ALIVE - R. BOWEN

five

After Ricky had downed another three or four drinks, he was definitely having trouble seeing straight. Everytime he blinked it seemed like the room got a little blurrier. Okay, maybe it was five or six drinks. He smiled with satisfaction and grabbed another drink. He reached down to grab another beer from the cooler and when he stood up and turned around, Nini was standing right there. "Oh fuck!" he cursed out loud and took a breath before saying "Hey Nini, I wasn't expecting you to be there."

"It's cool," she smiled, "What's up?"

"Just uh-" Ricky shrugged and showed her the bottle he was holding, "Getting another drink." There was a silence. "Where's Ej?" Ricky asked.

"He's out back doing some sort of upside down keg challenge. I told him we'd meet back up later."

"Cool."

Ricky looked at Nini as she tapped her fingers against her cup, looking everywhere but at Ricky. "Hey it's kinda hot down here, do you wanna go upstairs?" she asked more forwardly than she would've liked, it was definitely the alcohol taking over.

Ricky didn't respond verbally, he just nodded and she motioned for him to follow her and he did. She led them up the stairs, past a couple who was making out, past the bathroom door where a line was starting to form, and through a bedroom. She pulled open the door and led him outside. They were overlooking the pool which was pretty empty considering that the weather wasn't exactly permitting for kids to be swimming. But Ricky did notice an overcrowded hot tub and he was glad he wasn't invited to swim. "Red told me you guys went to the indoor skatepark, what did you think?" Nini asked, trying her best to strike up a conversation with the boy who was, up until this part, a mystery to her.

"It was a lot of fun. I've never like, I don't know done anything like that before so it was pretty cool." Ricky replied.

Nini nodded, "Well Red said he had a good time."

"Yeah, I did too. Hey, speaking of Big Red what is his real name?" Ricky asked.

Nini giggled, "He'd probably kill me if I told you. But fun fact he's actual the third generation of Big Red's." Nini began to ramble. Ricky wondered if Nini had a slight British accent that he never caught before, but he just concluded that it was the intoxication that was making Nini sound funny.

Ricky laughed, "That's kinda cool. I'm named after my great-grandpa Richard but besides that there's nothing that cool about my name."

"You're joking right?" Nini said in disbelief, Ricky shrugged, unsure of what she was referring to, "Your full name is not Richard. No one looks at a baby and says 'Ah yes, I shall name him Richard'." Nini joked, bringing herself almost to tears, "At least not since the 1880s!" she added.

"Why do you think everyone calls me Ricky!" Ricky rebutted, "And don't hate on Richard, it's a cool name!"

"Fine, whatever you say," Nini laughed and Ricky decided that it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard.

Wait till he heard her sing.

"So like what then, is your name actually Nini or-" Ricky stopped, hoping Nini would jump in.

She rolled her eyes, but not in the same way Ricky would roll his eyes at something his dad or his teacher or Gina said, she did it in a way that was cute and playful. "Well, okay, fine- my actual name is Nina but right around fourth or fifth grade Red started to feel self conscious that he was the only kid in our grade that went by a nickname and not their full name he didn't want to be the only one anymore. He thought that if I had one too people would stop asking him what his real name was," Nini took a pause, and she couldn't help but notice how engaged Ricky was in her story even though he was probably drunk as a skunk, "I asked how someone can even come top with a nickname for a name as short as 'Nina'. The best he could come up with was Nini, and it just kinda stuck after that." Nini looked off the balcony into the distance, "I never was really too fond of the name Nina anyways." she finished.

When Nini finished her story, she gave Ricky a look that was telling him to say something, but he couldn't, he was so utterly entranced by this girl.

He snapped out of his trance and cleared his throat, "Well I guess that's pretty cool then Nina." he smirked.

She narrowed her eyes at him, "I swear to God Richard I will push you off of this balcony if you call me that again." she threatened but Ricky could tell by the glint her eyes and her playful smile that she didn't mean a word she said.

Ricky and caught Nini's gaze and the two just stared at one another for a second, Ricky could feel himself start to lean in, and he didn't know how or how to stop, but he swore she was leaning in too.

Then came the dreaded buzzing sound from Nini's pocket. She instantly broke eye contact and whipped her phone out of her back pocket, "Ah, EJ's looking for me, I should probably-" she squeezed her eyes shut in embarrassment and pointed towards the sliding door.

"Yeah, no, go." Ricky said and motioned for her to go. She gave him a small smile and went through the door, leaving him all alone on the balcony. he put his hands to his face and threw his head back "Fuck!" he yelled out loud as he took a second to compose himself, before opening the sliding door and going back downstairs.

When Ricky had reached the bottom of the stairs, he scanned the floor of dancing teenagers looking for someone, anyone. He spotted Gina and Howie dancing over in one corner, she was struggling to stand and every time she would stumble, Howie would help her back to her feet. His eyes scanned the floor again and that's when she saw it, Nini and EJ. She was grinding up against him and he held her hips against his. Ricky felt like he was going to be sick while simultaneously thinking "God I wish that were me!"

He turned around to walk away, or maybe straight up walk out, which instantly made him wonder what time it was. He felt someone grab at his shoulder and he looked to see that it was Big Red.

"Hey Ricky, I've been looking for you. A group of us are going outside to get high, do you want to come?" Big Red asked.

Ricky didn't even think about it before answering "Yes" and following Big Red outside.

☆彡

When Ricky came back inside, he felt like he could barely see. He was definitely crossed, and yet he still wanted to go further. He walked over to where a teen was passing out more drinks, his legs guiding him, his head completely out of it. "Make me something strong," Ricky told the guy.

"Dude, maybe you're had enough." Red whispered to him, knowing that he too had had enough.

Ricky shook is head, "I'll be the judge of when I've had enough." Ricky slurred as the kid handed him a cup. Ricky drank it in one go, and Big Red laughed as he witnessed it go down, completely forgetting that he had warned Ricky to stop just moments ago. The two began cracking up and that's when Ricky felt everything go black.