Falling - Benny and Nina - An Adapted In The Heights Roleplay (COMPLETE)

12 - Falling Again

Eventually Benny sat up, and rested his hand on Nina's forehead, "Your temperature has gone right back down to normal, are you feeling any better now?" He asked, gently lifting her back to help sit her upright. "And don't you lie to me again, I need to know if you're definitely okay!" He said in a stern but caring voice.

She defended, "Hey, I didn't know that it was a lie! I just thought I was just a bit sick and was going to be better sometime soon! How could I know?" and paused. Continuing, Nina said, "But a bit. I don't feel great, but I don't feel as awful as I did before, that's for sure."

"Okay, that's fine, but if you start to feel dizzy or hot again, let me know, alright." He said bringing his hand back into her hair. He found it to be really soothing and relaxing just playing with it.

Nina softly said, "Okay," and leaned into Benny, enjoying his protective stature. She said, "Can we go on the couch again? I, for one, don't enjoy sitting on the floor."

Benny didn't respond and just picked her up bridal style, like Usnavi had done earlier. He was tempted to place her on his lap again but thought to himself that that may not be the best idea after what happened last time. So instead he softly kissed her on the forehead, placed her down and sat next to her.

It was only at this point when he realized Abuela was still in the room. "We should probably explain everything to her" he said into her softly. "I understand that you probably don't want to but it's what's best, she deserves to know."

Nina nodded hesitantly, saying, "You do it," feeling like she was going to disappoint her. With how disapproving her parents were, it was hard not to think that everyone would be the same way.

"Alright, do you want me to tell her about college and about us or do you want to do college and I'll do us."

"You should tell her about us. Not me. Like I said earlier, they need to hear about college straight from me."

"Ok sweetie, here goes." Benny turned to Abuela, she already knew what was coming, but waited to hear it from them. "Abuela, can we talk to you for a second, we have two things that we think you ought to know about."

Nina looked at Benny, waiting for him to either start talking or give her a cue.

"The first thing I'm sure you've already figured out from how Nina and I have been acting all afternoon, Nina is officially my girlfriend and I couldn't be happier." He said turning to smile at her. "There's one problem, Kevin already hates me because of my ethnicity, so we are trying to keep it from her parents as long as possible or at least until we feel ready to tell them. So, can you please help us keep this a secret from them?" He said taking ahold of Nina's hands as they were beginning to shake. Abuela hesitantly nodded.

Benny said "Gracias Abuela", Benny looked back over at Nina and nodded indicating her turn. "You got this, baby. Respira."

Nina shakily said, "And the second thing is directly from me. I couldn't keep up with my schoolwork and I-I," she stuttered, nearly in tears. She continued, "I dropped out," and tears started to flow. "I had three jobs and along with my schoolwork and getting an adequate amount of sleep, my grades, they dropped." She put her arms around Benny, crying into his shirt. Her ragged breaths shook her entire body as she tried to calm down.

Benny wrapped his arms around her, kissed her forehead and whispered into her ear "Well done baby, 4 down, only 4 to go. You're doing so well, I'm so incredibly proud of everything you've done today."

She nodded against his chest, her uneven breathing still getting the best of her, making her a bit lightheaded.

Benny felt her overheating again and took immediate action, he got off the couch gently laid her down comfortably, grabbed the now mostly melted ice pack for earlier and placed on her forehead. Again, copying Usnavi's techniques he rolled up her pant legs and shirt and moved the mini fan over to the couch to cool her down. "Abuela, could you possibly grab another ice pack for Nina, this one's nearly fully melted." He crouched down so he was at the same physical level as Nina. "Nina, everything is going to be alright, trust me."

Even though she didn't truly feel that bad, she laid there. She didn't feel like fighting with Benny at that moment. When he spoke, she nodded in response, afraid of being scolded.

Abuela left the room, thinking that it was probably best not to watch over them.

Benny sat there just fiddling with her hair like she was the most precious thing in the world, and being brutally honest she was the most precious thing in the world to him.

He was going to do whatever it took to protect and look after her. They were just there, together, in silence, the only noise being the sound of Nina's deep breaths, looking into each other's eyes lovingly.