Until the End of Summer (Rini Through the Years)

1. (Pov. Ricky)

It was one and a half months before Sophomore year  started at East High, and I was hanging with Big Red, in his basement, playing video games.

"Die sucker die." I yelled at the screen. One of my biggest weaknesses were video games that involved fighting. I didn't know why, but the freedom to use the most intense weapons to fight against the biggest characters, suited me.

Five seconds were left of the game until the round shut down. You lose read the screen. I sighed and sulked into my chair. "Wow I really thought I had him that time."

Big Red laughed while he started setting up the next round. "Dude you can't win by yelling at the screen. Pick what character you want."

I scrolled through the options of characters with my controller. "Are you implying that I'm bad at this game?"

"No I'm implying that you can't tell someone to die, especially not a game character through a screen."

Before Big Red could begin the next round, we were interrupted by footsteps coming down the stairs. Nini and Kourtney had arrived. Nini was wearing a pink and white striped shirt, a mini denim skirt, and converses. Cute.

"Hey sorry we're late. Mama D wanted me and Kourt to help out with the groceries." Explained Nini as she walked over to me.

I closed my eyes and grinned while she tousled my brown, curly hair. I loved when she did that.

"No worries." I said. She smiled and grabbed a seat.

"Are you two still on level ten? You've been stuck on that level for two weeks!" Asked Kourtney as she too grabbed a chair.

"Blame Ricky." Suggested Big Red.

I rolled my eyes and quickly cut in, "No, blame Big Red. He who has little faith in his teammate is the one to make the team fail."

Kourtney shook her head and Nini laughed.

Summer afternoons often looked like this. Whenever Big Red wasn't working at his family's pizza place, we'd hang out in his basement playing games, or talking about random topics. The girls would often stop by some days, like today. I wouldn't trade these moments with my closest friends for the world.

We eventually turned the game off and started to form an actual conversation.

"Oh Kourtney, I watched your latest instagram make-up tutorial. It was good!" Exclaimed Big Red. We all gave looks of puzzlement.

"Um thanks I guess? It wasn't one of my best because I was running low on products but I'll take it."

"Since when do you like make-up videos Big Red?" Nini asked.

Big Red shrugged his shoulders. "I don't, but my feed hasn't been interesting lately so I don't really have anything to watch right now." Fair enough.

"They are really good though Kourt." Said Nini beaming. "I've convinced her to do my make-up for the auditions."

"You want to try out for another musical?" I asked.

Nini eyed me like I'd lost my mind. "Ricky I auditioned for the fall and spring musicals of freshman year. Why wouldn't I do the same sophomore year? I want to put my time into the theater department so as far as I'm concerned, I'll be doing it for the rest of high school. Why?"

"Love that confidence!" Said Kourtney. She high-fived Nini.

I scratched the back of my head and tried to come up with a reasonable answer. All I could thing of was, "I don't know it's just that, I don't like musicals."

"I never said you had to do the musical with me silly. You can stick to playing video games and skateboarding with Big Red."

I dropped by head and began fidgeting with my fingers.

The problem wasn't that I didn't like musicals, even though I didn't, but because I liked Nini, a lot. I've felt this way towards her for a while. I've known her since Kindergarten and every year that we got older, the more I liked her. But it wasn't until seventh grade when I realized I loved her.

I had finally convinced her to ride in the front row of Demon's Destiny with me at Six Flags. She was never really a fan of roller coasters because they made  her stomach feel uneasy but she decided to ride with me anyway. She however, wasn't the problem. I was. After the ride, I puked my lunch all over her shoes. I was so embarrassed and disgusted at the same time. But Nini seemed fine with it. She comforted me and told me not to worry about it because they didn't fit her anymore and she wanted to get rid of them. That is the kind of person she was. I loved that about her, and not to mention, she was a really cute theater kid. Like really cute.

If Nini decided to be a part of the school musical, then we wouldn't get to spend a lot of time together after school. We weren't dating or anything, and I didn't even know if she liked me like that. It would be nice though, I guess. If I was being honest, I wouldn't mind if we were more than really close friends. I know I had Big Red, and she had Kourtney, but no offense to Big Red, Nini was a lot better at giving advice.

We spent about three hours at Big Red's before everyone headed to their own homes. Nini and I were the last ones out of the door.

We walked side by side. We lived on the same street. I kicked some rocks with my foot while trying to figure out how to bring up the small conversation that was had in the basement.

"Hey um, sorry about making a big deal about you wanting to audition again. I know theater is important to you."

I could tell Nini was looking at me but I kept my eyes on the space in front of us.

"Oh it's okay. I know you hate musicals and would rather have me play games or watch skateboarding videos with you than audition."

"That's not true..." I lied.

Nini playfully shoved me away from her knowing I was just saying that. "Ricky..."

"Ok maybe I would rather that a little." I admitted.

"I get it. Plus it means my time after school will be used up so I won't get to hang out together with you, Kourt and Big Red as much."

"Yeah I guess." There was a short pause. "Since you are auditioning though, I hope you get a role that talks." I joked to bring happier thoughts.

"I hope so too Ricky. Beauty and the Beast will always be remembered as the play where I played a fork. I really want a redo with that one." She laughed. We walked the rest of the way talking about who knows what and enjoyed each other's company. When I got home however, the longing feeling came back.

I came to the conclusion that there were only two ways to ensure I could keep Nini around during the school year. One, I could try out for the school musical or two, see if she liked me back and maybe wanted to deepen our relationship. I wasn't fond of option number one so I was left with the other option. The thing was, how would I do it and what would I do if she didn't?