ricky and nini's realizations

chapter 13

ricky's pov

we're all sitting in big red's basement. i'm sitting at the end of red's bed watching the tv as big red is playing the new game while explaining the different controls to all of us. gina is sitting on the floor and the two chairs are occupied by greyson and big red. after a while i hear the basement door open, followed by the sound of quick, small footsteps belonging to nini. i get butterflies in my stomache as i see her reach the bottom of the stairs. that has never happened around her before and it freaked me out big time. i look away from her because of it, then i feel the bed dip beside me. nini joins me on the bed given that there's no where else to sit. "so who wants to play first?" big red says as he grabs two controllers to hand out. "nini you wanna take a turn with me?" greyson asks her already reaching for the controllers from big red. she giggles, "um well i wasn't hear to learn how to play, but i guess. sure," she smiles reaching for the controller from greyson. they start playing and we're all laughing together, including nini, at her awful gaming skills. "we all know i'm terrible at video games. this is just worse than usual because i seriously don't know what i'm doing," she says laughing to all of us. greyson keeps trying to talk her about their days as their characters move across the screen together. i decide to do something i've never done. sure i've taught nini how to play video games before, but never like what i'm about to do. and i didn't think about what i was doing either, that's for sure. "mind if i help?" i ask nini but don't wait for an answer. i move behind her on the bed while putting my arms around her body to hold my hands over hers that are already holding the controller. i feel her tense just slightly for a second then relax.

nini's pov

ricky's whole body is against the back of mine with his arms wrapped fully around me moving my fingers to the right buttons in order to play the game right. he's taught me how to play different video games in the past, but it was always pretty straight forward. like telling me which button to click. this was kinda weird to me, but i didn't wanna move away. i feel like that'd just make it weirder. i begin to relax against ricky because it feels as though quite a few minutes have gone by. nobody has asked for a turn or said anything. at this point his head is resting on my shoulder. i couldn't sit like this any longer. it felt like a more than friend thing to do. i stand up fast out of ricky's hold, "gina! you probably want a turn by now," i hold the controller out to her, "here." then i take a seat next to her on the floor.

ricky's pov

nini jumps off of the bed out of nowhere. did i do something? then greyson asks, "yo ricky, want a turn too?" "oh sure. thanks," i say taking it from his hand. nini's talking with greyson while gina and i are playing the game. which is driving me crazy. i'm lost in my thoughts while i play the game with ease after getting the hang of it with nini's turn. i start to wonder if i'm jealous. but i couldn't be. what is there to be jealous of. my best friend can do whatever she wants... but what if i don't want her to do whatever she wants. i can hear how messed up and rude that is in my head. but this greyson guy is driving me crazy about nini. but why?!

general pov

nini and greyson stand up at the same time, "guys were gonna go. thanks for having us over big red," nini smiles following greyson to the stairs. "yeah thanks man. it was good to chill out," he says before he turns to go up the stairs ahead of nini. before nini touches the first step, ricky pauses the game to say, "wait nini. how come you guys aren't staying to eat? big red was gonna order pizza." "shoot sorry red. we were talking about all of the homework we have and decided to go ahead and get home before it gets any later," she tells red then finishes her sentence while talking to ricky. "oh okay. bye," is all ricky says. after they're gone gina speaks up, "oh man. i think they were talking about our english assignment that's due tomorrow. i better get home to get that done too. bye guys." that leaves ricky and big red alone. they just play the game in silence for a bit. the door bell rings signaling the pizza big red still ordered even after everyone else left. the boys dig into the greasy pepperoni pizza when red sparks up conversation, "you don't like greyson do you?" ricky looks up at him, "why do you think that?" big red shrugs his shoulders while taking another bite of his pizza, "you just seem like you get tense when he talks to nini. maybe tense is the wrong word. you just gravitate towards her, more than usual, when he's around." i didn't know any of it was that obvious. "can i trust you with something?" i ask him already knowing i can tell him anything. "for sure dude. what's up?" he says getting more comfortable as if he can already sense the long conversation ahead. "look i know greyson is a good guy. him and ej have become good friends, he's nice to all of us, and he fits in good with the group aside from how little he talks at times. but..." ricky trails off. "but... you don't like him when he's around," big red raises his eyebrows a bit while he finishes ricky's thought for him. i drop my head in shame, "pretty much, but i don't know why. i keep thinking about it and just end up with empty thoughts." he gives ricky a knowing look, "ricky dude. i think you have feelings for nini. it's always been ricky and nini since literally forever. so this is the first time there's another person in the mix. and it's bringing out how you've always felt." i look at him like he's crazy letting out a scoff, "no red. i don't like nini! i just don't like that he has been spending a lot of time with her lately. which has taken away some of the time we usually have to hang out together." red doesn't look convinced, "that's all! nothing more." big red says, "whatever ricky. let me know when you finally realize how you really feel." ricky starts getting annoyed by this conversation that's going nowhere, "oh whatever red. thanks for the pizza but i'm gonna head home. i'm tired. see you man," ricky informs him just before he swiftly leaves up the stairs to get home.