for the holidays | rini au

twenty seven

her breath catches in her throat and she coughs in attempts to regain a steady breathing pattern. she stays seated on the edge of her bed, unable to move. she finds herself in a sort of trance, trying to slow the beating of her heart.

a knock on her door abruptly forces her out of her trance, her eyes snapping up from where they were previously glued to the floor and focusing on her front door. a rush of anxiety courses through her veins, causing her to stand up and finally make her way to the door.

with one final breath, she reaches for the door handle and slowly opens the door. ricky's arm is raised in attempts to knock again, dropping it when his eyes meet nini's. she's looking at him with a shocked expression, mouth slightly ajar.

she focuses on his other hand to avoid eye contact, which holds a plastic grocery bag. when she brings her attention back up to him, he nods his head towards the interior of her apartment, silently asking if he could come in. nini nods her head, but takes a few seconds to move out of the way.

he throws the bag onto the counter and begins searching for her silverware drawer. she stays by the door after closing, looking at him with a confused stare, wondering what he was doing in her apartment.

he finds her silverware drawer and pulls out two spoons, moving to the cabinet where her bowls were located. nini departs from her spot by the door and walks to the island, sitting on one of the stools.

she plays with her rings, awkwardly staring at the counter as ricky maneuvers around her kitchen, still in search of a bowl.

"what are you looking for?" she suddenly breaks the silence, causing ricky to whip his head around and meet her eyes.

"a bowl, for uh- i brought ice cream," a small smile plays at his lips as his eyes try to scan her face for any hints as to what she's thinking.

"oh," she simply replies, focusing her eyes back onto the counter, "they're in that cabinet," she says as she points to the respective cabinet.

she can't help but smile at the fact that he brought ice cream. he remembered, she thinks, her smile growing wider. he had read her letter and decided to give her a chance. or a second, maybe third?

her thoughts are interrupted by the sound of glass clattering on the countertop, causing her to raise her head in surprise. he pulls the ice cream from the bag and nini stands up to help him.

"so," she starts, unsure how to get past the tension between them, "you read my letter."

he lets out an awkward laugh at her comment, however nods his head and replies, "yeah i did. it was cute. reminded me of high school."

a blush rises to her cheeks and she drops her chin to hide her smile. he just laughs and continues to scoop the ice cream into the bowls.

"are you sleeping here?" she asks with a genuine tone, finally raising her head and making eye contact.

"if that's ok with you."

she nods and walks over to her fridge to grab a soda, looking back and silently asking if he wants one. he nods his head and she grabs one for him, placing it on the counter in front of his bowl.

when he had put even amounts of ice cream into each bowl he softly slid one in ninis direction, grabbing his and walking over to the couch. he settles in and nini follows, naturally falling into place next to him. she reaches for the remote and puts on an episode of new girl.

they watch tv for an hour, until nini's eyes began to get heavy. she had rested her head on his shoulder about twenty minutes ago, settling into his side, their ice cream sitting on her coffee table, long forgotten and melted.

he carefully shakes her in attempts to keep her from falling asleep, wanting to avoid a repeat of the last time he had spent the night.

"hey," he whispers as she lifts her head up groggily, "i'll help you walk to your room, let's go."

he stands and pulls her up with him, nestling her into his side so he could help her to her room. she walks over to her bed and pulls her hair back into a bun, immediately pulling back the covers and settling in when finished.

"there's a basket of blankets at the end of the couch. you can use one of those and take some pillows from the linen closet," she mumbles, half asleep, casing ricky to laugh. he fights the urge to give her a quick kiss on the forehead, turning around and turning off her light.

"goodnight, nini," he whispers before closing the door behind him, stealing one last glance at the sleeping girl.

he wakes up the next morning due to sunlight streaming through her apartment window. he's confused as to where he is for a few seconds, before gathering his surroundings and realizing he's at ninis.

by some coincidence, her door opens at that moment and she walked out in a robe and slippers, disheveled hair and no makeup. she must have taken it off when she woke up, ricky having been too tired to do it for her the night before.

"did you sleep ok?" she asks when she sees he's awake. she walks over to the coffee table to clean up the bowls which consisted of their melted ice cream.

he nodded his head, answering her question, rubbing his eyes and standing up.

"we're ok, right?" he asks suddenly, not thinking prior to speaking. she freezes in her place and slowly nods her head.

"yeah! we're fine," she says enthusiastically.

"are you sure because we can talk if you-"

"ricky. we're fine i promise. if anything i should be the one asking you this. i'm the one who messed everything up," she interrupts, walking over to him.

he shakes his head in response, "no it's old news, really. everything's ok. we can just put this behind us and start over? if that's ok with you of course."

she laughs at his nervous rambling, "that sounds good. friends?" she asks, holding out a hand for him to shake.

"friends," he confirms, grasping her hand in his and gently shaking it. their hands linger for a few seconds before they both drop them back to their sides, the moment ending before it could even begin.

she senses an awkward shift in the air, quickly becoming overwhelmed. finding a quick excuse to escape, she gestures to her pajamas and says, "i'm gonna go change... into different clothes. i-i'll be right back."

giving him one last look, she nods her head and turns around to walk into the bathroom. she locks the door and sits on the top of her toilet seat, leaning against the counter