𝘪 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦
'𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦
𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪'𝘮 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘢 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶
== n i n i 's p o v ==
i groggily roll over onto ricky as i wake up, immediately noticing that something's off. i can't quite place it though, my brain still fogged up from my sleep (and my impending hangover), which pulls me back into a state of almost-sleep. i bring my hand up next to my head on ricky's chest, trying to cling to his shirt and move to get comfortable--and that's when it registers in my brain that's there's no shirt to cling to. or anything.
"AH!" i practically jump off of him, my raging headache making me instantly regret my reaction.
"wh--oh my god!" ricky jolts into consciousness, falling off of the side of the bed in shock. i pull the sheet up to my chest and groan at how loud he just was.
"what happened to slow?!" i say as loud as i can go without worsening my headache. i cover my eyes, giving him a thumbs-up so he knows he can stand.
"maybe we didn't--"
"nope, nope," i shake my head, "we did. we definitely did."
"okay, wait, just give me five minutes, i'll.."
i hear him walk around before the sound of the bathroom door shutting, which practically sounds like a gunshot. i quickly get up and grab my white robe, tying it tightly around myself. i pace around the room, thinking of all the things i could say to ricky when he walks out. what am even i supposed to say?!
== r i c k y 's p o v ==
i walk out of the bathroom after changing into a random sweater and sweatpants (thankfully, neither of us have work for a few hours) to see nini sitting at the island with her head in her hands. she looks over at me, neither of us knowing what to say.
"nini.." i start, "i am so, so sorry..."
"no, don't be. i don't want to talk about it."
not talk about it?
"nins--"
i'm interupted by the piercing sound of an incoming call from vivian coming from the computer. both of our eyes widen, the two of us having forgot about the update call scheduled for the morning.
"oh my god, i can't be in a conference call with our boss like this!" nini says, gesturing to the fact that she's only in a robe.
"shit, raise your arms!" nini does so immediately, watching me take my sweater off before i slide it onto her (it's baggy on me, so it fits with room on her even with her robe on underneath), not thinking about the fact that that leaves me without a shirt. once i realize, i quickly lean down and grab a random shirt for myself off of the ground. i poke my arms through and sit down just in time for nini to accept the skype call.
"richard and nina! our favorite--richard, dear?"
"yes, ma'am?"
"are you aware..that your shirt says..'boss bitch?'"
i glance down at my tight fitting shirt to see that it does, in fact, say boss bitch in a sparkly pink bold font on the front. it must be one of nini's feminist-y sleep shirts, which explains why it doesn't fit me at all.
"oh, um, yes."
"is that a women's shirt?" she squints her eyes at the camera.
"i think clothing..has no gender, ma'am." i can tell nini's desperately trying to bite back a laugh at the situation, which makes my face heat. at least she's in a better mood?
"it's too early for this," vivian sighs, "any updates you guys have for the team?"
"well, we've been practicing the dance.." i look over at nini, egging her on to help me here.
"oh, and i've gotten closer with the prince. he confides in me a lot now, so if anything goes down on the inside, i'd know."
"excellent! we need you guys to scope out a suspicious shipment happening behind the castle later tonight, do you guys think you could do that?"
"of course."
"great! we'll send you a memo with the details! good luck," vivian says, ending the call.
..
"do you want this back, or did you wanna stick with boss bitch?" nini asks me, pulling the sweater off.
"shut up," i chuckle, taking off the shirt i threw on and walking over to my drawer to get one that isn't completely embarrassing. i hear nini gasp from in the kitchen (where she's making some kind of hangover cure on the stove), which makes me turn around to see her jaw hanging open.
"what?"
"nothing, just, um..you have.." she says, holding up her nails and pointing to my back. i still don't understand though, and decide to see for myself in the bathroom mirror. i walk inside the doorway and turn around, being met with the sight of bright red nail marks on my back.
"oh my god," i cover my mouth and try to stifle my laugh, "nina salazar-roberts--"
"ew, ricky! that isn't funny!" i come into the kitchen to try and lighten her mood even more.
"damn, trim your nails!"
"you did not just say that!" nini holds back a laugh and turns back to the stove.
"well i did, so.." i lean up against the counter next to nini and a bag of sweetener she laid out while she steeps the tea.
"right..yeah, come back and talk to me after you put on a shirt--"
"you're one to talk!" i tug on her robe which in return earns me a slap on the chest from nini.
"piss off!"
"ow!"
"i know that did not hurt, so don't even--"
i interrupt her by coming around behind her and wrapping my arms around her waist, pulling her away from the stove and lifting her off the ground.
"what are you doing?!"
"payback!!"
"ricky, put me down!!" she squeals while she kicks her legs up in the air. i don't listen though, walking backwards and accidentally tripping onto the low island table behind us.
"oh my god, are you okay?" i laugh out, sliding most of my body out from under her back so i can see her face. we take a second to catch our breath, my arm still under and around her making sure she doesn't fall off. she turns her head and gives me the look again--which prompts me to bring my other arm to the small of her back and pull her closer to me. caught up in the moment, the two of us lean in (not just me this time, i swear it was mutual), gently pressing our lips together. i run my hand up from her back to the back of her head, closing my eyes. i've really missed this. i know we probably did this last night, but i barely remember any of that. this--this is real. we haven't forgotten how we used to kiss, pausing every once in a while to suck in a breath and switch angles.
"nini," i sigh out in content with a smile as we pull away. she stares at me for a moment, panic seeming to subtly wash over her face.
"uh, do you want tea? i made.." nini scoots away from me and hops off of the counter, heading back over to the pot on the stove.
here we go again with the whole two steps forward, one step back problem.
"no, yeah, tea."
== n i n i 's p o v ==
before you flame me for what just happened, just..
okay, yeah, you can flame me.
i know that looked i'm all over the place. and well, yeah, i am all over the place. it's just all..WAY too much to process in a twenty-four hour period. i got scared, okay? because this is starting to get real.
and remember what happened last time things got real?!
i mean, i told him i want to go slow. and we already managed to mess that up. not that i'm saying everything that happened last night was his fault, because it probably wasn't. if i'm being completely honest, i'm not even that mad that it happened. i am, however, just..so incredibly angry at the fact that i don't remember any of it--er, well, that sounded..i didn't..you know what i meant. not in that way. i meant the date as a whole. i swear.
six minutes later
as i'm brushing my teeth in the bathroom, i see the door slowly open in the mirror.
"hey, look, i'm really sorry if that was weird--" ricky says, coming into the bathroom.
"no, no, it's cool. we're cool. nothing's weird."
"nothing's weird?"
"this is a weird-free zone," i joke.
"right?"
"totally," i agree as i spit into the sink. ricky comes over to the counter, running his toothbrush under the water.
"yeah, 'cause if somebody walked in here and saw us, they'd be like 'look at those two totally normal co-workers, they've definitely never dated. i bet they never sucked face'--"
"but we did. you sucked my face. we made out like, five minutes ago," i chuckle.
"i sucked your face," he laughs, "who cares?!"
"you did, you totally--" ricky's hand grazes mine on the counter, throwing me off.
"sorry i touched your hand there, i didn't.."
"oh, it's--"
"it was accidental--"
"it's cool, 'cause that's the thing. it's like, we're just, like...co-workers?"
"mm, not just co-workers," ricky corrects me.
"no, you're right. we're..what are we?"