3 Years

70 - Slices

Their little birthday day was going great so far; Noah was enjoying himself, and that was all Nia and Ricky could ask for.

They had ordered their pizza and were grateful when it wasn't that long of a wait. When they saw the door open, none of them (Ricky in particular) had realized who was bringing the food out. It wasn't their waiter, Tyler... but Big Red.

"Oh, hey," Ricky greeted. He stepped out of the booth for a moment to hug the redhead. "For some reason, it didn't click that you might also be here in person," he chuckled.

"Well, yeah. Where else would I be?" he said, setting their pizza down on the stand.

"I guess I should've been able to guess."

"Here is your large half pepperoni and half meat lover's pizza. I don't normally bring out the pizzas, but when Ashlyn told me who, I figured why not. Anything else with it?"

"Not right now. Thanks though." Big Red nods at the family then goes back into the kitchen.

Noah spun the tray around and grabbed himself a slice from the meat lover's side; Nia chose just pepperoni; and Ricky picked one of each.

The three of them enjoyed every moment of this. They laughed and talked about so much and nothing at all. Ricky hoped that Noah would remember moments like these forever and not hate him or Nia for all that was going to happen in their lives.

After eating, getting a box, and paying, the three began to walk out of Slices. Before he made it to the door, Ricky was stopped by Big Red. "Ricky, wait!" he called.

Ricky nodded at Nia and Noah to go ahead out to the car, and the two do so. "Yeah?" Ricky said as he turned around.

"When did you want to talk about a job again?" the redhead asked.

"Oh, um, does next week work?"

"Yeah, that'll be fine. You'd be surprised how many teenagers want to work here though; it's kinda strange."

"I don't blame them. The place is successful, and I imagine you and Ashlyn are the nicest bosses ever."

"Well, I'll tell you one thing." He lowered his voice so that the other waiters and waitresses don't hear. "You're probably much more qualified than some of the students that come through here."

Ricky chortled and said, "Well, I don't exactly have all that much experience in pizza."

"It doesn't matter. I'm the one who mainly does the cooking. Well, Ashlyn and I at least; I don't really trust too many others."

"Oh, well that makes me feel better."

"Ooh, and before I forget." He pulled a piece of paper out from behind his back. "This is an application for the job. Figured you could go ahead and take it."

"Thank you. I don't know how I'm going to repay you."

"Make me money off pizza, and we're all good," he chuckled. "Anyway, sorry to hold you up. I'll see you next week then?"

"Yup. Bye, Red." The two quickly hugged before Ricky finally left Slices.

"What was that about?" Nia asked as she turned the key in the ignition.

"Oh, he was just asking when I could come to talk about the job."

"Dad, you're gonna work in a pizza place?" Noah questioned.

"Uh, if all goes well, then yeah."

"Does that mean we could have pizza whenever we want!?" he asked excitedly.

"Technically, we can do that already."

"Yay for pizza!" he cheered.

Nia and Ricky both laughed because of their son. "Yay indeed, bud. Yay indeed."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once they had made it back home, Ricky texted Nini to tell her the good news. She was ecstatic for him, already knowing he was definitely getting the job. She told him to call her when he had the time to.

He told Nia and Noah that he was going to go to the roof for a bit; Nia already had a guess as to why while Noah didn't care and continued to play on his tablet.

When Ricky made it to the roof, he pulled out his phone and instantly called her. "Hey," she said when she picked up, "congrats!"

"Well, I technically don't have a job just yet."

"Oh please, don't act like this is some competitive thing."

"Don't discount the amazingness that is Slices."

"I'm not. But I mean... why would you not get it?"

Ricky shrugged even though he was alone. "Anyway, how have you been recently?"

"Oh, the usual. The new musical is stressing me out though."

"Oh god, I could only imagine."

"I mean... it's no easy task."

"I know. Remember when we were in high school?"

She giggled, a sound that he always wanted to hear. "God, yes. I'm always amazed every semester when there's no notice to shut down this theater department. It's incredible what it's survived through."

"Making it through just the years we were there is quite impressive."

"We've had plenty of... mishaps since."

Ricky laughed, remembering all the obstacles they had to jump over. "How are the twins?"

"Stressed. Freshmen year is a big deal."

"They're your kids; I'm sure they can take whatever."

"O- Our. They're our kids."

Ricky's grin was as wide as a football field; he felt his heart melt too. "Neens..."

On the other side of the phone, Nini blushed and began picking at her nail polish. The only time she's heard his voice say that is when she would cry over old videos of them. "Yeah?"

Ricky bit his tongue to not say what had actually come to his mind first. "N- Nothing. Just you."

They both felt like they were fifteen again, sitting on the phone with each other and not knowing what to say next.

"Hey, um... when are you free again?" Nini asked.

Ricky perked up right away. He's been wishing to see her in person again for a while. "Uh... this weekend I think." Yeah, that sounds right. Nia and I have to work out the whole job situation next week; I don't think we have anything any other time this week.

"Well, if you really are free, are you up for doing something?"

He could feel his face getting hot. "Yeah. Yeah, I am."

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I just want to make it clear that I am working on one-shots still; they just take me the longest because I tend to go for longer storylines with those or writer's block comes along, and I take very long breaks, which happens often.