sun without rain - rini

no harm in trying

may 22.
senior prom

nini was supposed to be excited. she had been dreaming of it since she was 12. but something felt different. she didn't want to go, she was too caught up with the scary pictures that filled her head every night. growing up. not being there. for ricky. when he needed her most.

nini woke up to the sounds of early 2000's music flooding throughout the house, and the familiar sound of ricky's voice. a typical morning for the pair. she walked downstairs to find him by the stove, cooking breakfast. "hey" she said, wrapping herself around him ricky returned the hug, planting a kiss to her forehead. "where's moms?" she asked, taking note of empty spot where their bags usually sat. "i told them to go out for breakfast, a little thank you from me". nini kissed him, before taking a spot in front of the tv. despite her school reputation, nini took a great interest in the affairs of the world. ricky would often find her scrolling through the news app on her phone, or watching the morning news on the tv before school. soon, ricky sat down next to her, holding two plates, both filled with eggs, bacon and various salads.

shortly after the teens had finished breakfast, dana and carol arrived home. "nini ! what are you doing! it's prom, aren't you going over to gina's to get ready?". nini hadn't told her mothers about the altercation that had occurred only two days before. "actually, i was thinking of just getting ready here...if that's okay?" "of course, honey" dana replied. it was 12:35 pm, approximately 6 hours before the event nini had been dreading. "i don't have to get ready, yet though" she said, before heading upstairs into her bedroom.

a usual saturday in the salazar-roberts household slowly turned into a movie day, and often ricky and nini found themselves tucked in bed, watching movies on nini's laptop for hours on end. "it's 3:30, nini" ricky said, closing the laptop and placing it on the desk in her bedroom. reluctant to get out from under the warm duvet, nini groaned. "cmon, it's not going to be as bad as you think, everyone's going!" ricky said, before heading out the door and into his own bedroom. nini pulled herself out of bed and into her bathroom, where the dress she had picked out, hung behind the door. sighing, she put it on and suddenly the emotions overtook her. she sat on the floor of her bathroom, crying for what seemed to be hours on end.

ricky took note of nini's absence, and knocked on the door. nini sniffled before turning the handle and letting him in. it was obvious that she had been crying, her face red and puffy. "hey, what's up?" ricky said as he places a strand of hair behind her ear. she wrapped her arms around his neck, connecting their lips. "i don't know, i guess i've been dreading this day" "it's going to be fun nini, plus the after party is always the best part, right?" " ricky, it's at ginas, and after what happened on wednesday, i don't think i can go, to prom at all". ricky took the dress from the hanger, passing it to her. "i promise, i'll be there, it'll be fine".

with after a long phone call with her best friend, nini was finally ready. it was 6:30 and the event started at 7:00. "you ready?" ricky yelled from downstairs.

**

they walked into the hall, which was filled with twinkle lights, flowers and sparkles. "wow" nini said. she had never seen such a place. she looked around, and finally, her eyes landed on gina, ej and the other footballers and cheerleaders. "hey, we don't have to go over there" ricky said, pulling her to his chest. they looked around before finding ashlyn, big red, carlos and seb sitting at a table on the other side of the gym.

"hey nini !" ashlyn said, smiling. nini and ashlyn had never been close. she was head of the debating team and avid cosplayer. but she knew ashlyn's boyfriend, big red through ricky. "hey" she replied. although the tension inside grew, nini felt an unfamiliar sense of comfort with ashlyn. she didnt know if it was her bright smile or nurturing voice, nini liked it. she continued to observe the surroundings - the loud music and the blur of chatting voices. ricky knew nini was scared. he grabbed her hand, leading her to the dancefloor in the middle of the room. keeping their hands intertwined, ricky tried to cheer nini up by trying, and failing, to dance with her. she smiled through her approaching tears. she could feel gina's eyes burning into her back. ricky looked up to see gina glaring at him from a distance and felt his body tense. "let's go" he said sternly, leading her out of the gym and into the dark empty hallway. they ran through the doors of the school and landed at nini's car. "where are we going? its only 8" nini asked, confused. ricky grabbed the car keys out of nini's bag an jumped into the drivers seat. "somewhere else". nini quickly hopped into the passenger seat and they drove off. neither of them knew where. but they knew they were going.