the flaw in being perfect - rini au

fifty three

"How do you feel when you're talking to Ricky?"

Nini and her therapist, Janet, have been talking for about forty five minutes now, and their session has just fifteen left.

"I don't know, confused? He makes me happy, but it's just... frustrating? I just feel a little put off by how he was acting."

"Have you talked to him about why he acted that way?"

"Well, sort of. He was hurt because he thought I was blowing him off for EJ, but I feel like there has to be more to it."

"There probably is," Janet encourages.

"Huh?"

"When you feel like there should be more there, there usually is. He has a whole life that he hasn't told you about. You don't know why he works the way he does."

Nini thinks for a second before something clicks in her head. "His dad."

"What about his dad?"

"He has problems at home with his parents. He told me his dad had to leave his mom and he's taking it pretty hard, but he never told me why."

"There could be a number of reasons why."

"And when he saw the bruises on my wrists, he seemed to understand them," Nini pieces together. "Do you think he's seen them before? Or had them?"

"We don't know anything about what Ricky has gone through that he hasn't told you," Janet tries to calm her.

"He doesn't like to be at home, but he seemed used to it by the time he got here. I'm thinking he did that before, too."

Nini looks over to Janet, panicked.

"Do you think his mom was abusive?"

"We don't know, Nini. I wouldn't jump to any conclusions. We should keep this about you."

"But this is about me. It's about me understanding him so his actions don't hurt me."

"You're very wise, Nini, but we still shouldn't assume his mother was abusive."

"Okay," Nini sighs. "You're right. But it would make sense. I really need to talk to him."

"After our appointment, you can ask Linda to drive you to see him. Does that sound like something you'd like to do?" Janet asks.

Nini nods. "Are we almost done?"

"Five minutes."

"Can I be done now? Do you think Linda is here?"

"We can check. Are you sure that's all you wanted to talk about today?"

"I'm sure," Nini confirms.

"Alright, let's go out front." Linda gestures towards the door.

Nini leads the way out, scanning the parking lot before her eyes land on a familiar car with a familiar figure leaning against it.

"Wait, what?" Nini whispers.

"What is it?" Janet asks concernedly.

"Ricky. He's here."

With that, Nini walks towards the car.

Ricky looks up to see her approaching him. "Hey, sorry for no warning, Linda just asked me to come and—"

Ricky is interrupted by Nini hugging him.

After a moment of shock, Ricky hugs back.

Nini closes her eyes, holding him tightly with her head on his chest.

"Are you okay?" Ricky softly asks after a minute of silence.

"Yeah," Nini breathes out, finally starting to let go.

"I'm sorry for being so horrible." Ricky grimaces.

"I'm sorry for never explaining what was happening."

"Nini, I'm the one that didn't let you explain."

"I'm stubborn enough to have figured out how to get around it, but I didn't. I gave up because I thought you didn't want to be friends with me anymore, but I should have paid attention. It had nothing to do with me."

"To be quite honest with you, Nini, it had a lot to do with you."

"What do you mean?" Nini asks, her eyes wide like a doe.

Ricky stares straight into Nini's eyes. "I like you, Nini. I didn't really realize it until Caswell asked you out and it hurt to see you say yes. Then it hurt to hear him talk about you so crudely because I would never talk about you in the way he did, or treat you the way he did. He's an asshole, Neens, and princesses deserve way more than assholes."

"Then what do princesses deserve?" Nini asks timidly, looking up at him.

"Their prince charming," Ricky answers. "Do you think that maybe I could be yours?"

Nini smiles softly. "I think that maybe you could."

The two stare at each other happily for a moment.

"You'll have to explain your thought process through everything to me, though," Nini adds on.

Ricky laughs lightly. "Only if you explain yours to me."

Nini holds up her pinky. "Deal."

Ricky interlocks his pinky with hers, completing their little truth pact.

"To the graffiti spot?" Ricks asks.

Nini nods, and off they go.

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do you think ricky will tell nini about his mom??

-jenna