𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚒 𝚑𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 || rini au

dream of you

ONE WEEK LATER

nini's pov

"you look so pretty, nini," ricky says, kissing my hand before he slides a gorgeous red rose corsage around my wrist. he intertwines our fingers and gently pinches my pinkie, which makes both of us smile wide. i love his smile.

"you're cute," i say, bringing my hand up to the back of my head and threading my finger through his curls.

"just cute?"

"don't push it, richard," we giggle, pressing our foreheads together. ricky brings his hands to my waist and looks into my eyes, down at my mouth, and back up to my eyes as he leans in and--

BEEP!! BEEP!! BEEP!! BEEP!!

i awake to my phone alarm screaming at me. i groggily roll over and turn it off, rubbing my eyes. ricky and i haven't talked since prom night, but for some reason he just won't get off my mind. and now i'm even having dreams about him! why?! it's not even like i have feelings for him. we've gone over this a million times before. i just think about him sometimes. it's like--i keep wondering what could've happened if red hadn't called. probably nothing. right? definitely.

ricky's pov

the past week has been the worst. it's weird to say it, but i guess i really miss talking to nini? i mean, not nini--schtewpid. i miss talking to schtewpid. we used to text and call everyday and all night, but we haven't said a word to each other since prom.

i'm sitting here in physics class, not even trying to pay attention to mr. mazzara. it's been a long week, and i'm just counting down the minutes until the bell rings and i can finally get out for the weekend.

"hello? earth to ricky?" i look up and see nini salazar-roberts standing by my desk. i give her a confused look, then look around the room to see everyone partnering up.

"i think we're partners," she says, pointing to the board where, in fact, our names are right next to each other.

"oh, yeah, you're right."

nini grabs an empty chair and pulls it up next to me around the corner of my desk.

"wait, what's the project?"

"are you serious? mr. mazzara's only been giving us instructions for the past twenty minutes," she jokes.

"sorry. maybe you could explain it to me tomorrow or something?"

"tomorrow's saturday, ricky."

"yeah, i know. i'm not stupid. i meant like, maybe you could come over and we could work on it together?"

"you must really not understand it, then," she laughs.

"no, it's just..enough with us not tolerating each other, okay? we don't have to like each other, but-"

"okay, sure. make sure you grab what we need from the library beforehand. and also, i can't drive, so we'll have to do it at my house."

"why do i have to get the textbook?" i ask while the bell rings.

"because it was your idea, hot wheels," she says with a laugh as she gets up and walks away, gently tossing her hair off of her shoulder. wow.

has she always looked like that?

wait, what am i saying??

after class, i head to the library to pick up what we need for our project. we have to do this big project for our unit on cloud physics, but i have no idea what we're actually doing. and no--i'm not doing what nini told me to just because she told me to do it. i'm doing it because we need to for class. i enter the library--for the first time in FOREVER--and search through the aisles. after a few minutes of looking, i see ashlyn sitting down at one of the computers with her headphones in. i walk over to her and tap her on the shoulder.

"AH!" she yips, taking out her headphones.

"SHH!" someone says.

"sorry!" i whisper.

"ricky? what are you doing here?"

"oh, i needed to grab a textbook for this project. i've got no clue where it is," i laugh.

"oh, third aisle to the right, bottom row."

"thanks, ash. do you, uh..do you think you could help me with something else, too?"

"sure, what's up?" she asks as i take a seat next to her.

"what do you know about nini salazar-roberts? i know you guys are like, theater buddies or something."

"what do you mean? she was your date to the prom," she laughs.

"no, i mean like, what does she like, or whatever?"

"are you asking what she's into?"

"i guess? i think? nevermind, it's stupid-"

"no, it's not, ricky."

"it's just--nini's such a head-fuck. she's like a rubiks cube, or something. she says one thing, then does something else. and i can't keep up."

"have you thought about asking her? what she likes? or what you guys are?"

"what does she like?"

"hm, female writers, for a start. nini's a hardcore feminist."

"oh, like the hunger games?"

"no, more like virginia woolf, or roxane gay, or sylvia plath. she's also really into musicals. other than that, she has a great taste in music. lorde, taylor swift-"

"hold on a second, let me write this stuff down," i say, grabbing a pen.

"oh, and make a grand gesture."

"what, like flowers? gross."

"grander."

"like a giant teddy bear?"

"much grander. think like, like rom-com grand, you know?"

"woah, slow down. i'm not doing this for any romantic reason," i say.

"then what are you doing it for?" wait, she's right--why do i want to know what nini's into?

"oh, um, i-"

"no, i get it. you don't have to explain yourself. just remember--grand gesture," she says, popping her earbuds back in and returning to her schoolwork. what does she 'get'?! there's nothing to get. nothing. i was just curious. yeah, that's it.