𝐼 𝑆𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑌𝑜𝑢 - ℎ𝑠𝑚𝑡𝑚𝑡𝑠

CHAPTER 15

ricky pov -

"oh my god, okay!" i say, surprised to hear they found gina. "where is she?" i ask.
"ej said they are at the playground by her elementary school. he said it's about 15 minutes away. let's get an uber." nini says.
"okay. is she hurt?" i ask, still in a state of shock.
"no, not physically. but ej said she won't talk and she seems pretty shaken up." nini says.
"shaken up? what does that mean?" i ask.
"i don't know, to be honest." nini replies.
nini gets on her phone and gets us an uber.
"i'm worried. i know they found her but it's unlike gina to not talk." i say, as we wait for the uber to arrive.
"what do you mean?" nini asks.
"gina always wants to talk about how she's feeling. or at least that's how it was when we dated. anytime she was upset or sad she would want to talk about it. she never just shut me out. she would always tell me what was wrong because she wanted someone to fix it." i say.
"maybe she just doesn't know how to say what she's feeling." nini says, making me think.
"maybe." i say.
the uber pulls up and we both get in the back.
"can you take us here?" nini asks as she shows the uber driver her phone. ej had sent her the location.
the uber driver nods and starts driving. we were both pretty worried so we just looked out the window the whole ride.
we finally arrive at the elementary school and see gina, ej, and ms. porter at the playground in the distance.
"thank you, sir." nini says as she pays him.
we both get out of the car and run over to the playground. gina was sitting on a swing staring off into space.
"gina?" i say, hoping to hear something come out of her mouth.
she didn't say anything. we all sat there and comforted gina. we didn't rush her or make her say anything. we just all sat there, calmly. in that moment, i was more scared than i've ever been. i didn't know what was wrong with gina. no one did.

we sat there for around 15 minutes until gina uttered the words "i saw dad." while looking at her mom.
"gina, dad is dead." ms. porter says as a tear rolls down her cheek.

gina's dad had died when she was 12. she was a 7th grader. when we dated she always talked about him and how hard it was for her. she always said that just because it had been a while doesn't mean she would ever forget it.
he died of cancer. he was diagnosed with cancer when she was 11 and died around a year later. it hurt her to think that he wouldn't be at her graduation or her wedding or anything else.

"no, mom. i saw him. i was walking down a sidewalk in a random neighborhood and he just appeared beside me. he said i should go back home and that you missed me. he said he would always be there for me. he said he would be home soon." gina says, causing us all to get emotional.
"honey..." ms. porter says, clearly not knowing how to reply.
"i know i saw him mom." gina says. "i'm sorry i ran away and i'm sorry for all the things i've done but if i hadn't done them i wouldn't have seen dad."
"honey, you didn't see dad. it was just your imagination. i'm sorry." ms. porter says, a little bit shaken up herself.
"are you sure?" gina asks.
"yes, gina. i know it's hard for you. it's hard for me too. i miss dad a lot and i know you do too." ms. porter says.
"i really do, mom. i'm sorry for everything i've done. and i'm sorry all of you have to see me like this. i just didn't know what else to do." gina says.
"gina, it's okay. we all love you and want you to be okay." i say.
nini agrees with me, ej following right after her.
"i know we've been through a lot but i'll always be here for you." nini says.
"and i know we aren't really that close but i'll always care about you and if you ever need anything you can call me or text me." ej says.
"thanks guys!" gina says. "mom, can we go home?" she asks.
"of course. thank you guys for helping. i can take it from here." ms. porter says.
"anytime." i say.
nini and ej smile at gina and her mom.
we start to walk to ej's car.
"that was terrifying. i was afraid she was gonna be hurt or dead." nini says.
"i know, me too. but she's okay and she's gonna get the help she needs and that's all that matters." i say.
"yeah, that's all that matters." nini says.

nini pov -

it really wasn't the only thing that mattered. today has been a really hard day and the only thing that got me through it was ricky. he's the only person who helps me get through anything.
"hey, uh... can we talk? at my house?" i ask ricky as we get into ej's car.
"yeah." he says.

we finally get to my house and ricky tells ej he's gonna stay at my house for a little bit.
"okay, see you guys at school tomorrow." ej says.
he pulls out of my driveway.
"ugh, i forgot it's sunday. i really don't want to go to school tomorrow." ricky says.
"yeah me either." i say as we make our way to my front door.
"so, what did you wanna talk about?" ricky asks me.
we walk up to my bedroom and sit on my bed. i didn't know how to get the words to come out of my mouth. i was so nervous. i wasn't good at talking about my feelings.
"nini?" he says.
"oh... um... i just wanted to talk about what happened with... gina." i say, lying.
"oh." ricky says. he sounded disappointed but i didn't question it.

we sat there on my bed for around 10 minutes talking about what happened with gina even though it isn't what i wanted to talk about.

"i guess i should do my homework so i'll see you at school tomorrow." i say.
"yeah... sure." he says.

word count - 1074

𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 15!! ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑔𝑢𝑦𝑠 𝑒𝑛𝑗𝑜𝑦𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟! 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 16 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑝 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘. 𝑇𝐻𝐴𝑁𝐾 𝑌𝑂𝑈 𝑆𝑂 𝑀𝑈𝐶𝐻 𝐹𝑂𝑅 14𝐾 𝑅𝐸𝐴𝐷𝑆!!! 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑎 𝑏𝑖𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑙𝑖𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑦! ❤️