the one

Chapter 8: Forgiving

"Sweetie...do you wanna come eat some lunch?", Dana asked through Nini's locked door.

"No....", Nini mumbled.

Her voice was muffled because Nini had her head buried in her pillows as she was crying her eyes out. She's been locked up in her room since last night and she's lost her appetite. Even though her friends made her feel better yesterday...she felt miserable again today. It was almost worse...normally over weekends she and Ricky would go out and do something together or they'd be facetiming or texting.

She lifted her head from her pillows and turned her phone on, for the first time today. She opened it to see missed calls and messages from Ricky. She ignored them as she didn't want to talk to him right now. She threw her phone across the room and tears began to fall from her eyes, once again.

+

Ricky's eyes were puffy from all the crying he did last night. He constantly checked his phone 24/7 to see if Nini's responded or at least read his messages. He also hasn't talked to EJ since everything happened yesterday. He was quite upset at him...as EJ ruined Nini and his friendship. The whole thing with Nini just added onto the drama happening at home and his stress about basketball season. His parents were constantly arguing over things such as, house bills, getting Ricky into a good college with a good basketball team, and a ton of other random things.

He decided to go downstairs to see what was happening. As he walked down, he saw his mom and dad standing in the kitchen bickering. He sat down on a step and quietly listened.

"HE NEEDS TO FOCUS ON HIS EDUCATION MIKE! LOOK AT HIS GRADES!", Lynne, his mom, shouted as she slammed some papers on the kitchen island.

"HE NEEDS A SCHOOL WITH A GOOD BASKETBALL TEAM TOO!", his dad shouted back.

"DID YOU EVER THINK ABOUT IF RICKY EVEN WANTS TO PLAY BASKETBALL IN COLLEGE? OR IS HE JUST PLAYING FOR YOU!?"

"LYNNE LISTEN TO YOURSELF. OF COURSE, HE WANTS TO PLAY. HE'S BEEN PLAYING FOR YEARS!"

Ricky couldn't stand it anymore. He ran down the steps and glared at them.

"CAN YOU TWO QUIT ARUGING ABOUT ME GOING TO COLLEGE FOR ONE MINUTE?!", Ricky scoffed.

His parents turned towards him and saw how red and puffy his eyes were. They instantly got worried.

"Honey...what's the matter? Why are your eyes all red?", his mom said.

"It's...nothing, okay?", Ricky replied, "But you two arguing over this isn't helping.", he said as he slipped his shoes on and made his way out of the house. He left his parents there, silent.

+

Nini was calming down and she decided to attempt to get ready. She looked through her hoodies and a certain one stood out. It was Ricky's. She was going to wear it but figured it'd only make her feel worse. She slipped on her EHS hoodie and some sweatpants along with vans. She walked downstairs and saw her moms had left for work. She walked out of the house and down the street.

As she was walking, she spotted an empty bench at the park, and she decided to go sit down. She wanted some fresh air to just think and try and clear her mind.

She was sitting down on the bench twiddling with her thumbs when she heard a familiar voice.

"Uh...Nini?", a boy said.

She looked up and saw the curly haired boy.

Great. Just what I need.

"Oh uh...hi Ricky.", Nini awkwardly said.