folded | rini

📖 in fair verona where we lay our scene 📖

since everything that morning, followed by english class and what happened there, it's been otherwise a pretty usual day for nini.

so as lunchtime starts, she's the first to sit down, like usual, at her friend group's usual table, and with her food laid out (she always brings it from home), she gets out her book and begins to read. she may as well take advantage of the relative quiet before her friends all arrive and she can't focus anymore.

nini looks up only halfway from her book when she hears her best friend's voice echo over the table.

"nini! oh my gosh you will never guess what happened to me today."

"you know i don't like to do bets, but- i think today i'd win for most unpredictable morning." she sighs, putting a bookmark back in between the pages before she properly looks up to see the confused face of kourtney greene.

kourtney's about to roll her eyes and keep talking, but then she sees just how downcast nini definitely appears, and she just can't brush it off.

"okay- girl what happened? it doesn't seem like a good unpredictable or i'd say you finally talked to ej about something other than ashlyn..."

"please lower your voice." nini shakes her head, blushing at kourtney's words as she glances around.

"he sits clear across the quad with his popular friends neens, he won't know you're in love with him unless you tell him yourself." kourtney rolls her eyes, but as nini's trying to deny kourtney's accusations, gina sits down next to her on her other side, and they all sort of stare at each other for a minute.

"why did it get all quiet the second i got here? you're not planning my birthday party are you, that's not for another two months..." gina's not exactly clear if she's joking about the party, but as she laughs the others do too.

"no we were uh- just talking about nini's crush on ej... i- i know that's a sore spot." kourtney explains, gina's eyes widening a bit.

"i don't plan on doing anything about it obviously- i... you're my friend gina, i know how much that hurt." nini reassures her.

"nini it's..." it's obvious gina's about to say that it was fine, but- it's also obvious that wouldn't necessarily be true. "ej's a good guy. just- not to me, apparently. when he invited me to his party i didn't anticipate to run into him making out with some blonde- or for ricky bowen to try to come onto me..."

"do he and ricky have some thing about that? i'm pretty sure it was the same blonde girl from the party in my theatre class... you know- the one that's dating ricky."

"that's cute." kourtney replies, laughing.

"what is?" nini's clearly super lost, staring between her two friends.

"that you think they're dating. i highly doubt ricky bowen dates." gina laughs. "and even if he did, i don't think i'd want to go near him with a ten foot pole."

"that's- that's who i was actually trying to talk about though- before kourt brought up the ej thing."

"you- you don't like ricky do you?" kourtney sputters, eyes wide as saucers.

but nini immediately shakes her head. "god no- no obviously not. i ran into him this morning in the library, i was trying to use one of the reference books for my project and he was with a blonde girl. like- with her... which- why would you do that in a library? disgusting."

she crinkles her nose. "i freaked out- because obviously... she practically ran away when she saw me, and well- when the librarian came he kinda got out of there quick. i got a detention for the meltdown and uh- the swearing... since you know- you're supposed to be quiet in there. yelling is- frowned upon. i tried to say what was happening but i just didn't have the words. i only managed to say that he was with a girl and uh- kissing's allowed. as she oh so kindly reminded me."