cruel summer. [ rini au ]

chapter ten.

Nini finally reached the pool area after spending her morning in the theatre and on the baseball field. She went into the pool office to pull off her black athletic shorts and tank top and to exchange her running shoes for some flip-flops. Sliding her sunglasses into place, Nini did a quick head count before sitting on the side of the pool, letting her legs dangle in the water as she watched Ethan teach the kids how to play water polo. He had fifteen minutes left of his shift before Nini would take over with a new group of kids. She reached for the bottle of sunscreen on the concrete beside her and quickly rubbed on another layer as she soaked up the rays of sun reflecting off the pool.

A shadow loomed over her and she looked up, seeing Ricky's face hidden behind his aviators. Behind him was a group of kids in bathing suits, flip-flops on their feet and towels on their backs.

"I brought your 2o'clock group, have fun," he said as two of the boys introduced one of the girls to a grasshopper they had found.

"Thanks," Nini told him, seeing Ethan out of the corner of her eye bringing his kids into the locker rooms to get changed. Ethan tossed Nini the ball and she grinned as Ricky tried to wipe away the water splatters on his face. "You won't melt, Bowen. That's only for witches, demon spawn have a different vulnerability."

"Oh really? Please, inform me," Ricky told her, shifting his weight and crossing his arms. Although their bantering had continued like normal, those who were really listening could detect a hint of teasing behind it. The words and tone were the same but something in their body language and faces said that it was no longer about making the other's blood boil.

"Oh, I haven't found it yet, but you'll be the first to know when I do," she assured him in a sarcastic voice. "Promise."

"Ri-ight." Ricky drew out the word as a mocking smile tugged at his lips and for a moment, Nini's eyes lingered on them before she called out to the kids. With a chuckle, Ricky left the pool deck and jogged over to the basketball courts.

"Alright everyone, time to jump in." Nini informed the older group of campers. "Pick a lane, we're doing some stroke drills."

An hour later, Nini was comfortably sitting on a lawn chair, as the campers were drying off and getting changed out of their swimsuits before heading to the theatre for their last activity of the day. A shadow passed over her as Madi took a seat in the chair next to her.

"How was your break?" Nini asked, stretching her hands above her head and letting out a yawn.

"It's wasn't much of a break, Hunter had to work with the beginner group for canoeing and roped me into helping." Madi said with a shrug. "I haven't seen you all day, how was it?"

"Oh, the usual. Taught the kids stage directions, taught them how to bat, taught them how to properly dive, fought with Ricky." Nini relayed, closing her eyes and lacing her fingers behind her head, "All in all, it was a pretty good day."

"You and Ricky have the oddest relationship I have ever seen." Madi said with a laugh. "With anyone else, it's something like a sibling bond but with you two, there is so much tension and anxiety that no one could mistake you for siblings."

"You make it sound like the next time we see each other, we'll just snap and jump each other." Nini growled, frowning. "There is nothing remotely sexual between us."

"Oh, honey," Madi said with a snort. "Everybody sees it but you two."

"We fight all the time!" Nini protested.

"No you don't. You do a lot, true, but not all the time. It's like a sort of defence mechanism. You start to get competitive and vicious anytime you realize you're acting friendly. Last night was a perfect example." Madi told her, leaning back in her chair.

"What about last night? I just remember falling asleep and waking up in my bed this morning." Nini asked.

"Yeah, guess who brought you to your bed. You ended up falling asleep on Ricky, you guys were passed out for the whole movie and when we turned it off at the end, you were using him like a pillow." Madi explained. "You two are a lot closer than you let people believe, it comes in flashes and disappears just as fast, but it's there."

Nini didn't know what to say as Madi got up and approached a new group of campers that Emma had brought over. Madi words were methodical and based on fact and Nini had to ask herself if it was true. Had she and Ricky grown to be friends and simply not realized it because no one ever trusted them alone? She had had crushes before, but what she felt with Ricky was none of the butterflies in her stomach or the inability to string words together symptoms that she usually possessed. Nini felt no different towards Ricky than she did towards E.J. or Big Red, except that with Ricky, she had to keep herself from strangling him with her bare hands.

She had fallen asleep on him last night and he hadn't said a word. The nanosecond of fear she had felt when she realized their tacos had been mixed up. Him singing that song for her on karaoke night. Looking up from her hands, Nini's mouth opened in a slight 'o' as realization hit her. She cared about him. Not in a sexually driven way like Madi had brought up, but still, she cared.

"Oh, god," she whispered, although it was still audible to Madi. "When did we become friends?"

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Ricky couldn't help but pause and watch her. The certainty in the six steps to the net. The fluid lines of her arms as she raised them for a lay-up. How the sun glinted on the sheen of sweat covering her skin. Her feet pounded against the ground as she dribbled and shot the ball up at the net. The ball hit the ground once, twice, and three times before she realized he was there and she stopped.

"How long have you been out here?" Ricky asked when he saw that he was caught.

"I wasn't hungry at dinner, and I have a pool shift tonight, so I thought I would do some thinking until my shift." Nini said as she took another shot at the net, while Ricky entered the court area.

"I would have thought to find you at the theatre or on the track. The basketball court is definitely not where I would have looked." He caught the ball as it bounced towards him and took his own shot.

"At school, that's your territory. One of the teams is always in there." She said and held the ball at her hip.

"So you're taking advantage of this court while you're here," he observed. "You're kind of quiet tonight."

"I've got a lot on my mind," she said quietly, tossing him the ball and picking up her water bottle.

"Anything I can help with? Something about home?" She just shook her head and pulled the elastic out of her hair, letting her brown hair fall down. "I talked with E.J. last night."

"Same here." She looked away and then back at him. "Do you think it ever bothered him? How we argued all the time? He always jokes with me about it and I always thought he didn't care, but do you think it bothered him?"

"I don't know, he's so easy at brushing things off and moving on. Maybe it did." Ricky responded, rolling the ball between his hands.

"I was talking with Gina the other day and she was planning a huge pool party at E.J.'s house. I feel like everyone is spending so much more time together and the only reason I think why is because you and I aren't there." Nini said softly. "We're not there and it's making their lives easier, they don't have to listen to us argue all day and choose sides. Promise me, if we survive this summer, when we are back in Salt Lake, we will at least try to make an effort to get along."

"Promise," Ricky said, tossing the ball to her as she caught it with one hand. "Besides, after spending all this time with you, I'll need some time to build up a new selection of witty comebacks," he joked.

"You? Witty? You've taken too many balls to the head, Bowen," she told him as she head to the pool for free swim.

Ricky watched her walk in front of him as he followed. Last night E.J. was saying how Ricky enjoyed her calling him Bowen and E.J. was right. Whenever she said his name like that, her eyes heated to molten coffee and it wasn't from the golden glow of twilight.