euphoria. [ rini au ]

chapter five.

Nini frowned when Ricky cracked open the front door on Sunday morning. She tried the kitchen door but it was locked, unlike the morning before, so she thought Ricky had overslept. Judging by the sight before her, she was right. His hair stuck up and he rubbed his eyes with his hand while leaning his head against the doorpost.

"Neens, it's like 8:00 in the morning, what are you doing?" he asked, eyes half open.

"Uh, running?" she reminded him. "Did you sleep through your alarm?"

"I didn't set one," he told her. "I told you yesterday to take a break. We'll train tomorrow."

"I thought you just meant the sprint part," she said slowly, feeling colour rush to her cheeks. "I thought we'd do a couple blocks or something still."

"I thought we were agreeing to sleep in and take it easy. This is not sleeping in," he scolded gently.

"I did sleep in," she told him. "It's after 8, you're not up?"

Ricky couldn't help it, he had to laugh. She looked so innocent when she asked the question, like it was perfectly normal for teenagers to be awake that early on a day with no school or other commitments. She shifted from foot to foot and he waited until she looked up from the ground to pull her chin up so he could kiss her. Her hand slid up the doorway beside his until they were interlocked and pressing against the wood. Pulling away, he tried to focus his dilated pupils.

"Neens, no one considers 8am an efficient 'sleeping in' time. It would be more like 10 or 11," he said. "You need to go home and go back to sleep until I call you to run."

"I can't go back to sleep now, I'm too awake and I-" she was stopped by a flicker of motion she should have recognized. "What are you doing? No, Ricky, put me down!"

"We're going back to bed. You're going to sleep. I'm teaching you the art of relaxation," he joked as he carried her up the stairs to his room.

Eventually she gave in and settled down on to his bed. Ricky tucked Nini in under the covers while he was sprawled out on top of the covers. She cuddled up close to him, resting her ear and cheek against his chest. Her arm snaked around his stomach as his hand reached under her and rested against her back. before falling into a deep sleep, Nini smiled as she felt his breathing even out.

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The sky was pale when Nini stepped out of the girls locker room Monday morning. The track was darkened by the shadow of the bleachers as they rose on the far side, but someone was already ahead of her, pulling hurdles into position. Crossing the field, she shook off the early morning chill as lights clicked on in the windows behind her and teachers arrived to set up their classrooms for the day.

"Ready to go?" Ricky asked, shoving his hands into the pockets of his shorts.

"You didn't have to come out this early," she told him softly.

"I promised," he told her evenly, "and I always keep my promises."

She smiled as she stretched, working out the kinks before getting rid of her sweatshirt and tossing it on a bleacher. Setting her feet against the starting blocks, she focused in on the first hurdle and the others that followed it.

"Ready, set, go," Ricky called. He called out the time as she hit every hurdle and reaching the end she caught her breath before looking over at him to see him marking her time down. "You knocked six seconds off," he said with a smile.

"Really?" she asked, surprised. "Let's do it again."

"It's all you, Neens. Just focus on the finish."

Trial after trial, she ran while he called out times. Pushing her towards the showers before the warning bell, Ricky told her he would clean up and meet her in homeroom. Running into homeroom just in time, Nini found Ricky resting his head on his desk, ruffling his hair and kissing the top of his head before taking a seat in her desk at the back of the room.

There was a collective inhale of breath from students around them, as he turned to smile at her. Trying to not stare, the other students pretended that Ricky Bowen and Nini Salazar-Roberts kissing was an everyday occurrence. Nini bit her tongue from telling them to get used to it.

author's note:

here's a second little bonus chapter for today!!
ALSO CAN JULY 16TH COME ANY SOONER!! I CAN'T WAIT FOR JOSH TO RELEASE MORE MUSIC!!!