ricky and nini's realizations

chapter 59

nini's pov

i wake up the next morning and start getting ready for school first thing. my mind drifts to all things ricky and what he's feeling. i wonder if he woke up at all in the night resulting in my filling with worry knowing that if he did he was either confused or still drowning in his hurt feelings. then i wonder how mike is doing and begin imagining my own scenarios as to how he told ricky along with imagining the different ways ricky initially reacted to the mostly unexpected news. half way through getting dressed and ready for school i hear my phone ping. i rush to it since i've been hoping to hear from ricky. "thank you," he texted simply in response to me letting him know i'd be picking him up from his house for school this morning. i finish up my routine and it's about time to get over to ricky's house. once i've pulled into his driveway, i send a text letting him i was there waiting. soon after he's opening the door to my car. his eyes are still puffy from the night before, but i don't keep my stare on him for long. "hey," i greet in a comforting approach with a low tone to my voice because i don't know how he's feeling this morning in comparison to the high running emotions of the night before. "hi," he responds in a pretty neutral tone. i turn on my music and begin the drive to school not wanting to push any conversation on him. after barely a minute of driving, his hand grabs mine, that's resting on the gear shift, bringing it over to rest in his lap where his other hand rotates the bracelets on my hand for the remainder of the drive. i wanna ask him how he's doing so badly, but i also don't want to pry or push before he's ready to say anything. it's not even that i wanna know details. i just want to know how he's truthfully doing and if he's feeling okay. neither of us say a word until we reach the school. as we're walking into school, "wanna have lunch alone together today?" i ask him with a hopeful smile raising my eyebrows hoping that it'll ease some of the tension as well as ensure that he won't skip out on lunch like he did yesterday. "alone?" he asks like he's never heard of the word looking down at me. "yeah. it means that other people aren't there. or like-," he cuts me off to smile at me, but it doesn't reach his eyes. i go back to being serious because it doesn't feel right to joke with him right now even though he's not upset with me. "i just meant that we've never only had lunch with just us. we've never skipped out on our friends," i nod along. "we don't have to ricky. i just wanted to put the suggestion out there," i state seeing his face change as he's realizing why i'm suggesting it in the first place. i know he can tell, but he doesn't make it a point to make that known. instead he just says, "lunch alone sounds good. meet at your locker?" "works for me," i let him know before parting ways half way into the foyer.

ricky's pov

all morning has felt pointless being in this school. i just dint see the point in impossible math problems when there are real problems in people's lives. like why am i figuring out a stupid quadratic equation that makes no sense? when i could be doing something else. i don't know where this annoyance is coming from. i just would like for lunch to be here so i can take a break from all of this school crap at least for a bit. i remember that i'm having lunch with nini as i'm making my way out of the classroom. i take a different route than i usually would after this class because i'm going to her locker instead of the cafeteria today. i see big red on my way down the hall and shove his shoulder as my nice way of greeting him. "yo ricky," red turns to see it was me. he begins to walk alongside me. "hey dude," i say. i guess it came out pretty monotoned though because of what he says next. "what? you aren't excited to see me?" he says sarcastically. i give him a weak smile not even trying to seem down. i just can't muster up a genuine smile for him. "what's wrong with you?" he asks rudely, but it was entirely unintentional. i could tell. i mean it's big red who just says whatever comes to his mind. i cringe thinking about the last 24 hours, but he can't help his ignorance. i think up an excuse i know he'll believe, "just tired. i played that one game practically all night." "what game?" "oh uh. the-," i don't get a chance to finish because he does for me, "oh! the one i gave to you? shoot what was it called?" i close my mouth that was dropped open from being cut off, "yeah i that one. well i gotta go meet nini. see ya," he looks at me kind of weird. "the cafeteria is this way," he says pointing, "she's probably already there." "oh we're eating somewhere else today," i let him know. his face just grows more confused, so i try to clarify as i point ahead of me meaning that i was gonna keep walking, "we're eating alone today. i just uh wanted to get help on bio. you know i suck at it," i spit my words out quickly trying to move along. he just laughs, "yeah you do-," "hey!" "what we all know it ricky," he tells me. i just blow it off. "well you can still come to the cafeteria. i'll help too!" i love my friend, but he just doesn't know when to stop sometimes. i'm thankful, but i do my best to make him understand the answer is no, "that's okay red. thanks, but she's probably gonna say no," i stupidly throw her under the bus. "why?" i don't have an answer, so, "bye red!" i say speeding off down the hall. i see nini with her head resting on her lockers looking down at her feet. it makes me look down to her feet too noticing that she's rolling her one foot around in a bored manner. something about her body language makes her look sad. i approach her standing in front of her, "hey nins," i force a closed mouth smile to my face because she looked upset herself. her head and eyes pop up to me, "hey," she smiles, "i thought you forgot or just didn't wanna come." my fake smile falls, "oh, no. i was talking to big red." "oh sorry," she says with one shake of her head, "i didn't mean to assume that. it was just taking longer than i expected and thought you um-," i stop her knowing what she's trying to say. she thought i was bailing on her since i did on all of our friends yesterday and didn't exactly say a whole bunch this morning. which i would never bail on her. "let's go to the theater," i suggest knowing that she goes in there a lot to mess around on the piano. i've only been in there a couple times thought. i figure it would be empty during lunch. "sounds good," she says as we begin walking that way. we get situated on the ground of the stage off to the side and begin eating. we finish rather quickly while nini had a show she was currently watching playing on her phone from disney plus to fill the silence. she speaks up after he last bite, "the winter formal is this weekend," she states. my eyes pop open so big and fast, "oh my gosh," i say having completely forgotten, "nini i had plans to ask you to that. i'm so sorry i forgot about it. it just completely slipped my mind." she just giggles throughout my dumbfoundness. "ricky, it's okay. all i was gonna say is that i had to help make decorations this morning for extra credit." "oh," i say embarrassed from my dramatic, initial response and how i just exposed myself to her. what if she didn't even wanna go? gosh i'm an idiot and embarrassing. "oh?" she laughs at me. i give a shy smile, "um. so. since i just told you that. do you wanna go to the winter formal with me this weekend?" i ask hopefully. she sits up from lying on her stomach, "yes, i would like to go with you," she says, but she's still laughing a little. "what did i say?" i ask obviously referring to her amusement in this. "nothing. you're just-," she scoots next to my side and leans her head down on my shoulder, "how romantic bowen. a special moment i will never forget- being asked to a dance in a casual conversation on a dirty floor in the dark. my boy," she says laughing and patting my arm twice slowly as she says, "my boy." my face is completely red and i know it, but she can't see it. i roll my eyes so big that i'm surprised they didn't fall out of my head. "that's not how i wanted it to go," i mumble. "it was perfect," she says squeezing my bicep. i lay my head to the side on top of hers and we plan how our weekend is going to go.