𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋𝐒 [a rini au]

SIX

A calming crash of waves hits the shore.

No.

Rather it was an abrupt, unpleasant rush of artificial waves. It came not from the Atlantic Ocean, but the cell phone of Nini Salazar-Roberts. The girl tossed and turned in the full size bed she slept in, grumpy when she came to her senses that salty air was not flooding her nose, but remnants of alcohol mixed with mugginess. She slapped her hand all over the nightstand where her iPhone blared, sighing victoriously once the dreaded alarm silenced. Her head sunk deeper into the pillow as she sighed, eyes squeezed shut in hopes of her duties for the day somehow disappearing. She jammed the heels of her hands into her eye sockets, rubbing them until she saw stars; it unfortunately didn't make the throbbing in her brain cease.

As Nini was trying to erase her hangover before getting out of bed, the body next to her began rustling. After an audible huff, the boy sat upright, shaking his messy hair out of his eyes. He cocked his head at the brunette girl, eyelids heavy. "Was that the alarm?" Charlie Kingston asked absentmindedly.

Nini gave a slow nod, pulling the blanket further to her neck after realizing her top half was bare. "Yeah," her voice was groggy. "Eight-thirty."

Charlie didn't respond. He only reached across his body to brush pieces of Nini's hair of of her face. Her body instantly warmed, comforted by his touch. For a moment, she thought the gesture meant he wanted just as much as her to skip assisting with new student move in. However, when she removed her hands from her eyes, she picked up on his sympathetic expression.

"We've gotta be at Main by nine," Charlie's rasp was captivating. He brushed his thumb over Nini's cheek, the girl's skin relatively dry from her summer tan. "If we don't get up now – "

"Yeah, yeah," Nini shook off his suggestion, rising herself as she held the blanket tightly to her chest. Charlie proceeded to draw circles on her exposed lower back, Nini humming with satisfaction. She gave him a tired smile, him reciprocating with his signature morning, lopsided one. "I've missed this. Missed you," she muttered due to her sore throat.

Charlie left a soft kiss on her cheek, his bright face appearing gentle. "Same here," he agreed, finally ripping the covers off of him and flinging his legs over the side of the bed.

Nini took this as a sign to get moving herself, since her snoozed alarm was bound to go off yet again very soon. She snatched her tan bra off the ground and quickly put it on before getting out of bed and completely shutting off the alarm. Luckily, her required outfit for the day was in a bag of its own. As Charlie threw on his dress pants, Nini stepped into her plaid tennis skirt. She stood in front of the boy's closet mirror as she pulled her red EHA polo over her head, fiddling with the buttons before deciding on leaving the top one undone.

What's it today, Nini? Rolled skirt or untucked shirt? she asked herself as she ran her hands across her pleated skirt. Can't do both or you'll get written up. One or the other, for today at least. She settled on shortening the skirt, lifting her polo to give the skirt a roll or two before it stopped at the middle of her thigh. She then tucked in the shirt, blousing it out a little so one couldn't see the skirt rolls. Nini flashed a close-lipped smile at herself before it deflated into a straight line. Gonna need a bigger grin than that.

She and Charlie made small talk as they did their morning routines consisting of applying deodorant, washing their faces, fixing their hair, brushing their teeth, and putting finishing touches on their outfits. Nini added some mascara and light blush to appear less sickly, but as she toyed with her makeup, she groaned once her head turned. Staring her down was a fresh hickey on her neck, glowing a deep purple and screaming "Look at me!"