Never let me go (rini au)

six.

nini woke up the next morning with the sound of her alarm blaring on her nightstand. she shut off the alarm and walked into her bathroom. she stripped herself bare and turned the water on as hot as she could tolerate.

she wasn't in love with ricky. but she couldn't just say that they were friends either. she didn't even want to think about him in that way. he was her best friend. he was her platonic soulmate. but was it ever really platonic? all the times they would fall asleep in each other's arms. the late-night conversations. the handholding. the cheek kisses. the coffee dates. she always knew ricky and her had a unique relationship, but she never thought about how different it was from her other friendships.

nini lathered soap in her hair and let it wash down the drain. she conditioned and exfoliated, she washed her body, and tried to clear her mind. When she got out she put on her towel and walked back to her room.

she picked out a pair of skinny jeans and a sweater for the mountains since she didn't know how cold it would be. she packed her suitcase with all her toiletries and clothes. She brought her swimsuit and silk pajamas. she packed her makeup and hair dryer along with her curling iron. And dragged her suitcase to the living room. ricky came out of the shower a minute later with just a towel over his waist.

"i could've helped with that neens," he chuckled.

nini just stood there staring at the boy in their hallway.

"hello? neens? what's up with you? you've seemed off lately." ricky adjusted his towel because it was starting to slip and show the v-line of his perfectly sculpted body.

nini swallowed thickly. " nothing. j-just tired. i haven't had my um" she paused to clear her throat, "coffee yet."

"okay well i'm going to get dressed and then i'll come help you," ricky smiled at nini and she felt her knees go weak. all she could do was nod at her best friend before he retreated to his bedroom.

nini was so confused. just because ricky and her acted differently than her other friends doesn't mean they were more than friends. and it certainly doesn't mean that she loves (or even likes) him in that way. nini took a deep breath and walked back to her room to double-check that she had everything.

she glanced around her room and found ricky's hoodie on her chair. she picked it up and smelled it because it had ricky's cologne and tide in its fibers. she tucked it into her backpack in the living room just in case she got cold.

as she zipped up her bag ricky entered the room in jeans and a sweatshirt with his white doc marten boots. his curls were still wet and messy falling over his face.

nini chuckled at the boy's mop of hair "c'mon ricky let me help with your hair"

"it looks amazing what are you talking about" ricky playfully rolled his eyes.

nini just dragged him into the bathroom and looked under the sink before remembering her blow dryer was in her bag.

"one sec" she mumbled as she ran out the bathroom door.

she came back just as quickly as she left and plugged in her hair dryer. she took ten minutes to blow dry his hair since it wasn't that long. then she put her hair dryer back in her bag as ricky put product in his hair.

nini ran to the door as she heard loud knocking.

"i'm coming caswell! calm down!" nini laughed as she yanked the door open.

she was greeted on the other side by her friends pulling her into a hug and squealing about how excited they were. ej really was a little girl. ricky walked into the room and asked ej to help with the bags. while they were shoving all of nini's unnecessary stuff into the trunk, gina and nini were gossiping about how excited they were.