𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 / 𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙞 ✔️

sixtyseven.

"thank you so much carlos for hosting this because this was very nice and enjoyable and i much needed that." ashlyn thanked as she leaned back on her seat. everyone was outside in the backyard roasting marshmallows and making s'mores after they had dinner.

"of course darling, we've all been so busy these days and i missed you guys." carlos then said.

"so, i heard little miss stella is starting school next week" seb asked as stella jumped up instantly from ricky's lap.

"star..." he groaned which gina just laughed at him.

"yes! i'm sooo excited! i can't wait to see my friends and my teacher!!" she replied excitingly. nini smiled at her daughter and was happy that she was excited to go back to school. she couldn't have related back when she was still studying.

eventually nini made eye contact with ricky but quickly looked away, still a bit awkward with everything that had happened that past month. kourtney and carlos both noticed this.

"hey, it's getting a bit chilly now. let's go inside and do something else?" kourtney suggested.

"i agree. let's go watch a movie or something."

ej was confused as heck, "what? are you guys okay because we're literally sitting in front of a fire."

"no i'm getting cold, so yeah let's watch winter soldier or something." gina suggested being the marvel fan she was as she caught on.

"sure just because i love sebastian stan." red agreed as he got up.

"as you should, king." gina praised as everyone laughed.

"dc is still better." ej commented.

"and i think you better shut up before gina over here goes on a rampage." ashlyn replied to ej.

"okay! everyone to the movie room." carlos said as he shooed everyone inside. "oh wait! ricky can you put out the fire and nini uh, fold the chairs up? thanks!" carlos then said as he soon disappeared and closed the door.

"fold the chairs? these are unfoldable..?" nini said to herself as she was confused.

ricky frowned, "well i can't really put out this fire right now- at least safely do it." he said as he looked at the fire pit which the fire was still pretty big and bright.

"well we don't want to burn carlos's house down do we?" nini joked.

"no we do not. here let's just go inside for now and then i'll come back in around fifteen minutes to see if the fire dies down." ricky suggested as nini nodded her head. they then made their way to the sliding door to get inside.

"what the-" nini said as she tried opening the door. "it's locked."

"here let me try. maybe you're just not strong enough unlike me here." ricky joked as he flexed his muscles.

"wow sexist much?" nini said as she raised her brow.

"i was kidding. i'm sorry." ricky immediately said right after as nini just rolled her eyes. he then proceeded to attempt to open the door.

"okay, so maybe it is locked..."

"maybe you're just not strong enough unlike me here." nini mocked ricky's previous words.

"okay okay. do you have your phone on you?" ricky asked but nini shook her head no.

"i left it inside."

"damn it. i did too." ricky cursed as he looked at the night sky. "well i guess we're stuck here since the movie room is all the way in the basement and they wouldn't hear us."

"dumb jerks." nini muttered under her breath. ricky laughed.

"nice to see that you still avoid to curse."

"ha ha ha, funny." nini deadpanned.

there was a pregnant pause between the two of them. no one saying anything after nini's last monotonous statement. they just didn't know what to say.

"um, i guess we should talk about what happened." nini finally suggested as she walked back to one of the chairs by the fire.

"alright then." ricky agreed as he sat in a chair that was next to her.

"so um, have you talked to arielle about what happened?" nini asked even though she really did not care.

"no." ricky answered promptly. "her parents, though, did apologize to me quite profusely."

"okay." nini nodded her head. "and how do you feel?" she asked right after.

"honestly? i guess relieved. she was a pain in the ass at times." ricky paused. "ninety-nine percent of the time."

nini laughed as he continued on, "but i'm glad that it's over now... what about you?"

"i just feel sorry for her." nini answered as she put her legs up to her chest. "i mean, how desperate could one possibly be just because she wanted a guy that she had to blackmail him. that's just sad. and i mean, she was pretty and she was kind of nice to an extent so she could've gotten anyone really."

it ricky's turn to nod his head and it was then just silent between them again. a slight breeze happened which caused the fire to almost burn out. nini hugged herself to try and warm up a bit.

"you're not leaving, are you?" ricky suddenly asked. nini furrowed her brows in confusion at the question.

"no.. why would i?"

"just wondering."

"ricky"

ricky sighed, "um when we broke up because of, you know, you were basically no where to be found. i didn't want that to happen again.

i know that we've had a really weird relationship lately, but before we were ever romantically together, you were my best friend. you were always there for me when my parents were fighting and then got divorced. i still love you and you were everything to me, nini. and i guess i just don't want to lose you again. even if we're just friends, i can live with that. just please don't leave again."

nini's eyes teared up at ricky's confession. she instead just stood up and walked over to him and sat on the tiny space besides him. she then just pulled him into a hug as she played with his curls a bit.

"i promise i won't leave, ricky, but i can't be your friend." nini said as her head was nuzzled into his shoulder. ricky's heart broke but he just nodded sadly.

"okay.. but why?"

"because i-i." nini hesitated for a bit but just took a deep breath.

"because i love you too much to be just friends."

•••

"they've been out there for a while? should we check on them?" seb asked as she looked at the time. they just finished watching captain america: the winter soldier and the time was pretty late. it was almost midnight, ricky and nini not coming in since they've been locked out, and stella had fallen asleep, her head on kourtney's lap.

"yeah, i'll go see." gina offered as she got up from her place and began to head back upstairs to see what was up, but first she stretched her legs out a bit.

she soon got back upstairs and unlocked the sliding door. she noticed that the fire was out and couldn't really see well due to how dark it was. she instead took out her phone and turned on her flashlight, but what she saw made her heart melt.

nini and ricky were together sleeping as they held each other. gina didn't want to bother them since they looked so peaceful and instead quickly went inside and found one of carlos's throw blankets at the couch and placed it over them. she decided to just let them be and went back inside, but quickly snapped a picture of the two.

she closed the sliding door and went back downstairs where everyone else was.

"so? where are they?" red asked when he noticed that gina was back.

gina smiled to herself as she grabbed the remote to put something else on. "they're fine."