Nini waits outside the terminal as the plane lands. She crosses her arms to keep from pressing herself up to the glass in anticipation for her best friends. Her eyes flit from person to person as they exit the plane, wondering when Kourtney and Devon will show up.
Finally, toward the tail end of the passengers, she sees her best friend being dragged tiredly by her boyfriend.
An excited grin splits across her face, so wide that her cheeks nearly hurt and she waves at them through the glass. She nearly shouts their names, but remembers that they probably won't hear at the last second.
Devon spots her first, throws a quick nod and grin in her direction before elbowing his girlfriend. Kourtney looks over and her surly expression changes to one of relief and happiness as she grins back.
A few minutes later, the three are happily embracing once again.
The trio made their way towards Nini's car parked in the airport's garage. Nini helps them load their luggage in the trunk and Nini and Kourtney slide into the front seats while Devon slides into the back.
"So how was camping?" she asks as they all situate themselves. She buckles up and glances at Devon through the rear view mirror, seeing him stiffen up at the mention of their trip.
Kourtney groans. "Can we please not talk about the trip? Devon was the only person that had fun since he grew up camping. We all know I don't camp."
Nini gives them an apologetic look. "I'm sorry the trip was a waste, then."
Devon shrugs. "There's always next—"
"Finish that sentence," Kourtney growls. "Go ahead. Finish it. I dare you."
Devon chuckled. "She really hated the trip."
Nini swallows her fit of giggles. "I can tell."
"When we get back home, you are making this up to me, I hope you know this. You ruined my Christmas."
Devon sighs and leans forward to place a miss on Kourtney's cheek. "I'm really sorry, K. I just thought you'd want to do something that I liked for once."
She rolls her eyes but tones down her anger and irritation a few notches, if the suddenly lighter mood in the car is anything to go by. She turns to look at Nini and asks, "So did anything happen while we were gone?"
Now, she realizes, is the perfect time to bring up Ricky.
Nini swallows nervously. "Um, well, actually..." She squirms in her seat under Kourtney's now suspicious gaze.
"Neens?" Her best friend calls sharply.
The brunette winces at the tone. Her hands fly to her lap and she starts twiddling her thumbs. Like, legitimately twiddling her thumbs in some sort of thumb war between her right and left thumbs.
"Nini?" Her name leaves her friend's mouth in a gentler tone as Kourt's eyebrows crease in worry.
"I'm seeing someone," Nini blurts at last. Her eyes shut as she braces herself the repercussions of her confession.
"You're seeing someone?!" Devon shouts in incredulous surprise as her head whirls around to look at him. This causes her to swerve on the road.
Kourtney shrieks and clutches desperately at her seat belt.
"Eyes on the road, girlie!" Kourt screeches.
"Sorry, sorry!" Nini apologizes as she rights herself on the road.
Kourt takes a deep breath and runs a hand through her curls, calming herself from her slight panic. "Now," she breathes quietly as glances back at Nini. "You're seeing someone?!" she echoes Devon's exact reaction.
Nini nods, waiting for her heartbeat to slow down. "I am."
"Since when?!" Kourt demands.
Nini blushes. "Christmas Eve...?"
"WHAT?!"
She winces. "I mean, we've known each other for a week—I mean, we've known each other since he moved in a few months back but—"
"Wait, slow down," Kourt sighs. She reaches up to massage her temples. "What's his name?"
"Ricky Bowen."
"Why does that name sound familiar?" Kourt questioned.
She winces again. "Um, well... you kind of talked—"
Kourt's eyes widen as she suddenly remembers Christmas Eve. And the phone call she had made to Nini. And the guy that had kept her friend company. "Wait, is he the guy with the weird left knee?! You're dating Weird Left Knee Guy?!"
"He has a name," Nini interjects weakly. "And that was only a joke!" she quickly added.
"I thought you said he was just your neighbor!" Kourtney frowns.
"He was—he is! He is my neighbor. He lives a few doors down from me, in 508."
Her eyebrows furrow in confusion. "So when I called you, you guys were just neighbors... and now you're seeing each other?"
