A light || Ricky and Nini

Chapter 111

Ricky POV

"Nini, what is this?" I ask a little breathless. She blushes and looks down at the book I'm holding in my hands. The cover reads "falling in love with you" and I already feel the emotion, even though I haven't looked through it. "I've known you all my life, and I've also sorta been falling in love with you all my life too. I just never really realized it until I took a look back." She begins to play with her fingers, a nervous habit, and I take one of her hands and rub my thumb gently over it. "I compiled everything from over the years. Notes from 5th grade that Kourtney would pass to me telling me that I had a crush on you. Copies of diary entries when I started to realize my feelings for you, pictures we'd take together when we were just friends. Even individual pictures of you that I'd take when I thought you looked cute and you'd pose for the camera like a child. It's all in there." She tells me and I look down at the book, the tears blurring my vision. "You made this for me?" I ask when I look up and she nods. "It's probably silly but-" I cut her off as I begin to flip through the pages, tears flowing from my eyes freely. "It's literally the complete opposite Nini." I whisper as my eyes skim over a notebook page of her writing. "I felt butterflies today when he leaned over to grab my pencil for me." It read and I smile through my tears, looking up at Nini. Her eyes are a little glazed over too and she smiles softly. I wipe at my eyes, squeezing one of her hands tighter. "It's just, I know sometimes it's hard to remember how much you're loved. Not specifically you, just people in general. And sometimes we think the people in our lives are temporary, especially when we're lacking constants that other people might have. But I've loved you all my life, and I have so much crap to prove it. You're my life Ricky." She shrugs, and her voice breaks on the last line, breaking down my wall as my tears come faster. "I don't think you can even understand how much this means to me." I choke out and she smiles, bringing our foreheads to rest against each other. "And it's not crap, I saw a laminated gum wrapper in there and that's a state of the art souvenir." I whisper as an afterthought. She laughs, pulling back to dry her eyes with her sleeve. "I love you, and I just want you to remember that I always will. No matter what." She says and I trail my knuckles gently across her cheek before cupping the back of her neck. "I'm so in love with you Nini Salazar-Roberts and that's never going to change either." Her eyes are wide and beautiful as she presses her lips to mine. The kiss holds safety, love and hope and her body falls against mine a little more.

When Nini pulls back from our kiss, her fingers go right to my hair. "I'm pretty lucky." I say, breaking our sweet silence. She smiles, turning her head. "And why's that?" She asks curiously. "Because at seventeen, I know who I'm going to marry and have kids with." She smiles brighter and laughs, scooting herself closer into my chest. "Oh?" She questions and I smile at her teasing. Bringing my nose close to the side of her head, I kiss her temple and then move my lips towards her ear. "Mhm and I'll fill you in on the details later, because I'll probably find our planned out future in that book." She laughs beautifully and turns to face me entirely. "Don't be so sure of yourself." I turn my head and reach my hand out for the book. "Oh really? That's kinda dis-" she cuts me off and pulls my hand back. "Okay okay shush you." I chuckle and she presses herself into me as I rock our bodies just a little. "I can't wait to spend every year with you." She says and I kiss her cheek, pulling her body down so that we can lay on the blankets. "I can't wait either baby. It's kinda amazing." I say and she looks at me a little perplexed. "What is?" I close my eyes, allowing all the tension to leave my body as I focus on her hands rubbing shapes on my chest. "That this is only the beginning."