as close as ricky and nini were starting to get, they never showed it at school. once they stepped foot on campus, the two acted as if they didn't know each other. it was odd because the two of them never agreed to act like this, but they always did anyways. it was as if the both of them knew no one wanted them to be friends.
ricky walked into the the biology classroom and saw nini already sitting in her chair. his heart was beating faster and faster the closer he approached the girl. the both of them were always early to this class because they knew it was the only time they could ever talk.
"hey nini," ricky simply said and slid into his chair. nini looked up from her notes and saw ricky's appearance. he wasn't wearing his usual hoodie, jeans, and converse. nini was in awe of ricky's outfit. it was new and he looked cute in it.
"oh my god..why do you look cute today?" nini accidentally gushed out. ricky paused as he grabbed his books out of his backpack and looked up at nini with red cheeks.
"uhh.. thanks?" ricky said and titled his head to the side. nini just let out a light chuckle and quickly changed the subject.
"anyways.. we're still working on the project after school, right?" ricky nodded his head and the classroom soon started to get piled in with the other students. ricky and nini took one last glance at each other before ignoring each other for the rest of the day.
+
ricky looked up from his phone and made his way over for nini's car. as he was about to open the door handle, he heard a familiar voice call his name, "ricky? i thought you had work?" kourtney asked as she stood next to red and seb.
ricky's hand slowly pulled away from the door handle and he placed his hands to his sides, "yeah uh.. i lied. i'm sorry, but i just really have to do this project with nini and i know we haven't been-"
"save it man," red said with a disgusted look on his face. ricky tried to say something but his friends already turned around and walked away from the boy. ricky let out a deep sigh and and got into nini's car.
"you okay?" nini quietly asked. ricky knew that she saw and heard everything since she was sitting in the car while it happened. ricky shrugged his shoulders and buckled his seatbelt.
"i don't wanna talk about it," ricky replied, "can we just get out of here." nini nodded her head and drove off of the school campus.
after about 15 minutes, they finally arrived at nini's house. nini was kind of nervous because both of her parents were finally home and they've never met anyone besides her friends and ethan. nini opened the front door and there they were. both of her parents immediately got quiet once they saw the curly headed boy walk into the house.
once ricky spotted both of nini's parents, he froze. he's never had to think about meeting a girl's parents because he's never had a girlfriend yet. let alone meet nini salazar-roberts parents, who wasn't even his fucking girl friend. pathetic to say the least.
"nini you're home! and who's this?" nini's mom said in a stern voice as she looked ricky up and down. he felt awkward and belittled as nini's parents eyed his every move.
"uh.. this is ricky. ricky bowen," nini quietly muttered, "we're biology partners so we're just working on a project."
"hi..pleasure to meet you," ricky nervously said and shook both of their hands.
"ahhh bowen, you say?" nini's dad asked and ricky nodded his head in response, "you two went to kindergarten together too, right?"
"no-"
"yeah, we did," ricky answered as he cut nini off. they both glanced at each other bore flashing a smile at her parents again. he couldn't believe the girl still didn't remember him in kindergarten. he was embarrassed that she even said no in front of her parents.
"well anyways.. we got a project to do so.." nini started to say. her parents nodded their head and wished ricky a farewell while the two teenagers made their way upstairs.
"great. that was the awkwardest thing in my whole life," ricky complained as he threw his backpack on the floor. nini rolled her eyes and brought out a box from under her bed.
"it wasn't so bad.." nini said but the both of them knew that she was lying. she carried the box over to her table and opened it up. ricky's eyes widened once he saw that nini bought a butterfly farm habitat. he looked at the little caterpillars that laid in the dirt and a smile came on his face.
"we're gonna document their metamorphism?" ricky asked nini as his eyes glued on the butterfly habitat. nini's heart warmed up as she saw how fascinated ricky was about the little caterpillars.
"yup!" nini proudly said, "come on let get started."
+
the two teenagers quietly worked as the yelling of nini's parent echoed throughout the house. the girl tried her best to ignore the fighting and gave ricky reassuring smiles from time to time. nini constantly reminded the boy that it was normal and that it was no big deal. although no matter how many times her parents fought, nini was felt upset. she was even more upset and embarrassed that ricky was witnessing it.
nini couldn't take it anymore and quickly slammed her notebook shut. the girl let out a frustrated sigh and stuffed books in her backpack. "you okay nini?" ricky quietly asked, trying not to piss the girl off even more. nini shook her head and tried her best to hide her tears.
