Lean on Me, Until the End || rini au

noticing gaze

nini woke up and took her phone once again to see the photo, making sure last night wasn't a dream.

he really was back.

the girl sighs as she puts her phone down and gets up to go downstairs to eat.

"morning hun." carol smiles

"morning." nini mumbles.

"someone's mad." jacob laughs as he enters the kitchen behind her

"ricky's back." aria says

everyone stops what they're doing and looks at nini.

the girl stares back at her family and takes a deep breath

"i just have to avoid him until college!" she tells them

"and how are you going to do that?" aria asks

"homeschool?" nini looks at her moms hopefully

dana and carol raise their eyebrows and laugh softly.

"honey, we love you and we feel for you-" dana begins

"but no." carol smirks

nini sighs

"a for effort." jacob winks with his mouth full.

"close your mouth doofus." nini groans

jacob opens his mouth wider and leans over the table, making nini cringe as she backs away.

"jacob." carol scolds softly

the boy laughs before swallowing.

nini keeps herself deep in thought, drinking her juice thinking about why ricky came back...

***

ricky was staying with ej for the last two days of summer, since his dad was on another business trip.

"you want to maybe go to the café this afternoon with gina and red?" ej proposes

ricky thinks about it before nodding, "sure."

he just had to make sure that he wouldn't bump into nini...

~~~

ricky feels his heart drop when he sees that comment.

why was it anyone's business?

oh right, because he's ricky bowen and east high can spread gossip like wildfire.

he puts his phone away as he and ej enter the familiar, urban space.

ricky feels a wave of deja vu from the last time that he came here

and it was not his favorite memory.

he shakes his head to get his mind off of it, following ej to the usual booth that they would sit at.