The Return || rini au

06

nini entered the cafeteria with her tray in her hands and feeling terrified as she took in her surroundings

she literally felt like gabriella in the 'stick to the status quo'.

the girl walks around, glancing at the tables around her before noticing kourtney waving at her

she sighs in relief and starts to walk to her table with a smile, which slowly fades when she realizes who's sitting there as well.

***

"how long is she even going to be here for?!" ricky asks his friends annoyed

"not sure, she wasn't specific." seb says

"ricky, i'm sure it's going to be okay." gina assures him with a small smile before taking a fry off of his tray

"hey! that was uncalled for!" he exclaims laughing

gina winks at him with a smirk as she eats the fry

"kourt who are you waving at?" carlos asks confused

"uh-"

"h-hi."

ricky's smile drops when he sees the brunette girl standing in front of him

"hey nini." seb smiles

kourtney nods to her to sit down and she hesitantly does as the table goes silent

"it's nice to see you again." gina says sympathetically

"thanks you guys too." nini smiles

ricky rolls his eyes and gets up from the cafeteria table

"i have to go." he announces, slinging his bag over his shoulder

"but you haven't finished your food." big red says, pointing to the unfinished tray

ricky looks at nini "i lost my appetite."

carlos' eyes widen and everyone looks at nini apologetically as ricky walks away

"i'm sorry nini." gina says as she gets up and runs after ricky

nini looks down at her food sadly "me too."

kourtney places a hand on her shoulder in comfort as they eat the rest of their lunch in silence.

***

"ricky!" gina yells after him

"what?" he snaps as he turns around

"i get that you're mad-"

"mad doesn't even begin-"

"i know." she says

ricky takes a deep breath and runs his hands over his face, leaning against the lockers.

"what's going on?" gina asks, knowing that this was a lot more than just nini

"my mom wants to have a 'family' dinner." he scoffs

gina frowns and pulls him in for a hug

"you know that we're all here for you." she says over his shoulder

ricky pulls away and nods "yeah."

"if you want you could come over later? we can watch baking tutorials on youtube." she smirks

ricky laughs and shakes his head "you and youtube."

"but this time don't cause the fire alarm to go off." she giggles

"that was one time!"

***

nini walked through the halls after school, looking for a music room where she could get her thoughts together

she walks past the auditorium to hears faint strumming of a guitar

looking around her, she slowly and quietly opens the doors and walks through, hearing the beautiful melody grow louder

common sense told me she was not worthwhile
common sense said don't go the extra mile
common sense said go back and reconcile
but common sense forgot about her smile

nini continues to walk slowly backstage until she's hidden behind the curtain, and sees the curly-haired boy with a guitar on his lap, writing on the piece of paper

she looks at him in awe with her notebook in her hand as he continues to play once more

ricky jumps at the sound of something dropping to the floor and turns around to see someone picking up a notebook behind a curtain

"hello?" he asks

'crap.'

nini sighs and walks out to reveal herself

"h-hey."

ricky rolls his eyes and closes the book abruptly before putting the guitar away

"i can leave-"

"no i was done anyway." he says shortly, packing his bag

"that was beautiful." she compliments as she walks towards him

he nods and sees her fiddling with her charm bracelet

"i didn't know you could play-"

"there are a lot of things you don't know about me." he snaps as he walks past her

"ricky please!" she exclaims, turning around to stop him "i'm sorry!"

the boy scoffs and shakes his head "oh my bad, you're forgiven!" he says sarcastically

nini sighs "ricky i promise i didn't want to leave like that-"

"your promise doesn't mean anything to me anymore." he says

"ricky i wanted to say goodbye! but i didn't have a choice-"

"you always have a choice in life nini!" he yells

silence overcomes them before ricky shakes his head and continues to speak

"you don't know how it feels to have people leave you. i actually loved you nini. i really did. and then you go away without a word and come back three years later, expecting what? for me to run up and hug you like everything is fine?!"

"no!" nini cries

"then what are you expecting from me?!"

nini sighs "i'm not expecting anything from you. but i just wanted you to know that i didn't leave like that because i wanted to."

ricky nods his head "is that it?"

nini looks at him before turning away, but she stops and turns around to face him again "i also wanted to make sure you knew that i did love you."

he watches her walk away and takes a deep breath before slumping down in his chair and burying his face in his hands