"uh no.. can we just go somewhere else? i don't wanna be home right now," nini asked with a shaky voice. ricky quickly nodded his head and packed his backpack. nini grabbed her car keys and the two made their way over to her car. without another thought, nini backed out of her driveway and drove away from her house.
"where do you wanna go?"
"we can work at my house..?" ricky hesitantly asked. the boy was just trying to be polite and he was hoping nini would decline the offer and suggest philz coffee, but obviously she didn't. nini started to make her way over to ricky's house, anxious to get as far away from hers as possible.
once they finally got inside ricky's house, he realized that both of his parents were out. since it was friday, they were probably out at dinner and a movie. nini's eyes wandered around ricky's house and she recognized how comfortable and lovely his house was. her hands lightly brushed along his furniture as she walked around his house in amazement.
"uhh yeah its kinda cramped in here, sorry," ricky said with embarrassment in his voice. nini turned around and shook her head with a smile.
"it's not.. i love it," she breathed out.
"thanks..anyways we should get back to work, yeah?" nini nodded her head and followed ricky up to his room. to her surprise, his room was extremely neat. it was a white urban bedroom and nini loved it. ricky paid no attention to the girl as she looked around his room for the first time. he focused on the project, trying to distract himself from the fact that nini's in his room.
"i like your room, bowen," nini simply said as she sat on the bed with ricky. he had no desk so the two of them had to work on his bed, but she didn't mind.
"thanks..it's alright," ricky uttered, not looking up from his books. nini realized that ricky didn't like to talk about his house or things so she decided to leave it alone. they worked for about ten minutes before ricky stood up from the bed and walked over his dresser. ricky turned on slow music for them to listen to and made his way over to his bed again.
"are you hungry or anything?" ricky asked the girl who was focused on her work. she shook her head and gave the boy a smile. ricky happened to turn on one of her favorite songs, blessed by daniel caeser.
"i love this song," nini said with a smile on her face, "it always makes me feel better.. whenever i feel like shit."
"wow she has good music taste," ricky joked and the both of them laughed, "well, i'm glad i was able to make you feel better neens."
nini's head shot up from her notebook and she gave ricky a small smile, "neens?"
"what?"
"nothing.. you just never call me that.." nini revealed as her cheeks turned red, "usually my friend are the only ones to call me neens."
"i guess that means we're friends then," ricky stated with a witty smirk.
"i guess we are parlor boy."
+
"OH MY GOD NINI! WAKE UP!" ricky exclaimed as he jumped out of bed. nini shot up from the bed and saw both of their books and papers scattered around the bed. last night, the two of them fell asleep as they were working on the project and neither of them set an alarm clock and the both of them had a biology test to get to. nini started to pack all of her books into her backpack as ricky ran into the bathroom to change his outfit. nini glanced down at her outfit and thought that there was no way she could wear the same outfit as yesterday.
ricky ran in the room and both of their panicked eyes met. "RICKY I CAN NOT WEAR THIS TO SCHOOL. IT'S SUSPICIOUS!" ricky groaned in frustration and threw one of his crewneck sweaters at the girl. nini threw his sweater over her tiny frame, the sweater fit like a dress and covered her jean shorts.
"YOU LOOK FINE! LET'S GO!"
+
as nini was parking her car, both of them heard the school bell ringing indicating that their biology class was about to start. ricky and nini ran inside the school as fast they can. everyone's eyes stared at them with confusion as both of their feet slamming on the floor, echoed throughout the school. somehow, both of them made it into the classroom on time.
their heavy breaths and gasping resonated inside the classroom while they both grabbed a test off of ms. d's desk. as they made their way down the aisle of the desks, everyone looked at them with suspicion. what a coincidence that ricky and nini were both late to school. they took one last glance at each other, before going back to their usual routine of ignoring each other.
+
nini was so focused on her phone that she didn't even notice gina walking right in front of her. as they ran into each other, both of their stuff fell on the floor. "geez nini, look up from you phone for once," gina spat as she crouched down on the floor to pick up her stuff.
"of course it's you," nini groaned. she picked up all her belongings and her eyes met with gina's when she finally stood up. gina rolled her eyes at the girl and looked her up and down.
"where'd you get that sweater?" gina asked as she looked at nini with disgust, "it's cute.. make sure your friends are okay. hmm, certainly not something you live by." it was nini's turn to roll her eyes as she scoffed at gina.
"not really sure we were even friends to begin with," nini retorted back. gina let out a frustrated groan and walked away from the girl without another word.
"i guess i won that one," nini thought to herself.
think again nini.