A light || Ricky and Nini

Chapter 195

Ricky POV 

"Before you say a fucking thing, don't get used to this." I say into the receiver of my phone when I reach my bedroom after I finished dinner alone. "Drop the damn attitude or I won't help you Bowen." EJ's voice is loud and clear over the phone. "How do you know I need help?" I question him and if I could see him I swear he'd be raising an eyebrow at me. "Because you never call me. Ever. So what's the deal? Trouble in paradise? Family issues? How about-" I cut him off with a groan. "You're obnoxious, this is exactly why I don't call you. Look I called because you and your parents have a unique relationship..." I trail off and I can HEAR him roll his eyes. "You mean non existent? Emotionless?" I huff. "No, I saw you and your dad at graduation. You guys are close." EJ seems to be pondering my statement. "Maybe my dad... But why do you care?" I bite my lip and look towards my door. "My dad and I aren't too good with the touchy feely stuff. We've got a lot of emotional boundaries. But my mom just had her baby and I'm getting into new situations and relationships and I don't know if my dad is processing it well." I admit and EJ whistles. "Fuck, this is rough man. I get what you mean about the emotional boundary... but I also don't go through stuff this heavy with him." I frown, knowing I've reached a dead end. "Want my advice?" EJ offers and I feel a twinge of hope. "Yeah" I ask and EJ takes a deep breath. "Talk to him dude. You and I both know communication is the damn devil sometimes, but no harm can come from verbalizing this shit." I nod and look towards my door again. "Thanks dude I really appreciate it." I decide that his advice was something I wanted to go through with. He was right, talking couldn't hurt. "Yeah it's all good Bowen. Now before you go, admit that Nini would've picked me if you didn't crash her musical." He jokes and I can't help but grin. "Bye you fucking loser." He laughs into the line and gives me a quick goodbye in response. 

I tap on my dad's door after preparing a speech in my room. It's silent for a second but I then hear him answer. "Yeah?" He simply says and I cross my fingers. "Can I come in?" My dad laughs and if I were staring at him I'm sure I'd see him nod. "Of course you can Rick. Come on in." I breathe out a sigh of relief, glad that he wasn't shutting out the world, and indirectly, me. "What's up bud? Anything on your mind?" He asks when I sit next to him on the bed and I tilt my head. "I was going to ask you the same thing. Are you good?" He gives me a sympathetic look and frowns slightly. "Of course. What would've given you the idea otherwise?" I raise my eyebrows. "The fake smile at the dinner table? The leaving before we finished eating together? There's something up." He shakes his head and pats me on the shoulder. "Bud I'm grateful that you care, and I love you so much for checking on me. But I'm fine, just getting some rest." I shake my head and cross my arms. "You're not telling me something." He seems to hesitate, but gives me a defeated look. "Your mom just had a baby, on our wedding anniversary." The second part of his sentence comes our quiet and I nod. "This is nothing about you Rick, nothing about your budding relationship with your mom's family, it's just human feelings." He shrugs and leans back a little. "And if I'm being honest, it took your mom and I two full years to get married and have you." So he's envious. "But that's all in the past Ricky, I'm just learning to get over it." I nod and I'm not sure what to say but I feel relief in the fact that he doesn't seem to be as upset as I'd imagine. "You're already handling this better than when she came back from Chicago last year." I joke and he grins, his first genuine one of the night. "Progress." He says proudly, patting me on the back and I scoot over to him, hugging him tightly. 

After talking to my dad I made my way back to my room and got ready for bed. I slipped under my covers and pulled out my phone, tapping on Nini's contact without even thinking and grinning as the FaceTime screen connected. Nini's tucked under her own sheets, her hair messy and spread across her pillow, her face smushed into the side of the pillow. "Hey baby" she mumbles tiredly and I chuckle. "Sorry if I woke you Nins." She shakes her head and her eyes pop open just a little bit more. "Nah I was just resting. What's up? You okay?" She asks and I nod, giving her a grateful smile. "I am angel. It was quite the day." She laughs and rubs her eyes. "You can say that again. How was it just this morning that we had a pool party?" I laugh and press my hand to my forehead. "No fucking way, my mom literally got in from Chicago today." Nini giggles in disbelief and pulls her sheet up higher. "Sleep will be welcome tonight." She says and I nod in agreement. "Yeah, tomorrow I'm going over to the hotel everyone's staying at, I kinda want to see Lucas and I have to talk to Todd." Nini tilts her head and seems like she wants to say something but ignores it. "You should sleep soon then baby." Her voice is soft, lulling almost and I close my eyes. "Tell me a story." She laughs and she must think I'm insane. "What kind of story?" I shake my head, opening my eyes and propping my phone up against my lamp on my nightstand. "You pick. I just want to hear your voice." If it weren't so dark I'm sure I'd see her blush. "Once, when we were super young..." her voice lulls me into peace and pretty soon, I'm starting to doze. If I were fully conscious, I'd see her eyes drooping, I'd register her own voice getting tired and slower. I'd see her propping up her own phone on her nightstand. I'd fully recognize her telling me that she loves me, that she's proud of how me for everything I went through today. But the only thing I see, register and understand is a sleeping Nini on my phone screen the next morning. 

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Just a reminder, we're about 5 chapters away from needing to start book 2 of A Light! No updates past chapter 200 will be in this particular book! 

I wanted to thank you guys so much for the love on my first chapter of A Billion More Stars. Y'all are exceptional. ❤️