wave after wave 🌊 [rini au]

fall ; 25

The sight of his own mother was sickly to him, as a large smile was plastered across her face, arms open wide to welcome him and Nini. He inched into her arms and felt the warmth of the young brunette girl dissipate as she stood behind him, watching them; even with all his willpower, Ricky failed to embrace his mother like she did him.

She pulled away and turned to look at her son's girlfriend, "And you're the Nina that everyone's been talking about?" Mrs Bowen walked over to give her a hug as well and the poor girl tried not to tense up in the embrace, hoping she wouldn't get on her bad side, "It's nice to finally meet you, Mrs Bowen."

They settled at the dining table to talk with some of Ricky's aunts and uncles. There was a lot less hostility from Mrs Bowen than they had expected, though Ricky kept a wary glance at his mother, full of suspicion that the reason for a normal conversation was the presence of their relatives. The Bowen household had taken a liking to Nini despite their initial qualms about how Ricky had run off to Kauai and gotten a girl there. Ricky was Nini's advocate, telling them about how much of a family person she is. They asked about her brother's business and pro-surfing careers, mostly blown away by the accomplishments of the Roberts family. People were even warming up to Ricky, no longer seeing him as the runt in the litter but for his personality and achievements in Kauai. Things were going well through the evening, the couple sneaking subtle glances at each other, shooting smiles and winks when others weren't looking. They had cake for the celebration despite the fact that it was no one's birthday; they had family karaoke and watched as the grandparents unboxed their presents. Ricky had bought them a hammock since Grandad had complained that theirs was getting old and Nini gave them shark tooth necklaces and engraved rings from her shop. The old woman's expression didn't budge but Ricky noticed that she slipped the ring onto her finger almost immediately. He maneuvered through the mass of people and placed a hand on his girlfriend's lower back; she turned to look at him upon contact, eyes lighting up with a smile. It took everything in Ricky to not kiss her and tell her that he was proud of her, and for Nini not to bury herself in the warmth of his body. "She liked it," He told her, hoping the look in his eyes would convey his gratitude and adoration for her. Nini grinned, "She liked your gift too, look how she's holding on to it while opening the other presents."

It as her turn to placed her hand on his back as the curly-haired boy observed his grandmother, finding Nini's words to be true; she did like his gift and he heaved a sigh of relief, he wouldn't have to get a earful from his mom later on about how he picked the wrong gift.

The celebration ended with heartfelt speeches from the old couple, thanking each other and the family for staying together for so long. They had mentioned each of their children and grandchildren: Grandma leaving out Ricky, as usual, but Grandad mentioning and welcoming Nini to compensate for it. The young couple had found each other at opposite sides of the room, Nini was helping one of the little nieces to braid her hair while Ricky was talking to one of his cousins. Upon hearing the mention of Nini's name, they caught each other's eyes; his were full of love while she was largely shocked and bashful. I'm so proud of you. He mouthed the words across the room, laughing when her brows furrowed in confusion. It had slipped RIcky's mind that Nini was completely terrible at lip-reading. There was no way that she could read his lips across the beach, she would attempt to guess and always shout back the wrong answers, causing her boyfriend to burst into fits of laughter when her guesses didn't make sense. Of course, she could have shouted a guess across the room, and she merely shook her head, telling him that she didn't understand. She mouthed back a later, earning a smirk from Ricky, as he fully understood the one word that escaped her lips.

As the night deepened, people started leaving to return to their homes, which were not very far away, considering the Bowens owned the whole plot of houses. Ricky and Nini were getting ready to head back to their BnB too, saying their goodbyes to Grandad before they left. They were walking alone in the driveway away from the house when a lady's voice called out to them. Ricky immediately rolled his eyes, knowing that it was his mom, probably coming over to give them an appraisal of how they did in front of their relatives and grandparents that day. "It was a nice show you two put on today," They could hear the pretense in her voice as they turned around to see her sickly smile. "Mom, it wasn't a show," The boy sighed, already tired of the conversation. Nini stood by him, unsure of what to say. "You still failed though," She gestured at her son, pointing at Nini, "You failed to get Grandma to like her." Ricky opened his mouth to say something then closed it again because he had nothing to say. As much as his grandad and Nini tried to convince him, he was still half-unsure about whether his grandmother really liked him and Nini. Sure, she'd liked Nini's gift but maybe it was just the gift and maybe he would never be able to match up to his mother and grandmother's standards, ever. "Not even running away to Kauai could-"

