Roller Coasters and Butterflies (Rini Through the Years)

6 (pov Ricky)

The beginning of the ride was very slow. There were a couple of turns, but the ride didn't do anything special until we started up the steel hill. Tantalizingly, the cart inched up the never ending hill. For a quick second, I was nervous and didn't dare look down. We were up so high. I pressed my back into the seat.

There came a point when I couldn't see anymore tracks ahead. My stomach jumped as I felt myself rise out of my seat a little as the cart dropped. My mom had told me she never liked the seat belts that were always used for the rides. She felt like they never gave enough protection. There was no time to second guess the seatbelts now though.

The cart jerked back and forth forcefully, going through dark tunnels so fast. I had to shut my eyes. I blindly moved my hand around to find Nini's, and then laced my fingers with hers. She squeezed my hand as if she was holding on for dear life.

Finally the ride came to an easing stop. Nini was one of the first people to step out of the cart. I looked over at her and her face was beaming with exhilaration. She didn't look nauseous at all.

"You coming?" She asked.

I nodded and fidgeted with my seatbelt before trying to unbuckle it. When I finally broke free, I stumbled my way out of the cart and away from the ride area. I was dizzy and my sight was fuzzy. I felt like I might throw up.

Nini caught on pretty quickly and stopped me in my unsteady tracks.

"Hey are you ok? You look a little..." Nini paused what she was saying and reached into her bag to pull out a new water bottle.

It was too late. I placed my hand on my bloating stomach, bent over, and puked out partially digested pieces of my lunch and whatever else I had eaten earlier. I couldn't control what everything was pouring onto, if I could, I would've dodged Nini's gray converses.

I widened my eyes when it occurred to me what I just did. "Oh my god Nini, I'm so so sorry." I panicked at the fact that I would even do such a thing, even if it was by accident.

Nini was at a loss of words at first. I couldn't tell if she was disgusted or upset. Maybe she was both.

She calmly placed her hand on my shoulder to steady me. I was repeating the words I'm sorry more times than I could count.

"Ricky, stop."

"No please I'm truly sorry. I didn't mean for it to land on your shoes I just-"

"Ricky stop!" Nini stopped me in my words, and I looked at her, full of embarrassment.

"Don't worry about it. I've been wanting to get rid of these shoes for a while now."

I wasn't expecting those words to come out of her mouth. I barfed on her shoes for crying out loud! I blinked a few times as if I was trying to get a better glimpse of what she just said.

"Are you being serious right now? Y-you're not mad?"

A smile grew on her face. "Of course I'm not mad at you. I was searching for my black sneakers for fifteen minutes because these shoes were too small to walk around in all day. My feet hurt so bad right now."

I scratched the back of my head. "Oh...well, ok."

"Yeah I would rather you puke on my shoes instead of a random stranger's."

Nini looked down at her shoes and I could tell she was a little disgusted. I laughed and bent down to unlace them.

"What are you doing?" She asked quietly as I made her step out of her shoes.

I quickly unlaced mine as well. "No way am I letting you walk in those shoes, it's not fair and you deserve better."

"Ricky it's really ok. I can rinse them off, I don't mind."

I stood up and handed her the pair of Vans I was wearing. "Nini please?" I begged.

Our eyes met for a quick second before she hesitantly took my shoes. She put them on and did a little march in place.

"Yeah sorry, I know they're a little big."

Her eyes flickered up to mine again and we just stood there awkwardly, shyly grinning at each other, not realizing it was awkward. I could tell color was flushing to my cheeks. I didn't know if I should pull my eyes away, but hers were so pretty which made it very difficult to.

"Um..." Nini cleared her throat. "How's your stomach?"

I was still dazed but managed to get some words out. "It's feeling ok. But maybe we could go get something fizzy? Like a Sprite or something?"

She nodded in agreement. "I agree. And then maybe we should go look for our parents. I don't want you walking around barefoot, who knows what sort of stuff is on the ground."

"And I don't know what to do with these." I held up Nini's shoes, and we both laughed.

"Right. Let's go."

One thing about our friendship is that nothing was perfect. We've had our ups and downs. I've disappointed her and she's disappointed me, even though that's really hard to say because to me, she's without fault. But that's the way really close relationships work. Whether friends or more than friends. I didn't know what the future would hold for us, but one thing was for certain, I never wanted to lose Nini Salazar-Robert's as my best friend, because she was special. She was Nini.