Nini feels a headache coming on. "Yes," she answers tiredly.
"Sorry, Neeners, I'm only trying to keep up."
"I know." The girl in the driver's seat sighs. "It all happened kind of fast..."
"Did you sleep with him?" she demands excitedly.
Nini chokes on her spit and her eyes pop out of their sockets. "No, no, I haven't!" she cries frantically with a desperate shake of her head.
"Oh..." Kourt actually sounds kind of disappointed and Nini has to fight the urge to roll her eyes.
"But, um, we've been spending every night together," she whispers quietly. She presses her hands to her suddenly hot cheeks and averts her eyes.
"But no sex?"
"Kourtttt," Nini whines exasperatedly.
The girl rolls her eyes. "Okay, okay! I won't ask any more embarrassing questions."
A small sigh of relief. "Thank you."
A beat. And then, "... Is he hot? Because he sounded way hot on the phone."
"Hey!" Devon scowls, jealous boyfriend mode kicking in slightly.
"I'm not going to hit on him!" she scoffs with a roll of her eyes. "Not when he's my best friend's boyfriend and when I'm a taken woman!"
Devon just rolled his eyes in return.
"So is he?" Kourt presses.
Nini flushes a deep red and is grateful for the night drive so Kourtney can't fully see her complexion. "Um. He's... he's..."
"Be honest."
"He's probably the most attractive guy I've ever met in my life," Nini sighs tiredly.
Kourt whistles excitedly. "When am I going to meet your new hot boyfriend?"
Nini sinks in her seat and massages her forehead with a hand. "He's actually not my boyfriend..." she grumbles.
Admitting that out loud for the very first time makes her heart sink in despair.
"What?!" Kourtney and Devon cry at the same time.
"He's not your boyfriend?" Devon frowns.
"But you've been spending every night together?" Kourt follows up.
Nini gives an aggravated groan and shrugs. "We haven't made it official or anything, but I like him a lot, okay?!"
Kourt raises an eyebrow. "And he feels the same way about you?"
Her short burst of confidence disappears as quickly as it came. "I'd like to think so."
"Neens, I don't know how I feel about this..."
Nini flinches at the amount of concern in her friend's voice. She meets Devin's worried glance in the rear view mirror for a second before tearing her eyes away.
"Ricky's a good guy," she says quietly, confidently. "We might not have an official label or anything but I know that we care about each other other, alright? I wouldn't be mentioning it if it wasn't serious to some extent or if I didn't plan on getting serious with him."
She doesn't miss the couple exchanging glances, but chooses to stay quiet.
"We want to meet him," Kourt says firmly. "Whether he's your boyfriend or not, we definitely want to meet him."
Nini finally feels the beginnings of a smile coming on as she relaxes. "Of course," she promises in a relieved tone.
"But text me a picture of him if you see him tonight!"
Nini rolls her eyes but doesn't make any sort of promise over Devon's very loud protesting.
******
After Nini drops Devon and Kourtney, she heads backs to her apartment complex. It had been a long day and Nini was exhausted. Once she parked her car, she quickly rides the elevator to the fifth floor. Within seconds, she's standing in front of 508 and knocking tiredly on Ricky's door, waiting impatiently for it to swing open. She knocks again when he hasn't answered in a sufficient time frame.
The door swings open and Ricky looks down at her with an affectionate smile. "Hey," he says as he leans in closer to her.
She grunts and quickly slips past him and into his apartment. He blinks at the empty space and turns around to eye her with concern as she collapses in an exhausted heap on his couch. He closes the door and meets her in the living room.
"Neens? You okay? I thought you'd be happy after seeing your friends." He joins her on the couch as his brow knits together.
"I'm just tired," she murmurs. This is, of course, only the half of it.
His eyes soften and he gathers her up in his arms and kisses her forehead. "You want to go to bed early? I was going to heat up some dinner, but if you're tired..."
"I grabbed something when I was at the airport waiting for Kourt and Devon," she says as she snuggles against his chest. "But I don't want to go to bed yet," she admits.
"Alright," he says.
