𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 [ 𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐢 𝐚𝐮 ]

astronomy .10

ricky anxiously waited in the elevator. as each number changed, ricky felt himself getting more and more nervous. there's a million things that nini and him could talk about but the boy didn't know where to even start. before he even knew it, zack was leading ricky into the studio. nini looked up from the keyboard. she had an empty look on her face once she saw ricky enter the room. zack glanced at the two with an awkward look and let out a nervous chuckle.

"well mr. bowen, it was wonderful to meet you," zack said in a stern voice as he eyed ricky. the boy finally took his eyes off of nini and glanced at zack. they shook each other's hands and zack started to make his way out of the room, "i hope to work with you mr. bowen."

"uh, yes! thank you, mr. roy," was all ricky could get out. they gave each other reassuring smiles before zack finally stepped out the room. ricky heard the door close behind him and it felt like the whole world fell silent. ricky and nini eyed each other before the girl cleared her throat and looked away. nini rose up from her seat and walked up to ricky with a forced smile.

"uh, ricky," nini greeted as she stuck out her hand for him to shake, "it's great to see you again."

ricky glanced at nini's hand and chuckled. he cocked an eyebrow up at the girl while she looked at him with confusion, "what?"

"nothing, it's just .... weird ... seeing you be all formal with me," ricky confessed. nini nodded her head and slowly pulled her hand away. ricky let out a sigh and shrugged his shoulders at the girl, "there's no harm in hugging, right?"

nini let out a nervous chuckle and shook her head, "ahh... i don't know, ricky."

ricky's arms quickly fell to his side and he looked away from nini's eyes, "right, sorry."

"it's alright," nini awkwardly said. she pointed to the coffee machine, "care for a cup of coffee?"

ricky dug his hands in his pocket and nodded his head, "uh sure, why not?"

nini nodded her head and proceeded to make ricky's coffee. the boy watched as nini made his coffee smiled, "you still remember?"

the girl kept her eyes on the coffee and nodded her head, "uh yeah ... barista at heart, huh?"

"yeah ... miss assistant manager," ricky sarcastically said. nini turned around and shot ricky a smile as she handed him his coffee. the boy thanked nini and gave her a smile, "hey, how's jenn anyways?"

"oh! she's great!" nini answered. she motioned for ricky to sit down on the couch with her as she proceeded to continue, "a lot of fans found out where i used to work and swarmed the cafe. it gets so busy that she's considering opening another cafe."

ricky took a sip of his coffee and nodded his head, "that's great! she really deserves it," ricky continued. he noticed nini wasn't drinking any coffee and scrunched his eyebrows together, "you didn't want any coffee?"

nini laughed and shook her head, "ahh trust me i do...  but i'm pretty sure four cups of coffee is a bad idea," nini confessed, "zack would probably lose his shit if he found out i drank another cup."  ricky got taken aback and chuckled.

"geez, why are you drinking so much coffee?" ricky joked.

"ahh.. just don't get as much sleep as i should .. i guess," nini honestly answered. ricky's smile fell and he looked at the girl with guilt. nini watched as ricky carefully placed his coffee down on the table and focused his attention back on nini.

"you okay...? they treating you alright, here?" ricky softly asked nini. the girl looked up from her lap and gave ricky a sweet smile.

"mhm," nini honestly answered with a smile, "working here ... at moonlight records ... it's like a dream come true. i love it, trust me... it's just other things, i guess."

"like what...?" ricky quietly asked nini. she looked up at ricky and forces a smile.

"just dumb stuff—"

"nini, you can tell me..."

the girl looked at ricky who was giving her a reassuring smile. he nodded his head at nini and she continued, "it's just hard to sleep at night ... when i'm alone. my mind is usually filled with like .. all these bad thoughts and it's hard to clear my mind. sometimes, i won't allow myself to sleep unless i've finished writing a song but uh... writing music hasn't been too easy for me either so it's kind of a lose-lose situation."

ricky nodded his head and sighed, "have you tried taking medication or talking to someone about it?"

nini let out an awkward chuckle and shook her head, "it's not that big of a deal, ricky."

"it kinda sounds like it is if you're depending on so much coffee to get you going through the day, " ricky told nini, "plus sleep shouldn't be an award. it's a necessity, neens. you gotta put your health first."

nini looked up and into ricky's eyes with sadness. ricky titled his head, "sorry... did i say something wrong or...?"

"no, nothing. i don't know," nini quietly said, "you just called me, neens. that's all."

ricky's face fell and he ran his fingers through his hair, "oh god, sorry. i forgot that you didn't want me to call you that."

"no, it's okay. i was just upset that night too," nini told ricky with a soft smile, "it's okay, you can call me that."

ricky nodded his head and let out a sigh of relief. they gave each other a cheeky smile before nini continued, "and uh... yeah. i guess you're right.. i'll try and figure out something to help me sleep better."

"good," ricky answered with a cheeky smile, "and honestly ... if it really gets that bad... you can always give me a call."

"a call?"

"yeah... you know. if you need to rant and get all those bad thoughts out of your head," ricky explained to the girl, "it's not good to keep them all bottled up. it's better to face them, remember?"

nini glanced at ricky and slowly nodded her head as she remembered the same exact quote she used to tell ricky. the girl let out a chuckle and shook her head, "what?" ricky asked with a bit of nervousness.

nini smiled at ricky and shrugged her shoulders, "nothing, it's just ... you've changed so much."

"you think so...?"

"yeah, but like in a good way," nini answered with a proud smile, "you've just really matured and are more understanding ... lily must be a good influence on you."

ricky's face fell and the boy just nodded her head, "uh.. i guess, yeah."

nini noticed ricky's stiffness but decided to brush it away. the girl grabbed the pack of cigarettes from her pocket, "did you wanna step outside and smoke for a bit or?"

ricky looked up at nini and chuckled, "wait what?"

"you still smoke, don't you?"

the boy quickly shook his head and laughed, "hell no, i quit that ... like a year ago. i can't even believe i used to that shit."

nini got taken aback and quiclly shoved the pack of cigarettes back into her pocket before ricky could see. she forced a smile at the boy and nodded her head, "yeah .. neither can i. so gross."

ricky nodded his head in agreement and let out another sigh, "uhm anyways..."

"anyways..."

"nini... maybe you and i should actually start talking about yanno ..."

"yanno ... what?"

"us. the past," ricky answered as he eyed nini, "it'll be good for the both of us."