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

16 - Falling into a New Day

Thankfully, Benny had remembered to set an alarm on his phone for the following morning. He was on dispatch at 8am. Never a fun task, but staying in the barrio meant he could hang with Nina all day. Kevin didn't need to know they were together.

When his alarm went off at 7, he groggily awoke, but a smile came on his face as he saw Nina asleep in the crook of his elbow. She was so peaceful. It was as if yesterday's events had never happened. Although he didn't want to move, he had no other choice. He had work to get to and if Kevin wasn't going to find them out, he had to be there on time.

As Benny tried to move, Nina awoke. She pushed herself up on her elbows, and in a cute morning voice, she said, "Morning, Benny." Her eyes were still half closed. Nina was not a morning person, despite being a college student who had to be up before 7 every day for the last year.

"Good Morning cariña, did you sleep well?" He said stroking her hair. It was still perfectly soft, not a single sign of the horrible morning bed hair most girls had.

"I guess I got decent sleep. I didn't sleep as well as I could've, but still, wasn't too bad," she said, yawning.

"That's alright then, I guess. I have an early start down at the dispatch today." Benny said with a frown, wiping a few stay pieces of hair from her face so he could see her eyes clearly.

Nina nodded and stood up, but became light headed and wobbled because she stood up too suddenly.

"Better get moving then, shouldn't we? I'm going to go get myself a change of clothes, I'm sure Abuela has something of mine around here somewhere. You should probably go get dressed too."

"Okay, but you're not going anywhere until I get a good morning kiss from my beautiful girlfriend," he said with a flirtier tone of voice than usual, coming up behind her wrapping his arms around her front and resting his head on her shoulder.

Nina turned her head to the side and kissed him on the cheek, a quick peck. "Now, Benny, get going. I'll meet you at the dispatch," she said in a scolding tone.

"Okay, see you in a bit sweetie." He turned to walk away, he took a few steps, then turned back and looked Nina right in the eye. "But since we'll be around your father all day, I'm going to do this now, as we won't be able to later." He took a larger step back towards her, cupped her face in his hands, pulled her in, "I love you," he said, and he kissed her on the lips.

Nina kissed back then sassily rolled her eyes and took a step back. "I love you too Benny, now go. You have to be at work in 45 minutes and you have to stop by Usnavi's to get your usual." She jumped onto her tiptoes, gave him another peck on the lips and walked away, scavenging the closets for something to wear. Eventually, she found a dark gray shirt with some blue jeans that were a bit too long. She put them on in the bathroom and then walked to the kitchen. From there, she cooked an egg sunny side up for her breakfast and left a note saying, "Abuela, thank you for allowing Benny and I to stay the night. (despite the lack of choice) Love you, Nina." She walked down to the dispatch, waiting for Benny.

Benny ran out the door and up to his apartment, that just so happened to be above the dispatch. He grabbed a white shirt, a black tie, and trousers and rushed them on. He threw on his smart white trainers and grabbed a cereal bar for breakfast. He didn't want to waste any time. He ran across to the bodega and grabbed the usual. 2 Milky Ways for later, daily news, post and the coffee for Kevin. He told Usnavi he was in a rush but that he'd meet him that afternoon after his shift. He then headed out the bodega and into work with plenty of time to spare. Nina was already there waiting for him.

"See, plenty of time to spare." Benny said looking at his watch.

Nina greeted him with a hug and then backed away from the dispatch microphone, saying, "Take it away."

Benny started listening to the requests coming in on his radio, trying his best to answer in Spanish where possible. Nina helped him a bit, but his attempts at the language were not the best.

She giggled a bit when he got things wrong, answered again for him when he messed up absurdly, and ended up translating for him. Eventually, he signed off, and nearly immediately, Kevin walked in with an angry stature, and an even more stern face.