The Blind Date || Rini AU

08. Meeting Xavier

At 6:56pm the next day, there was a knock at the door.

Feeling a little out of breath from running around all day trying to get the place looking nice with a bored and rather destructive toddler following her around, all while cooking a meal that wouldn't taste too much like her cooking expertise usually culminated to Mac and cheese with hot dogs cut up and mixed in with with noodles, Nini looked at herself in the hallway mirror one last time, feeling weird and giddy, wondering why she was paying so much attention to her looks when he wouldn't be able to even see what she looked like.

Her hair was piled up in a surprisingly nice messy bun. She was only wearing a bit of make-up and nothing too fancy: a pair of black skinny jeans she for ten bucks at a thrift store and a crop top to reveal a sliver of her midriff.

She used to have a sweater on as well, but the sweltering heat near the stove and her bubbling nerves cause her to shed it quite quickly.

She went and opened the door.

"Good evening Nini," Ricky drawled, looking very handsome in a pair of blue jeans, a red t-shirt and a black leather jacket. He was holding a bouquet of flowers in one hand and his golden lab's leather harness in the other.

"Hi," Nini smiled.

"I have something for you," Ricky grinned, holding out the bouquet of bright yellow daisies.

Nini couldn't help her giddiness as she took the flowers from his hand and held them to her nose. This was the first time somebody ever got her flowers. She liked that he didn't go for the cliche and get a dozen red roses.

"Thank you, they're beautiful," she beamed.

"Good, I'm glad, i was completely reliant on the florist," Ricky smirked.

Before Nini could say anything else, and before she could invite him into the kitchen so that she could go ahead and put the flowers in water, Xavier scrambled out of his bedroom and ran into the hallway.

"Mama, I-" he began to speak in his cute voice, but he went uncharacteristically quiet the moment he saw Ricky standing at the door.

Nini reacted quickly.

"Xavier, this is my friend Ricky. He's going to be eating dinner with us tonight, remember?" the teenage mother said nervously, bending down down to make eye contact with her son. "Ricky, this is my son Xavier, say hi, baby," she added, standing up again and looking between Ricky and Xavier.

"Hi," the two year old said in a dismissive tone, his attention on the guide dog that walked into the apartment with Ricky. He edged a little closer. "Can I pet your puppy?" he asked finally, pointing towards the dog at Ricky's side.

Nini explained quickly, "The puppy is working right now."

Xavier brought his hand back to his side, looking confused, "Why?"

Ricky was the one that replied this time. He crouched down so that he was level with Xavier, "Do you see the fancy collar that he's wearing? That's a harness. When my puppy, her name is Ellie, when Ellie has that harness on, it means she has to be my eyes and show me where to go."

"Mama," Xavier gasped, turning his head to look up at Nini. He pointed at Ricky, "He doesn't have eyes?!" he questioned. He looked horrified.

Nini was feeling very awkward but Ricky didn't seem to mind all of these questions and he was doing a very good job of explaining everything.

"I do," Ricky chuckled, reaching up to remove the sunglasses that were hiding a pair of pale grey eyes from view. Xavier took a few steps back, cling to his mom's leg. "They just don't work, like when your tv isn't turned on. It's still there, right? But you can't see any of the pictures.