𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝟒 𝐔 | 𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐢 𝐚𝐮

SEVEN

"welcome to my humble abode." ricky grinned as he opened the main door to his house. nini followed closely behind, giving him a soft smile as he holds the door open. 

"ricky?" a voice shouts from the kitchen. "is that you?" nini's eyes open wide as she realises that ricky's family is home.

"you didn't tell me that i would be meeting your family?" nini whispers to him as they walk towards the kitchen. ricky looks down at the nervous girl.

"chill, roberts, it's just my mom." ricky reassures her. clearly he has done this multiple times. whereas, on the other hand, nini has never brought a boy home to meet her parents, nor has she been introduced to a boy's parents. this was the difference between the pair. ricky's parents were never surprised when ricky brought a girl around to meet them, they always knew it wouldn't be a long lasting relationship and most of the time they would never see the girl again.

"oh!" lynne exclaims as she sees the small girl standing next to ricky. "hello!" ricky's mom gives a heartwarming smile to nini. 

"hi, i'm nini, i'm ricky's partner in our biology assignment." nini returns a gentle smile back to lynne, then looking at ricky who is also is smiling down at her.

"well, nice to meet you nini." lynne swipes a wet cloth across the kitchen island continuing to her cleaning that she was doing beforehand. "you don't happen to be dana and carol's daughter are you?" ricky and nini had now taken a seat at the kitchen island, across from where lynne stands. 

"uh... yes i am." nini stutters as she looks down at the table top, while scratching the back of her neck. from this, ricky can clearly tell that the subject of her moms is a sensitive topic for her, so he boldly places his hand on the small of her back, causing her head to shoot up to him. nini reads the boy's facial expression, he knows that something is wrong.

lynne senses the awkward tension in the air and realises that this was her cue to leave. "well, i have got some work to do, so i will leave you two to be." she smiles at the pair sitting at the kitchen island. "nice meeting you, nini." before she leaves, nini mutters a 'you too', showing her respects to her.

"do you want to go up to my room?" ricky awkwardly says, taking his hand off of the small of her back, after holding it there for a little too long. 

"sure." the girl mumbles, following ricky closely behind up to his room. ricky opens the first door to the right once they get up the stairs, revealing a very teenage boy room, that was surprisingly clean. nini takes the time to look around and observe the pictures on his wall and the way everything was set out. 

ricky lays himself down on the king size bed that was in the centre of the room. nini stands awkwardly, not knowing what to do. "you can sit you know?" ricky confirmed. she slowly walks towards his bed sitting on the edge, twiddling her fingers. "why do you keep going all awkward on me, roberts?" he asks, putting off a question in regards to her moms.

"i don't know," she shrugs her shoulders. "this just seems weird to me." she chuckled slightly. "like why am i at your house right now?" she looks up, right at the boy, who just happens to already be looking at her. 

"well, roberts, are we not friends?"

"uh... yeah." she bluntly says. "but only since about 2 days ago."

"friends look out for each other, nini, that's what i'm doing." nini tucks her fringe behind her ear as her eyebrows crease slightly. "you don't have to answer this, but is everything okay between you and your moms?" ricky hesitated, as nini's breath hitches. 

"yeah, we are fine." she avoids eye contact, until she spots a guitar hidden in the corner. "you play guitar too?" quickly changing the subject. she stands, making her way over to the corner where the guitar is placed.

"yeah, sometimes." ricky scratches his head awkwardly, knowing that no one knows he places any type of instrument.

"can i play it?" nini innocently asks, ricky noting his head as a reply. she picks the guitar carefully, bringing it over to the spot she was previously sitting in. she brushes her fingers over the strings, causing it to make a soft sound. "this is a nice guitar, richard." she grins.

"thanks," ricky says, chuckling at her being so fascinated in the guitar. "play your song that you were playing the other day when i rudely interrupted you." he insists as nini's mouth gapes open.

"oh no, i don't actually sing."

"i'm pretty sure you were singing the other day, unless i was hearing things." ricky joked and just as she was about to say something, her phone starts to ring loudly in her pocket.

"oh, it's my mom," she softly places the guitar down on the bed. "let me just take this." she mumbles as she gets up and walks out in to the hallway, closing ricky's bedroom door behind her. "hey, momma c... yeah i'm just at a friends house... why do you always have to know where exactly i am?... mom i am literally 18, i can do what i want... fine, i'll be home soon."

the girl angrily hangs up the phone, slowly entering ricky's bedroom again. "sorry to be a buzzkill, but my mom wants me home." she continues to stand in the door way, looking down at her feet. 

"that's fine," ricky hurriedly gets up from the bed. "i can take you home."

"no!" she abruptly shouts. "i can just walk home, it's fine." ricky's eyebrows now crease in confusion.

"no, it's fine i can take you home." he picks up his car keys from his bedside table. "and i am not taking no for an answer." ricky stands in front of the girl, as she looks up at him with her mouth formed into an 'o' shape. "come on." he leads the girl out of his bedroom, back down the stairs to his car. 

the car ride had an awkward tension. ricky now defiantly knew that nini's relationship with her mom's wasn't the best. while, nini on the other hand was just worried at how her mom's were going to react when they see her getting dropped off by a boy. 

ricky pulls up beside the curb, in front of nini's house. nini looks out the window, to see momma c peaking through the curtains of her living room window. nini immediately sighs, knowing that as soon as she enters the doors of her own home she will be slammed with questions as to why she was dropped off by a boy and how this would affect her grades, blah, blah, blah.

"thanks ricky, i'll see you tomorrow." she gives a sad smile to the boy before leaving him alone in his own car. he makes sure that she gets into her house safely, before driving off back home. 

"shit." she curses, before she could delete it, it had already sent. what was meant to send to gina, had now been sent to ricky.