the week went by quickly and it was friday night. nini and sam changed the day of their practice because her birthday party was the next day and she didn't really want to miss her practice
nini grabbed her duffel bag that was ready and went downstairs in her gym clothes
"hey dan, could you tell aunt ida that i'm going to practice?" nini yells as she makes her way to the front door, taking her car keys
"okay!" he shouts back
she opens the door and goes into her car, driving to east high
when she arrives, she parks the car in the back of the school, discretely entering the doors that sam left open for her
walking down the hallway, she reaches the gym doors and hears the basketball being dribbled already
not thinking much of it, she opens the doors and her eyes widen when she sees ricky playing while sam was sitting on the bleachers
"what is he doing here?"
both of them look up and sam smiles as he stands up
"perfect, you're here!"
"what is he doing here?" nini asks, walking into the gym
"hi to you too." ricky says
nini ignores his comment and folds her arms, looking at sam
"okay, i invited him-"
"sam!"
"just hear me out!" sam pleads "i told him to come because you need someone to play with-"
"i have you"
"yeah, but let's face it, i'm getting old, you beat me every time and you need someone your age, and since ricky is the only one who actually knows about you, it's him."
nini sighs and looks down at the floor before rolling her eyes and nodding
she puts her duffel bag down and ricky passes the ball to her
"you sure you don't want to warm up first? i mean you might-"
nini ignores him and fakes a move before dribbling past him and performing a lay-up that immediately goes in
she exhales and jumps up before taking the ball and looking at ricky, who was shocked and still standing where they were in the beginning
sam laughs softly "just a tip, when she's on the court, no one can really psyche her out."
nini walks up to him and holds out the ball, waiting for him to take it
"are you going to play? or stand there like i just grew wings and flew around the gym?"
ricky shakes his head, snapping himself out of his trance and clearing his throat as he takes the ball out of her hand
he notices the focus she has on him and has never really seen this much determination in her face before. it was as if she was a completely different person
just when he's about to perform his usual move, nini beats him to it and grabs the ball out of his hands before running past him. he runs after her but she performs a set shot which goes in
she turns back to him with a small smirk playing on her lips "two things bowen. one, you're losing your touch. and two, maybe you should stop with all of sam's predictable 'fake right break left' thing," she folds her arms "this isn't high school musical."
ricky stifles a laugh and looks to see sam glaring at her
"okay, that gets the other teams every time and stop dissing high school musical." sam says
nini shakes her head with a smile before walking over to ricky "look, you're kind of...showing your moves before you do them."
ricky raises an eyebrow and folds his arms "are you telling me, the captain of the basketball team, how to play basketball? i'm the best in the school nini."
nini sighs "oh richard, richard, richard, poor innocent richard."
he looks at her with his eyebrows raised
"see, i just beat you two times in a row. granted, i'll give you the first time because you were maybe shocked or something, but i still beat you and could see your moves from new york city. i think i'm better than you at basketball-"
ricky snorts a laugh "look nini, you're good but, maybe don't get ahead of yourself?"
nini takes the from the floor "okay, fine, game of horse."
ricky sighs "seriously?"
"what's the matter? are you scared that i'll beat you?"
the boy rolls his eyes "not a chance."
nini passes the ball hard and smirks at him "okay, prove it."
he nods "fine."
sam looks at the view in front of him. nini and ricky laughing and debating about whether or not a shot counted, nini or ricky celebrating when they get the shot in.
he's never seen nini with a smile like that, and he knew that she wouldn't admit it, but he's never seen her so genuinely happy since she was eleven years old.
after an hour, their game was done and nini won
"so, you were saying?" nini says with a grin
"don't let it get to your head." ricky chuckles
nini laughs softly and checks the time "sam-"
she turns around to see that he wasn't there anymore
"when did he leave?" nini asks confused
ricky shrugs her shoulders "beats me."
"i know. i did." nini smirks
ricky rolls his eyes playfully before saying "alright, you won. what would you like as a victory prize?"
nini goes deep in thought before squealing "i want cookies. but not just any cookies, vegan oatmeal cookies."
the boy looks at her in slight disgust "are you serious?"
she nods "they're good okay?"
he raises his eyebrows in uncertainty and they both grab their duffel bags before heading to her car
"how come i didn't see your car?" nini asks as she opens the door
"i-uh-i walked." he says
nini nods and they both put their seatbelts on before nini pulls out of the driveway and they both make their way to the grocery store far from the busy town
"you seem to know the area pretty well," ricky points out, noticing that her driving normally through the empty, lamp-lit roads
nini shrugs her shoulders, glancing at him before focusing on the view before her "i always get a snack after practice."
ricky nods and looks out at the window "so, how long have you been playing basketball?"
nini slows the car down at a stop light "since i can remember. my dad taught me before..."
he turns around to look at her
"-you know?"
ricky nods
she takes a deep breath "i've always loved it and then sam kind of taught me ever since."
"but why do you hide it?" he asks her confused
"it's not really in the-category. if you get what i mean."
the boy sighs and shakes his head "nini-"
"oh look it's a green light." she says quickly before starting the car again
ricky laughs softly "never would've thought that i would be so curious to know about princess nini."
the girl rolls her eyes playfully "why do you call me that?"
"what?" he asks as she pulls into a parking space
"princess." she tells him, taking his seatbelt off "i mean, you call me it everywhere you see me."
"well, i guess it's because i always thought you were stuck up." he says
nini laughs as they get out of the car and walk to the entrance of the grocery store
"then why do you still call me it?" she asks
"you can't ruin a lifetime's work nini." he smirks
the two enter the grocery store and see that the cashier was half asleep
stifling a laugh, they both make their way to the different aisle's, taking different snacks
"nini, where exactly are we going to eat all this?"
"in my car, duh." she says
ricky laughs as he sees nini try to reach for a packet of doritos and takes his phone out to take a picture of her
she turns around to see him smirking at his phone and walks over to him
"what-" she groans when she sees the picture "seriously?"
ricky laughs "what? i had to capture the accomplishment of you being able to reach the-"
she whacks his arm, making him laugh harder before she walks off and they continue to get their snacks
nini squeals, making ricky jump and he watches her run to he cookie aisle and grab a bag of her oatmeal cookies, smiling at him
"the best cookies ever made." she states
ricky shakes his head, "why can't we just get chips ahoy cookies?"
nini laughs "because those are artificial and not as good as these ones."
the boy follows her to the cashier and they pay for all of their snacks
just as nini was about to give the money, ricky insists to pay and hands the money to the cashier before she could do anything
"next time i'm paying." she says
ricky raises an eyebrow with a smirk as he takes the bags and hands one to her
"so there's going to be a next time huh?"
nini's eyes widen and she clears her throat
"uh-well, obviously, seeing as we're going to have to-practice-together-"
he nods "mhm."