can't blame a girl for trying | a rini au

3. (Uninterested) - REWRITTEN

Nini's moms were in fact a bit frustrated by her late appearance at home, but they calmed down after she told them about her coach's compliments on her tumbling pass. She's learned which buttons to push to get the best results in these types of conversations by now.

"Nina, sweetie, that's great! You keep that up and maybe you'll get that cheerleading scholarship Mrs. Bradley's always talking about for her Kathryn." Momma C remarks, smiling at her daughter. Carol is definitely pleased, but yet even as she gives her the praise she's always on to the next potential accomplishment that Nina doesn't have yet.

Nina just nods at her words, not particularly wanting to talk about the perfect Kathryn or her picture perfect mother Jacqueline Bradley at the moment. Or ever. If she could avoid hearing about Kat from her moms for the rest of her life it would be too soon. That's not Kat's fault so much as her mothers' but... it kind of sucked being constantly compared to the very same girl who beat her out for captain this year. It's a feeling not unlike rubbing salt in the unhealed wound, the decision still quite fresh in the girl's mind from last spring.

At least the food itself was good. Nanay Dana's cooking was the best, as it always was. She was a very busy woman, what with working at the local hospital and everything, but when she was the one to make dinner it was always far better than when Momma Carol did. She could definitely cook well, but there was no comparing with Lola's recipes when Dana made them. Tonight was tinola, with rice of course. Papayas were definitely easier to get in the fall, so this was the perfect time for this particular dish, probably one of her favorites Dana makes.

Plus, who didn't like soup when the air started to chill? After sweating at practice, Nina definitely got cold pretty quickly...

The three ate together with fairly simple (and minimal) conversation. There's nothing too heavy that her moms wish to discuss tonight. Thank goodness for that. Plus it's not like the girl's planning on bringing up almost hitting that Ricky Bowen with her car. No damage was done to her Mustang, and that's just about all that mattered so far as her moms were concerned. The beautiful and expensive little white car was her 18th birthday present and she wouldn't dare even get a tiny scratch on it because she knew she would have to face her parents' anger. That right there was something she always tried to avoid at all costs.

Some people tried not to mess up their sneakers with dirt or creases, some tried to avoid even the tiniest scratches on their cars, and well, the purity of the color white made it all the harder to maintain on both counts. Purity was overrated in some regards and she does know as much. In others she couldn't help but to uphold it, if only in appearances and not reality.

Dana speaks up on something more solid as a subject as she and Nina work on the dishes, asking the girl a question she really wasn't expecting.

"How was choir today? I know you mentioned your friend Ashlyn talked you into joining. I thought it might be a good outlet for you. Music can be a very nice thing."

"It was really nice actually... Ashlyn was right, it's fun. The girls are all really sweet, nothing competitive." And it's not. That's one thing about cheer that she's always loved, the teamwork, but at the same time, there's always something to fight for out on the floor or the field. With choir it's just music, it's not a fight, and it seems like it might be better than she anticipated. "Music can be a very nice thing." She repeats her mom's words with a smile and a nod.

"That's wonderful Nina, I'm very happy for you."

She nods in response, and soon enough, dishes are put away in their respective places and Nina is dismissed. She'll be left to her own devices the rest of the evening unless something interesting came on the news. The young girl is in her bedroom once more, changing into her pajamas before she pulls out her phone. She'd followed Ricky when she pulled into the driveway before she entered the house, and she sees he's followed her back. She's a bit happier about this new number adding on her follower count than she normally is, but that's brushed aside quickly enough. There's no reason to worry about Ricky Bowen. Even if he is a teensy bit attractive.