nini salazar-roberts, fed up with her moms' disapproval of her always being single during the holidays, turns to the first person she can think of for help, ricky bowen. someone she hasn't been in contact with for years, and frankly, hasn't wanted t...
awkward silence took over for a moment, broken when ryan speaks up, "well in that case it's a date."
"what?"
"this," he motions to the area they're sitting in, "consider it a date."
he smiles at her as we waits for her reaction, "ok.. yeah. a date."
she returns his smile, doing her best to keep it as genuine as possible.
they stay underneath the tree in the park for a few hours, talking about everything they weren't able to cover the day prior.
"so tell me about high school. you said you went to east high right? what was that like?" ryan says in attempts to start up another conversation.
she tells him about her friendship with ricky, leaving out the details she had told him earlier about her and ricky. he listens intently, nini blushing under his intense gaze, slightly stumbling over her words.
after realizing she's been rambling for far too long, she meets ryan's gaze and says, "sorry, i went on way too long didn't i? i ramble a lot i-"
"nini. it's fine. i think it's cute," ryan leans into her shoulder and smiles at her.
both of them take notice when conversation falters, ryan quickly standing to throw away their trash to save them from any potential awkwardness. nini watches as he walks away, unlocking her phone to distract herself from what she was thinking.
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she looks up from her phone when he sits back down on the blanket, giving him a small smile as he tries to read her expression. she moves her gaze down to the blanket, playing with a blade of grass to keep busy.
"you ok?"
nini nods, her gaze still focused on the ground. ryan puts a finger under her chin and lifts her head up, causing her to look up and meet his gaze. she feels herself getting deja vu, being reminded of the moment she and ricky shared on valentine's day last month.
he begins to lean in, and nini thinks she imagined it until his face is right in front of hers and she can feel his breath fanning over her lips.
before their lips could touch, nini quickly leans the other way to avoid contact.
"i'm sorry, i- i cant. it's complicated i-" she stumbles in attempts to find an excuse.
"it's fine, i get it. you and ricky-"
"ricky?" nini interrupts, confused as to how this all relates to him.
"there's something between you two. i saw it at the cafe. you have chemistry, it's undeniable. i don't know what's going on between you two but you should try to figure it out."
nini stares at him, dumbfounded and unsure what to say, "i- i guess you're right? i don't know, i like him but i don't think he feels the same way and it's just complicated. i'm sorry."
she looks at him with a sorrowful gaze, which was returned with a smile.
"it was worth a shot, friends?" he asks, nini nodding her head in response.
they leave after that, having run out of things to talk about. ryan hugs her goodbye and wishes her good luck on what he called "the ricky situation". she laughs and walks away with a smile, the words she said earlier dawning over her. i like him.
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