California Dreamin

6

"Why do you still live there Nina?" He whispered, his fingers swiping away her tears, two centimeters dividing each other.

"Because I can't run away like you used to do every night, Richard."

He stood there in silence as Nina put on her pajamas. She called him by his name for the first time ever and all he could do is smile for it.

As they got into bed, a bit too small for two people, they kept quiet, not knowing what to say. Suddenly the boy broke the silence though.

"I admire you, Neens." And he turned to the side, giving her his back.
She didn't reply at first but a timid smile appeared on her face.

"Good night Richard." And they fell asleep.

The next morning, Nina woke up to some noises and voices.
The spot next to her was empty and the sun outside the window was brighter than ever. It was finally summertime.

"Good morning everyone." She said with a sleepy voice while coming out of the bedroom.

"Hey sleepyhead, good morning." Roberto smiled.
"How'd you sleep? Did Richard snort?"

Nina laughed.
"No, I slept really well. About Richard, where is he?"

"Woah, about who?" Ruth came out of the kitchen holding a bowl of something as she was probably preparing some food to have lunch with.
"Did you just call him his name or am I still sleeping?"

"Well, guess it wasn't really a bad idea to make them sleep together." Roberto sipped his coffee giving Nina a little wink.

"ROB!" Ruth exlaimed, slapping his husband's shoulder as Nina widened her eyes.

"Nothing happened, Rob." Richard came out of the kitchen too, not paying too much attention to his malicious joke as he was too focused on Nina's still asleep figure.
She had swollen eyes and messy hair that he found really cute as he was used to always see her with every single hair set in its place.

Nina gave him a little smile before sitting down at the table.
"Eat everything you want, I sent Rob to buy your favorite marmalade earlier." Ruth said loudly as she was back in the kitchen. Strawberry marmalade.

"You're a pretty picky eater Kat." Roberto kept joking with her.

She laughed while eating.
"I really hope I didn't snort though." Richard said while putting his shoes on.

"Boy? Where do you think you're going?" Roberto asked agitating his cup of coffee, almost spilling a bit on the floor.

"To go see some friends, see you at lunch." He gave one last look at Nina before closing the door behind him.

"What's going on between you two now? Before going to bed I caught you bickering and now you're all weird. You sure nothing happened while we were asleep?" Roberto quietly asked.

However Ruth heard him anyway and poked her head out of the kitchen to give him a dirty look like she was telling him to leave the girl alone to which he mouthed a "what did I say?"

She then insisted that nothing happened and went to the bathroom to take a shower and get dressed.
She called her mom to check on her and then called Nancy.

"Hello?" Her best friend replied from the other side.

"Hey Nan, I'm here at Ruth's, how are you?" As soon as she stopped talking she heard her start screaming.

"YOU'RE WHERE? OH MY GOD, IS RICHARD THERE? DID YOU SLEEP THERE?" She had to put the phone away from her ear as Nancy was about to break her eardrum.