euphoria. [ rini au ]

chapter seven.

The space between Nini's personal space bubble was a foggy blur on Friday morning. The voices of people in the hallway came in varying tones, rarely cutting through to register in her brain. She needed something to take her mind off the looming event that was four hours away from this exact moment. She had no idea how she was going to survive her chemistry class.

"Earth to Neens," Ricky called out as she slid into her desk. "You here with me?"

"Yeah," she answered.

"You're freaking me out," he observed, seeing her pale face and fingers tapping on the edge of the desk. "We talked about this. Deep breath and chill."

"I'm okay now," she told him, leaning forward in her chair to where he was leaning over the back of his. "Just kiss me and say what you told me last night."

"Kissing you won't get you out of your head and relaxed," he told her softly as she shook her head and closed the last few inches between them.

"No, you're wrong. This is exactly what I need," she said, pulling away to breath. "This is perfect. Let's just keep doing this until the meet starts."

"That can't happen," he reminded her as the bell rang, "so this one will just have to last for awhile."

"Mmmm," she mumbled against his lips, letting all the thoughts about the track meet slip from her mind.

The meet would come but right now, she could lose herself in the present moment. No matter what she placed, Ricky would be there. Everything she needed would be within reach, just like now. For the moment, Ricky and his unwavering faith in her was all she needed.

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His eyes found her the moment his feet hit the fence off area for the spectators. Pausing on the concrete at the base of the bleachers, Ricky singled out Nini from among the group of girls at the far end of the track. She was dressed in black spandex and a red and white singlet that fell over her black sports bra, and he saw her nervously play with the end of her French braid as she bounced on her toes. Taking his eyes off of her just for a moment, he saw E.J. not too far from where she stood.

"Ricky!" His head snapped at Big Red waving from a spot near the bleachers. "Hurry up! She's going to start!"

Sure enough, Ricky saw as a handful of girls took their positions at the starting blocks. Ricky picked up his pace as he climbed over the bleachers before reaching his group of friends. Everyone was there to support Nini and E.J., Big Red, Carlos, Gina, Ashlyn and Seb. Taking a deep breath as he fell into place beside Big Red and Gina, Ricky closed his eyes and sent energy bit of energy he could in Nini's direction. Gazing at her, their eyes met for a brief second before the whistle blew to warn the start of the 400m sprint.

A yell swept through the East High section as Nini and another team member left the majority of the girls behind. Three other girls kept pace with them as they rounded the curve and swept by the stretch in front of the stands.

"Come on, Neens, it's all yours. Only you have this!" he yelled, heart swelling with pride as he saw her pull ahead to take the lead.

"Sal-Robs, push it!" E.J. called out from the field.

"Nini, run, damn it!" Gina added.

"Nini, leave that chick in the dust!" someone to the left of Ricky called, as he recognized Hunter from the West High crowd.

The girls were on the final 100 meters and Ricky's gut tightened as he saw how close Nini and a North High girl were as they rounded the last indicator on the track. Nini was pushing to the end, and Ricky was focusing on Nini and the narrowing distance between her feet and the finish line.

"Neens, push! Everything you've got!"

It was just as he feared when the North High runner picked up her speed and pulled ahead. Ricky felt his heart shatter as Nini fell back in shock. He closed his eyes to keep the tears from blurring his vision when all of a sudden there was a roar across the crowd. He shot his eyes back open to see Nini - his Nini, find speed and cross the line two whole seconds before her competitor. His mouth fell open and words refused to form as he tried to process what happened.

"East High takes first and third place for the girls' 400m sprint, North High takes second and West High takes fourth. The top two runners have logged qualifying times for the Utah State Finals," an announcer's voice informed the crowd.

Ricky couldn't keep the grin off his face as he locked eyes with her. Grin growing, he held two fingers to his lips and kissed them. She would understand. She would know how much how wanted to be on the turf with her. Something caught her attention and he watched as her head turned away from him and an unreadable expression appeared on his face.

"Holy cripes," Carlos breathe from behind him as Ricky saw Nini give a small wave to the figure standing on the fence on the far side of the field.

"About damn time," Ricky whispered.

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Kourtney didn't know what possessed her to end the student council meeting early, run to the car and reverse out of the parking lot to drive to downtown Salt Lake City to reach North High in record time. All she knew was her argument with Nini hadn't sat well with her since it occurred and it wasn't because Gina or Seb weren't speaking to her or that Ricky refused to acknowledge her existence. It was because her best friend had been right and although Kourtney wasn't an expert on apologies, she knew this was the best way to start.

Kourtney didn't know her best friend enough to know that she had been hurt or upset or resentful fo Kourtney's abuse of her willingness to help and she hadn't noticed that Nini had been turning to Ricky for more than kisses and hand holding. He had become her new best friend and it cut through Kourtney's heart to see that. As she walked out of her car and towards the entrance to the track meet, she paused at the fence as a blur of red, black and white swept past her, towards the bleachers.

"Go, Neens, go!" she heard Ricky yell.

"Run girly!!" Carlos yelled over the crowd.

Carlos knew nothing of the sport, just like Kourtney had declared herself in the cafeteria days before, be he never missed a meet. Pausing at the fence as the shouts got louder, Kourtney watched as Nini fell behind and then pull ahead, falling onto her knees just beyond the finish line.

"Go Nini!" Kourtney whispered, feeling foolish to yell by herself outside the arena.

She heard Ricky yelling among their friends and she saw the big grin split on her friend's face as she found Ricky in the crowd and then saw the look of surprise in her face as she turned towards the bleachers near Kourtney. Shock and surprise crossed Nini's face as Kourtney lifted a hand and shrugged.

She considered yelling something to her, but settled for a thumbs up. That was progress, she hoped. At least a start to mending things between her and Nini.