For You, I'd Do Anything- Rini One Shots

Loving You Is Easy (pt. 2)

Saturday morning is busy, with tons of foot traffic and people milling about the entire store.

She zigs and zags through Melody Mart, welcoming the hectic rush of helping potential buyers and ringing up customers. Things slow down during lunch and Nini can't wait to welcome the lull so she can finally take a break. She only has a few singing and piano lessons to give after lunch.

The busy workday has excelled in keeping her mind off of Daniel.

Until evening hits.

"Nina?"

The familiar, and yet unwelcome, voice calling her name shocks her enough to make her stumble on her way to the cash register to ring up the next person in line.

"Nina..." the voice persists.

Nini steps up behind the counter, flashes a smile at the mother patiently waiting to buy a violin for her son, politely tells her to hang on for just a second, and then whirls around to find her dim-witted ex.

"Currently busy, Daniel." She says in as polite a voice as she can manage.

She turns back to the sweet woman and begins to ring her out, engaging in friendly small talk with her and her son.

"Okay, I'll wait." He says, sounding put out.

Nini fights the urge to roll her eyes and finishes up the transaction and waves goodbye to the little boy. Then she steps behind the counter, yells at her coworker, Ella to take over and latches an annoyed hand onto Daniel's arm, holding back a gag at the contact, and drags Daniel outside the store.

"Are you going on break to talk to me?" he asks hopefully.

She whirls around to face him and crosses her arms. "No." she says firmly with a shake of her head. "No, I'm not. Daniel, this is my place of work, you can't just show up randomly to try to win me back or whatever!" She points back to the store. "Do you see how crazy it is in there? I'm incredibly busy so you need to leave! Showing up where I live is already bad enough, but jeez, this is getting stalkery!"

His expression sours and he defensively cries out, "Well, I figured it'd be better here than at your apartment where that curly-haired guy keeps interrupting us!"

She throws her hands up in the air in aggravation. "There is no us!"

"There could be!"

"You're delusional."

He shakes his head vehemently. "No, I'm not. I know things between us could work out!"

"Daniel," she says sharply, "I do not want anything between 'us' to 'work out'."

"Is it because of that guy?"

Nini frowns, suddenly thrown. "What guy?"

Daniel stares at her, long and hard. "Your neighbor," he says harshly. "That guy that always hangs around you."

She recoils, stunned by his suggestion, but she quickly shakes her head and recovers with a snort of disbelief. "Uh, you mean my neighbor that has every right to be 'hanging around' me when I'm in the apartment complex?"

Daniel rolls his eyes. "Yeah, him." he spits viciously.

Nini stared at him, jaw dropping. "Oh my God, are you jealous of my neighbor?" She runs a hand over her face in exasperation. "Okay, I don't even know where to start with this amount of ridiculousness. First of all, there's nothing to be jealous of. Ricky and I had our first conversation ever on Wednesday, alright? There's literally nothing going on between us. We're not even really friends!"