❁starbucks❁

❁twenty❁

Nini was at the door to Starbucks, backpack stuffed to the brim with her assignments. Although the academic year was nearing its end, and she would officially no longer be a freshman, the work for Nini never stopped. She had just gotten off of her shift at work and was excited to finish her homework, and most importantly, see her best friend, Ricky. 

She opened the door to the coffee shop to see it nearly empty. It was late evening on a Friday, so it was a pretty slow time. There were a few customers dawdling, and a bored-looking Carlos stood at the register. Nini waved at him, and he waved back, and without a word, he turned and disappeared to the back to start making Nini's coffee.

Meanwhile, Nini set up her homework, and immediately went to work. She really never saw the point in procrastinating, unlike the rest of her peers. Suddenly, just as she opened her assignment on her laptop, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

Ricky was smiling at her, holding her coffee. 

"Hey, Nini." He smiled. 

"Hi." Nini grinned, kissing him on the cheek.

They had been going out for a while, and it was going extremely well. Nini loved spending time with him, and she couldn't wait for him to ask her to be his girlfriend officially, even though she pretty much already considered him to be her boyfriend.

"Whatcha working on today?"

"Just a discussion on a book we had to read for Lit." Nini shrugged. "It probably won't take me long." 

"Good. I was hoping you'd want to go to a party with me." Ricky said casually.

Nini nearly spat out the coffee she had in her mouth.

Throughout her entire college career thus far, she'd only been to one party, and even then, she'd only gone because Kourtney had wanted her to go with her. "Live a little," Kourtney had said, and Nini had begrudgingly agreed. Parties were definitely not Nini's scene; she was way too introverted and tended to try to blend into the shadows. Besides, her past experiences kept her far away from them.

"Niniiiiiiii!" EJ called to Nini, who was idly standing by the food table. He had a red solo cup of God knows what drink in his hand. This wasn't the first time she'd seen him drunk, and she knew he turned into an annoyance. Besides, they'd been arguing a lot lately, and he just seemed to get more and more angry.

The bass was thumping loudly in her ears as she watched some of her friends dancing happily in the middle of the dance floor with a bunch of other kids from her grade. She was intimidated; she couldn't tell if she wanted to go in or not.

"Nini!" EJ shouted, louder this time. Nini walked over to him hesitantly.

"What?" She yelled over the music.

"It's the last party of high school! Come on, we just graduated! Aren't you in the mood to party?" He shouted in her ear so she could hear.

"You know I don't like parties!" She groaned. "Can we go?"

"No!" He said, looking somewhat annoyed. "I'm having fun, Nini! You should be too!" He sipped his drink, and turned back to his friends.

"Please!" She shouted, somewhat desperately. He knew she would get uncomfortable whenever she would get dragged to one of his 'popular people' parties. Nini stuck out like a sore thumb whenever she went.

"No, Nini! I'm having fun. Compromise here." He rolled his eyes and held out another red solo cup. "Want some?"

"What is it?" She asked.

"Hard seltzer." He responded. "It tastes like La Croix."

"We're underage." Nini huffed. She was getting frustrated.

"You're literally no fun at all. Come on. Live a little. This is just pregame for college parties." EJ sighed, downing the rest of his drink and moving on to the one he'd offered her. 

"You know what? Fine." She said angrily, snatching the drink from his hand and taking a drink. She definitely did not like the taste, but the guilt in her stomach felt worse. EJ rolled his eyes.

"Go if you want. I'm staying." He turned to get another drink from a table. "You know we wouldn't have lasted past graduation anyways." He yelled at her as she walked away from him.

He was right. And now, he was gone from her life forever, she decided.

"We're done." She screamed back as she walked out the door. 

"Nini? Do you wanna go?" Ricky asked.

"Um... parties aren't really my thing." She coughed.

"It's a pretty casual thing. I promise. It's not like a frat thing. There probably won't be a ton of people there. And I'll be beside you the entire night. Plus, my friends really want to meet you."

"You promise? And you won't be an asshole to me if you drink?" Nini asked.

"I promise. And of course I won't." Ricky looked at her, confused.

"I'll go." Nini said, surprising herself. "You cannot leave me alone, though. I'll leave." She announced. 

Ricky smiled. "I'll let you go home to find something to wear if you want. My shift ends in a couple hours, and I'll text you when I'm on my way to your dorm."

--

It was three hours later, and Nini was drowning in her own nerves. She'd somehow managed to run and buy a staple 'little black dress', with the help of Kourtney, and was now waiting for Ricky to pick her up. 

"Nini, you have nothing to be worried about!" Kourtney said as she helped Nini put on some natural makeup. 

"I do, though! What if something happens and I lose him or something?" Kourtney rolled her eyes. Nini groaned. "Why did I agree to this?" 

"Because you love him, and he loves you." Kourtney sighed. Nini's phone buzzed. "He's here. Now take a deep breath, you can do it. Call me if something really goes wrong and I'll come get you. This isn't EJ and this isn't high school." She said, practically shoving her towards the door.

Before Nini knew it, the door was slammed in her face, and she was left alone to go downstairs and go to the party. She was so nervous, she almost felt like she was going to throw up. She walked to Ricky's car, opened the door and got in.

No turning back now.

"Woah." Ricky's voice interrupted her worries.

"What?" Nini asked self-consciously.

"Nothing. You're beautiful." Ricky laughed, and started driving.

Nini blushed. "Thanks. Am I dressed appropriately."

"Perfectly." He said, eyes on the road. After fifteen or so minutes of driving, he pulled up to a random house.

"We're here."

ahhhhhh its been forever since ive written. this will be another two parter, possibly three parter who knows? not me. 

also for all the people who have never been to a high school party and feel bad about not going or something i've literally been to one high school party and it was boring so im kinda on ninis side about the high school party thing lol. the only thing i remember abt it was that some white boy shouted the n word and everyone heard it

also im not an ej hater! his character arc was satisfying there just had to be an antagonist lol

BYE FOR NOW