euphoria. [ rini au ]

chapter two.

Nini pulled up to Ashlyn's house and parked her car on the side of the road, seeing that Gina and Kourt's cars were already there. She hurried up the driveway and opened the wooden gate, stepping into the backyard.

"Nini! You're finally here!" Gina called out from a lounge chair by the pool.

"Hey," Nini said sliding into the chair beside her and putting down her bag. "Oh gosh, I've missed these pool days. I feel like all the time I've spent at the pool this summer has just been yelling at kids to not dive in the shallow end."

"And that's why I'm glad I'm not a lifeguard," Gina said with a laugh, noticing Nini was looking around to see where Ashlyn and Kourtney were. "Oh, the other two are inside, they're finishing cutting up a fruit tray."

Nini nodded and slipped out of her black and white floral sundress to reveal a yellow bikini. Ashlyn and Kourtney finally came back outside with a gorgeous looking tray full of watermelon, strawberries, mango and pineapple.

"Yay, Nini you're here!" Kourtney said when she spotted the brunette. "Perfect timing, I have the most amazing idea for prom, you'll love it," she told her, setting the fruit tray down on the table. "What do you think about a fairy tale theme? Wouldn't that be awesome?"

"That sounds like a dream," Nini told her, nodding her head. "Oh and before I forget, I talked to the cheerleaders and they are all happy to help."

"Oh and I can probably get some people from the dance team to join in too!" Gina added.

"How's the charity ball planning going?" Ashlyn asked Nini, taking a slice of watermelon.

"Oh it's great! I recruited the basketball and football team as well as lots of the dance team and cheerleaders." Nini told her.

"How?" Kourtney asked, shocked that everyone would agree.

"It was Ricky's idea," Nini said. "I was talking about it at camp and he mentioned that they could all join in. Oh and I got him to MC the event, so score for me!" Nini told them, oblivious to the smirks her friends had on their faces.

"You and Ricky seem awfully close," Kourtney said, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Yeah, I guess so." Nini replied, pursing her lips together. "Look I know it's weird for us to come back best friends. We don't expect everyone to act like the past never happened and we don't want it to make everyone act awkward around us. Camp forced us to admit our faults and apologize and after all that, it was easy because everyone there saw it happen. They saw things change but you guys weren't there so I get that you're all confused and curious."

"We thought you were trying to keep it a secret," Ashlyn told her softly.

"We weren't trying to be prying," Gina added, "But last night was a shock to us since you two were so at ease with it, and even though I knew you were getting along, I still expected some kind of squabbling or stiffness."

"That's how we want it. We don't want everyone to hold their breath and wait for a time bomb. It's easy for us, but we need you to know that what happened at camp wasn't just about clinging to someone familiar," Nini assured them. "We won't lie to you."

"He really got to you, didn't he?" Kourtney asked bluntly. "Something big happened in Colorado."

"You have no idea," Nini told her.

"Kourt, just leave it alone. We'll know when we know," Ashlyn said with a smile that Nini returned. "Besides, I want to get some time in the sun before my sunscreen wears off."

Mouthing a thank you to Ashlyn, Nini sat back in her lounge chair. Laying in her chair, she felt the tension roll off of her as the sun warmed her skin. Nini gave a sigh of relief to how all the pieces of her life were fitting together again.

--------

Ricky dribbled a basketball up the half court in his backyard while E.J. tried to knock the ball away. Hot and sweaty under the Salt Lake City sun, both boys had stripped off their t-shirts and sweat glistened off their muscles. Watching his friends eye, Ricky flicked a glance left and saw E.J. follow before realizing Ricky had blown him at the sign of distraction. Groaning as Ricky swooped the ball through the net, E.J. shot an easy smile at his friend's smirk.

"Here I thought you'd have gotten lazy up in Colorado," E.J. said, flopping onto the grass and pouring a bottle of water over his head.

"Nah, Neens kept me on my toes. Good thing too, since I talked her into playing this year." Ricky saw how E.J. had quieted at the mention of her name and he sighed. "Just ask."

"You're in love with her," E.J. said.

"That's not a question."

"I don't expect you to answer even if I were to phrase it differently," E.J. shot back.

"I promised her that home would be just like camp. I told her it would be us and everything else would fall into place." Ricky said, looking up from the ball. "E.J., I found your other best friend. The girl from our childhood who would climb the fence to join a game or sleep in your treehouse while driving us crazy? I found her in Colorado, away from school groups and massive piles of work. I got her to open up and you know what happened? She's happy and I did it. Not you or Kourtney or Gina. Me."

"I know," E.J. said, "I saw it last night. Everyone else only sees the you and her part but I saw a Nini who I haven't seen for a long time. I will never understand how things between you guys fell apart, but I know that despite what you tell people, you were friends at one point. I'm glad that's back, I really am."

"I'm still withholding my answer to your non-question." Ricky told him and E.J. grinned before jumping to his feet and holding his hands out for the ball.

"Figures," E.J. grumbled, "The girls probably already pried the details out of her."

"No way," Ricky scoffed, "She's tough. Besides, she says no now."

---------

Nini found E.J. in the treehouse that evening after returning from Ashlyn's. She climbed the ladder to the top, turning when she reached it to sit beside E.J. and let her legs dangle over the edge. They were quiet for a bit and she pulled the sleeves of Ricky's hoodie over her hands. E.J. scratched his head before looking over, letting his eyes fall on the name embroidered on her arm.

"I talked to him earlier today," E.J. said, finally speaking. "I got the same answer from him as I did from you."

"Do you remember your twelfth birthday?" Nini asked quietly. "He does. Every single detail."

"So do I."

"You asked this morning what made me want to change things. You asked me why after all these years I could suddenly just push it aside and start over. That's why." she said softly. "We were by the lake and he didn't ask or pry or tell me to calm down. He just let me cry and held me and we talked about your birthday. I realized if I forgave him for everything that happened and if we could just move on, we could be back to the way we were that day."

"But that day was-." E.J. stopped at the watery smile on her face and saw her swipe at a lone tear.

"That day, I was happy until I found out what was going on. That's the last time, before Colorado, that I was honestly happy. That's what I want," she told him. "You want to know if I'm in love with him or if we're together or if we're playing a game, but it's none of those things that matter the most. I just want my other best friend back. I want the boy who would sleep in the treehouse with us and who taught me how to play basketball. I want the boy who made sure his dad showed up in our classroom in seventh grade and tell everyone he was there for Ricky and me. I want the boy who knew to find me by the lake on the hardest day of the year."

"For the record," E.J. said. "I think you already have him."

"I had him in Colorado," she said softly. "But I need to know I have him here too."

They stayed up in the treehouse talking about people at camp, about school and prom and E.J.'s volunteer hours he still needs to complete. Smiling as E.J. recounted stories from this summer of kids at day camp, Nini couldn't remember the last time she felt so close to E.J.. They had grown apart as Nini distanced herself from Ricky and it was just another thing on a long list of things that Ricky Bowen managed to fix within her.