wave after wave 🌊 [rini au]

fall ; 22

Nini's hand gripped Ricky's as they walked out of the arrival gate with Carlos and Seb, heading to Seb's BnB on the North Shore. She squeezed his hand nervously when a car pulled up in front of them and a group of people streamed out to greet them. Ricky let go of her hand and stroked her cheek lightly, and then proceeded to hug the friends who came to the airport to welcome him back to Oahu. He returned to her side shortly, looping his arms around her waist and kissed her temple sweetly; he could feel her trembling body press against his, so he stroked her waist slightly, in an attempt to calm her down. It was undeniably overwhelming for Nini to be surrounded by so many unfamiliar guys, the last thing that Ricky wanted for her was to be scared. "Guys, this is Nini, my girlfriend. Nini, these are my lifeguard friends," She tucked her cheek into his shoulder as he listed off the names of his friends and she shook their hands with a smile. The guys helped to load their bags into the trunk before everyone piled into the car; everyone except Carlos, because he felt better off in an uber, and headed straight to his own home.

The girl was situated on Ricky's lap as the car was one seat short of comfort. She sighed slightly, not knowing if she could endure the situation for the entire half an hour drive. While the others were engaged in conversation, catching Ricky up with the situation at the North Shore, the curly-haired boy sat up and leaned into close to his girlfriend's ear, whispering, "I'm sorry, I didn't know that the word spread that I was coming back, I swear I didn't tell anyone." Nini shot him a look, and pecked his lips, "It's okay, I'm doing okay." She slowly got a little more comfortable as they engaged her in conversation, asking her about her job, school and how she and Ricky had met. He made sure to continue to assure her that he was there, drawing circles on the small of her back, kissing her every now and then, earning hollers from his friends.

When they finally reached the North Shore, the couple and Seb alighted from the car, grabbed their stuff and said goodbye to the rest. Ricky and Nini's fingers were intertwined as Seb gave them a tour of the BnB complex. It was a rather big space, like a villa, except they were only entitled to one room and were required to share the common spaces. The last room that Seb showed them to was their room, with a king bed and bathroom attached; there was a side door that led to the pool and from the bed, you could see the view of the beach. Finally, he left them to their own devices to unwind and unpack and Ricky pushed his girlfriend onto the bed, kissing her with desperation. Nini giggled into his lips but tugged him down by the neck, legs wrapped around his waist, to pull his body closer to hers. "I can't believe you're here in Oahu with me," He pulled away, forehead still touching hers, and looked into her eyes. "Do you wanna walk around and explore, or do you wanna stay here and continue with this?" There was a glint in his eyes and he leaned in to kiss her again. Nini pushed him slightly, hands on his chest, "I love kissing you, but let's go explore. I can't wait to see the island you grew up on!"

They visited the supermarket first, Nini just wanted to see the types of things they sold there, then walked across the North Shore. If it was the lull period for tourists in Kauai, it was definitely not the case there — the beaches were full of people sunbathing, hanging out with their friends or engaging in water sport activities; it was a sight that the both of them had seen enough over the past few months. The ocean, however, was quite different. The waves were surging, the ocean teeming with surfers and jet skis. Ricky put his sunglasses on Nini — the poor girl had forgotten to bring hers out — so that she could see the rip tides and surging clearly. He pointed at the surfers and jet skis, explaining to her what they were doing: the jet skis were meant for rescues. Many a time, people would come to Oahu wanting to surf but not being skilled enough to surf the waves on the North Shore. The lifeguards would stand by on the jet skis during the sets, ready to pull anyone back to shore. Nini watched as Ricky spoke passionately about the things that lifeguards on the North Shore had to do, about how their jobs were so important because lives were at stake. She could honestly feel he had a sense of longing to work on the North Shore in Oahu from the way he talked about the beauty of the Pipeline and absentmindedly stroked his cheek affectionately. Ricky noticed this and kissed her cheek, "What?" She shook her head, telling him that there was nothing wrong, "I just love to see you in your element, and how much you really love lifeguarding. But, it makes me think that Kauai is holding you back."