A Little Time to Get to You

there's something I have to say

"Tell me, Rickyyyy." I groan, tossing my head back on his couch cushion. Ricky grins, making his way around the couch to sit next to me, a banana in one hand, a coffee cup in another. He sets the sustenance down before answering me.

"Nope." He pops the end of the syllable, and I groan again. "Why won't you tell me what else I did last night?" I ask, and he looks at me out of the corner of his eye. "I'm saving you from the inevitable embarrassment that you're going to put yourself through if you were to find out." He answers and I cover my cheeks.

"Did I come onto you?" I ask and his lips turn up just a little. "Okay, going right for it I suppose." He laughs a little before speaking again. "I'm not gonna say no. We'll just put it like that." He says and I groan. "So that's a yes?" I ask and he laughs in response, watching as I close my eyes. "I'm just gonna set myself on fire." I mumble and Ricky laughs harder, leaning back on the couch. "Come on Nins, that wasn't even the worst of it." He promises and I gasp. "What else could be worse than that?" I ask and he grimaces a little. "You really want to know?" He questions and I nod. "You won't go set yourself on fire?" He asks, seemingly to make sure I was stable enough to hear about my drunk behavior.

I roll my eyes, nodding as I sit up and tuck my legs underneath myself. "So you were laughing, and crying a lot." Ricky scratches the back of his neck nervously. "You asked me to kiss you and you were... exploring me... like you used to." He concludes vaguely and I swallow hard. "And did you?" I ask, my voice coming out as a whisper. "Did I what?" Ricky asks, turning fully to me, watching me intently. "Did you kiss me?" I ask, my voice nearly wavering with nervousness. Ricky rubs his hand over his leg, a nervous tick he has as his lips part. "No. I couldn't when you were like that." He explains, but what's unexplainable is the way we're getting closer together.

My elbow that's resting on the top of the couch cushion is nearing his, and I'm suddenly wondering how we got into similar positions.

"But that doesn't mean that I didn't want to." He whispers and my breathing hitches. "You probably could've, I gave you permission." I tell him. He shakes his head slowly, his eyes flickering between my lips and my eyes. "Accepting that type of permission would've been wrong." He says and I bite down on my lip. The arm of mine that's resting on the couch cushion reaches forwards just a little and my hand connects with his.

He takes a deep breath, intertwining our fingers slowly and carefully, like he's expecting me to realize what I'm doing and pull away. "What type of permission would you accept?" I ask and my breathing hitches when he angles his face down a bit, beginning to close the distance. "Can I kiss you?" He asks and my heart begins to pound. "Yes" I breathe out and his lips ghost over mine as he speaks again. "That type of permission."

His lips press firmly against mine and it feels like I'm coming home. I feel dizzy, I feel welcomed and I feel so entirely safe.

I squeeze our intertwined hands as his other hand slips up to my cheek, holding it gently while rubbing his thumb over my cheek bone. As my lips work gently against his, I feel the butterflies erupt in my stomach, making me noticeably shiver as I try to push myself further into him. "Is this okay?" He asks as he pulls away to change angles. I nod, using my free hand to rake through his curls as I connect our lips again.

It's heaven, the way his tongue teases my bottom lip before we pull away completely to catch our breath. He rests his forehead against mine and breathes in deeply.

"God I've missed you Nini. I lo..." Ricky cuts himself off before he can get too far, and I'm in too much of a daze to figure out why.

His eyes begin to glaze over with what seems to be very real tears, and my mouth opens a little in shock. "What's the matter Ricky?" I ask gently, pulling away to fully take in his emotional expression.

"I... I just." He stutters and I wait patiently for him to speak.

"Can we meet later? My dad's coming home soon but I really... I need to talk to you." He says, his voice breaking just slightly. I nod, rubbing my thumb gently over the knuckles of his hand that was still intertwined with mine. "Of course we can. I have to study some of my lines for Monday's rehearsal anyway so how about we meet up after dinner?" I suggest and he breathes out, like he was expecting me to say no.

"At our normal spot in the park?" He asks and I nod, giving his hand another squeeze.

I couldn't even begin to imagine what he had to say.