Too Much Time Together - RINI

chapter eight: a blur of faces

Ricky is currently looking across the circle, straight at Nini who is currently staring at the spinning bottle. Right, stay in the moment. He looks back at the bottle and feels his stomach lurch as he sees the bottle slowing. Please don't be me, please don't be me, please don't be me, please don't-

His heart drops as the bottle's top lands in front of him, the group turning their gaze to him, but he can only look at the glass bottle. He can't look at Nini, he won't. He sees Kelsey stand up in his peripheral vision and slowly follows her action.

"Come on Ricky." she grabs his hand leading him to the closet, he takes a deep breath before going in with her, his worst nightmare seeming to come true. She shuts the door behind him, pulling down on the light string so they can see each other.

He hears someone call seven minutes and he tries to subtly back away, hoping Kelsey will get the message.

He stands away from her, the girl in front of him staring intently. "Are we gonna do something or what?" He looks up at her at that statement, watching her confidence slowly chip away.

"No," he mumbles, his hand going through his hair. "Sorry I just can't, you're great and everything but..."

"But you like Nini," she states, her eyes rolling. "Yeah, I figured."

He backs up, even more, his back hitting against the wall. "That obvious?" he asks, sliding down the wall, knees bending when he's reaching nearer to the floor.

"Kinda," she says, sitting down beside him (leaving a little space, thankfully). "Everyone did think you were dating, so yeah it's kinda obvious.."

"Shit," his mind drifts to Nini, she has to know. "Do you think Nini can tell anything?" he takes notice as she pauses, his hands instantly going to his hair in nerves. He looks down at his feet between his knees, a blush creeping to his cheeks.

Great going, the girl you like probably already knows you like her.

He can't help but wonder if him thinking she might like him is just his subconscious, or worse what if she's just pitying him and being nice to him out of pity. Although they were never nice to each other, to begin with, so it's probably his subconscious.

"Ricky, get your hands out of your hair and look at me." he looks up, purposefully messing up his hair in spite, causing the girl to bite her lip to try and stop her smile. "Nini likes you too."

"How do you know, you never talk?" he asks, pointing out the obvious fact. The two girls practically hate each other, he never knew why though. The girl rolls her eyes, sighing deeply.

"Why else would she hate me?" he stops, wondering if she's joking right now. He can name a few reasons why someone could hate her, his mind flashing to some times where she caused unnecessary drama. Filling the school with false rumors is what she's best at, plus acting innocent when it comes back to bite her.

She groans before continuing. "She's jealous you idiot. Anytime I talk to you she looks like she's about ready to pounce, I mean that's obvious jealousy. Plus she blushes around you all the time, you make her nervous. That's obviously a crush, is there any other time where you thought maybe there was something?"

He thinks back to just today when they started talking at the party, flirtiness filling the air around them. Maybe, for once, Kelsey is right. That flirtiness wasn't just a one-time thing, for instance, detention. They held hands, they almost kissed, just friends don't do that.

"Okay, how about this," she starts. "If she walks out after we leave the closet she likes you. Or if she looks sad or angry, that means she's upset by this. The idea of us."