She remembers something else that she had picked up from the airport as well. She'd been browsing some of the stores while trying to kill time. She saw something that reminded her of their conversation that morning and had been giving Ricky some trouble, so she had impulsively purchased it for him. However, after her conversation with Kourtney and Devon in the car, she's now hesitant to give him his little gift, especially since it kind of came with some implications.
"So how did it go?"
"I got something for you." The rush of words tumbles out of her mouth and she groans at her own stupidity.
A beat passes. Clearly, he hadn't been expecting that response.
"You, uh, got me something?" he asks in mild surprise.
She sits up a little straighter and his grip around her loosens up. "Yeah, at the airport when I was waiting for their plane to land." She berates herself for even bringing it up. "It's stupid, never mind."
She moves away from him and he frowns from the loss of contact. His hand quickly captures her smaller one and he gives it a firm squeeze. "I'm sure I'll love it," he grins encouragingly.
Nini freezes and her eyes bounce around the room as she refuses to look at him. "No, you won't. It's really stupid," she says in a low voice and a blush creeps into her neck and up to her cheeks.
Ricky rolls his eyes. "Is it in your purse?" he asks flatly as he makes a quick grab for it.
She squeals and moves it out of his reach. "Ricky!"
He gives her a playful smirk. "Just tell me what it is!" he demands.
Her jaw works silently for a few minutes and finally, her shoulders slump in defeat. She rifles through her purse for a few seconds before fishing out his little gift and placing it in his hands.
Ricky blinks at it in confusion.
"It's a toothbrush."
"Uh huh."
She blushes as he eyes her curiously. "I got it for you because you've been staying at my place the past couple of nights and I know how much you care about dental hygiene. But you've been dragging yours back and forth this entire time and that just seems silly and annoying so I got you a permanent toothbrush for my apartment."
His eyes widen in surprise.
Her blush deepens and she realizes that a toothbrush is usually considered as the first step to moving in. "I'm not—I'm not trying to imply anything! I just thought that if you had one here and one at my place, it'd be eas—"
Ricky interrupts her with a slow and deep kiss. Her breath hitches and her wide eyes flutter briefly before shutting completely. She's just about to melt into the kiss when he starts to pull away.
"I love it," he murmurs against her lips before kissing her again.
"You do?" she asks timidly after he pulls away again. She bites nervously at her bottom lip.
He chuckles quietly and nods at her. "It's very thoughtful of you," he says with a smile. "My very own toothbrush. It's like we just took another step."
She swallows and realizes that he just gave her a great opening. "Another step for what?" she asks hoarsely.
Ricky shoots her a confused look. "For us," he states simply.
She flushes. "So... we're exclusive, right?"
He suddenly frowns. "I certainly hope so. Why? Have you been meeting Big Red behind my back?" he jokes.
Nini rolls her eyes. "So... can I call you my boyfriend?" she asks hopefully.
Ricky quickly looks guilty and he sets the toothbrush on his coffee table to focus all of his attention on her. "I didn't know you needed confirmation about us," he admits softly. His brows knit together worriedly. "I never said anything because I thought it was pretty obvious..."
She shakes her head. "It's not—I just—" she breaks off with a sigh. "This past week has been so crazy, you know? Everything happened pretty fast and we never had time to talk about anything and I just—I didn't want to assume anything." She reaches up and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. "And I didn't know what to call you."
"By my name, would be nice," he shoots at her playfully. At her exasperated stare, he winces. "Sorry."
She continues. "You're not just my neighbor anymore and you're definitely more than a friend."
A beat as both their minds wander back to some of their more physical memories.
"I mean, clearly," Nini states bluntly as a small blush colors her cheeks. "But I was afraid to call you my boyfriend without... your permission, so to say." She raises an eyebrow at him. "I didn't want to resort to calling you my 'Ricky'."
Ricky shoots her a delighted little smirk. "I didn't realize you were so possessive."
Nini cracks a smile. "Shut up."
He sighs and nods a bit. "But I guess you're right. And to be perfectly honest, I was kind of waiting to have the whole 'boyfriend/girlfriend' talk," he admits quietly.
