common sense • rini/jolivia one shots

if something happens

tw: mentions gun violence, death

~~

it's quiet in the house now. too quiet. ever since that day only a few months ago, everything has been too quiet.

Nini sniffles a little as she comes out of her bedroom, wrapping her cardigan tighter around herself. she pauses for a moment and glares at the white door down the hall, the one that's been closed for months.

she slumps her way down the stairs before getting to the living room. she lays down on the couch and stares off into space once again. a tear slips down her face when she spots a framed picture on a shelf across the room, one of the only ones still up.

it wasn't supposed to be like this, it was never meant to be like this. something like this only happens in the movies, or at least that's what she always thought. until it happened to her family at least.

it's something you hear about on the news and depicted in tv and movies. it doesn't feel real until it happens in your home town, in your schools, in your neighborhood, in your family.

Ricky comes through the front door hours later to find his wife laying on the couch, dried tears on her face as she sleeps. it breaks his heart to see her like this, but he lost someone that day too. she's not the only one hurting.

he forces himself to be strong, for his wife, for her. that's what she would've wanted, for him to get up and continue his life and go back to work. Nini isn't there yet. it's been 4 months and while it's still hard every day, he has no choice but to get up and move on with his life. he has to provide for her.

he's making dinner when she finally wakes up, padding into the kitchen, her face red and the tears gone.

"hi." she whispers as she stands next to him.

he glances at her quickly before looking back down at his pan, "hey. you didn't get dressed today. you promised me you would."

"it's hard Ricky."

he sighs a little, "i know Neens but you promised me. i get up and do it every day, i don't know why you can't too."

Nini wipes a tear, "i just can't Ricky, you don't get it."

"what do you mean i don't get it?" he asks, turning off the stove and turning to her, abandoning the food he was tending to, "of course i get it."

"no, you don't!" she snaps, "you didn't carry her around for nine months only to have her ripped away from you when she was barely eight years old!"

"you're not the only one who lost her Nini! jesus! she was our baby, we both lost her that day!" he yells as he points at her.

they're both red faced, angry at each other and the world. tensions have been high for months and this is the breaking point.

"you refuse to take a moment and grieve Ricky! she was gone for only two weeks before you went back to work! how the hell can you not be as upset about this as i am?!"

Ricky scoffs, rolling his eyes, "of course i'm upset Nini! i grieve every day but i still get on with my life! that's what she would have wanted!"

"you have no idea what she would've wanted! she barely had enough time on this earth, she didn't even know who she wanted to be or what she wanted to do! it's not fair! you don't even seem to care that she's gone!" she yells back at him as she moves across the room to get away from him.

"you've got to be kidding me, are you serious? Nini i loved her more than anything in the world of course i'm upset about it! i just don't think that we need to sulk every day for the rest of our lives over it!"