in your reflection || rini au

23. home

nini swung the door open and there he stood. ricky with his army-green jean jacket over his white shirt with a pair of his blue jeans. she froze. looked him up and down in surprise.

ricky had his hands buried in his pockets and raised an eyebrow in confusion "uh...hi?"

"are you...where's-your jacket?" she spluttered

the boy opened his mouth and looked down "oh, i-uh-it's in the wash..."

nini nodded and they both stood at the door, her suddenly forgetting why he was here as she took him in before ricky cleared his throat

"so...can i come in?"

"oh! right! yes!" she quickly opened the door wider for him to walk through and he was welcomed with the warmth of the house and the smell of food coming from the kitchen.

"it's the same." he blurted out mindlessly, looking around the living room.

"um...not-not all of it, but yeah. mostly." nini mumbled, fidgeting with her fingers before dana's voice boomed

"nini was that ricky?!" she called

"yeah, mom!" she yelled back. she looked at ricky who had been looking at a picture of nini "we should go otherwise she'll come out here and burn the food."

a light chuckle escaped him as he followed her towards the kitchen, entering it and dana gasped when seeing him

"ricky bowen! look at you!" she beamed brightly, making her way to hug him

"hi mama dana," he smiled, accepting her embrace

"mom-the food." nini muttered, quickly making her way to flip over the meat that was cooking on the pan before turning around and seeing dana catch up with ricky.

though her stomach was flipping around like crazy from nerves and anxiousness, she couldn't help but give in to the upward tug on the corner of her lips. ricky had always been close with nini's moms.

"i'm so glad to see you! it's been a long time, how come we haven't seen you more?" she asked. the question made nini freeze and avoid ricky's gaze that she felt was now on her

"uh...i've just been busy. with recovery and school." he lied. all sorts of confused thoughts rambled ricky's brain at that interaction. nini never told her moms that they'd stopped being friends?

before he could full acknowledge and wonder about it though, dana clapped her hands happily

"right! well, dinner's ready." she announced "why don't you make your way to the table with nini?"

"sure." he nodded

nini made her way to take the bowel of vegetables but dana stopped her

"mom, i'll help-"

"leave it i can carry a few platters." she chuckled

"but you were on call all night." nini reminded her

"and do i look like someone who's about to fall asleep any second?"

nini sighed, not wanting to answer that question honestly "fine."

she left the food to her mother and walked towards the dining table with ricky. it was a round table spacious enough for four people, so there was enough space for the three of them.

the two teens sat down opposite one another as dana followed not long after, placing the bowels and plates full of the meal they were about to eat down

"alright, serve yourselves please." she encouraged them before heading back towards the kitchen to get the meat

nini reached over for the mashed potatoes, serving some in her and her mom's plate before handing it to ricky