A light || Ricky and Nini

Chapter 60

Nini POV

I walk down the stairs slowly, my ankle proving to me that slow and steady is the way to go. Once I reach the bottom of the step, Seb and Carlos are the first to run up and hug me. "You don't scare us EVER again okay?" Carlos says desperately, giving my shoulders a tight squeeze. I laugh and say "I promise" turning to give Seb a kiss on the cheek. Red comes over and wraps his arm around my shoulder and I smile at him. "Thanks for coming over to check on me guys, it really means a lot." I see EJ get up from the couch. "Thanks for the free popcorn." He says putting an empty bowl down on the coffee table. I laugh and lean in to Red, suddenly exhausted by my own weight. "How are you feeling?" Seb asks quietly and I give a small smile. "Everything is sore. My head feels like it's filled with lead and I have a massive headache. But I'm pretty good." I say. The girls laugh and take ahold of one of my hands. "That's our girl." Gina says and I give her a grateful smile. "Alright y'all we need to leave so that our girl can get some REST." Kourtney announces, putting emphasis on the last word and making me wince from the loud sound. "Sorry babe." She says noticing my discomfort and Ricky walks over to me, taking ahold of my hand. I don't let go but I don't acknowledge it. "I'm sorry this was a boring trip." I say to the guys. "Not at all Nini, we needed to make sure you were okay." Red says. "And I got free food" EJ says with a shrug. I laugh and give everyone a hug as they head out the door. "One call away" Gina reminds me as I leave. "Wait how are you gonna get back up the stairs? What if you fall?" Carlos interjects before he leaves. "Oh, it's fine I can handle it." I say, not alluding to the fact that Ricky might stay. I don't want to suggest it first because if he doesn't, then it's fine by me right now. I look to see Ricky's mouth open as if he's gonna say something but he doesn't, he just leans against the door frame. I watch as EJ taps Ricky on the shoulder. "You comin man?" He asks quietly and I see Ricky shake his head, so I now know to mentally prepare. "Carlos, really I'm fine." He shakes his head and grabs my arm. "No way. What if you get dizzy and fall back down the steps? Or you collapse? Nope. Let's go upstairs." He says and he links my arm with his and helps me up the steps. I blow kisses to the rest of the group who didn't get a hug from me and Carlos helps me back up and into bed. "Here let me get your blankets, and do you need any water or anything?" He asks. "I'm good hon. It's just, is... Never mind." I say changing my mind and sinking myself into the mattress. "Lover boy? Yeah he's downstairs. I don't know what's going on but I can get him to leave. It might kill him but-" I shake my head. "It's fine it's up to him." I say quietly. Carlos nods. "Call me if you need anything Nini." I nod and he leans over to give me a hug. I watch him leave and I snuggle my face into my pillow.

For a split second my headache feels like it's going away but then I hear a light tap on my door. I groan and Ricky comes in, closing the door behind him and standing awkwardly by the wall. "Hey Nins." He says and I wince. "Can you take it down? It's so loud." I say and he nods frantically, inviting himself to come over to my place on the bed. He sits down on the edge and his hand comes over to graze my arm. For a second I enjoy the feeling of his hand on my body, calming me in a way I haven't felt since leaving the hospital. That is, until I remembered why I'm not being more affectionate towards him and I get irritated. "Can you tell me what's going on?" He asks softly and I get more annoyed. "What do you mean?" I ask and he looks over me carefully. "You're being evasive." He says dryly and I glare at him. "Must be the concussion." I say. "Nini come on what's going on?" He asks raising his voice. "Nothing" I say and for some reason I don't want to tell him. I don't want to feel like an idiot if it's truly nothing to worry about, and I don't want him to lie to me about chilling with another girl while I was in a hospital room. It's a lose- lose situation. "Nini come on this isn't fair. You're clearly mad at me for something I don't even know about." I wince as his voice gets louder and my hands come up to my temples. "Shit I'm sorry babe" he says, his hands coming over mine near my head. "Ow" is all I say and he rests his head on top of mine. "Can we please talk quietly" I ask him pleading. I feel him nod and he sits even closer to me. "Let's start again." He says and I nod, taking a deep breath. "What's going on?" He asks again. I look down. My voice is exceptionally quiet and I know he's waiting to hold onto every word. "Ashlyn and Gina said they saw you with someone at the hospital. A girl? She was all touchy with you and this was all while I was in the hospital room." He breathes out. "fuck" he whispers and he pushes his curls back. "Natalie." He whispers and I look up into his eyes. "From elementary school?" I ask him. He nods and I start to put things together. We knew her growing up but she transferred schools when she got to middle school. She had a crush on Ricky and since they no longer went to the same school, she went out of her way to see him as we grew up. She and I ended up getting pretty close, but her thing with Ricky went too far and we all tried to distance ourself from her. The last time we saw her was the summer before high school. So of course she'd still be all over Ricky. But why did he let her? "Her dad was in the hospital for a minor heart attack. She was leaning on me and I was so scared thinking about you that I confided in her. I didn't see it as being touchy, I thought it was just comfort." He admits to me quietly and I nod. I truthfully have no clue what to think. He told me up front who he was with, he had nothing to hide. It just truly pisses me off that he sees everything as a friendly gesture. "Nini? Talk to me" he pleads, keeping his voice down low. "I don't know, I guess it's nothing. It's just I hate that you see girls as just being friendly to you." I say, my voice raising and my hands gesturing wildly. His hands come and grab mine to put them down and he his eyes hold worry as I get a little dizzy. "I've got to stay quiet." I say annoyed with myself. "I know babe, God I know. I just hate to be rude." I nod understanding but I still wasn't fully comfortable. "Can you just give me a second to think? Please?" I ask and he takes his hands away from mine. He gets up from the bed and nods, even though an immense amount of pain is obvious in his eyes. "I'm going downstairs. I'm not leaving this house until we talk this through." I nod and sigh, falling back into my pillows and wordlessly letting him leave my room. He turns back though and walks over to me, grabbing my face and pulling me into a butterfly-inducing kiss. I couldn't tell if it was his lips or the concussion making me feel dizzy but I melt into him just as as he pulls back. "Just a reminder that I'm yours." He says walking back to the door. I feel my chest pounding from his sudden action and it only continues as he turns back around after reaching the door. "You know what? I'm staying right here. I'll sit across the room from you but there's no way I'm leaving you." I try to fight the smile moving onto my face. He dramatically walks over to my swinging chair and struggles to sit cross legged in it. When he's situated he looks at me and smiles. "Think" he says gesturing to the room and leaning back in the swing. I push my head into my pillows to hide my smile and start working through my thoughts.