ricky and nini's realizations

chapter 12

general pov

the weekend goes by pretty normal. ricky goes to the skatepark for hours and nini write songs up in her room with her beloved keyboard. ricky didn't bother to reach out to nini over the weekend. the both of them just gave the other space because their last interaction was a little tense. nini wasn't upset. if anything she was just confused by ricky because of his irregular behavior that night. monday came soon enough. everyone is seated at lunch when big red asks with excitement, "hey guys, ricky and i were talking about my new video game last week. so i was thinking that all of us could go over to my house tonight to have a chill afternoon of video games?" everyone nods their heads except for ej, "sorry can't. i've gotta he at ashlyn's for dinner tonight." "alright, no problem," big red tells him. "so come over around 5?" he says addressing everybody else at the table. "i gotta stay later than usual for cheer today, but i'll be there. so i might show up around 5:30ish," nini tells big red while cleaning up her trash.

ricky's pov

i watch nini move all of her trash onto her lunch tray, swing her book bag over her shoulder, and leave to go dump her tray. she never takes her bag with her because she always grabs it afterwards. i wait for her to come back, so i could take her to class. after a little bit, she never came back to the table. i realize that she just went off to her class on her own with out me. i just go ahead and head to mine because there's no point in me waiting around for the bell once i've finished eating.

nini's pov

the bell rings signaling the end of the school day. i head to my locker to grab my cheer bag. as i'm walking down the hallway i can see ricky at my locker in the distance. normally he would be at basketball or skating home right now. i approach my locker next to him, "um hey. everything okay?" i say as i put in my locker combo. he looks down to me with a face i can't read, "why wouldn't everything be okay?" "you've just never come to my locker at the end of the day before," i say while rummaging through my locker. i feel him looking at me, but he hasn't said anything yet. after a moment he says, "i feel like you're mad at me about leaving the bonfire. and it's really bothering me nini." "i'm not mad," i say shutting my locker starting to head towards the auditorium for practice. he speeds up walking to get beside me, "but i feel like you are nins." i stop walking to look at him and calmly say, "it's not that i'm mad about leaving a silly bonfire. it's that i know you lied about why we had to leave and you still won't tell me why." he doesn't say anything.

ricky's pov

i don't know what to say to her in this moment because i don't know why i did it. well i do, but. okay i don't know. i'm confusing myself just as must as i'm confusing her. she raises her eyebrows trying to get a response. "i didn't lie," i say flatly. "wow ricky," she starts to walk off, but i don't let her walk away yet. i jump in front of her, "okay look. i just wanted to leave is all. yes i lied. i didn't actually get a text from my dad or have cell service. i didn't know how else to convince you to leave with me." "why'd you want to leave so badly? why couldn't you have just told me you didn't want to be there?" she has a worried expression on her face. it makes me realize just how caring and understanding she is, even though i'm not being a good friend right now. "i don't know. i just didn't feel like being there," i say. she just looks more confused, "you're still lying to me," she pauses then says, "i have to get to practice. talk to me when you actually want to tell me everything." i don't want the conversation to end like this, but i also didn't want to say, yeah nini. i wanted to leave because i think greyson likes you, so we had to go. and no nini, i don't know why that bothers me. but it does, so i wanted to leave! she's walking down the hall again and i jog up behind her while i grab her bag just enough to get her to stop in place. i come around to face her, "why do you think i'm still lying?" she scoffs, "because if you 'just didn't feel like being there' like you said, then you would've just told me that. and i know it. you can't prove me wrong about that. so clearly, something happened that made you want to get out of there. whatever it is i won't care, but that fact that you've lied to me twice now ricky. i mean come on, we have never lied to each other. i seriously don't know why you think you would have to." she stops abruptly and looks at me with hurt eyes. i turned something so small into somewhat of a fight with my best friend. great going ricky. you're an idiot. "nins," is all i get out feeling so sorry. "i'll see you at reds. okay?" she says then let's out a breath. "whatever the reason was i don't care anymore. i'm not gonna be mad over something stupid like leaving a bonfire. i'm not happy that you lied to me though. but we're all good. i'm not upset," she tells me for reassurance. i know my body language is portraying exactly how i'm feeling- scared that she's gonna hate me. she knows me better than anyone and picked up on it. "nini i'm sorry." "i promise we're fine. i seriously am about to be late for cheer though and can't get in trouble. so i'll see you later," she gives me a big smile and pats my shoulder as she walks past me.