A light || Ricky and Nini

Chapter 90

Nini POV

As we walk outside I grab my phone from the pocket of my dress to call the Uber back to the hotel. "Nins, your purse." Ricky says and I look at my body like it's hanging off me. He laughs. "No, where is it?" He says and my eyes widen. "Oh shit. Did I leave it by our table?" I ask and he looks confused for a second and then seems to come into realization of something. "It's on your chair. I saw you set it down when you came back in." I nod, shaking my head at my stupidity. "Lemme run and get it." I say and he laughs. "I love how you didn't forget you phone." I smile and stick my hands in the pockets of my dress. "It's because my dress has pockets." I say, wiggling and he laughs, stabling my hips and kissing my forehead. "Go get your purse, you idiot. There's a Starbucks across the street, I'm gonna run and get us iced coffees for the morning. Early flights and caffeine seem to go well." He says adorably and I kiss his cheek. I feel him tug on my arm though right as I walk away. "Wait-" I can see the thoughts running through his head and I sigh, bringing my hand to my cheek. "I'm in public babe, nothing can happen to me." I assure him and he looks a little unsure but nods, and watches me walk back into the hotel. 

As I walk back through the hotel (as I had several times that day) I see my phone light up with an incoming call. I roll my eyes when I see it's from EJ and I pick up the phone. "What?" I ask and EJ snorts. "It sounds like Chicago's treating you well. Or maybe it's just all the time you're spending with-" I smile and cut him off. "What do you want?" I ask more politely. "Better" he says and I walk down the hallway towards the bathroom, away from the ballroom area in fear of ruining or disrupting the reception, while I'm on the phone with EJ. I hear him sigh into the receiver. "Gina and I got into a fight. I don't know what to do." I frown as I hear the evident sadness in his voice. "What did you do?" I ask. "Hey! Bold of you to assume I did something." He says defensively and I raise my eyebrows even though he can't see me. "Did you?" I hear a sigh from the other end. "Yeah" he says completely defeated. I fight the urge to laugh. "She was hanging out with her friends from her dance studio and there was a guy... well a few guys and I got too jealous." I think for a second. "At least you didn't steal her phone." I say. "Nini! Damnit what do I do?" He asks me and I fight the urge to laugh again. "Apologize and mean it EJ. You can't charm yourself out of your situations." I hear EJ sigh and I know he's contemplating what I'm saying. Through the silence though I see the someone walking down the hallway, stopping to sit in a fancy chair. Right away I see that it's Jason and although I prayed he wouldn't see me, I knew that it'd be impossible to avoid him by the way we were situated in the hallway. I'd have to leave at some point, even if he didn't see me all the way down here. "Nini?" EJ speaks into the receiver, noticing my silence. "Stay on the line with me. There's this guy I don't really trust... just stay here." I whisper into the receiver and I bring down my phone and pretend to text. Right as I do, I look up and notice that Jason has completely seen me and he's completely on his way down the hallway. His smirk is evident and he walks like he's attempting to seduce me into thinking he's attractive. My heart races knowing the type of pervert he is but knowing EJ was on the line made me feel a bit safer, remembering all that he had done to help me against the senior bully that tried to take me down. "Back for another session, are we?" Jason asks when he's approached me and I don't know what to say. "Or did you ditch the curly haired dude? My "brother" if you will." Jason says with quotations and arrogance. "I just have to grab my purse, and my friend called so..." I say and he nods like he understands. "You left it in the bathroom?" he asks with a smirk and I make a disgusted face. "No, at the table... why the hell am I explaining this to you?" I ask and he shrugs. "Maybe, it's because you'd like to confide in me." My mouth drops and Jason takes a step towards me, prompting me to take a step back. "Not even close." I say and he shrugs again, continuing to move closer to me. I start to realize I'm running out of room, the wall dangerously close behind me. "Are you sure?" he asks me slowly, and before I know it his hand is against the wall by my head. "Get away from me." I say and he smirks. "But just an hour ago you were in that bathroom with the Ricky. And I bet I could get you to forget about him real quick." I fight the urge to shudder from his words, trying not to show any weakness. He brings a finger up to my hairline and draws it down slowly and I actually feel like throwing up. "Stop touching me." I say and he just smiles. He tries to move closer to me but before he can we hear a voice. "Get away from her RIGHT NOW." Both of our heads swivel to the other end of the hallway. Lynne is standing there, anger and protection clear in her face. She comes rushing over, pulling on my arm and wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "You good, sweetie?" I nod, so grateful for her embrace and her quick save. "What is wrong with you Jason? She said no. She has a boyfriend for god's sakes, MY SON!" Lynne says and Jason shrugs nonchalantly. "Oh well." He says, moving away from us and walking down the hallway. "Todd's not going to believe it when I tell him. I don't even know what to do with him. Send him somewhere?" She mutters and I shrug, but she pulls me into a hug. "How'd you-" I try to ask and she smiles softly and holds up my purse. "I was on my way to chase after you guys, but I saw Ricky crossing the street through the glass door and you weren't with him. Jason wasn't accounted for... let's just say, mother's intuition." She says and I smile. When she pulls away from another hug we look up to see Ricky walking down the hallway, a Starbucks bag in his hand and a concerned facial expression on his face. "Please don't tell him" I say and she nods. "Hey everything good?" Ricky asks when he approaches us and Lynne nods. "She ran to the bathroom and I found her purse so, needless to say..." she says smiling very convincingly. I nod and he brings an arm around my waist. "Awesome, let's get going, yeah?" He smiles and I nod again. We bid Lynne goodbyes and as we walk outside again I check my phone. "Outgoing call 14 minutes" my phone says and I close my eyes when I realize that it means EJ only hung up a minute ago. He listened well past Jason being around and I open my messages to see he's already texted. "What the fuck??" One said and another read "Hung up when I heard Ricky's voice. You're all good. But you should tell him." My eyes crinkle and Ricky looks down at me. "You alright Nins?" I nod, looking up into his brown eyes. There's no way I can tell him. "Thanks so much. And I will." I respond. But truthfully, what happens in Chicago stays in Chicago, right?