wave after wave 🌊 [rini au]

winter ; 35

Nini picked her own outfit that day, a navy gingham dress, braiding her hair back into a half up style. She grabbed her phone and her beige cardigan, not running out of the house before she bid her family goodbye. The girl was bubbling with excitement, she and Ricky were finally going to have their much anticipated date. She'd spent so much time thinking about it that she already knew what she wanted to wear, for the first time in a long time, not requiring Nate's help.

His car was parked at the front of her house, and he was leaning by the side of the car, a single rose in his hand. Ricky welcomed her with opened arms, which she gladly stepped into, giving him a kiss on the lips. "Gosh, it feels good to be able to do that again," she sighed in satisfaction, the ends of her lips reaching her ears. Ricky leaned back to take in the view under his nose, she was smiling brightly, her cheekbones popping and there was colour in her face. There was no doubt in his mind that she was well-recovered, the weight he'd been carrying in his chest for the past few days finally lifted. Nini noticed that he was staring at her and pecked his cheek, "You have the whole evening to admire my beauty, so shall we get on with this date, Bowen?" Her words burst his bubble and he pinched her cheek in mild annoyance, "Since when did you get so confident, Nins?" He inquired curiously as they got into the car, receiving a shrug in response; Nini didn't know either, she was just feeling it that day.

Ricky listened to Nini talk about how awful she'd been feeling in the days when she was sick. Turns out the doctor was right about the stomach flu, she'd spiked a fever for a while even after she stopped puking. The whole ordeal lasted for about a week before she got back to full function. "I missed you," Her hand ghosted over Ricky's thigh, settling firmly as he gripped the steering wheel. He raised his eyebrows at her statement, "Nina, I've been going over to your house everyday, we've been seeing each other everyday. What do you mean you miss me?"

"We haven't had time alone together in a week, Ricky. I missed being able to kiss you whenever I want without worrying my mouth will taste like puke or I'll pass the bug to you. And, I missed touching you and not having to hold back just because my family is around," She confessed softly, as if she was afraid that if her voice was any louder, something bad would happen. It just so happened that they arrived at a red light and he immediately turned to her, holding her chin and kissed her fully on the lips. She would have wrapped her arms around his neck and moved to straddle him if it weren't for a honk from the car behind them. Ricky pulled away, stepping on the gas, driving them to their destination as quick as he could so they could continue with what they were interrupted from.

He held her hand, leading her to the grass; in his other hand, holding a big bag of food and stuff. Nini helped by carrying the guitar and their phones. Laying out the mats and the lights before it got dark, they settled on the mat and began to dig into the meal that Ricky had prepped for them, with the help of Emma and Mr Roberts. It was kind of a poke bowl with a porridge base and without the raw fish, a light meal that would keep them warm and was easy to digest. Ricky was still worried that Nini might puke or get food poisoning, so he took the extra caution to prepare it for her. Nini was especially grateful, she herself was not ready to take the risk with fried or raw foods yet. Ricky told her about Mr Roberts' lousy instructions, and she almost choked on her food laughing at her father. He would ask the older guy how much of whatever ingredient to put in and he'd get the reply, "As much as you want to." Emma had laughed, telling her father-in-law that that was not the way to give instructions. The poor boy got scolded for adding too much water to the porridge at first, which they took out five minutes after it started cooking. "Yea, my dad is just really bad at giving instructions. I keep telling him that he has no right to scold us if things don't go his way, but he gets mad anyway."

The conversation flowed to their comfort foods, Nini's was anything her dad would cook them and Ricky's was this amazing pork broth that his grandma used to serve with rice, it was the most heavenly thing he'd had since he existed. Nini revealed that she hated porridge on normal days, she insisted that it was sick people food, to which Ricky pointed out that she wasn't sick now. "But, this is different. One, you made it for me. And two, I'm just scared that I'll puke again, even though it's been three days." He laid a hand on top of hers, assuring her that she was getting better and probably would not vomit until the next time she got drunk or got a bug or got food poisoning.