Glad You Could Make It - Ricky and Nini Oneshots

Apple Pie

Song: Apple Pie by Lizzy McAlpine

AN: I romanticize NYC a lot in this fic, just be warned. I love the city, and I know it quite well, but I do tend to make it sound better than it is.

Nini had finally achieved her dream of dropping everything and living in New York City when she turned 21. She'd always wanted to move to the big city, walking everywhere, and finding little jobs to get by. She didn't want to be successful, she just wanted to be happy and make a home for herself.

Some days she's lonely, some days she's not. She made a few friends at the bookstore she works at on Tuesday's and Thursday's, and she went on a few dates with her coworker at the bagel store she works on Monday's, Wednesday's, and Friday's.

On the weekends, she strolls through Central Park, listening to street buskers and smelling the warmth of waffles and pretzels being sold from food carts. Nini tries to not think about how lonely she is, about how maybe she'd be able to enjoy the city more if there was someone to be with her when she makes her rounds of New York. Someone to help her make a home.

She's not exactly sure what it meant to be home, and she didn't know if she'd ever been there. Nini can't ever afford to stay in the same place for longer than 6 months, her funds always tending to run dry, causing her to couch hop for a bit before she can get back on her feet. That had been her cycle for the past 5 years. She was now freshly 26, and was close to losing her most recent apartment.

It was a cramped one bedroom in Alphabet City, far away from basically everything. Her landlord had already cut her heat, and it was only a matter of time before her power went out too. She was scrambling to scrape together some extra cash to at least hold her over til her next paycheck.

It was hard living like she did, but she just couldn't find a place to call home. To her, every house felt sort of like home, but maybe that was because she didn't know what it was supposed to feel like. She finds herself out of breath, running around, and trying to find a way to make a home.

*****

It was raining. Nini hated the rain. Nini hated the rain especially when she found herself stranded far away from her apartment with no umbrella. She should've known better than to walk around Central Park on an April afternoon, it always rains on April afternoons.

The rain was coming down harder as she wandered the streets in Lenox Hill, and she had her small jacket pulled up above her head to keep her somewhat dry. Nini fumbled with her phone to try and find an Uber that she could afford, while dragging her feet along the cracked sidewalk. The rain water was slowly seeping into her phone, and the crisp April air was affecting her battery.

"Hey!"

Nini jolted at the sound of someone's voice echoing through the street, bouncing off all the brick buildings before filling her ears. She turned around quickly to search for the source of the voice right when she heard it again.

"Hey!"

She figured the voice must not be talking to her, so she continued to trudge her feet across the sidewalk.

"Hey, you! You in the light pink jacket!"

Nini looked and realized that she was in fact wearing a light pink jacket. She continued to turn around herself to look for who was talking to her.

"Look up, pink jacket!" the voice shouted again.

She glanced up, squinting as the heavy rain hit her face, and saw an open window in the apartment above her. After her eyes adjusted to the rain, she could see a man leaning out of said window, the rain pouring down heavily on his curls as he looked down at her.