'𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵
𝘸𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵
𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘴, 𝘪 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘪 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭
𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘪 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩
𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦 '𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘶𝘱
== n i n i 's p o v ==
DAYS LATER
i wake up to the feeling of ricky peppering my face all over with little kisses. i giggle, reaching out with my eyes closed and trying to wrap my arms around him to get him to stop. he doesn't though, trying to get me to wake up.
"fine," i smile, opening my eyes to meet ricky's. i lean up and press a gentle kiss to his mouth, putting a hand on his jaw before i pull away.
"hi, nins," he leans back down and kisses my forehead, looking at me with the dumbest smile on his face.
"what?"
"nothing, i just thought i was dreaming. but i don't think i am."
his words make me return his smile before he unexpectedly rolls over, grabbing me by the waist setting me laying on top of him. i bury my head into the space between his neck and shoulder, taking in a deep, relaxing breath. ricky's not wrong--the past few days have just felt like a dream. i mean, it's literally all either of us have wanted for the past..like, forever.
and also, before you ask, nothing happened the other night.
we just made out for a few hours. that's it. okay? well, i guess it's not nothing (because i know "a few hours" sounds like a lot) , but still. we're actually going slow this time--or maybe not slow, but at a pace we're both okay with. and it's amazing. ricky's been amazing. he's always making sure i'm comfortable with everything, and isn't putting any pressure on me to want to do anything i'm not good with yet.
"stay right here, 'kay?" i tell him, not giving him a chance to respond before i kiss his cheek and get out of bed.
== r i c k y 's p o v ==
i turn my head, looking over at nini in the kitchen making breakfast. she's wearing one of my t-shirts with her hair all down and messy from her sleep. i can't help but smile as i roll onto my side, admiring how gorgeous she looks even after just waking up. nini comes back over to the bed with a plate full of fruit and french toast.
as she's setting the plate of fruit down onto the nightstand i sit up and wrap my arms around her, pulling her back into bed with me. i throw a random blanket over us, holding her tight.
"mm, thank..you," i say in-between kisses, cupping her face in my hand.
"who said it was for you?" she jokes, leaning over me and grabbing the plate from the nightstand. she sets it down on my chest, curling up with me and resting her head down on my extended arm.
"wow--"
"i'm kidding," she laughs, "here."
nini picks up a strawberry, holding it by the green stem and letting me bite into it. she takes a bite after me, the two of us smiling and giggling as we eat our breakfast.
"whoops, you have.." i bring my hand up just below the corner of her mouth, wiping off the juice that the strawberry left. i lick it off my thumb, not missing the grin she gives me as she watches.
"you look like a boss bitch this morning," she tells me, holding back a laugh.
"oh my god," i laugh, "is that a compliment, or.."
"definitely a compliment." nini threads her fingers through my messy curls, roughing my hair out. i close my eyes for a moment at the contact.
"god, i love you."
i open my eyes to see her just laying there smiling back at me. i get it. she's not ready to say it back. we've only been technically back together for a just little while, i mean, she doesn't have any obligation to. and that's okay. hey, at least she's not giving me a negative reaction.
"i.."
"you don't have to say it back yet. or at all. i just want you to know."
she nods her head, grabbing a blueberry and dropping it into my mouth. we sit there and finish breakfast before our alarms go off, pulling us back into the reality that we have to get to work soon.
== n i n i 's p o v ==
wow, okay. so he did mean what he said the other night.
for once, everything's going our way--but i know it won't last forever.
i mean, the prince's birthday is tomorrow, and the masquerade dance is a few days after that. and then it's back to the states.
oh my god.
i didn't even think about that! how are we supposed to keep this going when i'm in los angeles and he's in jacksonville?! if this hard, imagine what it's going to be like when we're across the country. it'll be fine. right? hopefully. let's just not think about that right now.
the castle, later that day
gina and i are at the top of the grand staircase, polishing the tile for the prince's big birthday dinner tomorrow (the dining hall is right across, so everything around needs to be clean). all of the other workers are at the bottom, working on all of the many steps. our work is interrupted by the sound of e.j's voice down the hall.
"psst! jazz!" he whisper-yells, coming over to me. gina gets up from her spot on the ground, a starstruck look on her face.
"oh, sorry, i didn't..see you.."
i give him a suggestive look, pointing at gina with my eyes.
"uh, gina," he awkwardly clears his throat, "could you..uh, give us a second?"
