if i can't have you || rini au

08. helping hand

"oh my god a cactus!"

ricky took a deep breath as he pushed the trolley holding a bunch of different decorations for nini's room; picture frames, an alarm clock, lamps, pencil pots and many more other things that he didn't really understand why she was getting.

"it's so cute!" nini giggled, holding up the little plant pot to show him close to his face, making him back away quickly

"and sharp!" he exclaimed, nini rolling her eyes playfully

"okay, i'm taking it and calling him wilbur." she said simply, placing it in the trolley

"why?" ricky asked with a breath

nini looked up at him with raised eyebrows "um, because plants are good for the environment. plus, i've never had a plant and i feel like i'd take good care of it."

ricky didn't necessarily have the heart to tell the girl that the plant was made of plastic, seeing how excited she was for this, so he decided to just let her be and continue their way through the mall.

"are you always this excited and upbeat about everything?" he asked when she picked out yet another picture frame

nini looked back at him "why aren't you always excited and upbeat about everything?"

ricky nodded "touché."

she grinned proudly as they made their way towards the cashier, nini taking out the credit card that erica had given her to use

"um...okay," she said to herself, looking around for someone to give it to

"it's a self-pay cashier," he explains, showing her the machine as he started to put things through

nini nodded "...right. and that means...you take care of all this yourself." she guessed "right?"

ricky gave her a nod and she laughed nervously as she looked at the machine and tapped on it with the card

"uh-nini, that's the screen to show the things you're buying."

"oh..." she said sheepishly, letting out another nervous laugh "yeah-of course. i knew that..."

ricky knitted his eyebrows together and took a deep breath "okay, pass the card."

nini looked at him before hesitantly placing the credit card in his hand as he used the machine to pay.

"you've never used a credit card before?" he asked once they got all the stuff in the bags as they carried them and made their way out of the store and back in the hall of the mall

"o-of course i have!" she exclaimed "i-it's just-it's different. in...australia. you know, all backwards and upside down-"

"i thought you came from europe?" ricky said confused

nini froze and widened her eyes, opening her mouth "right! yeah-i did come from europe. but-um-i lived in australia. for a while."

he raised his eyebrows before nini gasped

"oh look, there's a little food stand!" she exclaimed, rushing towards it as ricky followed her

"it's just crepes." he says simply

"nutella." she reads "oh! i've read of it, i'm going to try one." she says happily

"i mean, the ones here aren't always as good. you want to go to a good resturaunt or have them homemade." ricky told her

nini glanced up at him and shrugged her shoulders "i'll save your word for that then chef ricky." she smirked