i promise || rini au

06. filling in the blanks as we go

nini sat in the car, driving through the new york roads and glancing beside her to the curly-haired man who was sitting down in the passenger seat and looking out of the window

"where do we live?"

she kept her eyes on him before looking back at the road "up north."

ricky nodded before furrowing his brows and turning around to face her "who's the president?"

nini looked at him in slight amusement "biden...?"

"wait really?"

"yeah, we voted for him." nini chuckled, keeping her eyes on the road

ricky hummed "cool."

they continued the ride in silence, soon arriving to the apartment building.

ricky got out of the car, burying his hands in his hoodie pocket as he stared up at the staircase that lead to the apartment building

"so...we're on the third floor and the stairs are on the right." nini explained "i'll get the stuff-"

"no, let me help-"

"ricky, you're not supposed to carry anything heavy. you're still recovering." nini replied with a shake of her head "it's okay. here, take the key."

he took the key from her and furrowed his brows "what's this?"

nini looked away from the car and walked towards him to read her keychain "cornelia street."

"but we don't live on cornelia street?" ricky replied blankly

nini nodded with a chuckle "duh, it's the song."

"song...?"

"taylor swift? lover?"

he still stared back at her in complete puzzlement, not having any idea as to what she was referring to

nini's jaw dropped "come on, ricky, we literally stayed up till midnight on the night it was-"

she stopped mid sentence. of course...it slipped her mind. she made him start listening to the artist and the album came out in 2019. a few months after they'd started dating. he doesn't remember.

"i lost that memory i guess..." ricky said sheepishly, looking down

nini swallowed, clearing her throat and forcing her smile "it's okay. i'll have the pleasure of reintroducing taylor swift to you. plus there's so much more music to make you listen to."

ricky smiled in appreciation before he noticed her carry a large duffel and made his way over to help "i know you told me not to help but let me at least just-"

"so help me richard-"

"okay okay!" he yelped, jumping back

the girl broke out into a light grin. she watched as he slowly turned around to walk inside and exhaled deeply

"why the hell is this thing so heavy?" she mumbled under her breath, dragging it behind her.

ricky walked up the stairs, soon arriving to the apartment door nini had told him it was. he unlocked the door and walked inside, leaving it wide open so that nini could easily walk through.

he gazed around the apartment, seeing the living room filled with picture frames on the walls. there was a large red couch near the window to the fire escape with pillows on it. the coffee table in front of it was filled with scattered music sheets and notebooks. it was surrounded by the said-couch and two more single couches that were facing the tv.