𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿-𝗺𝗮𝗻: 𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁𝘆 [ 𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙞 𝙖𝙪 ]

eyes on u .25

a few weeks have passed by and things were slowly starting to unfold.

nini was finally comfortable again. she had no problem conversing with all their friends, excelling in school, making more art, and being more open about her situation.

ricky was trying to get back into the groove of things. richard was no where to be seen. no one has heard from him since nini came back home. it was stressing everyone out.

ricky found it hard to sleep. the thought of richard coming back anytime was taking a toll on him. tony implemented security equipment in their apartment but it didn't make ricky feel any better. the fear of death ate him alive.

as for ricky and nini's relationship, it was ... new. nini was fitting in once again and ricky was happy she was. though, he couldn't help but think about how different their dynamic has been since she came back.

they've been arguing a lot lately. it wasn't enough to call their arguments a fight because one of them always dropped it but still — they barely agreed on anything now.

+

"what did you wanna eat?" ricky asked the girl as they passed by a few restaurants, "there's thai food, mexican, and mmm... pizza?"

"i don't know, you pick."

"i picked last time," ricky softly said, "you pick this time."

"i don't want to pick..." nini breathed out, "i'll eat whatever so just pick."

ricky let out a frustrated sigh, "um, okay... let's get some thai food."

nini huffed, not moving from her place as ricky headed towards the restaurant. the boy rolled his eyes and faced her again, "what?"

"it's just... i had thai food last night with my moms," nini confessed.

"you just said— you know what ... never-mind," ricky breathed out, trying to calm down his nerves. "okay.. let's go get some pizza."

"again?"

ricky rolled his eyes and looked at nini with confusion, "okay?? it's obvious you want some mexican food so why didn't you just say that."

"well i don't really want mexican food but there's nothing else to eat so."

"okay? so... did you wanna get a cab somewhere?"

"no."

"then what do you wanna do?"

"fine! nothing!" the girl spat, crossing her arms over her chest, "we'll just eat whatever you want."

"isn't that what you wanted?" ricky questioned. nini just shrugged her shoulders, walking past ricky into the mexican restaurant. ricky took a few deep breaths and followed her inside.

+

"we should probably work on calculus first so we have more time to study for chemistry," ricky suggested, pulling out his calculus book. nini rolled her eyes.

"we're both good at chemistry, we should focus on calculus first. there's still some things i'm kinda confused on."

"okay.. we could work on calculus now though. i'll teach it to you and then we could do chem," ricky reiterated again, making nini sigh.

"why do we have to study for chemistry again?? we damn near study for it everyday," the girl whined, "can we focus on something we're not so strong at?"

"i'm not saying to not do calculus...." ricky muttered, "we're still doing it, we're just doing it first."

"okay? i'm saying we should do chemistry first so we could work on calculus longer," nini argued back. ricky held back his tongue and calmed his nerves.

"fine. whatever you want," was all the boy said before throwing his calculus book to the side.

+

ricky was sitting at his desk doing homework while the girl dug through his closet. she offered to tidy up his belongings cause the "mess" bothered her. honestly, ricky didn't really care. he just wanted some peace if he was being honest.

"what's this?" nini blurted out.

ricky turned around to see a brown wooden box opened up. he looked in her hands to see nini holding a pocket watch. ricky softly smiled and turned his attention on her.

"it was my grandpa's," ricky proudly said, crouching down next to her. nini smiled and gently put it back in the box.

"oh! it's beautiful," nini exclaimed, eyeing the gold pocket watch, "where's he at right now?"

ricky furrowed his eyebrows, "... who?"

"your grandpa," the girl simply stated.

the boy awkwardly shifted. he scratched the back of his head, "uh what, neens? he's dead...remember?"

nini's face fell. she looked down, forcing out an awkward chuckle. "right! i'm sorry... i didn't know if you were talking about your other grandpa or something..."

she closed the wooden box and pushed it back in the closet. ricky examined the girl's movements. she was stiff and careful. ricky could feel her discomfort, knowing his eyes were watching her.

"my moms are gonna be home soon," nini announced, smapping ricky out of his thoughts. "maybe i should get going."

"oh um .. okay yeah," ricky replied. they both got up from the floor and ricky grabbed his sweater from his closet, "let's get going."

"you don't need to walk me home everyday, ricky," the girl told him with a smile, "i gotta do it by myself at one point."

"yeah and one of those days aren't today!" ricky cheered, gleaming at the girl. nini sighed but eventually gave in. they made their way out of the house. ricky immediately held nini's hand in his.

"how was your day today?" the boy asked, even though he spent most of it with her. nini chuckled.

"mmm... well you know how most of it went," nini giggled, eyeing the boy, "but hm... art class was fun today. learned a lot about shading and stuff like that... hm, what else? ... seb was telling me about how one of his cows almost ran away but they caught it. seb told me he forgot to close the gate because he was busy chasing a butterfly."

ricky let out a laugh, "it's crazy how smart seb is but he acts as if he hasn't had one thought in that brain of his."

"i think he's just free-spirited," nini chuckled, smiling at the thought of the sweet boy. "a lot of you guys here are."

"huh?"

nini looked down, "i mean like... all of our friends now.. in school," the girl quickly said, "i never really realized how carefree everyone was until you know..."

ricky furrowed his eyebrows together but decided to drop the conversation, "yeah.. i get it."

the two of stayed in silence for the rest of the walk. once they reached nini's house, the boy walked her all the way up. nini beamed a smile at ricky as they stood in front of her door.

"thank you for walking me home... again," nini said, softly smiling at ricky. the boy nodded his head and returned the smile.

"i just want you safe," ricky said. he leaned down a planted a soft kiss on her lips, "i'll see you tomorrow, bye!"

"bye!" nini exclaimed. she made her way inside while ricky ran down the steps.

the boys has been reluctant to say 'i love you'. he had no problem saying it on social media because well... nini wasn't on social media right now. so she doesn't even know he feels that way.

meanwhile, the girl was in her room. as soon as she got inside, there was a knock on her window. nini got taken aback as she saw richard sitting outside of her windowsill. he motioned for her to open the window so she did.

a lump went down her throat as she waited for richard to say something. richard took off his mask, smirking at the girl with a devilish grin.

"hey neens, long time no see."