Nini freezes. "What do you mean?" she asks carefully, trying to keep the mild hurt out of her voice.
"We have been doing everything pretty backwards... I mean, I haven't even taken you out on a real date yet."
She frowns, feeling more and more disappointed. "You took me to Dan Warner's party," she reminds him softly.
He rolls his eyes and waves it off with a dismissive hand. "That doesn't count! We were only going to call it a date as a back up plan, remember?"
"Oh yeah," she mutters.
Ricky runs a hand through his curls, staring at her purposefully. "Look, I want to take you out on a real date, not an 'at home in our apartments' date. Like, a real dinner, at a fancy five star restaurant, with a waiter that will serve us wine, and at the end, we share a ridiculously decadent dessert."
And eyebrow arches. Her lips twitch with the beginnings of a smile. She definitely likes the sound of that. "Really?" she asks coyly.
He nods, his familiar smirk starting to reappear. "Yeah. And I'll feed you off my fork and we'll fight over the last bite of whatever type of cake or mousse we're having but we both know that I'll eventually give in and let you have the last bite, anyway."
Laughter bubbles up from her throat, but she does her best to keep her expression schooled. "Wow. You've really thought this through, haven't you?"
Ricky gives a nonchalant shrug. "There's a script if you want to read over it. But just so you know, I gave you two monologues; they're both about how amazing and gorgeous I am."
She fixes him with a bemused stare. "That doesn't sound narcissistic at all," she says sarcastically.
"I think you start crying over my chiseled six pack at some point. It's all very Oscar-worthy, don't worry," he reassures her with a straight face.
She can't help it as her eyes drift down to his lower abdomen and she gives him a small smirk. "Well, your six pack does already have its own fanclub," she says in a sultry whisper. She leans into him, and her hands land on the smooth planes of his chest as his arms quickly reach out to wrap around her. "I have to admit, it's perfectly merited."
Ricky slowly lowers their bodies until they're lying down on the couch. His head rest comfortably against the arm rest and he grins down at her she settles in against his chest. She looks up at him with a playful smile and his hands slip underneath the hem of her shirt to rub circles along her lower back.
He smirks down at her. "Well, your approval is the only one that actually matters," he says in a husky whisper.
"Oh, trust me. I approve," she laughs.
The smirk widens. "Why, Nina Salazar-Roberts, are you feeding my ego?" he asks in a shocked voice.
She rolls her eyes. "Revel in it, Bowen. This isn't ever going to happen again."
He chuckles and kisses the top of her head. They relax and let a moment of comfortable silence take over. A hand moves from her lower back to run a hand through her soft hair. Her eyes flutter close as she lets him massage her scalp and trail his fingers down the length of her hair. After a few moments, he sighs contently into the quiet.
The sound makes her stir. "What are you thinking about?" she murmurs. Her eyes remain blissfully closed.
"So you're my girlfriend now," he says. He sounds mildly awed, like he can't quite believe it.
An eye pops open. As his words fully sink in, she feels a rush of warmth spread through her, from head to toe. She wiggles her toes experimentally. She's still warm and fuzzy. "I'd like that, yeah," she smiles softly.
He returns the smile and shakes his head. "We're so backwards," he laughs. "I haven't even taken you out on a real date yet, and I get the pleasure of calling you my girlfriend."
She snorts and rolls her eyes. "I got you a permanent toothbrush for my apartment," she reminds him with a pointed stare. At his bright laughter, she grins again. "Ricky, you know you don't have to take me out on a date, right?"
He groans. "Argh. But it makes me feel like such a bad boyfriend," he moans in a guilt-ridden voice.
Nini wiggles up the length of his body and kisses the corner of his lips. "I just like spending time with you," she says simply with a small little shrug.
His brown eyes soften as they stare back at her. "Me, too, Neens."
With a wide smile, she moves her head back down to rest her cheek against his chest, tucking her head right underneath his chin.
Is it too horribly cliched of her to make a mental note of how perfectly well they fit together?
"But I'm still making reservations for this weekend."
Her laugh echoes through his apartment.
_______________________________
I hated this chapter. Sorry!