𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐆𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐄 | 𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐢 𝐚𝐮

THREE

nini's eye shot open when a loud crash sound ricochet through the apartment. her phone read 3:46am and therefore it was not her new roommate making her a welcoming breakfast to wake her up for a day full of greeting lectures. it was her new roommate, but instead it was him returning to his new home, intoxicated. the tired girl groaned in annoyance as she realises that this is going to be the normal for the rest of the school year. the girl knew nothing about the boy except his name and that he was a true party animal. 

nini slipped her slippers that laid next to her bed onto her feet and made her way to her bedroom door in the dark. hissing at the light that filled the rest of the apartment, she trotted down the hallway to see ricky sitting on the kitchen counter, with his legs dangling over the side. a wide grin spreads across his face as he talks to someone on his phone. 

"nina!" the boy shouts as he catches her emerging from her room. "come meet my friends!" he holds up his phone, sliding off the bench top. nini starts to shake her head in protest, backing away. his much longer legs catch up to her, wrapping his arm around the small girls shoulder. "guys, this is my roommate, nina!" his breath smelt of alcohol, making nini whine. 

"girl you are stunning! i am so sorry you have to live with that for the year." the dark-haired girl says through the screen. her compliment making nini smile. 

"yeah, being friends with him is bad enough, let alone living with him." the boy added onto her statement. nini chuckles as she shifts her gaze from the phone to the curly-headed boy who stood next to her. he lazily smiles at his phone, making the girl wish she had a friendship like the trio had.

his gaze also shifts to look at nini, catching her staring. "gina's right, you are pretty." nini's eyes widen as she looks down at the floor at his boldness. the pair behind the phone screen also go awkwardly quiet. "sorry guys, it's bedtime for ussss!" slurring on his words, the boy hits the red button at the bottom of his screen before his two friends could even get a word in.

nini slips away from the arm around her shoulder, moving slowly back to her bedroom down the hall. "goodnight, nina." ricky calls, following her to his own room, that he still is yet too unpack.

"you can call me nini you know." ricky stop in his tracks, turning to face the brunette. "goodnight, ricky." and just like that she shuts the door in his face. this really left the boy confused. his first impressions on nini was that she was very welcoming and kind, but after that interaction she seems more cold and like she was hiding something. like she was hurt.

ricky had somewhat sobered up and now was left sitting in his room with stuff scattered all around him. the room was small, yet somehow homey. white walls, with the usual dorm furniture distributed throughout. a rather large closet was opposite the bed that ricky was currently sat on.

the time was now 4:10am and there was no way that ricky was going to start unpacking, so therefore he grabbed his pillow and one of the blankets that was in the mix of all his belongings and slept on the bare mattress.

for what seemed like 2 minutes of sleep for richard bowen, the time was now 8:30am. rudely awoken by a loud crash followed by a curse word from his roommate, ricky was now up and ready for the day. not that he felt like it due to his head pounding as he sat on the edge of his bed. the hungover boy forcing himself to leave his room, that looked like a tornado had just ripped through it, clearly procrastinating unpacking. his bare-feet slapped against the hardwood floors of the apartment as he basically dragged himself to the living area. 

"oh, good your awake, i can finally stop trying to do everything in silence." nini says to the hungover boy. the girl continued to unpack her belongings, humming to a song. the girl was already showered and dressed, unlike the boy who sat at the kitchen counter with his head in his hands. to say that she was happy was an understatement. 

"are you purposely trying to be loud?" ricky blurted, nini rolling her eyes in response. "god, give me a break woman." placing his head back in his hands. the girl stops what she is doing, placing her hands on her hips.

"give you a break?" she scoffs, the boy raises his head in her sudden outrage, not expecting it from such a small, innocent looking girl. "we haven't even know each other for 24 hours and you are telling me to give you a break?" ricky blankly stares at nini, not really knowing how to reply to her. last night she was the weird, shy, nerdy roommate and now here she is lashing out at him. "are you going to reply to me or just continue staring?" her arms were now holding her up on the opposite side of the kitchen counter. 

"uh.. yeah, sorry, just a bit hungover." nini was a bit shocked that the boy just left at that and didn't fight back. she was also proud of herself for standing up for herself. she blamed her new attitude on the 'fresh start' in new york and also the fact that no one knew what she was actually like back in indiana and essentially she had the freedom to become a new person. 

ever since her ex-best-friend, clara, betrayed her, everyone at her old high school saw her as the weird girl that never did anything but read and study. essentially, they stereotyped nini. of course nini loved her reading and making sure she was prepared for any upcoming tests, but she was so much more than that. the fact that clara stood there and watched the whole school basically bully nini, broke her heart even more. she felt like an outsider. some days she wouldn't even go to school because she didn't feel comfortable. her anxiety developed more and more by the day and eventually her mom's decided it was a good idea to put her into therapy to help her. 

getting out of indiana was nini's next big step. she wanted to prove to all the losers in indiana that she is so much more than what they all thought she was. and ricky was just the starting point to her new journey in life.