𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙨 (𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚) || hsmtmts au

17. always

R I C K Y 'S P O V

nini lays back into me, the two of us sitting on the hood of my car up against the windshield overlooking the salt lake city skyline (well, i'm sitting up against the windshield, nini's sitting in between my legs). it's a little chilly-and there's also the fact that nini's wearing her pajamas-so we're under one of the random blankets i had in my car. she takes a relaxing breath as i tighten my arms around her stomach from behind her, nini laying her head back onto my collarbone/shoulder.

"the view's beautiful," she sighs, looking out at all of the city lights.

"yeah.." i say, just looking down and paying attention to nini on my chest instead of the city (because i like that view a lot better). i don't think i'll ever get over just how beautiful she is, even after she's been crying-or apparently while she's crying, because i see a silent tear drop down her cheek when she blinks. i immediately move to gently wipe at it, letting it soak into my thumb.

"do you wanna talk about it?" i ask softly.

"just what do i do, ricky?" her voice is low and shakey, and it just hurts me so much to see her like this. i don't even have to ask to know something's gone wrong with e.j.

"do you want my supportive best friend answer or my brutally honest answer?"

"both, please."

i gently rub shapes into the skin on her stomach with my thumbs as i talk, "nins..he's just no good."

truthfully, i could really write a whole ass essay about how much i hate this guy's guts, but she doesn't need all that right now. she just needs the gist of what i honestly think, and some comfort.

"i don't know about that."

"why do you just keep giving him the benefit of the doubt?" i ask, starting to thread my fingers back through her hair and massage her scalp.

"i don't know. our relationship just has it's ups and downs. that's supposed to happen, right? like one day he'll do this sort of thing, and the next we'll have the type of relationship where we, like..we-"

"-finish each other's sentences?"

"exactly."

again, the irony.

"and that's all i've ever wanted with someone. i don't care about looks or gender or any of that, it's just the relationship part of it all. and e.j just asked me out, and now we're troy and gabriella. we're the leads, and we have a showmance, and it's great."

"so why are you here with me instead of him right now?"

nini doesn't answer for a second, letting the question linger in the air.

"that's a great question."

she squeezes my hands on her stomach before she turns around in my arms, laying the side of her face down on my chest and snuggling into me. i know red would say this is breaking a boundary, but look at her-also there's just no way i could ever pass this up.

"why's your heart beating so fast?" nini asks me, putting a hand over the right side of my chest to feel my heartbeat.

"hm?" i pretend to not hear her, not being able to form an excuse.

"your heart. it's going, like, a million miles per minute," she giggles. at least she's feeling a little better?

i don't answer, holding her closer. she doesn't try to pry an answer out of me, instead just snuggling into me more. i can feel the goosebumps on her arms from the cold, and decide to take the blanket off of me completely and just wrap nini up in it like a little burrito *which is the cutest thing ever* so she can be warm. yes, i'm fucking freezing, but it's not so bad.