dear, ricky [rini au.]

𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧

chapter eleven: woah.

Ricky reads her words on
the dimly lit screen, over and over again, tempted to do a quick search for selective mutism before she could realize he had left her on read for a while.

Now, don't start accusing him of being absolutely delusional (even though he was), sometimes he just genuinely doesn't pick up on things - Which would've end up working against him sooner or later. And maybe it still would.

To answer your question: No. He didn't put the pieces together.

Thank God - honestly.
That was the last thing the both of them needed right about now.

Ricky was about to ask her what exactly selective mutism was, until her second message popped up.

"It's an anxiety disorder that causes me to not be able to speak in certain environments."
Nina explained.

"Oh, so you have, like, social anxiety?"
He asked.

Nina shook her head from her side of the screen, even though she knew he couldn't see her.
"It's more complex than that. I go mute in almost any simple situation."

Ricky didn't seem to be fully understanding, but he got what she meant.

What should he say? I'm sorry? No, that might come off as rude. Or it might be... Comforting? Or maybe-

"Bowen?" EJ abruptly interrupted Ricky's thinking process, the boy quickly looking up from his phone screen for his eyes to meet with EJ's.

"Yeah?" The now slightly shaken up boy responded, probably quicker than needed.

EJ narrowed his piercing eyes towards him, them darting from Ricky's phone, to his eyes, then back to his phone. "Who're you, uh, texting there?"

"N-no one." Ricky sheepishly blabbered out, instinctively tilting his phone away, ensuring himself even more that no one could see his phone.

If there's one thing you should always do - it's make sure EJ Caswell isn't in possession of anything personal the belongs to you. Cause the minute you look away, he'll find out everything from your bank account information to your social security number... This dude was crazy.

No, he never acted on whatever information he found out, but it was still something that the whole world didn't need to know. Especially EJ Caswell.

"Lies." Red pointed out to his best friend, removing his mouth from his cup and clearing his throat right after. "But, we're not gonna butt in - Right, EJ?" Red said, knowingly.

Ricky didn't know this, but Red made sure to confront their friends after Ricky rushed out of the cafeteria that one day. He could recognize Ricky's anxiety attacks from a thousand miles away.

Ricky just chuckled a bit, looking down at his phone again, hoping to come up with a response.
"I wouldn't have assumed that. You have this very extrovert persona to you. You attract people just by your words, I can tell."

That makes Nina slightly smile from her side of the screen.

And then it hit him, "Oh." He muttered to himself in realization.

"I know a girl like that. I was just with her tonight."
He wrote and hit send, not knowing how else to respond, honestly.

Nina was now the one who didn't know how to respond. In which context did he mean he was with her.

"Oh?"
She responded.

"Yeah. My best friend wanted me to come support his girlfriend in our schools play or whatever."

Woah.

Nina immediately felt a familiar pit form in her stomach at how similar their nights went. Too similar.

"Really?" Because same...

"Yeah! She was nice, from what I can recall. After a little bit she got up and left. My friend was being an asshole, so I don't blame her."
Ricky rambled over text.

Okay, what the hell is going on?

Nina's breathing started to pick up. She didn't know why this made her so nervous, so anxious and confused - but she was feeling it. And it was apparent.

Her slender hand came up her head, running through her dark locks as she hesitated her next question.

"What was her name?"
Nina typed out, quickly closing out of the app before he could respond. She didn't know why, but her possibly knowing who this was scared her. And the fact that she was quickly starting to realize this was Ricky Bowen scared her ever more.

How would he feel if he found out it was her? Embarrassed, happy, angry? The possible out comes of this were endless and Nina didn't know if she was ready to endure any of it just yet.

Would he feel regretful?
To Nina, that would be worse. There was one thing when it came to Ricky, and it was that she'd never ever see herself feeling regretful. With him, at least. She could never regret what they had.

What if he told everyone about any and everything they ever talked about? Would he really poison the rest of her high school career just because?

Or would he be really sweet? Long for her like she did for him?

Or is she giving herself false hope?

She didn't have much time to dwell, because the notification chime coming from her laptop interrupted her thoughts completely, Nina scared to reopen their messages. However, that fear went away within seconds as she reopened the tab, looking at the bottom of their chat.

Yes. Her assumptions were correct.

"Nina.
I think."

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a/n: hiiiii y'all.
i decided to update twice today, so chapter twelve is already up!! go go gooooo