A Beautiful Day for a Wedding

Nini

As Nini stood in the quaint chapel she had to laugh to herself. Most of her childhood, when she imagined being at Ricky's wedding it was as the bride. When they started dating their sophomore year of high school, she thought for sure that she and Ricky would be in a place just like this exchanging vows. It was an almost surreal feeling that she was here not as the bride but as a friend.

When she first found out about Ricky and Gina being together she was irritated. Not because she still had feelings for Ricky, but because she found out through a viral video of him declaring his love for Gina through song in front of press conference. Sure she was thrilled for the happy couple but Ricky hadn't been able to say 'I love you' to Nini after a year of dating and having known each other since kindergarten. But there he was singing a song about how he was in love with Gina after knowing her for a year and dating for maybe a few months at that point. It hurt Nini a little more than she was willing to admit.

But that was eight years ago and Nini was over it (after writing a song about how she felt about it) and was excited to watch one of her oldest friends marry the woman that Nini could only describe as his other half. Since Nini worked very closely with Gina's brother, Jaime, and Ricky and she had collaborated over the years, she'd had a front row seat to how perfect Ricky and Gina were for each other.

Nini's thoughts are interrupted by a quiet shout of Ricky, "Hey, Nina!"

Nini seeing the curly haired man, clearly half dressed in his wedding tuxedo with his dress shirt half  unbuttoned and missing his shoes as well as a jacket and no tie to be found, smiled and chuckled, "Hi, Ricky. Congratulations." As the two old friends hugged Nini said to him, "and you know you can still call me Nini. We're among friends after all."

Since Nini had moved to California the summer before her senior year she had started to go by Nina. Since she used it as her online handle for her music and she was trying to reinvent or rediscover herself, it felt like the natural decision. 'Nini' was only used for close friends or family. When Ricky came to work on her album a few years ago it was the first time many of her band and producers had even heard the nickname. Ricky had tried to be respectful and use Nina when in a professional setting, but saying Nini was second nature to him so she let it slide.

"Thank you so much for being here," Ricky says after breaking the hug, "and I see you're wearing a Kourtney Greene original." Nini was wearing a sleek violet colored dress that was more something she'd wear at a photoshoot or a private concert. It looked good on her but it was not really her first choice.

"Yeah, when Kourt saw what I was planning on wearing she pointed out that in some light it looked white and it might show up white in pictures," Nini admitted, "and, being the ex girlfriend, it would look especially bad if it looked for even a second if I was wearing white on your wedding day."

"Definitely a good call," Ricky laughs, "it's already been insinuated that you may go full rom-com and interrupt the ceremony."

Nini rolls her eyes, "well then it's good Kourtney had a spare dress for me." After a moment Nini says, "I'd almost forgotten what a great friend she is."

"Yeah, Kourt's the best," Ricky agrees with smirk. It still surprised Nini how friendly Kourtney and Ricky had become. There was a time when Kourtney could barely stand Ricky and the feeling had been mutual, but now they were friends. Maybe it had to do something with the fact Nini hadn't been there senior year and Ricky was one of the only people Kourtney was friends with that was graduating. Maybe it had to do with how good friends Kourtney and Gina had become and she had smoothed over some of the animosity between the two.  It was probably some combination of the two.

"Speaking of best friends," Nini says, "Big Red's your Best Man. That can't have been an easy decision."

"It wasn't," Ricky groaned, "I love Red but Jet's been like my protégée for theatre and East High and he's become like my best friend too. Then there's Carlos who's been great for emotional support and a sympathetic ear over the years. Of course EJ's become like a brother, I can't believe I ever hated that guy. But ultimately Big Red's my oldest friend. It had to be him."