Until the End of Summer (Rini Through the Years)

4. (Pov. Ricky)

I grabbed a piece of paper and a barely sharpened pencil, and was prepared to take in everything my mom was about to say.

"So conversation is key." Started my mom. "If a girl is engaged with whatever you're saying, there's a good chance she has all eyes on you."

"Even if what you say doesn't make sense sometimes?" I asked, teasing Big Red.

My mom smiled. "You are correct Ricky." Big Red elbowed me in the arm.

I wrote the first point onto paper.

"Second, if a girl likes a guy, she'll make it a point to let you know you're funny, even if you're not."

My mom opened up a cabinet to grab out a container for the brownies while we wrote down the next point. "Oh," She continued. "She could love touching your hair, love your smile, she may even be shy of your eyes."

"Whoa who whoa, shy of my eyes? What does that even mean." This was getting weird.

"It means that she gets sheepish when you're looking directly at her. She cares about what you think and isn't yet comfortable with your gaze."

Big Red yawned. "Ricky I think this is enough information. It's getting too emotional, and boring."

I shook my head. "Nope sorry dude. More information Lynn."

My mom lifted an eyebrow. "It's mom to you Richard. Now let me think of what else. Oh one of the most important things is that girls love caring and helpful boys. They love seeing boys who are good with kids, sympathetic, and who are willing to teach others new things." I wrote that down as well.

We spent the next twenty minutes on the list and I gotta say, my mom was a huge help. The list contained eight points.

-She enjoys talking to you.
-She'll be the first to laugh even if you're not funny.
-She loves your eyes, your smile, gets nervous when you look at her.
-Loves when you care.
-She may joke/make fun of you.
-Twirls her hair, fidgets, etc.
-She wants to notice everything you do.
-Be you.

"Okay we need a plan. A really good plan." I said as I paced back and forth in my bedroom.

"Yeah you need a good plan that doesn't make it look too obvious." Said Big Red.

"Exactly!"

"We could follow point number four," Big Red suggested. "You could try teaching Nini how to skateboard again."

The reason Big Red said again was because I kind of gave up with teaching her. I don't think she minded though. I hoped.

"No dude, me teaching her causes more stress on both of our ends. I don't think I would find out if she liked me that way." I paused as an idea formed. "But do you know who I- I mean who we could teach?"

Big Red was puzzled. "Who?"

"My dad!" I exclaimed, while quoting the words with my hands. Remember how my dad told us how he was too scared to skateboard because of what happened when he was a kid?"

Big Red caught on pretty quickly, as usual. "Yeah I feel bad for that bush"

"Seriously dude?"

"Yeah seriously."

"Nevermind. What if we created a tutorial, like the ones we watch on YouTube, for my dad?"

"That's great but where does Nini come in?"

"It's easy. We could ask if Kourtney wants to be our videographer and Nini could help her. It would be better if we were all there so that she and Kourtney don't notice what we're trying to do."

"You think this will work dude?"

Duh. All I had to do was show Nini that I'm a boy who cared about helping his dad leave his fear of skateboarding. It would also show her that even though she didn't learn anything from me, I was still determined to let my teaching skills take flight. With Nini helping us with this video, we would spend lots of time together. That would allow me to see how she acted around me. Plus, it'll be fun and if the video was a hit, it could appear on Youtube. Just kidding. The tutorial would not be seen by anyone other than me, dad, Kourtney, Big Red, and Nini. That I can promise.

Once Big Red left, I texted Nini. I gave Big Red the responsibility of texting Kourtney.