𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙨 (𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚) || hsmtmts au

3. $20.07

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R I C K Y 'S P O V

EAST HIGH PARKING LOT

after i agree to get ice cream at the mall with nini, she excitedly pulls me out the door by my arm into the parking lot, where my orange car is parked.

nini giggles every time she sees it or rides in it, because she knows how i feel about basically riding around in a highlighter.

the car was a hand-me-down given to me on my birthday by my dad after he got his new one, and i've always thought the color was embarrassing. i mean, it's bright orange--but nini's laugh makes me forget about that.

she gets in the passengers seat, setting her backpack down at her feet and immediately plugging her phone into the aux cord.

"oh my god, don't you dare play harr-"

"too late!" she yips, golden by harry styles starting to play through the speaker as i pull out of the school parking lot.

"of course," i say with a laugh, cranking the volume up for her while we drive down the freeway to get to the salt lake city mall. she rolls down the windows and mindlessly grabs my hand as the beat drops, her hair flying everywhere in the wind. nini's humming along, typing something out one her phone with her other hand.

she's probably texting e.j.

i know all my attention should be on the road, but the only thing i'm really focusing on is the fact that nini's soft, tiny hand hasn't moved from mine the entire car ride--

ew, what?

i guess i never really thought about it when we did things like this before e.j came along, we kind of just did them mindlessly without really thinking about it. obviously we never regularly kissed or anything like that, because there's this unspoken rule with nini that kissing--on her mouth, specifically, it's fine anywhere else--is just a little too romantic.

and this is completely platonic.

we arrive at the mall and hop out of my car, rushing inside the crowded building.

"what flavor are you gonna get?" i ask, holding the door open for her as we walk in.

"i don't know, we haven't gone in forever," she tells me.

"where even is it again?" i laugh as we walk around the mall. we start to pass by a pop up stand selling cologne for $20.07, which is way overpriced for such a small bottle. as we're passing by, the lady at the stand practically ambushes me--well not really, she just kind of sprayed it on the side of my neck without warning (which is still way uncalled for). nini laughs it off, which makes me break my offended/surprised face to giggle.

we arrive at rory's ice cream in the food court, walking up to the glass to see the flavors.

"okay, we'll have one scoop of strawberry in a cup with rainbow sprinkles and a scoop of birthday cake," i tell the server.

"wow, it's like you're literally inside of my head," nini laughs, surprised at the fact that i knew her ice cream order.

"what? we've only been here like two
hundred times," i say as the worker hands us our cups. nini pulls out her phone, peeling back her playbill case to get to her money.

"it's fine, i've got it," i swat her hand away, pulling out my card from my pocket.

"no, i dragged you here, let me get it!"

"you didn't drag me here, nini, i like spending time with you." she smiles at those words, but then continues to get her money.

"and i like not making other people pay for my food, so if you'd just-"

"too late!" i slide the card in the chip reader, quickly typing in the code. she jokingly rolls her eyes, picking up her paper cup and sitting down at one of the booths. i take a seat next to her on the same side, the side of my neck that got throbbed facing her.

"mhm, what is that?" she says, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath into my shoulder.

"hm?" i say under my breath, not expecting the sudden contact. i'm definitely not complaining, though.

"never wash that side of your neck again," she smiles, turning her head and removing her nose from my shoulder to put a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth.

she leaves her head on my shoulder though, her eyes planted on the small TV playing tangled in the ice cream parlor's lounge area. she subconsciously hums along to i see the light, and it's actually the cutest thing ever--

uh.

like. baby cute. is what i mean. its a kids movie, obviously.

i wrap my arm around her to get more comfortable, which she seems to enjoy. i sigh in content, feeling like we hadn't done this in forever (when really it had only been four days, but still).

nini stops to go to the bathroom on our way out, which just so happens to be next next to the cologne stand.

let's just say my bank account was short of $20.07 after we left.