in your reflection || rini au

19. god, i sound crazy

"no, ricky it's up down left right left."

"i literally just did that."

"no. you did up down left right left left. now do it again properly."

ricky rolled his eyes as he took a few steps back, the blonde girl stood in front of him as she counted up to eight from five and they did the dance moves coordinately as she choreographed.

when nini walked into the dance studio after school on monday, the one of many things she never expected to see was lily and ricky doing a duet together.

"oh good you're here have you seen this??" howie whispered in surprise as nini set her bag down.

the brunette stole a few glances towards the two, pushing away the unusual feeling in her stomach as she looked at her friends "what?"

"ricky and the vulture?" gina replied "how much do you think she's paying him?"

"relationship or professional?" seb asked

carlos shook his head "oh, no way for it to be relationship, those two have been fighting for as long as they've been breathing the same air. and it's not in the enemies-to-lovers trope way."

"i'd so watch that movie." gina sighed "unless they cast the goldilocks gold-digger."

"that's a new one." big red chuckled

"it's...none of our business." nini said simply, finishing to prepare herself and putting her bag away as she turned to search the room for leo

her friends all exchanged looks but chose to not say anything before big red opened his mouth

"everything okay with you and leo?"

nini turned back and smiled "yeah. why wouldn't they be?"

"you just seem a little-"

"i'm okay." she said "just...tired."

nini turned back to head to the corner at the back of the studio to start warming up, sitting down on the floor as she tried to collect her thoughts.

she'd pushed away all the words that the fortune teller had told her. it was just a bunch of nonsense wasn't it? what was she thinking going in there just to get wrapped up in things that don't make sense? leo was right after all.

she suddenly felt a prescience sit down next to her, looking to the right to see the very brown-haired boy.

"hey." he smiled

nini took a deep breath and sat back "hi."

"look, about what happened yesterday, i'm sorry. okay? i didn't know you-"

"no, it's fine." nini brushed off "i don't care anymore. really it's okay."

"okay." leo exhaled "so, what about we go out for dinner tonight?"

"i have work..."

"after that then?" he asked "i have something to show you."

nini raised her eyebrows "what is it?"

leo grinned "you'll have to wait and see."

"oh really?" she asked with a light laugh

"yup." he whispered, leaning forward to kiss her

nini kissed back. she smiled as they pulled away before feeling a pair of eyes bore into her and when she turned her head, she caught the curly-haired boy looking away to focus back on lily.

"ready to start practicing?" leo asked

nini looked back at her boyfriend and nodded, standing up

"i was thinking we could use a rose as a prop for the dance." leo said as they made their way to the front

nini suddenly stopped in her tracks and looked at him "w-what?"

leo looked up, unfazed "a rose...? what? i thought it'd be good for the message of the storyline since it's romeo and juliet."

she felt her breath get caught in her throat "u-uhm...y-yeah! yeah...right. okay. i...um-i need to just-i forgot something at my bag."

nini quickly rushed over without another word towards her bag

she grabbed her water bottle, making her way to the water cooler to fill it up.

it wasn't weird right? just because leo said they should use a rose isn't unusual. it is a very common romantic flower so it shouldn't usually make her this nervous or weird when he asked to use it as a prop for their dance. right?

"you know when water starts pouring out of the bottle it usually means it's full."

nini jumped in fright, causing for water to spill more before she suddenly gasped "oh crap."

she took a step away to try and stop the water falling around her water bottle while ricky went towards his bag to grab a towel from his duffel and hand it to her

"thanks..." she mumbled

"sure."

just before he was about to walk away, she swallowed "so...a duet with lily?"

ricky stopped and moved his eyes to hers for a few moments, holding her gaze.

he then looked at something further behind her before back at the brunette "a duet with leo?"

leaving nini with no reply, he walked past her back towards the blonde-haired girl who was still practicing.