The Return || rini au

15

"are you guys ready for tonight?!" ashlyn asks excitedly as she sits at the table

nini looks at everyone nodding in confusion

"my party." ashlyn elaborates

"oh!" nini sighs "uh-i don't know-"

everyone starts saying how she has to come in unison and nini shrugs her shoulders

"guys ricky won't want me to come-"

"but it's my party and i want one of my best friends to come." ashlyn states

kourtney, carlos and seb nod and nini takes a deep breath before nodding as well "okay fine."

they all cheer and nini shakes her head with a small smile, opening her notebook to continue with her song that she was working on to add to her album

***

"gina i'm not hungry." ricky says

"you've been skipping lunch just because she sits there for two days now. i love hanging out with you in the quad but a girl's got to eat dude." gina laughs

ricky takes a deep breath "fine. but i'm not talking to her." he says quickly

gina nods and squeals in excitement as she grabs him by the arm and drags him to the cafeteria

***

nini looks up from her book to see gina holding onto ricky's arm as she leads him to the lunch line and she can't help but feel her mood drop.

she abruptly closes her notebook, making carlos jump in fright and stands up

"where are you going?" kourtney asks confused

"i-i needed to ask-uh- mr mazzara a question about something. i'll catch you guys later." she says, swinging her bag over her shoulder and rushing out of the cafeteria

kourtney, carlos and ashlyn look at her worried and see that seb was shaking his head

"what's up seb?" carlos asks him

"honestly you guys are so blind." he groans

the three raise their eyebrows and he sighs

"she's jealous!" he exclaims

"wait what do you mean?" ashlyn asks for the others

"guys, look who's at the lunch line." he points to the two people in front of them

they all turn around to see ricky and gina laughing and widen their eyes

"no!" they all say

"yes! i'm telling you she was jealous of the both of them." seb says

kourtney shakes her head "but she has a boyfriend. why would she be jealous of them?"

"must i explain everything?" seb sighs

"please do." kourtney laughs

"well, it's obvious that when she came back to salt lake city and saw ricky, those previous feelings that she thought she didn't have resurfaced. meaning that she's torn between whether she still loves ej or if she actually loves ricky. as well as that, gina and ricky are really close friends and she doesn't really know about gina, so that means that she thinks that there's something going on with them, when actually there never will be because of gina and because of the fact that ricky is still in love with nini but is too stubborn to admit it to us or himself. so, she's jealous of gina and ricky." he explains

ashlyn, carlos and kourtney look at him with their jaws dropped

"please be my therapist." ashlyn laughs with the others

carlos nods "so she's jealous-"

"who's jealous?" gina asks, sitting down with ricky

"uhhhh-" kourtney looks at everyone for assistance

"me!" carlos exclaims

gina and ricky look at him confused and he nods

"i'm jealous of-uh-seb's new shoes. that's it. yeah." he lies

"those are new?" gina asks, looking at seb's ragged trainers

"not those ones silly!" seb laughs nervously

the two nod cautiously before ricky looks around the table and couldn't help but wonder where the brunette girl was.

***

nini strums the chords of her guitar looking at her notebook and working on the song

it seems like the love songs have got it all wrong
i thought we would fly
and it's getting darker the further we fall
but i'm feeling high

i took on the lies and played the fool
i found there's no getting over you
and all of this time i never knew
of your kiss, your touch, your love

and i can't breathe
i'm struggling
my hearts at ease
cause i'm drowning
cause i'm drowning in your love

she stops playing and lets out a deep breath before writing more in her notebook, not knowing that there was someone listening at the door of the music room.