wave after wave 🌊 [rini au]

winter ; 36

a/n: added in a chunk at the ending, just for clarity and a proper ending; do check it out (-:

dedicating this chapter to my greatest supporters from the beginning @sarahzpanda39 @lilipution15 and @sarahxnguyenx ; yall are such angels and i couldn't have gotten this far without you!!

Christmas was always a time for family to the Roberts. When Nate, Nic and Nini were growing up, they met up with the larger Roberts' family for dinner and presents. However, when Nic had started to train to surf professionally, the family spared more and more time for him to train during the winter season. Sooner or later, he'd hit WSL level and was taking part in competitions all through winter. The magic of Christmas dwindled for the Roberts family and Nini was particularly jaded when it came to the end of the year. She secretly hated that Nic didn't spend Christmas with them; she knew he couldn't but it didn't mean she was okay with it. Their parents changed the way they celebrated Christmas ever since they didn't join the other Roberts for dinner — they did gag Christmas gifts in addition to secret santa and the most intense game night that Kauai had seen. Christmas changed again when Nic started his business, he had to work on the holiday; it was only most profitable to do so, especially since he was just starting out. The tourist crowds were huge, and sales sky-rocketed as people scrambled to get gifts and souvenirs. The way they celebrated changed again, managing gift exchanges over Christmas supper and dessert, jamming in the living room until they could no longer stay up. Nini resented that their family time was taken away when everyone had grown up and gotten busy, she wanted family Christmas dinners and games night at least.

This year was a little different, Nic was back in Kauai because of his injury and Nic and Emma could hand off their business to their trusted manager and employees to handle the holiday demand. They were finally able to spend the entire day together as a family, celebrating Christmas as they usually would. This year would be even more special, they planned to go for a morning surf at the North Shore then spend the rest of the morning at the beach, playing frisbee, volleyball or what not. They'd have lunch and head home for an afternoon nap then wake up to prepare dinner. They'd do their gag gift exchange, have dinner, and then the real gift exchange. Afterward, it would be games and endless fun till their parents got tired, the siblings and their significant others had planned to stay up to catch up till about 3am, and then they'd go sleep to be ready for work the next day. Nini had never felt this excited about Christmas since she was barely ten.

The only problem was Ricky. Nini was absolutely thrilled to spend their first Christmas together in the old Roberts way, for the first time in a long time. However, the lifeguard was scheduled for duty at Poipu beach which he'd agreed to when he had made arrangements earlier that month to get a day off to take care of Nini when she was sick. It had slipped his mind and they were happily planning that he could join the Roberts, until he checked the schedule that week to find out that he was not free. Ricky saw Nini's smile falter when he broke the news to her; he felt even more apologetic that he wasn't able to join them, especially since he knew the history of her being let down by her brothers during this holiday. Now, he was one of those who'd let her down and he was utterly disappointed in himself. "Don't be sorry, Ricky, it's not your fault," She had comforted him, a hand gripping his wrist. He shook his head, "I should have thought about this when I'd negotiated for a day off, I should have been more-" "You did what you thought was right at that time, didn't you?" She asked, even though she already knew the answer. "The day that you came to take care of me when I was sick helped me get better, you know that," He nodded, though he was still unconvinced that she was disappointed about the situation.

"Be honest with me, you're disappointed, aren't you, Nins?" Ricky looked her in the eyes and could see her eyes wide with sadness. She leaned her body into his, his arms instinctively wrapping around her waist, "Christmas just never goes the way I want it to." He tightened his grip around her small figure, "I'm really sorry, babe. But I'll join you guys as soon as my shift ends, and I promise to stay all the way." Nini just nodded, thinking to herself that it was yet another disappointing Christmas.