what more can i say | rini au

31.

sitting in the back of her mama d's car, nini holds her boyfriend's hand and thinks back to so many past days and nights they sat in the familiar suv- laughing and crying and everything in between. she cracks a joke about not being their chauffeur, but hadn't she been for all those years of being kids, they'd always sat together in the back, no matter if there was room in the front seat.

but then he'd gotten his license, and while a reckless sixteen year old with a brand new license probably wouldn't be the kind of person the sort of responsible parents nini's tried to be would normally trust as their daughter's ride to school and back (and for just about everything else), it was ricky.

and even if he wasn't the most cautious of people in many cases, last night's trellis incident being a great example, ricky had always proven to them that he would take care of nini. so he became her ride, her moms started leaving for work earlier, and the two friends went from holding hands in the backseat to her riding shotgun with him on the driver's side. his hand on the back of her headrest as he looks behind them to back out of the driveway always giving her the perfect view of his beautifully sharp jaw.

and even though right now they're in her moms' backseat again, now more than ever she knows she has every right to stare, to admire him, and she wastes no time with pretenses as she does.

they're like the little kids who held hands in the backseat, and their fingers are, as before, interlocked, but the kiss he leans over to give her is new. it's beautiful, even as he clumsily knocks his nose into hers as the car comes to a quick stop at the light, and she giggles against his lips.

if her mom is paying attention to them at all, she doesn't say anything about it all. nini's certainly grateful for that. and she's grateful that her mom seemingly isn't going to try to have that talk with her until ricky's gone home. and she knows mama d doesn't plan on sending ricky home until his dad's able to get him, so she has a while to just enjoy being ricky's girlfriend before her moms confront her with what that means in terms of changes.

she's ricky's girlfriend.

that hadn't quite hit her entirely yet, but as she lays her head against his shoulder, and he drops his against hers, nini's happier than ever.

"boyfriend." she says softly to herself, smiling with her eyes shut as she squeezes his hand gently.

"hmm?" he doesn't quite ask in words so much, but she giggles at him anyway.

"you're my boyfriend." she whispers, smiling even brighter.

"and you're my girlfriend." it's less a repetition of her words so much as his own happy acknowledgement. "god, i'm so lucky neens..."

"ricky... you don't even understand how long i've wanted this. wanted you-" her voice is a whisper still, not wanting her mom to eavesdrop just in case. "i'm the lucky one. i mean- it's you..."

"okay sure, but- it's you, nini. i fell for you so long ago. i thought about it- you never gave me a sign you wanted me to pursue you... so i stopped thinking about it. and then gina came along? and well- i'd long since given up on having your heart by then."

"in case i haven't been clear on this in the last 24 hours... i've liked you since middle school dummy." she rolls her eyes. "if you thought big red was jealous seeing you kiss aspen well- you should've been there when kourtney and i had our sleepover after. like yeah i know it was a game but- you were the only person i've ever kissed, and that- that really meant something for me. it was hard to watch you kiss anyone... even if aspen's my friend. our friend..."

nini's words seem to surprise him somehow, and he sits up rather suddenly, turning to face her again.

"so when i kissed you- in seventh grade- around christmas..."