the exception

29. i love...

sorry for being gone for literally like forever- im back 🤪 and here's a chapter for your night or day! hope u enjoy! i'll try to get back to getting a good amount of chapters out- but also- MY CHRISTMAS STORY IS BEING PLANNED RN- ITLL BE PUBLISHED DEC 1ST WITH THE FIRST CHAPTER COMIN OUT HOPEFULLY DEC 4

Nina...y-your mom...she's...she's got a week left..."

Nina's pov

I nervously chuckle, "Uh- what? Y-you're joking...right?"

As the words roll off my tongue, I feel my eyes stinging and that annoying lump forming in my throat. My eyes blink quicker with every passing second, trying to push the tears away. I could feel my breathing get shaky and inconsistent. My world is spinning, and my mind feels lost.

"Neens I- I wish I was...I'm really...really sorry...", Ricky sighs.

My lower lip quivers and I half-blink, sending multiple tears down my face. It's like everything was in slow motion. The tear droplets plop onto the kitchen counter, creating a puddle. My head's pounding as I try to get my thoughts straight. As I try to figure out what I was just told.

"Neens? Neens! Nina!", I hear Ricky calling.

My head jerks to the side and I'm swept back into reality. My tears stay falling from my eyes as I let out sobs that gradually become louder and louder, soon turning into pure screams that contain all the pain I'm feeling. I can no longer see clearly out of my eyes, the tears were pooling and making my vision blurry.

"I-I'm gonna be all alone!", I scream, throwing my head down into my hands.

"W-what am I supposed to do!", I shout, letting out sobs. I soon felt a pair of warm arms wrap around me from behind and I collapse.

"Hey, hey, hey...shh...", I hear whispering. I wipe my eyes with the back of my hand and turn my head to the side to see Ricky's face lowered, and close, to mine.

"Hey Neens...can you hear me?", he softly talks. Through all my unsteady breathing, tears, and screams, I nod my head.

"Okay, listen to me. I'm right here with you...right here. I'm not going anywhere...I'll stay with you forever...through anything.", I carefully listen to him say.

Through all the pain, I felt my heart warm up. I felt a small jolt of pure happiness. Knowing there's somebody who's going to stay with me throughout all of this...it makes me feel...comfortable. Hearing those words come from Ricky's mouth made my tears slow down. Made my breathing settle down. I still felt terrible pain, of course, but with Ricky...it'd probably calm down soon.

"Okay...let's...go upstairs and watch a movie?", he suggests. I wipe my eyes again and slowly nod my head.

I get up from the kitchen island chair and we walk up the cold wooden stairs and enter his bedroom. I stand in the doorway as I watch him pull out his TV remotes, gather blankets and pillows to throw on his bed, and grab snacks from his mini fridge. As soon as he finished setting up, he looks up at me and I meet his golden-brown eyes.

"You coming?", he sweetly asked.

I pull the hoodie sleeves over my hands and look down, smiling to myself. I look back up at him and nod my head as I make my way over towards him. I take a seat on his bed, and he turns his bedroom lights off, also shutting the curtains so it's comfortably dark. Then, I feel weight on the other side of the bed, and I see him sitting right next to me. I face back towards the TV screen and let out a sigh that was louder than I had intended.

"You okay?", he asks after a couple seconds of silence.

I look up at him and shrug, "I'm still kinda in shock...but, I-I'll be okay..."