Second Chances (Ricky + Nini)

chapter 29 - the perfect gift

[a/n: just fluff.]

For Christmas, Nini decided to go back to Salt Lake with Ricky to spend the holiday with Red and Ash, since everyone else here has left. EJ and Gina were spending Christmas with EJ's family in Hawaii, apparently they had a tradition of going to the beach for Christmas. Gina was pretty nervous about meeting the parents, but Nini assured her she would be fine. Kourtney, on the other hand, was going home to see her mom. At first Nini was hesitant to go back home, because she had to leave Bob behind and all her friends are out of town, but Ricky called Ethan for a favor, and convinced her that they could spend Christmas together in Salt Lake like old times. It had always been Nini, Ricky and Red. And when Red started dating Ashlyn, she joined the pack. It was the closest thing she'd ever had to a family.

It was Christmas eve, Red and Ashlyn had prepared for them a beautiful dinner. Every time they were together for Christmas, the duo would be competing to make the best dinner. This time Red made ravioli and panforte for dessert, he was Italian after all. Ashlyn made some salad and roast chicken. Ricky and Nini, as always, was in charge of drinks and forced to pick a side. They both always agreed on a side so it would be a tie anyway.

"This is really good, Ash." Ricky said mumbling as he took a bite of the chicken.

"How are you enjoying the ravioli, Neens?" Red quipped immediately.

"Great. Amazing, Red." Nini said on cue.

"So.. should we do our gifts before dessert?" Ashlyn asked. They'd agreed on a small gift exchange among themselves.

"Sure.. I'll start." Nini said. "I got Ashlyn, so here you go, babe."

Ashlyn accepted the gift with a smile and opened it. It was a set of sheet masks and some bath bombs. "Omg. Thank you, Nini. I really needed these."

"Of course. The bride to be needs to relax, especially after making Christmas dinner for us all." They shared a hug and moved on to Ashlyn's gift.

"So I have Ricky." Ashlyn said giving him a paperbag.

Ricky opened it and pulled out a shirt. It had a drawing of a camera and the words : kiss the photographer. Ricky laughed and tilted his cheek towards Nini.

"Read the shirt, babe." Nini rolled her eyes but complied anyway. "Thanks, Ash!"

"You're welcome. This is also me officially asking you to be our wedding photographer." Ashlyn said with hopeful eyes.

"Are you kidding me? Of course I will. I would have been pissed if you'd asked someone else." Ricky said standing up to give Ashlyn a hug.

"Thank you."

"My Turn." Ricky said. "Redonovich, here's your present." It was a custom skate helmet with pictures of pizza all over it. Red laughed when he opened it.

"Thank you, Richard. Now everyone will know that I'm the pizza guy." Red said. "Neens, your turn."

Red handed her a small bag, and when she looked inside her heart melted immediately. It was a pizza plush for Bob. "Aww. Thank you for remembering Bob!" Nini hugged the redhead. Afterwards, they had dessert, and Red really did make the best panforte.

"So.. who won dinner?" Ashlyn asked as Nini was sipping on her glass of wine. Nini gulped and looked at Ricky who avoided eye contact with her.

"Yeah, tell us." Red looked at Nini and Ricky with hopeful eyes.

"Umm. Babe, I think it's getting late, we should probably go. Red and Ash probably want some alone time." Nini said putting her glass down.

"Yeah! You're right." Ricky said grabbing their coats and helping Nini put hers on. "Gotta leave the lovebirds to themselves."