"Kauai did him good." The middle-aged woman was cut off by a man's voice. Mrs Bowen turned around to be met with the sight of her parents-in-law. Nini stole a glance at Ricky who simply shrugged, his grandfather might defend him but he had no clue what his grandmother would say. "The girl is good for him too," the old Mrs Bowen added, causing young Mrs Bowen to gape slightly, "Maybe the time away from watchful eyes and this girl helped you to grow into a boy I'm proud to call a Bowen." Nini smiled when the old woman grasped her hands tightly, a sign of gratitude, as she looked to her teary-eyed grandson, who finally earned the validation he craved for since he could dream of becoming a lifeguard. She squeezed the young brunette girl's hands, unfortunately still holding back her affection from Ricky. Nini glanced at him, who was looking at his grandad, an expression unreadable on his face.

"Off you go, you two. Go enjoy the night while it is still young, before you go back to your life in Kauai," Grandad shooed them away, the ends of his lips curling up when he saw the young couple's fingers intertwine with the other's, giving them a wave before they walked away into the night.

Once they were out of sight of the three older persons, Ricky enveloped Nini in an embrace, arms wrapped tightly around her tiny waist and she laughed into his shoulder. "I'm so proud of you, Nina," He buried his face in her neck, her hands in his hair, pulling him closer to her, "That was what I was trying to tell you earlier, but you didn't understand me." Nini pulled away at the teasing and whacked him lightly in the chest, "You know I suck at lip reading." Ricky leaned in to kiss her cheek, "Yeah, you do."

They continued bickering for a little while, till Nini stood on her tippy toes, arms snaking around his neck to kiss him fully on the lips — something they hadn't done since earlier that morning. Ricky's hands cupped her face softly, thumbs stroking her cheeks lightly as he relaxed into the kiss. As they pulled away, he could see a glint in her eyes, frowning in a way to ask her what was up with her expression. "So, you finally believe that your grandma doesn't hate you?" He nodded earnestly, though it was still something he couldn't fully grasp. "I've finally become someone she's proud of, after all the mistakes I've made and hard work I put in to build myself back up again." Nini played with the curls on the back of his neck, and leaned in to kiss him again, "I'm really proud of you too."

They continued their walk back to their BnB from the Banzai Pipeline beach, hand in hand as Ricky was telling Nini about his niece's birth and how much the Bowen family adored the little girl. "So, her parents named her Alana, after Grandma, but since she first started talking, she'd introduce herself as Lala. The cousins thought it was cute so we've been calling her Lala ever since. The adults call her Alana though, they have no sense of humour." Nini was gushing about how cute the blonde girl was when Ricky recalled the thing she'd told him later. "Babe, you introduced yourself as Nina to everyone today. I thought that was exclusively for us?" She raised an eyebrow at him, not understanding the fuss he was making about the way she introduced herself. "They're your family, Ricky. They are the people who know you mostly intimately and the people who you are tied to for life, they deserve to get to know me for who I really am."

"Okay. One, they really aren't that great to deserve whatever you think they do. Two, Nini isn't any less than Nina. You are the same person, you are the same beautiful and the same girl I fell in love with. Thank you for being so thoughtful towards my family though, I can see that they really enjoyed getting to know you." He kissed her temple and Nini squeezed his hand, "If we are going to spend our lives with them, they deserve that much." These words didn't escape Ricky's notice and a goofy grin crept up his face, "You wanna spend your life with me?" A blush flooded her face, and Nini could only be grateful that it was dark and he couldn't clearly see her face getting redder by the moment. "Shut up, I was just saying," She hit his chest again, like she did when he would tease her. "Yeah, just saying that you might want to spend your life with me."

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a little shorter than usual update. sorry for the long wait, but i hope you like this one <3 once again, thank you for your support, it means the world to me