i believed in you || rini au

36. diversion

nini slowly made her way through the back door of the apartment building, taking deep breaths to calm herself as she made her way up the stairs.

she was mentally preparing herself on what she was going to say, having a little speech in her mind on how she wanted to tell ricky she loved him and is just scared to jump back in too soon, but she hoped that it would work out...it had to.

arriving up to ricky's floor, nini entered the little hallway and turned the corner before abruptly stopping in her tracks right behind the wall when she saw a blonde haired girl standing right outside his door

the door opened within a few seconds to reveal the curly-haired boy, surprised and confused by the sight of lily standing in front of him

"hi..." he breathed

lily took a deep breath as she nervously smiled "hey..."

nini watched as the two stood there in silence for a few seconds before ricky spoke up

"sorry-do you want to come in-?"

"oh! no," lily said, shaking her head "no, it's okay. i just-had to tell you something real quick..."

nini felt her heart rate speed up as she hit behind the wall, waiting anxiously to hear what the blonde-haired girl was going to say...

ricky folded his arms, concern filling his face as he leaned against the door frame "is everything alright?"

lily looked back at ricky for a few seconds before taking a deep breath "okay-i-i feel like-i want to be honest with you, you know? and...even if we might never see each other again, i feel like i have to tell you the truth."

ricky nodded "okay...not gonna lie, you're kinda scaring me right now..." he chuckled nervously

nini nodded to herself in agreement - though the two couldn't see her.

"i...like you ricky..." lily said quietly "like...like you, like you."

the boy's arms unfolded as they dropped to his side in surprise, raising his eyebrows as he opened his mouth

"and i know that-that you're probably in love with nini - that you are in love with nini. but...i just couldn't let this go without you knowing the truth."

nini felt her heart drop and her breathing became shorter as she waited for ricky to reply, watching intently

"wow-uh-" ricky cleared his throat and shook his head in slight disbelief "i-i don't know...what to say."

nini froze as she felt her eyes sting.

'please turn her away. please don't feel the same.'

lily swallowed nervously "do you...do you like me?"

ricky sighed as he rubbed his hands over his face "i-this is very overwhelming-i mean, we're friends, you know?" he asked, the blonde girl nodding

"i know but...ricky," she breathed "d-do you like me?"

nini neared her face closer as her heart sank lower and lower with every second of silence that came from ricky

"i-" he swallowed and let out a breath "i need to process this."

the brunette girl shuddered a breath as she felt a tear roll down her cheek, quickly wiping it away as she leaned against the wall. he didn't say no... why didn't he say no?

meanwhile, lily nodded and fiddled with her fingers nervously "okay. i get that-i'm sorry-but i needed you to know..."

"i know." ricky nodded "thank you. for telling me." he said with a small smile

"it's not awkward if i hug you right?" lily chuckled nervously

ricky shook his head and opened his arms for lily to hug him, wrapping his arms around her as he rested his chin on her shoulder

nini felt more tears form in her eyes, not being able to watch any more of this as she quickly ran towards the staircase, her footsteps echoing around her as she let the tears fall.

"what was that?" ricky asked suddenly, lily pulling away as they looked towards the sound

"i don't know," the blonde girl shrugged before taking a deep breath and looking back at him "um-i-i should go, before anyone can see me. but, i'll see you...soon?"

ricky nodded "um-hey-look, how about we meet up this saturday or something to talk about it?"

lily opened her mouth "i actually have this party this saturday, but-how about sunday? you're not working right?"

the boy shook his head "no, that should be good. i'll see you then..."

she gave him a small smile "okay...bye ricky."

"bye..."