in your reflection || rini au

39. open urself up

ricky sat at his desk, going through his algebra homework in complete and utter boredom.

he sighed as he tapped the back of his pencil against his textbook, drifting his gaze upwards until it landed on the window that showed just in front of his house.

ricky furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as he leaned forward to get a good look at what was going on further below until he realized who it was.

it was the brunette girl. wearing her green floral dress with a jean jacket on as she paced back and forth on the sidewalk with her crutches.

curiosity overtaking him, ricky stood up from his desk and went downstairs, heading towards the front door to open it.

he was met with the brunette girl walking up the steps to his house with difficulty but she froze in her tracks when their eyes met.

"what are you doing here?" nini asked suddenly

ricky raised his eyebrows and looked around him "uh...i live here...?"

nini exhaled and nodded "r-right..."

"you okay?"

she let out a nervous laugh, adjusting her bag over her shoulder "of course i am. why would you think otherwise?"

"because you've been pacing up and down the front of my house for who knows how long."

the girl widened her eyes and felt the heat rush to her cheeks at the sudden realization and memory that his room overlooked the front of his home.

"oh..." she said sheepishly "right..."

"so, are you?"

"am i what?"

"okay?"

"yeah!" she nodded before looking down at her fingers "no..." she contradicted and then sighed "i don't-i don't know."

ricky opened his mouth "okay...is there a reason you're acting a little-"

nini shook her head "um...you know what? i-i shouldn't have come here, i-i don't know why-"

she continued to mumble under her breath at how it was a bad idea to come see him as she struggled to make her way back down the sidewalk with ricky following close behind

"neens, just hold on," he sighed as he reached her "what's all this about-"

the brunette shook her head momentarily "n-nothing-"

ricky raised his eyebrows "you're lying."

"no i'm not-"

"you kinda are-"

nini huffed in frustration "just forget it ricky-"

"tell me." he said determined, standing in front of her

nini tried to steady her breathing as she softly spoke "you said you'd never let me fall."

looking at her, ricky saw the brunette with her eyes now on him. she had an expression that he couldn't read and he looked back at her blankly

"what?"

"that day at school." nini explained "i...i was avoiding doing the lifts because of my ankle during the morning practice and then when you came up to me, you wanted to make sure that you would never let me fall."

ricky was looking back at her, continuing to blink a few times as he now remembered vividly of their conversation in the hallway. he thought nini was just uncomfortable with him doing the lifts, but it was really her ankle that had been bothering her. so he told her that he'd never let her fall. and he would never, either.