𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥. [ 𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐢 𝐚𝐮 ]

old times. 07

as nini, howie, and tj walked into the apartment, the girl immediately made eye contact with her boyfriend. he was sitting on top of the arm rest of the couch with red and ellie standing in front of him. nini eyed ellie and observed her. she was shorter than her with long dark brown hair and freckles on her face. ellie was pretty, which made nini even more jealous.

the girl took off her coat and placed it on the coat hanger while ej, ashlyn, and kourtney approached the three of them. nini saw how ej and howie immediately smiled at each other, "hey! welcome to casa de ej!!"

"and ashlyn!" ashlyn chimes in and glared at ej. all of them let out a huge chuckle made their way into the living room.

"thanks for having us over," nini softly said.

"thanks for coming!" ej exclaimed and brought over the bowl of chips and drinks to the table. red, ricky, and ellie joined the rest of the group at the dining table, but ricky sat as far away from nini as he possibly can.

"so this is tj and howie by the way," nini finally said, looking away from ricky, "they go to pepperdine with me!" everyone greeted each other besides ricky and tj who just glared at each other.

"this is ellie," ricky announced and smiled at the girl while everyone glanced at her, "she goes to ucla with me and red." then again, everyone greeted each other at the table. nini and ellie awkwardly glanced each other and awkward tension filled the room.

nini stood up and leaned over the table. she stuck out her hand for ellie to shake and gave her a witty smile, "nini. nice to meet you... ellie."

"hm, nice to meet you nini," ellie firmly said and shook nini's hands. the two girls finally let go of each other's hands and nini say back down in her chair with an annoyed look on her face.

"okay so.... spicy uno?" kourtney asked to clear the air.

"I CANT STOP LOOKING AT IT!" nini heard ellie exclaim. she looked up from her conversation with tj and kourtney and saw ricky and ellie talking and drinking in the corner of the living room.

"JUST STOP LOOKING AT MY BIG ASS FOREHEAD!" ricky laughed and pulled his curls over his head. ellie and ricky stared at each other with huge smiles. nini felt her heart drop to her chest as ricky had the same exact conversation with ellie that he had with nini on their first date.

"nini, you okay?" tj asked and nini finally looked at kourtney and tj who were giving her concerning looks. the girl heard ricky and ellie's laughs ringing in her eyes and felt tears building up in my eyes.

"i uh.. i gotta go outside and think," nini said and quickly left their apartments

"nini wait!" kourtney called after her, but nini was already outside. ricky looked away from ellie and saw as nini stormed out of the apartment. he felt his heart sink to his chest and glanced at the girl in front of him with regret.

"hey i'll uh be back real quick," ricky told ellie. her face fell and she slowly nodded her head. ricky made his way outside and saw nini sitting on the floor of the hallway. she had her back leaning against the wall and her head in her knees. her soft sniffling echoed throughout the hallway and she didn't even notice that ricky was standing right there.

"hey baby..." ricky softly said. she looked up from the floor and glanced at ricky with a stained face, "you okay?"

"go away," nini spat and looked down at the floor again.

"no," ricky simply said and made his way onto the floor next to nini, "i know you don't actually want to be alone." nini's mind went back to the day ricky and her sat in the garden and confessed their feelings to each other. they were so happy.

the memories of old ricky and nini, made the girl cry even more, "nini.. what's wrong?"

"us!" nini yelled, "god.. what happened to us? we used to be so ... sweet and happy.."

"we still are.."

"no.. we're not ricky," nini said and finally looked at the boy, "look at us.. we're playing this game to see who's gonna get the most jealous or mad .. and for what? we're a couple, but it feels like how we were when we first started talking."

"okay well if i'm being honest neens," ricky softly said, "it doesn't really feel things have been the same since summer.. when we were all at your house."

"what are you talking about?"

"what happened with gina?"

nini felt her heart stop beating and her whole body went into a cold shiver. ricky stared at the girl for an answer, but she couldn't speak.

"nini.. do you know something?" ricky asked her, "because ever since that day.. you seem really off, distant, and kinda cold."

"i.. uh.. nothing," nini answered. she tucked her hair behind her ears and looked away from ricky.

"you're nervous."

"huh?"

"everytime you tuck your hair.. it means you're nervous," ricky revealed and nini's cheeks started to get red, "why are you nervous."

"i'm not nervous," nini defended herself. her hands made her back to her hair, but she quickly put her hands down.

"i can't let things go back to normal if you're hiding something."

"im not hiding anything!"

"nini! just tell me!" ricky yelled, "what are you hiding?"

"i can't tell you," was all nini said before she made her back into the apartment.