A light || Ricky and Nini

Chapter 172

Nini POV

The night before we leave, everyone sits on the back patio together. Ricky's holding me close on top of his lap, and everyone's talking about the fact that summer has just begun. "Yeah trust me, if I had to be packing for college the second we get home I'd probably be begging to stay here." EJ says in response to Ashlyn and I see Gina frown. "Oh fuck, still not something we should talk about right?" He asks and Gina shrugs and presses her forehead against his shoulder. "I just hate that everything's coming to an end." She says and Carlos speaks up. "Unfortanely EJ'll be around for the next few months. No ends in sight right now." He quips and Gina noticeably perks up. "Hell yes, and y'all know we're not gonna waste a second." Kourtney claps and Seb smiles. "We better not because we've only got this one life." He says quietly and I smile, pressing my nose against Ricky's cheek. "Preach." I say gently and Big Red looks over at us. "It's too bad you guys wasted some of it when you broke up." Ricky tenses and I can sense him giving Red a stern look. "Everything happens for a reason." I say in response and Red shrugs, proving he didn't mean much harm. "I guess you're right. We probably wouldn't be as close as a group if you guys had stayed together. None of us really enjoyed being around each other if you remember correctly." Gina laughs and winces. "You've got that right. We have a brutal past. Crazy great stories for the kids though." Ricky chuckles and Gina continues to talk. "Wait like, I mean when you really think about it, all of our decisions and circumstances in our lives have led us to being this close. Like EJ dated Nini, Ashlyn's related to EJ and Nini's best friends with Kourtney. Ricky brought Red into the situation when he joined the musical and Sebby and Carlos finished it off when they started dating. Everyone was responsible for bringing this group together." Gina says in awe and I shake my head in disbelief. "We all have our own little stories and it's literally my favorite." Ricky cranes his neck to kiss the base of my jaw lightly. "I think about it every day." He admits and smiles spread onto the faces of the group. "Couple more moments like these and I'll be ready to face whatever's next. Not just our moments on this trip, but this summer in general." EJ says quietly and Ricky's hand finds my thigh, squeezing gently. "I agree." Ricky's voice is barely audible. I press a kiss to his temple, letting my nose linger as I spread my fingers through his curls. "Well, we've got time. So we'll make the most of it." Carlos says and as silence falls over us, it's certain silence, it's silence that makes us feel like no matter what happens we've got each other. "Sounds good to me."

"Alright come on losers, get in the car already!" EJ announces as everyone shuffles out of the door the next morning. It was early, Ricky still half asleep against my shoulder type of early, and we were piling our bags into the trunk. "Now promise us you'll drive safe and text when you get back to Salt Lake?" Seb asks, grasping my hands and giving me a kind smile. "You bet, and text us when Carlos' uncle gets here. We wanna know when you leave safely." I say and he nods. Both Seb and Carlos were hanging back, deciding to take a different way home so as not to "fill up the car." Everyone secretly believed that the two just wanted some time together before we went back to our hectic lives, but no one cared as little as EJ who still continued to shuffle us into the vehicle despite everyone's short goodbyes with Carlos and Seb. And in no time, we're heading home.

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See you tomorrow for a long chapter and some juicy drama ❤️