i believed in you || rini au

50. how it should be

nini and ricky walked hand in hand, entering the meeting room as they noticed lily already seated along with zack, jenn and benjamin.

"perfect, right on time." benjamin nodded as he opened up a file

as they sat down, ricky awkwardly got caught in lily's gaze, but the blonde girl tried to avoid it as she gave a small smile towards the couple.

"alright, now...due to certain - and unexpected - change of plans." jenn said, shooting ricky a look which made him sink a little in his seat "we're going to have to try and move alone and hash out everything."

"which is why i think interviews starting tomorrow are important." zack added firmly "i don't want lily to be in a bad position because of this."

"we don't want anyone to either." jenn replied with a nod

nini opened her mouth "um-if i may..." she began shyly "i posted a video explaining about exactly what happened and specified not to send in any hate or spread rumors to lily or ricky."

"yeah, i saw. thanks..." lily smiled

nini returned the gesture as ricky kept his gaze on the table.

"that is a step in the right direction." benjamin nodded in approval "and i've scheduled an interview with tmz tomorrow."

zack hummed "alright."

"i guess that's it so far." benjamin said with a heavy breath before putting his hand up in realization "we'll have to talk to ricky and nini about the publicity of their relationship too."

"we'll take that as our leave," zack said, standing up which lily took that as her cue to do so as well.

ricky's eyes lifted as he saw the blonde haired girl walk towards the exit, thanking the group one last time before he took a deep breath and glanced back at his girlfriend who was looking at him in confusion

"you okay?" she asked quietly as the door closed

she traced her thumb over his knuckles soothingly to get his attention and he cleared his throat lightly, nodding

"i-i'm fine. i just need to go to the bathroom real quick." he told her

nini put on a small smile as she nodded "okay..."

ricky quickly got up from his chair, making his way out of the room as he looked down the hall, seeing lily further away before he made his way towards her

"hey..."

lily looked up from her phone suddenly, opening her mouth in confusion "oh...hi..."

"just wanted to see how you are with this whole thing." he explained "i kind of dropped a huge drama bomb on the world..."

lily couldn't help but chuckle softly "yeah, i guess you did." she replied, taking a deep breath and shrugging her shoulders "i'm okay. zack on the other hand-"

"i don't care what's in her schedule, clear it for the week!" the man's voice boomed from further down the hall, catching the two's attention

ricky raised his eyebrows "he's a little..."

"uptight? loud?" lily finished with a sigh, leaning back against the wall

ricky took a deep breath "i was going to say intense."

"that too," lily nodded in confirmation

"i'm sorry..."

the girl smiled "you said that during our talk last week."

"yeah...about that-"

"ricky, don't worry." lily said assuringly "i don't want to come between you and nini. even though-me telling you how i feel might've looked like it-i-i don't."

ricky gave her a small smile "okay...thanks."

"so, how do you feel?" lily asked "now that...it's all out in the open?"

the boy nodded as he exhaled deeply "a little overwhelming but...i'd do it all again if i'm honest. i feel like i've finally really got her."

lily looked back at him "well, don't let her go. you got lucky."

ricky laughed, nodding "yeah, i did."

lily took a deep breath "i've gotta go," she reminded him "i'll see you around ricky,"

the curly-haired boy nodded "thanks for everything lil."

the blonde gave him one last smile as she turned away, letting the boy to inhale slowly before making his own way back to the room, making everything exactly how it should be.