Second Chances (Ricky + Nini)

chapter 12 - i'm the love of your life until i make you mad

"I'm such an idiot." Ricky slurred into the phone receiver, "How could I think that she would take me back after everything?"

"Don't say that, Ricky. How many drinks have you had?" Red said concerned. "You're not an idiot. You just love her a lot."

"Yeah.. stupid, emotional, obsessive little me.." Ricky said. His voice was laced with emotion and alcohol.

"Ricky, are you sure she's seeing someone?" Red asked for the umpteenth time. "Maybe it's not what you think. She would've told me if she was interested or dating someone."

Nini had only ever talked about Ricky, and Big Red was finding it hard to believe that she would suddenly go on a date with someone else, especially now that Ricky's back in her life. 

"You talk to her a lot don't you, Red?" Ricky chuckled bitterly. "You tryina steal my girl toooo, Biggy? Everybody wants to steal my girl.."

Ricky proceeded to sing an extremely depressing cover of Steal My Girl by One Direction, and Big Red knew he'd had too much to drink.

"Richard. Listen to me. Please go home."

"Okay but I'm just gonna go and call Nini first, let her know how much she hurt me." Ricky said. "She hates me already so I've got nothing to lose."

"Ricky. Please don't do that. You're going to regret it." Red said calmly, trying to prevent his best friend from doing literally the worst thing he could be doing, "Look she doesn't hate you, Ricky. If she did would she have forgiven you? Taken care of you all this time? You're drunk and emotional. You need to stop drinking. Go home, sober up and then you can have a conversation with her."

The truth is, Ricky was afraid of talking to Nini about it. He was afraid of the truth, that she really was seeing this other guy, that she just wants to be friends – that she doesn't love Ricky anymore. So instead of going home, he'd drowned himself in alcohol just to numb the pain of losing her. Ricky was full on crying now, not caring that he was in public.

"Ricky? You there?" Red asked. "Could you give the phone to the bartender?"

Ricky obliged and handed the phone to the bartender. "Here you go. It's for you."

Red paid Ricky's tab and instructed the bartender to put Ricky in a cab and gave him the address.
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Nini had just ushered Kourney and EJ out of her apartment, they had done a lot of work, and EJ was finally feeling confident enough for tomorrow. After cleaning up and tucking Bob into bed, Nini finally had some alone time. She plopped down onto her bed and scrolled through her phone. It had been a long exhausting day, and she hadn't had the chance to check her messages all day. She smiled when she noticed texts from her two favorite boys.

Ricky : Thanks for taking care of me, Neens : ) Let me know when you wanna reschedule our dinner : )
Nini : Tomorrow night sound good ?

She frowned when she read Big Red's message. It was strange and suspicious, and she was concerned.

Big Red : Hey Neens, just wanted to check in on you. Anything new at work? Any new developments I should know about? You know you can tell me anything.

Nini : There's not much going on right now, Red. I've just been busy with work as usual. Is everything okay? Is there anything you wanna tell me?

A reply came almost immediately.

Big Red : Nope. All is well here in Salt Lake.. just wanted to check in with you.

Nini thought he still sounded suspicious but decided to let it go and succumbed to much needed sleep.

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