𝙎𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙮|𝙍𝙞𝙣𝙞 𝘼𝙪(𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙙)

Eight

"Hey mom" Ricky said as he entered the house.

"Hi honey" Lynne smiled bringing her son into her embrace "Go ahead and get changed. Me and your father have a date night scheduled for Friday so we're moving family dinner up to today" Lynne told Ricky and he simply nodded heading up to his room to get changed.

As Ricky took his shirt off, his mind hadn't left his study session with Nini. He felt like he was slowly making progress but he just wasn't sure if it was moving fast enough.

The due date for the project was fastly approaching and it was super hard to get things done when she barely said 3 words to him.

Flashback

"Okay so here are the themes we brainstormed. I feel like we have a good amount here and we really don't need to brainstorm much more" he said and Nini simply nodded which at this point was expected my Ricky.

"Is there anyway you can talk to me Nini. I mean, it's gonna be kinda hard to get this project done if it's just me talking"

"I'm sorry" Nini let out with a sad expression. She couldn't get herself to voice her ideas. She was really trying, but she second guessed every thought she had

"I didn't mean it like that" Ricky said noticing her sad expression "I was just saying that I'd really love to hear your thoughts. I know you have to be thinking something"

"Not really" Nini voiced softly. It wasn't much but it was definitely better than a head nod or head shake

"Come on. You have to have some type of thoughts on the book" Ricky said and Nini simply shook her head

Back at square 1

"You know what part stood out to me?" Ricky asked. Maybe if he told her his, she'd tell him hers "when daisy ran over myrtle with the car. Most people would settle for slashing her tires, maybe keying her car" Ricky said and a grin slowly formed on Nini's face

"See. You're beautiful when you grin. I love to see that" Ricky said causing Nini to blush slightly. He took note of it but decided not to speak on it.

Nini looked through her book trying to find the sticky note she was looking for. It was around the time that the car accident happened. But it seemed to have disappeared.

"What's wrong?" Ricky said taking note of her worried expression

"It's gone" Nini said softly, still looking for the sticky note.

"What's gone?" Ricky asked confused and Nini didn't answer. She looked for the sticky note in a panic.

Nini had been triggered by something as small as a sticky notes missing because Nini wanted to hold on to everything she'd come in contact with now.

After she's out of her mothers care. She feared daily that something would go wrong and she'd somehow end up back in her mothers care. So she wanted to hold on to every bit of this while she had it. Even if it was something as small as a sticky note

Nini frantically looked for the sticky note until she found it. It was placed further into the book than the others so it was easy for her not to notice it.

She took a breath of relief when she finally found it. Ricky sat with a confused expression on her face but Nini wasn't in the place where she was ready to tell him anything.

In her mind she had just met him and wasn't comfortable with him yet.

"Sorry" she said just above a whisper and Ricky smiled small and nodded indicating that everything was fine. He didn't want to linger on it so he simply continued what he was saying before

Flashback over

Ricky threw on a plain white T shirt and a pair of white joggers so that he could be comfy before heading back downstairs to eat dinner with his family.

"Thanks for being flexible guys" Lynne said as she sat the bowl of pasta salad on the table taking her seat at the table. Me and your father barely recognized that our reservation fell on a Friday night" Lynne chuckled

"It's fine mom" Layla, Ricky's younger sister said. Layla is two years younger that Ricky and the two are super close despite the fact that they argue. A lot

He feels comfortable going to her with his problems and it's the same vise versa. They know that no matter what, they're gonna be there for each other.

"Yeah, I'd didn't have anything to do anyway" Ricky voiced with a small smile

"We appreciate that" Mike smiled as he looked around the table his family appreciating the bond that his family had.

It wasn't always like that. As Ricky and Layla got older, Mike and Lynne began to feel less connected with their children. It was almost as if they were drifting away.

It wasn't until a close friend recommended that they start doing family dinners that they felt more connected with their kids and involved in their lives.

"So tell us what's going on with you guys. How has school been?" Lynne asked as she passed the plate around

"Ummm school is going pretty good. I got an A on my AP human geography test so I was really happy about that. I'm doing pretty good in all my classes except English. I still don't understand why Shakespeare couldn't talk like a normal person" Layla said

"You know I can help you with that. English always has been my favorite subject" Ricky smiled

"And I will never understand why" Layla laughed "Thanks"

"Thanks son" Mike said grateful that he wouldn't have to hire a tutor for his daughter.

"Yeah, I'll send you the bill at the end of the month dad" Ricky said and they all laughed

"Oh yeah before I forget, mom, dad, can I try out for the volleyball team?"

"Sure sweetie, is there a permission slip we need to sign?"

"There is but I have to get it from coach Fulton I'll get it tomorrow" Layla said and both Mike and Lynne nodded

"How about you Ricky?" Lynne said "how's your week been? With school and everything?"

"Umm it's been pretty good. I have this English project that I've been working on and I'm kinda excited about. I'm still looking for jobs that will provide me with a flexible schedule that'll allow me to do basketball too. Tryouts are already coming up"

"You still have to try out even though you're the captain?"

"No, but coach asked me to help him run it. There's usually a lot of people there to try out and it's hard for him to keep up with each one of them" Ricky said and everybody at the table nodded

"I just want both of you to know how proud I am of you guys. Layla you've been doing so well in school and I honestly couldn't be more proud. Ricky you've maintained straight A's while searching for jobs and keeping up with basketball. I'm so so proud of both of you" Lynne voiced and Ricky and Layla both looked at each other with smiles

"Same here" Mike smiled looking around the table at his family

A/N
This chapter is the definition of a filler but i really needed to show you guys Ricky's family dynamic and how it differs from nini's . It's gonna be super important as the story goes on. Thank you guys so much for reading and I really hope you enjoyed this chapter ♥️