3 Years

82 - Officially Official

The drive over to the Salazar-Roberts house was nerve-racking for Ricky. He didn't know how the night was going to go, and he wasn't sure which side his gut was leaning toward.

He was about ten minutes early, which he hoped wasn't a big deal. He pulled into the driveway, double-checking his appearance in the mirror. Once he was semi-satisfied, he began the seemingly long walk to the front door.

He knocked, wiping his hands on his pants. The door opened a few seconds later, and Nini was standing on the other side. "Hi," she greeted.

"Hi." Ricky smiled back. They quickly hugged before she moved to let him into the house. As he stepped in, he saw the twins sitting on the couch on their phones. "Hey, guys," he said.

The two looked up, and Lauren was the first to say something. "Hi."

Jayden quickly followed with another, "Hi."

"I hope you're hungry," Nini said, attempting to diffuse a bit of the tension. "Come on." She led everyone to the kitchen table where a whole kit of taco stuff was laid out. "I figured going with something a little less formal was the wiser decision. Plus, I just didn't feel like cooking a proper dish," she chuckled.

"Well, it smells great," Ricky commented.

"Don't be so shy," she said, mostly to the kids. "Dig in."

The four walked around the table, filling their plates with whatever. Once everyone was satisfied, they sat around the table, the twins next to each other and the adults together. They spoke about their days, Nini and Ricky doing most of the talking.

The twins wanted to chime in because they felt awkward just sitting there, but they weren't sure what to say. They were eventually able to add something when Nini was talking about work and dealing with students. "I mean... I just don't understand their mindsets sometimes," she said, shaking her head. "If you're about to be caught with a vape, flushing it down the toilet should not be the first thing that comes to mind!"

Jayden nearly spat out his drink. "That's real!?"

Nini laughed and said, "Yeah. They were pulling up the floors in the bathroom to find the plumbing problem, and it was because so many... strange, strange people decided to fill the pipes with... those!"

"I heard people talking about it, but I just thought it was another weird rumor," Lauren added.

"Yeah, no. It's such a great... school system."

"To be fair," Ricky began, "it is. Even with all of the, uh... interesting moments."

"You know, some of our teachers are still there," Nini said.

"Really? I know of Mazzara and Jenn, but who else?"

"Um, it's mainly the English and history people that are still sticking around, but, uh... Taylor, Nick, Kingston... and Thomas was promoted to principal."

"Wow. They have to be nearing 100 by now."

"Nick is always in such a cranky mood," Lauren commented.

"Well... he probably wrote the Bible!" Jayden exaggerated. "He's probably also disappointed the world hasn't ended yet."

"I'm surprised it hasn't," Ricky chimed in.

The conversation continued with laughter and light-hearted jokes. Nini placed her hand on Ricky's thigh below the table and squeezed, reassuring him that the rest of the evening would be ok.

After an hour, everyone was done eating and the dishes were placed by the sink. The twins were on the couch in the living room now and sitting on their phones. Ricky glanced at them and then looked at Nini nervously. "We're sure about this?"