dear, ricky [rini au.]

𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭

chapter eight: dream.

"Miss Roberts... Miss Roberts... Miss Roberts."

Quickly, Nina lifted her head from the desk she appeared to have fallen asleep on. She immediately felt embarrassed as she saw the teacher standing over her and the other two kids in that detention room looking her way. Some random kid from her math class and, as many people refer to him, Bowen, the co captain of the East High basketball team.

Oh, right. We already discussed this. But Nina didn't.

"Your mom is here to pick you up." Mrs. Montes explained.

Nina was confused. Her mom just came to pick her up, right? Wrong.

Confused, Nina nodded her head yes, quickly rubbing her eyes due to her vision being a bit blurred from her nap.

After her vision cleared a bit, her eyes caught the clock in the corner of the small room. Only ten minutes since she walked in had passed...

Oh... It was a dream... I met him in my dream.
She finally realized. Damn.

Nina gave Mrs. Montes a smile and a small head nod before walking out of the room.

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"Wait - you thought Bowen was the guy you've been texting?" Kourtney chuckled to her friend, "Neens, what?"

"It was just a dream, Kourt." Ashlyn cut in. "Obviously she doesn't think it's him. Her mind did that."

"Yeah, but how would her mind..."

Kourtney's word started to fade away as Nina's attention started to wonder to other things that were consuming her mind at the moment.

She was sort of sad that she didn't meet him... It was obviously something the girl dreamed about before - but I said dreamed about lightly. That dream was so vivid. So real.

But, besides that, her birthday was coming up. And her birthday was coming up, as well. Nina dreaded those days. They were a constant reminder of why she is the way she is. Of all the terror she felt that day. And how it had never been a happy day. No one could truly make it a happy day.

Not even once.

"Anyway." Ashlyn gave up on her minor disagreement with Kourtney. Kourtney was convinced that this was some sort of sign, while Ashlyn just thought her mind was playing tricks on the girl. "Are you guys excited for the spring musical? It's in a couple weeks." Ashlyn cheered. "Guess what we're doing."

"You've told us this already, Ash... Several times." Kourtney laughs. She caught Ashlyn's unamused face and gave in, playing along. "What musical are you doing?"

Ashlyn smile reappeared on her face as Nina silently laughed at her friends. "We're doing Beauty and the Beast - and guess who's playing Belle." She beamed even brighter.

Kourtney shrugged with a fake confused face. "I wonder who it could be."

"Me." Ashlyn smiled uncontrollably, followed by a few giggles, causing the two girls next to her to giggle a bit as well. They couldn't blame the over excited redhead for being ecstatic about their school's production. Ashlyn's been invested in theater for years now and she's finally getting a huge part. Well deserved, might I add. After her original song Wondering made an appearance in their last musical, their drama teacher made it a point that Ashlyn at least tried out for a huge role. And it ended up working out well in the end.

"Please tell me you'll be able to make it to opening night?" Ashlyn slightly begged.

"We wouldn't miss it for the world." Kourtney assured her, followed by a head nod from Nina. "But the better question is - is your boyfriend coming and is he bringing his friends?" Kourtney joked with her eye brows wiggling with suggestiveness.

"He's not my boyfriend."

"Yet." Nina whispered, Kourtney pointed to her in agreement.

Yes, you read correctly. Nina spoke in front of them - which was a huge step. To her surprise, but no one else's, therapy with Miss Jenn was surprisingly beneficial. Though it'd been years and her chances of ever recovering from this became slimmer by the day, she actually found herself making progress. And it was because of him... And he didn't even know it.

Ashlyn's cheeks flushed a deep red with a playful eye roll. "Whatever... And to answer your other question, I don't think so."

"Damn it." Kourtney muttered, making Ashlyn give her a pathetic laugh. "That whole team is cute."

The redhead slightly rolled her eyes. "And what happened to taking down the patriarchy?" She accused.

"Never said I couldn't get some good eye candy on the way."

They all laughed at each other until Nina's phone started going off. At this point, she wasn't even phased that she had someone other than Ashlyn or Kourtney texting her. Let alone being the first to message her... Or a guy.

And, as per usual, it was Ricky.

"Is that dream boy?" Ashlyn teased, her eye brows wiggling. Nina cringed at the name and gesture, scrunching her face as she nodded her head yes.

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a/n: hi babes. yes yes i know, i did that just to mess with y'all. this is a slow burn - they're not gonna find out about each other for a long while :D and, sorry about the short chapter!

anyway - THR TRAILER, HOW'RE WE FEELING???

i'm... still tryna catch my breath.
the hug the hug the hug - pls i was in literal tears. i miss them so much... like soooo fuckin much.

-amari🤍