+

a few hours later, nina made her way to ricky's house. it was a small, brown townhouse located near the edge of town.

as she was looking for his house number, she saw a few of his neighbours talking to each other as they laughed about something. it was nice to see. she had never really gotten to know her neighbours back home, they were always rude or never stuck around long enough to befriend.

once she found his house, she approached the door and knocked lightly as she scanned the environment.

"hey," ricky smiled as he opened the door.

"hi," nina replied.

"come in," he said, moving out of the way so she could squeeze through, "sorry this place is kinda small," he chuckled nervously.

"don't be sorry, it seems really cozy," she smiled.

"ricky, is that nini?" they heard, coming from the kitchen.

"yea," ricky replied to the person, rubbing the back of his neck.

"oh nini! it's nice to meet you," a woman said, coming out of another room, "i'm lynne, ricky's mom."

"hi," nina chuckled as lynne pulled her into a hug, "it's nice to meet you."

"oh sorry," she backed away, "we're huggers. you should meet ricky's dad- mike!" she yelled.

nina looked up at ricky who seemed to be embarrassed by his parents gestures.

"yes? oh hi, you must be nini," a tall man came out of the same room lynne had and shook nina's hand, "ricky's mentioned you once or twice," he laughed, "i'm mike, it's nice to meet you."

"'you too," nina smiled. "you guys seem lovely, and i love the decorations around here," she looked around the room.

"why thank you nini. we've been asking ricky to bring his friends around here for a while but he never does. we've only met kourtney and sebastian, but they come over very seldom," lynne explained.

"oh really?" she turned to face ricky who once again looked embarrassed.

"so uh, we're gonna go to my room. we'll see you guys later," ricky said, grabbing nina's wrist gently as he started to pull her away from his talkative parents.

"dude, you said your house is always busy, why is your mom saying that she's been telling you to bring people over," the brunette said once they made it to his room and he shut the door.

"uh, i may have stretched the truth."

"so you lied?"

he pressed his lips together.

she let out a small laugh, "why? are you embarrassed of your parents? you shouldn't be, they seem like the nicest couple ever. i wish my moms were like that," she quietly said the last part as she sat on his desk chair.

"are your moms not..." he trailed off, sitting on his bed.

"nice?" she scoffed, "mama d is, she's the most understanding person ever. i love her, but mama c is so strict and i feel like i can never do anything right cause she always criticizes me."

"oh, i'm sorry," he replied.

she shook her head, "it's okay, i'm used to it," she chuckled. "so, why have you only invited kourt and seb over?"

"i don't know," he shrugged, "i guess cause i've known them my whole life and i know they wouldn't... judge."

"judge what?"

"my house..."

"what's wrong with your house?"

"i don't know. it's small."

"did you think i was going to judge you?"

he stayed quiet.

"ricky, i would never judge you, plus, i fucking love your house. bigger houses are overrated."

"i guess," he replied.

"oh my god is that a cat?" nina asked, looking past him.

he turned around to see what she was referring to, "oh, yea, that's aurora."

she got up and ran to the sleeping cat and started running her fingers through her fur.

"she's so cute," she cooed. "how'd you come up with the name?"

"she's always sleeping, and sleeping beauty..." he trailed off again, hoping she caught on.

"aw, that's so cute," she continued petting the cat as he stared at her in awe.

+

"thank you for dinner, it was delicious," nina thanked the bowen parents.

"mom, dad, nini and i are gonna go back to my room," ricky informed them and they nodded.

"dude, your family dinners are so fun!" nina exclaimed.

"really?" he replied, in disbelief.

"yea, like your parents talking about baby you was so funny," she chuckled.

"shut up," he rolled his eyes.

"seriously though, you should cherish those. my moms are always at the studio so they never have dinner- or any meal really, with me."

"yea, i guess it can be fun," he reasoned.

"ooh guitar!" she ran to the corner of the room where a guitar stood on a stand, "original song?" she wiggled her eyebrows, handing the guitar to ricky.

he rolled his eyes and took the guitar out of her hands, "okay, fine."

she sat down on his bed next to him, getting comfortable so she could enjoy his voice.

"you better not judge me," he scolded before he started singing.

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

as he sang, she admired every note he played and every word he sang. he avoided eye contact with her as it would make him all the more reason to be nervous and mess up.

"ricky, that was really good," she said as he finished playing, "who's it about?"

he chuckled softly, "uh, this girl who used to be my neighbour," he looked outside his bedroom window, "we grew up together but the summer before high school, her dad got a job in a different state so she had to move."

"oh, i'm sorry. why have you never mentioned her?"

"every time i brought her up i remember her crying in my arms when she told me she was going to move," he looked down at his hands. "we kind of had a whole secret relationship thing. it was easy to hide though cause she went to a different school, also why my friends don't really know her."

"she's never met kourt and seb?"

"she has, but they barely came over when we were little and we would always hang out in the neighbourhood and go to the park to skateboard, so they only met like once."

"she seems like the perfect girl for you."

"she was," he smiled at the memory, "we even promised each other we would wait until we were older so we could fly to each other's state. we would facetime every night, but when she started school, she got busy and we just stopped talking. a couple weeks after, i checked her instagram and she got a boyfriend," he explained. "she was perfect but i guess we weren't."

"maybe it's the universe's way of telling you that you need room to grow." she replied, "like you said, you guys grew up together, maybe her being away is a chance for you to explore yourself without being tied to someone."

"kinda like where you are right now," he smiled, "you've been with your boyfriend all your life and now that you're here, you can grow."

"yup!" she said, popping the p. "look at us," she nudged his arm, "just two growing people."

he chuckled at her response, "you're up nini, play your original," he said, passing her the guitar.

"okay, but you can't judge either. it's still a work in progress."

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

he watched as she sang so soft and light, yet put the emotion into her notes and lyrics. she was better than he could've ever expected.

"neens, that was like crazy good," ricky said, "was it about..."

"kind of? i don't know, i just feel like we're not meant to be together," she shook her head, "it's hard to explain."

"i think i get it. maybe you just fooled yourselves into thinking you were cause he was the only one there, but now that he's not, it's different."

"maybe," she replied. "i just don't see him the same way i did a couple months ago. you seem to be the only person who seems to get that," she chuckled.

"hey, you can always talk to me," he set his right hand on top of hers.

she looked down at his hand and let out a breath, "thank you. really," she replied as she looked up at him.

they looked into each other's eyes in silence before ricky started leaning in, looking down at her lips.

her breath hitched as she watched him move closer, slowly closing his eyes.

"ricky," she breathed out, "we can't."

he quickly opened his eyes and moved back, letting go of her hand.

"shit, sorry. i uh-"

"it's just that i just got out of a relationship. 'room to grow' remember?" she awkwardly said.

"yea yea," he cleared his throat.

"i uh- i should go. i'll see you tomorrow," she said before rushing out of the room.

"nini are you going now?" lynne asked as she saw her quickly running out of the room.

"um, yea, i have to-" she pointed to the front door, not knowing what to say.

"come back again, okay?" mike said.

she nodded her head before leaving the house and shutting the door behind her. she let out a breath that she didn't know he was holding before she started to make her way home.