3 TOWNS, 4 HEARTBEATS [RINI AU]

eight

In the week that followed their small meet-up in the coffee shop, Ricky had obeyed Nina's request to leave her alone and not call or leave her with a bunch of text messages, and this all came much to Nina's surprise. She was sure that she would have heard from the curly haired singer by now, especially since she had yet to give him any updates on her end. A part of her was almost looking forward to him bothering her, she wanted to see his reaction to her actually responding and giving him updates about her health instead of telling him off for breaking their agreement. Instead she had received nothing but crickets on his end, granted she had no idea that he was currently at work on a song about her and her relationship with Darren and his jealousy regarding their relationship, but she was shocked that he was actually abiding by what she had requested of him.

She had nothing she really needed to say anyways, it was more of a matter that maybe, as much as she hated to admit it, that she was starting to miss his presence around her.

He was growing on her, and she wasn't sure if she was okay with the idea of him being around more or if her original ideas about their arrangement still stood. She was leaning towards the latter, but there were times when she found herself thinking about him when she should be focusing on something else, like homework or laundry or whatever mundane task she happened to be doing.

She quickly forced her unresolved thoughts pass, knowing she had no time to worry about Ricky's motives for what he did or didn't do and how she felt about it, because this week Ej and Gina were coming up to celebrate Halloween in New York City.

College students all over the world had lucked out, this year Halloween was landing on a Saturday. Which meant four days of partying, if one was up for it.

Nina, in her condition, wasn't. So instead she proposed that Gina and Ej arrive in the city Thursday night. Friday they would spend the day sightseeing with Nina as their tour guide, as their last trip to New York City was back when Nina was a freshman. Then on Saturday, they would attend a party. They had a few options and had yet to decide if they were going to all of them or just hitting up one and staying there the rest of the night, and then Sunday would be a rest and recovery days, with them leaving in the late afternoon. So at best, a nice good-bye brunch.

The picture-perfect couple took the train in from Newark Airport, absolutely insisting that they meet Nina at her apartment, not wanting to endanger her by making her ride the subway to get them, which was always a risk no matter the situation. Nina had promised that she would be okay, that even in her condition that she was more than capable of riding the subway and that she did all the time, but they persisted.

She was standing outside of the building when a cab pulled up, and out came her friends. Gina didn't hesitate to shriek and pull Nina into a gentle bear hug, not wanting to crush the baby, while Ej paid the fare and collected their bags.

"Neens omg, you're glowing. Pregnancy has done wonders for your complexion!" Gina raved, taking in every inch of Nina.

Nina couldn't help but laugh at Gina's excitement, and the second the cab pulled off Ej turned around and scooped Nina up in a meaningful hug.

"I can't believe you guys are here!"

"We can't believe we're here!" Ej smiled, "It's been so long, I just needed to make sure it hadn't changed."

Nina and Gina laughed at Ej's stupid joke, and Nina invited them upstairs to drop off their bags so that they could go out for dinner.

Because of Nina's cravings, the three decided to go to a bistro that served mostly soups and salads, nothing that would make Nina overly nauseous and cause them to leave.