bittersweet • rini au

21

the atmosphere felt tense since emma was back in the salazar household. nini drowned herself back into school work trying to clear her mind. 

everything had gone wrong. she had a plan, a solid one. her sister was supposed to arrive the weekend after the game, she could finish her last tutoring sessions with ricky and spring break could begin and hopefully her acceptance letter arrived at the end of it. the universe had clearly other plans, emma was there, she had lost her necklace, her relationship with ricky confused made her mind explode by the uncertainty, and yale seemed so far out of reach. 

and to top her worries, emma had decided the big announcement had to be the same day as the big finale. her mind started to rush trying to find a way to escape the dinner and attend the game, she had to be there for him. 

her trance was broken when her sister knocked on her door. in situations like this, nini usually just threw the "i'm busy" card to avoid dealing with her perfect sister.but today, she didn't find the strength to get it out. 

emma came in to find nini sitting in her desk, surrounded by an abnormal amount of books. even if their relationship was a little rocky due to the competition, it was her little sister in the end, and her first best friend. 

a heavy silence fell upon the sisters, who both understood how awkward and weird the situation was. emma sat down in her bed trying to organize her thoughts. 

nini took a breath before she decided to get back to her homework when she felt her sister shift and take a breath.

"ni, look, i'm sorry," nini didn't look back the apologies didn't matter anymore, after so many years, they had just become weightless words. "let me convince moms to have the announcement tomorrow or even next week, i had no idea you had the game tonight, or that you were seeing a guy, you know it wasn't my intention to ruin your plans."

nini was defeated, and surprised, her sister had apologized for once in her life, yet she knew it was an effort in vain, dinner was almost ready and the game was already starting. 

they heard their mom calling from downstairs and nini just sighed. she knew how things worked in this house. 

as soon as she made her way downstairs her mom had to make a comment. "nina, take that frown off your face, we have guests," 

dinner was tense, nini deciding to not talk at all and her moms making yet again snarky comments made the whole atmosphere heavy. 

"see nini, maybe you could be more like emma, since you started hanging out with ricky and his friends you're like all over the place,"

nini just looked at dana, feeling her blood boil, they liked ricky. maybe everything had been a lie? and for once she decided to stand up for herself. 

"you know what mom, maybe i am all over the place, and distracted, but for once in my life i found  real family who loves me and great friends. for once i'm happy. so if you excuse me, you can keep prasing my perfect sister and her amazing life, i have somewhere to be, i'll probably stay over at kourt's. enjoy your little dinner." 

she stood up from the dinner table leaving her family with mixed emotions. 

as she took her jacket and phone, her mom looked straight into her eyes, "nina salazar roberts, you get out of this house and we will have serious problems." 

her adrenaline filled her veins as she saw emma trying to call her other mom down, she was fed up and just wanted to be with him tonight. 

she just let out a sarcastic laugh and slammed the door behind her. she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. suddendly, she felt free. 

school was just a few minutes away from her house, so if luck was on her side, she could be there for the two remaining quarters. 

meanwhile, she called kourt to tell her. 

"they're loosing nini, he's distracted," she knew immediately what she meant, after the car ride they didn't had the time to speak or set things straight. she had to see him. 

"tell him to meet me behind the bleachers, we still have a few minutes left."