"yes--yeah. definitely. i'll just be down here.." she walks away from us down the steps, trying to play it cool.
"the fuck was that?!" i try not to laugh, but it just all comes out.
"shut up," both of his hands fly up to his face as he leans against the railing in embarrassment, "i bombed that. i definitely fucked that up."
"come on, it wasn't that bad."
"no, no, it was definitely that bad."
"okay, maybe, but i don't think she noticed," i laugh, "anyway, what did you need?"
"i was just going to ask if you guys were working at my birthday dinner tomorrow."
"i think carlos has everyone working that day, so--"
"WATCH OUT!" i hear someone shout from the bottom of the staircase pointing up at us. i look up to see the chandlier above us dangling by a thread, seconds away from falling. i quickly drop my mop to the ground and dive towards--a very confused--e.j, sending us both sliding across the freshly polished tile as the chandelier crashes to the ground right where we were standing.
== r i c k y 's p o v ==
i hear the loud noise of the gold chandlier crash into the staircase, the sound of the shattering glass echoing throughout the ballroom. holy shit--
nini was up there.
i'm the first the dart up the stairs, trying to get a look at what happened (but mostly to see if nini was hurt). i'm thankful to see that she was able to push herself and e.j out of the way, landing on top of him on the ground a few feet away. i look to my left and see carlos running down the hall, obviously to make sure the prince was safe.
"oh thank god," carlos breathes out when he gets to the scene, "how did that even happen? the chandlier should have been sturdy, there's no way.."
nini and i exchange looks for a moment, knowing that someone definitely made it fall on purpose somehow. nini gets off of e.j, dusting any glass off of her uniform. normally, i'd be concerned about the position they were in, but i don't think twice about it. i'm not gonna be a jealous asshole about it this time. because i know nini would never do anything like that. besides, i'm the one coming home and sleeping in the same bed with her every night. this guy just gets a few side conversations about work.
i trust her. we're good.
ricky and nini's loft
i walk through the front door to see nini making dinner in the kitchen. it's pretty much dark outside--and inside too, the main light in the ceiling turned off with just the bathroom, lamp, and refrigerator light on illuminating the room. the radio is turned on, playing some random old taylor swift song (which i know is her favorite). i watch her sing along under her breath as she stirs something on the stove. she acknowledges that i'm here when i set my bag down on the counter, turning her head a little. i walk over and give her a hug from behind, gently wrapping my arms around her waist.
"that smells good," i say softly, resting my head on her shoulder.
"mm, thank you. i missed you all day."
nini leans her head back onto me, setting down the wooden spoon and bringing her soft hands to mine on her stomach. i start to sway us to the music, smiling as i plant a quick kiss to her jaw.
"i missed you more."
she reaches forward and turns off the stove before turning around to face me.
"nope, not possible," nini wraps her arms around my neck, pulling my head down so she can kiss me. i kiss her back immediately (obviously) bringing my hands up to her head to thread my fingers through her long hair. my hands travel down, picking her up and letting her wrap her legs around my waist. i set her down on the counter next to stove, not breaking our kiss.
"mhm, no, it's definitely possible--wait, is this okay?" i ask, leaning away a little. she smiles at my consideration before nodding and pulling me back over. i hold her tight, relishing in the feeling of doing this with her that i've missed for so long.
"shit, i just almost burned my hand," she giggles, referring to the fact that we're right next to the stove.
"here, nins." i scoop her back up in my arms and carry her over to the island table, sitting us down in the closest seat. she immediately leans back in while my hands fly to her waist to make sure she won't fall off onto the floor. after a while, i move down to give her mouth a break, nibbling at her neck.
"this okay?"
"mhm," nini nods, tilting her head back so i can continue, "no marks though, remember."
i smile at her for a second, soaking in the moment before i keep going. we do this for at least another five minutes, my fingers starting to play with the bottom of her shirt.
"is it okay if i--"
"you know it is," nini smiles in between kisses. just after it's off, we're interrupted by the blaring sound of an incoming call coming from the computer in front of us.
it's unscheduled, so obviously neither of us were expecting it. nini doesn't get off of me though--both of us trying to ignore it, because we'd way rather keep going.
"make it go away," she says into me, leaning her head on my shoulder and continuing to kiss my neck. i reach my hand over to the computer, my unfocused brain trying to press the button on the keyboard to decline while also trying to kiss nini. i assume it's worked, until a familiar voice appears.
"oh, JESUS!! fuck!" vivian yips on the other line, moving to cover her eyes.