❁starbucks❁

❁sixteen❁

Rain poured down outside the window, and the skies outside were gloomy and gray. Nini was sitting in one of the room's 50 or so cold classroom chairs, taking notes in her neat penmanship, trying her best to force herself into being interested in today's boring lecture. Nini looked around at her peers, and they all looked even more bored than she felt. She saw one boy who looked like he was genuinely about to fall asleep.

Today was just a day, as Kourtney would say. She had started off her day by waking up late, nearly missing her first class of the day. Then, she had spilled red bull on her favorite pair of jeans, so she had had to sprint in the pouring rain to her dorm to change into the first pair of pants she had found so she didn't miss her next class. Now she'd been sitting in the dismally decorated room full of nearly asleep looking students for about an hour, writing notes and waiting for the lecture to end. The professor was also clearly in a bad mood. About what Nini didn't know, but it certainly didn't help that all his students all looked so utterly unentertained that they could pass out.

Today was bad, as she would say to Kourtney. Nini loved school, but after about thirty minutes of the professor droning on, she began to will the lecture to be over soon so she could just get in her car and drive to Starbucks and see Ricky and forget that the early parts of this day had ever happened.

After roughly half an hour more, the professor finally dismissed his students. Nini practically ran out of the room. She snatched her keys from her pocket, where she'd been secretly toying with them every few minutes, and prepared herself to be drenched in the rain that was pouring outside. 

The storm had been roaring all morning. Nini had heard intermittent rumbles of thunder and seen quick flashes of light through the dim classroom windows. 

She walked briskly outside, quickly noting the rain that were beginning to decorate her shirt with dark spots. She cursed herself for not being able to find a parking spot closer to the building as her shirt slowly became less of its original light gray color and more of a dark gray. The rain pounded on the pavement and the sound of it filled Nini's ears. The sound of the downpour was accompanied by a group of shrieking students moving from their class into the rain. Nini was overwhelmed by the amount of things around her; her soaking wet self, the screaming peers, the flash of lightning; her feet slowly pounding the pavement faster.

Finally, she got in her car, welcoming the dry environment. She sighed. She could not wait to get to Starbucks.

After sitting in traffic, she pulled into her usual spot in the parking lot of the coffee shop she knew so well. She sighed, knowing the familiar and welcoming environment and employees/her friends would bring her happiness after the exhausting day she'd had. 

When she walked through the door,  it was thankfully not very busy, but a girl had sat in Nini's familiar spot. No big deal, she thought, she could just pick another place and get her nice, warm coffee that she frankly needed after this long and awful day-

"Nina." A voice jolted her out of her thoughts. She looked back at her spot to see Gina sitting there.

Great. As if her day couldn't get any worse, Gina was sitting in front of Nini, a smirk stretched across her face. She held her own coffee and took a sip.

"I need to talk to you." She sighed. "Have a seat?"

"Sure." Nini said. Internally, her anxieties were at their peak. Gina intimidated Nini. "I'll just get my-"

"Coffee?" Gina rolled her eyes. "I already got it for you. Here." She said, handing her a cup that had Big Red's confusing handwriting on it.

"Oh. Um, thanks." Nini said, caught off guard. She took a sip and breathed in its warm and calming scent. It reminded her of Ricky. "So what's up?"

"You like Ricky." Gina said matter-of-factly. "Don't try to deny it. I saw you when you were walking out of the restaurant with his hoodie on. That you still haven't given back."

Nini's face grew hot. Gina knew about the hoodie. And about the fact that she liked Ricky. Was she that obvious? "Oh, uh-" she began to try and explain herself, not even fully knowing what her explanation was.

"Stop." Gina interjected. "Ricky honestly wants you to have it judging from the hours he's talked about that night to me." Gina rolled her eyes. 

"Oh." Was all Nini could say. She was shocked.

"You're gonna have to make the first move on him, you know that, right?" Gina sipped her coffee. "He's so infatuated with you, but he's so scared of losing your friendship forever so he'll never confess no matter how many times I've told him to." She seemed to soften at this point. 

"You've told him to ask me out? And he likes me?" Nini was shocked and yet also elated at this news. A grin stretched across her face subconciously. Her best friend liked her back. Butterflies swarmed her stomach furiously.

"Yeah. You guys are cute." Gina smiled.

"Uh, thanks." Nini smiled back.

"Ricky's one of my best friends. We went to high school together, and met in our sophomore year. I was feeling a bit lost in my life at that point." Gina was beginning to fully open up to Nini. Nini drank her coffee casually, but internally was feeling many emotions ranging from confusion to happiness. Gina sighed. "I had kind of forgotten what it was like to have a best friend. But then I met Ricky at exactly the right time, and we just clicked instantly and became best friends. We promised to be friends forever." Gina paused. "I would honestly do anything for him. Which is why I'm trying to help you get together with him. You have made him the happiest I've ever seen him." Nini smiled. Gina took a breath and started gathering her belongings. "That's all I came here to say." She looked over her shoulder as she was about to exit and smiled. "Bye, Nini."

new chapter for you all! thank you for all the reads (i cannot believe im almost at 10K!!!!) and love on this story! its honestly one of my favorite things ive ever written. what do we think of gina now? :) 

i hope you r all finding ways to connect with people during quarantine! don't forget to check on your friends:)

(also fyi i don't have an update schedule. i just update when i want lol)