can't blame a girl for trying | a rini au

22. (In the Name of Progress)

Dinner with his girlfriend's parents. Ricky could handle this.

Or he was going to try his best to handle it anyway. Even if the stakes were a bit higher than he was used to.

It wasn't like Ricky had never done this kind of thing before, just not with someone like her so far as he was concerned.

Her parents clearly held her to a high standard, he'd learned as much with the time he'd spent around Kat, particularly when they were at her house. She's a bit more on edge there, a feeling he perhaps only noticed in her because of how much he recognized it from his own home life before Salt Lake City. The on edge part at least, not the high standards.

Kat had told him it would be fine, that her parents would like him perfectly well. But to be fair Ricky's not known for being genuinely confident in himself, not in any consistent way anyway. Not like the blonde girl could so often be.

As they pulled into her driveway, he offers her a shy smile, grabbing the flowers out of the backseat. (A gift for her mom). He's inexperienced with these things, but he knows enough to understand the expectation is to bring something for the host when you're a guest in someone's home.

"You got this." Kathryn tells him, leaning over and giving him a quick kiss on the lips after she unhooks her seatbelt.

"Thanks." He does appreciate the reassurance, as small as it may have been.

"We're ready. I wouldn't have asked you to come if I didn't believe in us." She says it with such confidence that Ricky has no choice but to take it.

"I'm going to make the best impression I can." He replies, putting a brave face on now as they get out of the car.

Feigned confidence is something he can in fact do easily. Just like when he met Nini-

Nina...

But she'd said it was okay to call her Nini, so maybe, just maybe, he would. They were really friends now, he knew he was happy about that.

There was a lot for Ricky Bowen to be happy about in this moment, he just had to hold onto that feeling and maybe it would be enough to push the anxieties away for the time being at least.

—

Walking into Kathryn's house and shaking her father's hand, hugging her mother, Ricky doesn't let any of the anxiety show. In fact her father even compliments him on his firm handshake.

He's got a nice shirt on and he's half afraid he's going to wind up with sweat stains, but that's probably not his biggest concern at the moment.

Luckily though, as Mrs. Bradley goes to the kitchen and puts the flowers into water, Mr. Bradley only has a short time to pull him aside. And it's actually not as intimidating as Ricky was fearing it might be.

The man didn't give the shovel talk by any traditional means, but he was clear about his terms nonetheless. It sounded like Darren Bradley had done this a good deal more than once.

"Respect my daughter and if you can't then she'll find someone who will."

"Be her friend over her boyfriend or it's not going to last long at all."

"If you're not committed, say so. She doesn't deserve to put her heart into someone who's not giving the same back."

Ricky thinks he can handle those three things. That any decent boyfriend should be able to do the same.

He finds himself wondering as he goes to sit at the dinner table with the family though if Kat's received less than that before on many other occasions. Maybe even much less than that. Even if Ricky's not entirely sure about the longevity of the relationship he's in, he does know for a fact he cares about her a great deal.