nina walked down the stairs after gina, remembering about how she had an appointment today.
the girl didn't exactly know what her friend's appointment was, she sort of wondered about it but also never asked because she knows how privacy is important and didn't want to pressure gina or anything.
"you sure you're okay with staying here with my brother?" gina asked concerned, glancing towards the living room.
nina opened her mouth before closing it and simply nodded "i-i'll be fine."
gina shrugged her shoulders with an unconvinced nod before smiling a goodbye and leaving the house.
nina exhaled deeply and made her way towards the kitchen where the curly-haired boy was seated at the counter, looking through his sketchbook
nina noticed no one was around and sat down next to him, making ricky look up with one of his usual grins.
"finished your intense study session then?" he asked with fake excitement.
nina rolled her eyes playfully "had nothing else to do."
ricky stops drawing and looks at her with his jaw dropped, mock offense displayed upon his face
"i'm wounded." he sighs sadly, making nina laugh softly.
the smile painted on ricky's face widened at the sound of her light laughter ringing in his ears.
she looked back at him and saw how he was looking back at her with a goofy grin on his face. she's seen him look at her that way these past couple days, usually it's when he thinks she doesn't notice, otherwise when they speak he wears his usual smirk.
nina raised her eyebrows "why do you look at me like that?"
his smirk faintly twitched on his lips as he leaned his elbows against the table and leaned his face closer to hers, making nina roll her eyes playfully
"you're such a tease," she said
he chuckled "i don't see you complaining."
nina hummed, feeling content fill her heart as she closed her eyes and felt ricky's face inch closer to hers.
"alright!-"
the two jumped apart, ricky wobbling on the stool as he opened his sketchbook once again while nina nervously fiddled with her fingers.
"-i was thinking we could try and make something for dinner like we used to do, this time nina could join in since gina's not here." lynne beamed as she opened up a packet of butter
nina and ricky exchanged awkward looks before the girl cleared her throat and knitted her eyebrows together
"you all cook as a family?" she asks
lynne nods "well we haven't much in a while, thought it'd be nice to start now!"
ricky rolls his eyes "gina's not even here, dad's not here. what's the point?" he mumbled
"nina's here and it'll be fun for you to do something other than stare at those pages all day long," lynne grins, nina raising her eyebrows as the woman looked at her. "get the bowls set with the different ingredients would you?"
the girl opened her mouth to say something but glanced at ricky, who just shook his head as a signal that there was no point in getting them out of it, since it wasn't going to work.
"uh-sure, i guess." nina said as she stood up and made her way around the counter, glancing up at ricky who had a smirk on his face
"i'm going to the bathroom i'll be right back," he told them as he ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs.
there was a silence between lynne and nina as they began preparing different aspects for the cooking. it was something nina found extremely weird...
"nina," the woman called as she stopped what she was doing and turned to the girl "i wanted to say thank you."
nina stopped what she was doing and knitted her eyebrows together in confusion "i-i don't understand..."
lynne smiles softly "for ricky. thank you."
nina felt the heat rise to her cheeks and cleared her throat "f-for-?"
"it doesn't take a lot to see how much of an effect you've had on him these past weeks. he's been happier and-more of himself. his old self. and for that, i'm thankful to you." lynne says
before the girl could reply with anything, ricky entered the kitchen once again and looked at the two
"what'd i miss?" he asked
lynne shook her head "nothing. you're just in time to do the important stuff," she said "we're making my famous cinnabons so hurry up. i'm forgot to get the extra milk in the basement."
nina stopped and glanced at ricky, who just smirked at her before sighing heavily and made his way towards them, seeing that there were only three bowls
"where's the flour?" he asked confused
nina picked up a bowl "right here genius."
he raised his eyebrows "that's not enough-"
"uh, yes it is. it's written right here." nina said, pointing to the piece of paper that was laying on the counter. "200."
ricky shakes his head "that's not a two that's a five."
nina scrunches her eyebrows "ricky, a two and a five are literally written the opposite way."
"then you have an eye-sight problem," he shrugs
she opened her mouth in offense and took a small piece of flour in her fingers and threw it in his direction, ricky jumping and looking at her in disbelief.
"what was that for?!"
nina smirked "don't make fun of me!"
ricky nods "you're right, i'll just do this."
he takes a handful of flour from the bowl and throws it at her, making nina squeal and gasp as she quickly threw back another handful at him
the two start having a fight, their clothes were filled with white powder as nina laughed loudly and put her hands up.
"okay! okay! truce!" she giggles
ricky shakes his head with a smirk and lets out a breath as he nods and puts his hand out for her to shake, nina smiling as she slowly took it and shook it
"you're going to be the death of me bowen," nina grinned as she turned around and started cleaning up
he didn't say anything, only kept the same smile on his face as they both cleaned up before lynne came back.
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