"that's all it is, right? different? i mean... that's not necessarily bad."
"... the paper is due on monday, got that? dismissed."
the students around me stand up and begin stuffing their belongings in their bags, most already making their way out the room. but they don't leave without staring at me for a few moments and whispering to their friends.
i can't blame them.
last night was... different from what i expected.
nini took me to her la apartment - and while i was expecting a place as nini-like as her bedroom back in utah - i was met with a pretty boring but sleek black and white flat. it was nice, don't get me wrong, but... different.
that didn't stop me from enjoying the night though. we ordered pizza and stayed up until 3 am, talking about the most trivial things and catching up. after years of no conversations, nini was surprisingly really easy to talk to. but actually our conversation left me with more questions than answers. something about her made it clear she was holding things back. she was more secretive than she used to be... and yeah, she didn't tell me a lot of things back when we dated, but this time it's different. now she's purposely being cautious - purposely leaving me in the dark.
and i can't help but wonder what happened to her?
i slept in her guest room, and when i woke up today i saw headlines of us everywhere the moment i looked into my phone.
"nina salazar-roberts runs away with mystery ucla boy," i read aloud, staring in disbelief at my notifications. i look up at nini who's drinking coffee behind her kitchen counter. "this is..."
"you don't have to care about it," she says indifferently after taking a sip. "i don't. it's normal. it doesn't mean anything."
"don't you get tired of people talking about you?"
"it's actually funny sometimes."
"funny," i repeat. "isn't this the type of thing that made you take a hiatus?"
she remains quiet - a reaction i've come to recognize by now as her telling me not to press her for answers.
"i'll drive you back to school," nini says after awhile.
"yeah cause what you need now is more gossip about this mystery boy," i chuckle sarcastically. "i don't want to bother you anymore."
"what if i want to be bothered?"
my body stiffens, unable to respond in any way or form.
unexpectedly, she walks to me and ruffles my hair with her hand. laughing lightly, she says, "i don't care. we're friends. come on."
she really did give me a ride back to ucla this morning. paparazzi caught us again though. they were roaming around campus.
before she left, i was surprised she even gave me her number before leaving. i'm happy about it obviously, but... her indifference, her new behavior... what happened all these years that made her like this?
i'm not saying it's a bad thing. i just want to know.
"mr. bowen, you're spacing out. again."
surprised, i somehow end up flinging the notebook in my hand in the air and taking a karate stance as if i'm being attacked.
but i realize it's only howie walking towards me with a grin on his face.
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𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞. « 𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘯 »
Fanfiction𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 [ rini ] [ #1 in rini ] [ #1 in rickyandnini ]