is whipped cream and an egg. "Good morning sunshine!" He squeaks smugly, standing about eight feet away from her.
"Oh shit" EJ whispers moving Gina out of Nini's general vicinity, everyone else in the room following EJ. Nini turns to Ricky slowly, she's dead silent. Madi freezes on the stairs after EJ signs "death" with his hands.
"Dude" EJ says looking at Ricky "run" Ricky is confused, looking between her and EJ. "Why?" EJ face palms himself "just run"
"What is she gonna do hurt me with her tiny ineffectual fists?" At this point EJ gives up "it's your funeral pretty boy" he tells Ricky, him and the group taking one more step back.
Nini runs towards him and he starts to run away, she catches up of course, jumping onto his back and slapping his face hard, the cream and egg smearing over his shirt and hair just like hers. She punches him once and he yelps "not to ineffectual are they?"
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And so the prank wars begin, the flour in his blowdryer, the stealing her clothes, the locking him out in the cold, the hiding her guitar (which he got slapped for again). A couple days go on, he hasn't seen her sing again, though he knows when she isn't with group she's working on her music, just like him.
They're all on the big L shaped couch, they just finished watching a movie. Again they held hands under the blanket, pretending to be oblivious to each other. There's faint yelling in the kitchen, EJ goes to investigate. He comes back five minutes later.
"The housekeeper and chef got into a fight, the chef quit or both of them quit, I'm not quite sure, each ways, we have no chef, any volunteers to make dinner?"
"I can cook!" Gina says enthusiastically.
"Sweetie no" Carlos deadpans immediately.
"Hey c'mon Los I bake for you all the time" she defends. "True but Gi, your cooking is a whole different story"
"He's not wrong" Ricky chimes in.
"I can cook" Seb says, "I'll help" Nini adds.
A couple hours later, they're both in the kitchen, ash and red helping them out. Nini's attempting to cut onions. Ricky walks in, standing behind here "my god you're gonna cut your hand off" he keeps his voice low "Nina Salazar-Roberts: the artist that cut off her hand, forever unable to play" she rolls here eyes, "here, why don't you take a stab at it" she says about to hand him the knife. He chuckles at her little dad joke, instead he puts one hand on each of hers, it takes her by surprise. He shows her how to cut an onion, smug that he knew how to do it better. Red smiles at them from across the kitchen, genuinely happy to see Nini not push him away like she does most guys.
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On 30th, they go skiing. Ricky tumbles down the hill while she's skiing perfectly, Nini can't help but laugh like everyone else is. He looks right at her, covered in snow as he walks up the hill in defeat. She's laughing so much her whole face is red.
"Oh yeah?" He says walking to her "is it funny?"
"Mhm yeah" she's smiling so big and she doesn't even know why "hilarious"
He runs a few feet to her, it catches her off guard and she has no time to react, he bear tackles her, putting his arms around her and rolling them both off the hill. She shrieks between laughs, giggling uncontrollably. He has one hand holding her head steady so it doesn't hit anything. By the end they're both covered in snow, her skis fallen off somewhere halfway through; they're laying in the snow, he gently moves the hair out of her face.
Everyone else skis down and they both get up "I'm getting a snowboard" he declares, giving up on the skis.
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It's 31st night, they all have fun, timing out earlier than twelve. It mellows down completely. He looks around and he can't see her; she was there a few minutes ago. He walks up, she's not in her room either.
He can hear a door creaking higher up, he climbs up and the roof door is open a crack. Ricky walks out onto the terrace, gently closing the door, making sure it's not locked. He walks a little forward and there she is. She's sitting, looking up at the sky, knees pressed to her chest, sobbing. She sees him, she wants to run but she stays there. They don't say a word, he doesn't question her. He sits down behind her, legs on either side of her, he gently pulls her in, holding her warmly. They watch the fireworks, he lets her cry.
Eventually she falls asleep, and he lifts her up carefully, taking her to her room and tucking her in. She holds on to his hand in her sleep, he falls asleep, sitting on the floor against the bed, head on the mattress, hand in hers.
hey guys
might do a second part if there's demand
its very long so ignore the typos
how did u like it?
here's the prompt btw: