gina and ricky parked on the street across from nini's house and glanced at her porch. gina felt her eyes start to water as she saw how many people placed flowers on her porch. almost every inch of her porch was covered with bouquets of flowers and ballons. the girl looked down at the white flowers she bought nini and shook her head.
"it's not enough ricky...i think we - we need to buy more," gina started to nervously say as she started her car. before she could drive off, ricky placed his hand on the girl's shoulder.
"G...i'm pretty sure nini's got enough flowers," ricky reassured gina. the girl let out sigh and nodded her head. she turned her car off and took a deep breath. "and it's nini.. she'd be grateful if you brought a single petal."
gina let out a light chuckle and wiped her eyes, "do you think she's home?"
ricky shook his head and sighed, "on snapchat she posted she's at the hospital and i don't know how long she's gonna be there..."
"oh.. okay," gina sadly said. ricky forced a smile and patted gina on the back before the both of them stepped out of the car. ricky felt his heart beat faster as he walked up to nini's house. its been two weeks since he's last talked or seen her and even though its only been two weeks - everything already feels unfamiliar or new.
gina crouched down on the floor and placed the flowers on the ground, next to everyone else's. ricky felt a tear go down his cheek as he heard gina start sniffling. the boy crouched down next to his best friend and pulled her into a hug.
"she's not gone, gina," ricky told gina as she cried in his chest, "she's still here with us."
gina nodded her head and let go of ricky. the two of them were so in the moment that they didn't hear other people walking up the porch. ricky and gina looked up to see their old friends standing in front of them.
"what are you doing here?" ricky asked as him and gina stood up from the ground. everly, ej, and carlos awkwardly stood on the porch as they looked at the ground. gina glanced at ej's hands as he held a bouquet of red roses and chocolate.
"are those for nini?" gina asked ej and the boy nodded his head.
"you never answered my question," ricky said in a stern voice.
"we just came here to say our condolences," everly finally said as she eyed ricky and gina.
"condolences? condolences?" ricky spat as he came closer to everly, "you owe her more than your one dollar bouquet of flowers and stale box of chocolates!"
"ricky-"
"you're right," carlos said as he cut off gina. ricky and gina shot their head at carlos and scrunched their eyebrows in confusion. the boy took a deep breath and stepped closer to ricky, "that's why we came here to talk to nini."
"she's not here," gina revealed as she stood next to ricky, "she's at the hospital."
"and even if she was here, she wouldn't talk to you guys. she's not talking to anyone at the moment because of everything that has happened," ricky explained as he shoots a glare at everly.
"ricky...i'm sorry," everly said with her voice cracking. the girl was on the verge of tears as she saw how angry gina and ricky were at her.
"no. no, everly. you're not," ricky spat as he rolled his eyes. "do you even know what you fucking did?!"
everly tried to speak, but couldn't find the right words to say. ricky let out a deep sigh and shook his head, "OF COURSE YOU FUCKING DON'T! CAUSE YOU NEVER THINK!"
"ricky..." gina warned ricky as she senses his temper start to build up, but ricky didn't care. he was hurt and angry. everything was going so well with him and nini and then out of nowhere, everly had to ruin everything.
"you broke nini," ricky spat as his eyes shot daggers at everly. "you just couldn't let us be happy, could you? you had no right to do that!"
"i'm not the one who said those things," everly cried as she screamed in ricky's face. ricky's nose flared up and he felt tears start to run down his face. he was starting to feel overwhelmed and fed up and he just couldn't take it anymore.
"everly- i love her! i love nini!" ricky cried as more tears started to fall down his eyes, "and now she may never talk to me! she could leave this world thinking that i never loved her! that i-"
ricky couldn't finish his sentence the boy immediately broke down into a sob as he thought of nini dying. he didn't want that to happen, but he knew it was inevitable and there was nothing he could do about it.
gina felt herself start to cry as she watched ricky sit on the porch steps and cry in his hands. the girl tried her best to hold back her tears, but it wasn't working very well. the girl looked at ej, carlos, and everly who were crying as well at the sight of heartbroken ricky was.
"ricky, i'm sorry," everly cried as she tried to wipe the tears from her eyes, but they just kept running down her face. ej and carlos looked at gina who was now sobbing as well. ej and carlos walked up to gina and pulled her into their arms while she cried.
"you guys have no idea on who nini really is," was all gina could say before she cried in ej's chest. ej and carlos nodded their heads as they held onto gina.
"we're sorry..." ej softly said as he tightened his grip on his old girlfriend, "i'm so sorry..."
everly sat next to ricky on the porch as the both of them stared at the empty street ahead of them with their bloodshot eyes, "ricky...i'm sorry."
"you just don't get it, everly."
"you're right. i don't," everly simply said, "but i will try to. i know you love nini... you've made that very clear."
"then why can't you just leave us alone," ricky asked as he finally looked at everly. the girl let out a sigh.
"because i thought i loved you," everly answered and forced a smile at ricky, "but now.. i don't think i did. you and nini have real love..you and i never had that."
ricky nodded his head and let out a chuckle, "you think ... you and gina could help me with something?"
"what?"
ricky gave everly a smirk and glanced back at gina before looking back at everly, "something you two are pretty good at ..."