Second Chances (Ricky + Nini)

chapter 1 - it's brutal out here

[a/n : ricky and nini are in their mid 20s in this story]

It was 7 pm on a Wednesday night when Nina Salazar-Roberts got the news. She was in her boyfriend's home, waiting for him to come home so they could have dinner together. As she sat on the couch scrolling through the Netflix home page, the phone on the side table began to ring and an unknown number flashed on the screen. Nini decided to ignore it, since it was probably a telemarketer or a credit card scam. But it kept ringing,  and she decided that it might have been an emergency, so she picked it up just in case.

"Hello?" Nini said to the receiver. 

"Hi, is Ricky home? I need to speak to him." The voice of the man on the other end of the call sounded hoarse and strained, he sounded like he was about to cry. 

"Hi, this is Nini speaking. Ricky's still at work, but I can take a message for you." Nini offered. "Who is this calling ?" 

"Nini, it's Todd.." Nini scratched her head for a moment, still unsure of who was on the other side of the line. Clearly she took too long to respond, because the man from the other end spoke again, clarifying his identity. "I'm Lynne's husband." 

Oh. Now she remembers Todd. Todd is not very popular around here. He's the reason Ricky's parents are divorced, and why she moved to Chicago. Ricky had always felt that his mom chose Todd over him, and it caused a strain in their relationship. 

"Oh. Todd. Can I take a message for you?" Nini asked nervously. 

"It's Lynne. She's not doing very well. A couple weeks ago she started having fainting spells, and we decided to see a doctor. They said it's lung cancer, and it's pretty far along. We've been in the hospital for a week now, just checking everything, and finding out how we can treat it.. if  we can treat it. So far two doctors have already told us that there's not much they can do. I think she would really like it if Ricky came to visit her." 

Nini could hear the exhaustion in Todd's face, and imagined how many family members Todd has probably had to call to explain the situation to. She felt sorry for the guy, and she knew she had to tell Ricky, but she was nervous. His mom had always been a sensitive topic, and they'd always ended up fighting whenever it was brought up. 

"I'm sorry to hear that, Todd. I hope she feels better soon. I'll talk to Ricky about it." Nini said. 

"Please do. Thank you, Nini." he hung up the phone. 

____

Nini sat nervously on the edge of her seat. She'd spent the last 15 minutes trying to find the right words to break the news to Ricky. She was going to gently tell him about his mom's condition, suggest that he visit her in Chicago, and that she would be there for him through it all. But when she heard the clicking of the lock, and the door opened up to reveal her boyfriend, she froze in her place. 

"Hi babe, sorry I'm late, there was a power outage this afternoon at the studio, so we had to rearrange some schedules, and only just finished half an hour ago." Ricky said as he walked through the door and put down a paper bag full of take out on the dining table. 

Ricky was a photographer, and he had set up his own business after graduating from college. He mostly did weddings and engagement photos. But it was currently graduation season and it had kept him pretty busy lately. 

"It's okay, I know you're busy these days." Nini said distractedly, avoiding eye contact with him. 

"Nini, what's wrong?" Ricky's voice was laced with concern. Nini sighed, he knew her too well.

She patted on the couch beside her indicating for him to sit next to her. He rushed to her side and took hold of her hands, rubbing slow circles on the back of her them soothingly.