Second Chances (Ricky + Nini)

chapter 8 - something in the air

Nini was pacing back and forth, throwing every single item of clothing out of her closet and onto her twin bed. It was the night before her meeting with Ricky. They had decided to meet at Riverside Park and then eat dinner at one of Nini's favorite cafes there. The problem was she had no idea what she was going to wear. She thought it was ridiculous that she was nervous, it's not like she hadn't had a dinner with Ricky before, but this was the first time in a long time that it wasn't a date. 

After an hour of haphazardly putting on and taking off different items of clothing, she plopped down on the bed and decided to call her favorite ginger. When he popped up on her screen, she saw that he was still wearing his tie-dye slices shirt, and realized he was probably closing up shop. 

"I'm sorry is this a bad time, Red?" Nini asked. 

"No. It's fine, I need something to take my mind off work anyway." The redhead deflected her question, "What's up?" 

"Is everything okay at work?" Nini pressed again. 

"Not exactly. But I really don't feel like talking about it right now, Neens. Can we talk about your thing?" Big Red pleaded. 

"Okay... But let me know if there's anything I can do, okay?" She saw him nod slowly. "So I'm meeting Ricky tomorrow, and I'm freaking out."

"Ahhh. First dates are alway fun.." Red teased, "But you've had like a million dates with Ricky, so why are you worried?" 

"That's the problem, Red... It's not a date. I don't even know how to act or talk or even what to wear!" Nini admitted, "I don't know how to not be on a date with Ricky." 

"Okay first of all, it's definitely a date, Nina. I know Ricky and that boy does not want to be just friends with you." Nini blushed hearing Big Red's words, but she still thought it was too early for a date, they still needed to talk about their break up and figure out their issues. 

"Second of all," Big Red continued. "You don't need to act a certain way, or be anything other than yourself. It's Ricky, Neens. He already knows who you are. Trust me, it'll be fine." 

"You are like the king of pep talks, you know that?" Nini truly felt lucky to have Red as her best friend and wingman, he always had the best advice, and she knew she could trust him with anything. 

"You're not so bad yourself, boo." Red said cracking a smile. 

"I'm serious. Thank you for everything, Red." She said. 

"It's not a problem, Neens. You have a problem that I can't solve though.. fashion is not my forté." He chuckled "Look at me, I'm literally wearing a tie dye shirt as a uniform... but fear not, I know who to call." 

Red had added Kourtney to the call, and the girl was obviously in the middle of something. Kourtney popped up on the screen, with a face mask and cucumbers in her eyes. The scowl on her face made it clear that she did not appreciate the interruption during her skincare routine. She took the cucumbers off her eyes so she could see the screen. 

"What's up you two? This better be good, I need to look beautiful tomorrow for my presentation, and y'all are interrupting my me time." 

"Well first of all you already look beautiful, Kourt." Nini said, making her friend smirk "But I have a fashion emergency." 

"Yeah. She doesn't know what to wear on a non-date with Ricky that she really wishes was a date-date." Big Red teased. 

"It's not like that.." Nini started 

"Umm.. It definitely is." Kourtney said, "Nini, we've got lots to do tonight, let's get started." _____ 

Ricky put on jacket and headed out of his airbnb. He was meeting Nini at 2 pm, and it was currently 11am, but he wanted to make sure everything was perfect. He had decided to take Kourtney's advice, and made his way to a barbershop down the street. His hair was out of control, and he definitely needed a haircut.