3 Years

18 - Planning

If you didn't know, A New Friend (my very first book) has just finished as of yesterday (March 5, 2021)!! 🥳😭
If you haven't read it yet, it would mean so much if you would🥰 (despite the writing being cringey😅).

🍪🍪🍪

*The Next Day*
Nini's the first one awake. Not by choice, but she just couldn't sleep. Ricky and Nini both showed how much they still meant to each other with their talk on the porch, even if they're still unsure of the other's feelings.

Ricky was so scared of overstepping with his word choice and actions, but when she didn't pull away, he felt better.

Nini goes downstairs and uses this peace and quiet to think things over. More specifically, how she's gonna properly introduce Ricky to Lauren and Jayden.

*Flashback*
"One more week until we're out of this hell hole!!"

"I know! Summer needs to come faster."

"I'll see you Monday then?"

"Yeah. Bye, Jake. Lauren, over here!"

She runs over the screaming idiot, better known as her twin. "We get picked up at the same spot every day. I know where to go."

"But it embarrasses you when I do that so..."

"You're annoying."

"Eh, you've said worse."

They stand there on their phones, waiting on their mom to show up. "So you know the whole list of questions we have?" Jayden asks out of nowhere.

"Uh, yeah. Why?"

"I was wondering if you'd maybe wanna... back off the idea."

"What? Why?"

"Because it's just gonna be the same thing as last time." Jayden was referring to a specific list of questions he and Lauren have made. Questions about their father. They tried to bring up the topic a long time ago but to no luck. So with their fifteenth birthday coming up, they thought they might have better luck.

"C'mon, can we at least try?" Lauren tries to reason.

"You know, I got to thinking..."

"That's never good."

"Anyway, I was thinking about why do we spend so much time thinking about him? He left us with no trace, and Mom never wants to talk about him. I don't care how great she makes him out to be; unless there's real proof, I'm done investing time on trying to get answers."

"But don't you still wanna know?" Lauren wasn't very fond of him either, but she was a lot more persistent than Jayden was. She wanted answers, even if she wasn't going to like them.

"What's the point anymore?" That's when he sees Nini's car come around the corner.

"The point is to fill in the empty spaces in our lives."

"What empty spaces!? As far as I'm concerned, there are none. Mom raised us perfectly fine on her own, so what's the point of wondering about the nonexistent parent? We have Mom, Lolas, our friends, and even Mom's friends with their kids, so why should I spend any more of my time on a man who walked out on his family!!?"
*End of Flashback*

Nini doesn't necessarily know what their opinions of their father are, but she knows they aren't on the positive side; her children aren't the greatest whispers, and their conversations had this tendency to travel.

Nini was trying to figure out how to tell Ricky about Lauren and Jayden. She felt that telling him first might be best. She knew her kids would be angry at her for not telling them anything, but she could never bring herself to do it. As selfish as this sounds, it was just too painful to open the old wounds.