would you love me now? || rini

chapter three

"hey."

out of all the people nini expected to see on sunday morning, he was the last one on the list.
after the opening night of frozen and her talk with ms. jenn, nini went straight back to LA, to martin's house. her house. the clarity she had over her decision to leave lasted all through the car ride back and was absolutely gone by the time she reached her room. her new room, without her pictures, without her instruments, without all her memories. she couldn't go back, couldn't reverse her decision. she knew, deep down, what she did was right. her career couldn't progress back at east high. but couldn't it?  LA was the right place for her to be successful. why couldn't that place be salt lake? she would be happy here. without her family?

no matter what she did, no matter what reasons she tried to come up with to assure herself that this was the right decision, she couldn't stop how awful it felt. all she wanted was to run back home. to her friends, to her house, to ricky. but, it was all over now. and she was going to be okay with her decision, one way or another. she buries her feelings into songs. all night, she writes song after song, her old rhythm finally coming back to her. she didn't think about the wildcats anymore, pushing all thoughts either into a lyric or to the back of her mind.

she was finally doing okay.

until today.

her morning had been normal. she was at peace with her decision from the previous night and decided it was time for her to fully start life in LA. she had the whole day planned out. she would go out, find furniture and instruments for her room, and go see jamie and show him her new songs. she was feeling good, eating breakfast with a mind determined to succeed.

"nina, honey, there's someone here for you." she hears marvin call out. with a grimace at the unfamiliarity of the name nina, she gets up and walks towards the door.

and there he was, eyes full of nervousness and a small smile.

ricky.

her eyes go wide. richard bowen, in the flesh, on her front porch. she can't breathe, can't move, can't think. he's here.

"nina, do you know this young man?" marvin asks, confused by the shock on her face. "are you going to let him in or are we just going to stand out here in awkward silence?" he jokes, trying to get any reaction out of the two of them.

"ricky?" she says, still in disbelief. is she imagining this? how is he here? why is he here? she can't think of anything to say, can't form coherent thoughts.

she can see ricky shut down. she knows him better than anyone. she knows, even after all this time, how to read him better than anyone else. she sees the doubt and anxiety in his eyes and in the way he plays with his fingers. she sees his unruly curls, most likely in that state because of his habit to run his hands through his hair when he's nervous. she knows that he's interpreting her shock and lack of words as her not wanting him here.

"i'm sorry, i shouldn't have come. i don't know what i was thinking. i'll go, i'm sorry." he says, quickly turning around to leave.

"wait!" she calls out to him. he turns around, now his face showing the same shock she's still feeling. "don't go. come in."  she sees him hesitate, not fully believing that she's actually inviting him in. they haven't talked in months, and now she's inviting him into her house after he drove hours from god knows where?

"i'll make lemonade for you kids. come on in, ricky." marvin tells them, snapping them out of the trance the two seem to be in. nini follows him, and ricky follows her in. "why don't you two go sit outside while i get the lemonade ready?" marvin asks.