euphoria. [ rini au ]

chapter twenty-one.

Silence looped and surrounded the group of girls on the floor in Nini's bedroom. After spending the night together last night, they all decided to work on their homework at Nini's. Ashlyn had to finish baking some cupcakes for her baking club, so she would be joining them later, with some goodies as well. Gina was sprawled across Nini's duvet cover, a book held open in one hand while the other lifted a pear to her mouth for a bite. Kourtney was on the ground, working on a bristol board project for her art history class, while Nini was typing at her laptop on her desk.

"I'm going to get a drink," Nini announced, carefully stepping around Kourtney's notes that were spaced out across the floor. "Anyone want something?"

"I'm good," Kourtney told her, eyes never leaving the page as Gina concurred.

Leaving her room, Nini descended down the stairs to her kitchen and grabbed a glass of water, along with a bowl of cherries that were left in the fridge. As she headed back upstairs, voices were escaping through the small crack in the door and Nini paused outside when she heard Ricky's name. Pressing her ear closer, Nini tried to filter through the muffled voices to hear what they were talking about. When she could only make out every fifth word, she sighed to herself and pushed the door open with her hand.

The silence and searching looks returned instantly as she crossed to the desk and set the bowl and glass on the wooden surface. Spinning the chair to face Gina and Kourtney, she pulled the bowl into her lap and fished out a cherry. She could feel Gina's eyes burning into her face while Kourtney tried not to look frozen, although the pen stopped moving. Lifting her eyes, she stared back at Gina who was looking from the fruit to Nini.

"You want one?" Nini offered, but Gina merely flicked her gaze at it before returning to Nini. Sighing, Nini tucked the bowl into her lap and picked out another one. "Just ask, Gina."

"Ask what?" Gina asked, voice slightly too high to be innocent.

"Ask if me and Ricky did it in the guest room last night," Nini drawled, fingers delicately poking at a few cherries that looked overly ripe before finding another perfect one. "That's what you want to know, right? Why you keep waiting for me to spill my guts and rush forward? Why you were whispering when I left for the kitchen? So, ask."

Gina and Kourtney shared a look, surprised and unsure. Nini inspected the cherry in her hand, one finger sliding along the shiny skin to grip the stem. They had been waiting for her to crack since whisking her away from the house and Ricky after the two emerged from the bedroom just after ten that morning. After Carlos's discovery, those on the patio had waited for them to appear blushing, but instead they disappeared. Curiosity finally won out and the group had begun searching for the missing pair. Conveniently, it had been Seb to find the closed door at the bottom of the basement steps that refused to open when he turned the knob. He had kept the others out when his position was discovered and they grudgingly returned to the backyard, pondering the not-so-subtle possibilities that could be going on. Nini, now seated so calmly in her pastel bedroom, simply waited for the dam to break and the begging to begin.

"That's not why-" Kourt tried to deny but Gina let out an exasperated groan.

"Oh, give it up, she knows what we want to know and she knows the answers."

"I would hope she knows the answer," Kourt grumbled.

"So, spill," Gina demanded.

"Nope," Nini grinned cheekily, slipping another cherry onto her tongue.

"But, you-," Gina protested, eyes flashing.

"I just wanted you to ask. I have no intention of telling you anything," Nini informed her, spinning the chair to face her laptop.