Maybe your heart still stops when you see me

Paris! (Yes. We are still here. Part 5, everybody!)

NINI'S POV
"My children!" Mrs. Rousseau exclaimed as our class gathered around her, breathing heavily. "What have we learned from this experience?"

"Don't.....feed.....pigeons." Connor said between pants. 

"And.... if you do..." Ricky placed an elbow on Connors shoulder, wheezing to catch his breath. "Don't.... run out.... and then run." our class rumbled with laughter as Connor crashed under the weight of the elbow, making Ricky fall with him. 

Maisie rolled her eyes and nudged me gently. "C'mon, let's go help our boys."

It was day five of Pairs, which meant two days left. Was I dreading going home? So much so that every time I thought about it, there was a pit in my stomach. This was the city of romance! And salt lake was...well...I mean it's Utah. We haven't had traffic since the 2002 Olympics. All the sites we have seen in the past five days, all the things I've learned, and all the memories I've made, I'm just not ready for it to be over. Tonight was a special night. We were going to a sunset fair and were allowed some time by ourselves. It was going to be amazing! Games, music, food, shows, performers, and apparently a huge Ferris wheel!! I was absolutely ecstatic to say the least. 

I made my way to Ricky, who was sitting on his bum in the middle of the sidewalk, still catching his breath. 

"Hey ba-ooooooy." Oh my gosh I just almost called him babe. Ricky cocked his head to the right, and raised an eyebrow. "Boy." I said giving him an awkward punch in the shoulder. "Yes. Hello boy."

Ricky chuckled before taking my hand and standing up. "If you were going to call me babe, I wouldn't mind." He said shyly, not letting go of my hand. 

"Really?" I felt of cheeks flush, which was normal around Ricky at this point. 

"Really." He said, grinning from ear to ear. 

"Oh my goooooosh." Maisis groaned from beside us. "Freshman, am I right?"

"Ugh, so cheesy." Connor shook his head and they two burst into laughter. 

Ricky simply rolled his eyes and then turned towards me. "Sooooo, Nini," He scuffed the pavement with the toe of his shoe, still not letting go of my hand. "You know, our class is going to the, um, t-the carnival tonight?" Something that I had learned about Ricky this past few days is that he stutters when he gets nervous. Why would he be stuttering right now? "Anyways, I was wondering if you wanted to kind of maybe go.... go with me? L-like a date? I mean, I know I didn't set it up or anything, but I figured it be kinda special. I-if you don't want to, that's okay. Like if you want to wait for a better time or something, like t-that's totally cool to I jus-"

I stood on my tip toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek, cutting off his rambling. "I couldn't think of better time for a first date." I hummed, giving his hand a tight squeeze. 

"Okay, yay." He sang, returning the squeeze. "I'll meet you in the lobby 10 minutes before we have to leave?" 

"Sounds perfect." I grinned, looking deep into his big, brown puppy eyes. 

"Awesome. I'll see you then.... babe." Ricky said before heading to his room with Connor. I bit my lip to try to keep the huge smile on my face from growing any bigger. 

Maisie came up from behind me and rested her hand on my shoulder. "How ya feeling, nee-"

"He called me babe!!!" I squealed and embraced Maisie in a tight hug. 

"That's great honey." She laughed patting me on the back. "I'm helping you pick what you wear, okay."

"Deal." I said with a grin.