The Perfect Gift

Ch. 18

"Okay," Nini starts, whirling around the second she's closed the door to his apartment. "What the heck happened?"

Ricky groans and slouches off to the couch to sit down. "I don't even know," he says as he rubs a hand over his eyes. But he waits until she has joined him on the couch before retelling the events. "You were gone, I'm waiting for my delicious smokies- which I never got, by the way- and then one of them came up and asked if I wanted a drink. I said no and then the other girl came up to me and asked the same question but I also said no."

"And then?" she presses.

He shrugs. "Then the first one starts acting all smug, like, 'Oh, he's not interested in you, either!' and I tried to calm them down but the other girl was kind of drunk and she just sort of... lunged."

Nini wrinkles her nose. "That's it?"

"I told you I didn't do anything," he scoffs, sounding a little hurt.

"I'm sorry. I honestly didn't think you did anything to initiate the fight, though," she sighs. "I just wanted to know what happened."

"I was just afraid you thought I was leading them on or something."

She frowns, feeling guilty. "I wasn't trying to imply that I thought that," she says, sending him an apologetic glance.

Ricky pulls her close and kisses the top of her head. "It's alright," he whispers as she settles her head against his shoulder.

"I still feel bad," she says, looking up at him.

He looks down at her, perplexed. "I started a cat fight today. I think I'm feeling worse than you."

She chuckles. "What? It didn't do wonders for your ego?" she jokes.

"Doesn't mean anything if I've got a lady to call my own," he says with a shrug.

She smacks a hand to her forehead, giggling at his words. "I'm telling you, Ricky, I'm not getting into any fights over you," she laughs.

"Shh," he murmurs in her ear, his breath tickling her. "Let a guy dream." He stares at her with the most tender look he can muster and in the most loving voice he says, "I'd beat the shit out of some guy for you."

"Romantic," Nini says dryly as she stares at him, unimpressed.

"Baby, I know," he whispers with waggling eyebrows before nuzzling her nose with his, making her erupt in bright laughter after he pulls away with a grin.

She hums in contentment and glances at the clock. "So we have less than an hour before the New Year, what do you want to do?"

He shrugs. "Go-Gurt and YouTube videos of cute baby animals?"

Nini lights up at the prospect of making Ricky watch her favorite otter video for the umpteenth time. "It's like you read my mind," she sighs happily.

He groans. "But my laptop is in my room." He makes feeble grabby motions toward the hallway. "Ugh," he grunts pathetically, "so... far... away."

She frowns. "Well, one of us has to get up and grab it."

"Why can't that someone be you? You gotta take initiative sometimes, Nini," he says arrogantly.

Her eyes narrow and she holds out a fist. "Rock, paper, scissors," she orders, sitting up and squaring her shoulders.

Ricky follows suit, his spine shooting straight up in challenge. "Oh, you're on."

Moments later, Ricky finds himself shuffling off in the direction of his room in dejection.

"Pull up the otter video!" she calls after him.