angels like you (rini au)

N I N E T E E N

~chapter nineteen~
tw: mentions of self harm, mentions of death

Nini sighed tiredly and annoyedly as she shut the door of her locker. The whispers from every corner of the hallways were starting to bug her more and more each and every day he wasn't here.

"Maybe he's just ditching."
"What if he ran away?"
"Do you think he's dead?"

Part of her wanted to scream from the rooftop that whatever he was doing, however he was doing it, whenever he was doing it and wherever he was doing it was absolutely no one else's business. But that would make her a complete hypocrite because she herself was absolutely desperate to know.

He hadn't been to school in a week, and in that week, no one had heard from him. Not her, not Gina, not even EJ. They had all tried reaching out to him. But they had gotten nothing back. All of them were overwhelmingly worried about him, even more than usual.

"Hey."

Nini recognised the voice instantly and turned her head to face him eagerly, "Did he text? Call? Anything? Was he at home?"

EJ sighed before shaking his head. He had been going out of his way to find his best friend. He checked all Ricky's favourite hangout spots that he knew of, he drove around for like 20 minutes each day, hoping to spot him at some point. Every day after school, he went to his house. He used the spare key Ricky had given to his mom in case of emergency (this definitely counted as an emergency), and once he was in, he searched every corner and every room in his house. Even the study room, which he hadn't touched in...ever.

And he was absolutely nowhere to be found and nowhere to be seen. Jane suggested calling the police, but EJ was positive that would only scare Ricky away more. He had to wait till the time was right for Ricky to come back by himself, and that time hadn't come yet. But he wasn't going to give up.

"Nothing at all," he shrugged, "I checked everywhere. And I can't find him anywhere." Nini's eyes softened as she told him the only idea she had. "I think your mom is right, we should call the police," she said. "No, I am telling you now. He's probably not too far now, and if you send police, he'll probably flee to like...Michigan or something," he explained.m

"But he's all alone out there, what if he's hurt or something?" She asked him worriedly. "He just wants to be alone. After..you know, he doesn't really want to see anyone. And as much as it must hurt to hear, I don't think he wants to see us either," he told her. She knew he was right, but it still hurt to hear the truth. "Is it weird that I..miss him?"

EJ tilted his head in confusion. "Why would it be weird? If you haven't seen your friend in two weeks, you're meant to miss them," he answered. "No, I know. But just cause...you know, I haven't known him for that long. So I don't know, maybe it's not meant to affect me that much?" She explained, making him furrow his eyebrows at her. "Okay, what's going on with you? What do you mean you're not sure if you should miss him?"

She groaned slightly, resting against her locker door. "I'm just...not really sure about my feelings anymore," she shrugged. "Why not?" He asked her. She looked side to side, checking to see if anyone was in close proximity to them. "Okay well...on the night that..you know what happened, I did something really stupid," she admitted. "What did you do?"

"I kissed him."

His expression was blank, unsure if he had heard what she had said correctly. "I'm sorry, you did what now?" he asked. "It was barely even a kiss. More like an innocent peck. Didn't even last a second," she defended. "In a hospital? Why the hell would you do that? Are you insane?" He yelled.