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Nini and Ricky decided to keep their relationship a secret, just for a little while, not needing their friends prying in on their personal life just yet. Despite wanting to keep it a secret, they were also having a hard time keeping their hands to themselves.
It was their first week back at school after the holidays, Nini ended up turning down the Conservatory’s invitation, coming to realize there are more reasons for her stay in Salt Lake than for her to leave. The pair opted to skip out on lunch for a mini rendezvous in the auditorium. Ricky pulls Nini on to the stage, both dropping their bags next to the piano. He sits at the piano bench, pulling her in closer. She stands in between his legs, smiling down at him. She brings her hands to his hair playing with it, knowing it’s one of his weaknesses. His eyes close, tilting his head back, taking in the feeling, Nini bends down and captures her lips with his.
As Ricky hums in approval, he pulls back, “I love you,” he mumbles, barely audible with the biggest smile. After he told her he loved her for the first time, he couldn’t stop saying it, he loved the way it sounded rolling off his tongue. As he leans forward to capture her lips once more, they were interrupted by the doors of the auditorium opening. Nini instantly jumps away from him taking a seat next to him on the piano bench, pretending she was about to play something.
“Hey, why aren’t you guys at lunch?” Ashlyn calls out skeptically.
“Nini wanted to show me something that she’s been working on, we’ll be down soon. What are you doing here?” Ricky asks their friend, hoping she didn’t see anything.
Ashlyn puts down the pile of papers that she was holding on the desk, “Just dropping these off for Miss Jenn.”
Nini hums, picking up her bag, “We’ll head down with you.” She tells Ashlyn, giving Ricky a look saying they’ll pick up where they left off later.
Ashlyn giving her a confused look, “I thought you were going to show Ricky that song? I want to hear.” She tells her, pointing back at the piano.
Nini links arms with Ashlyn, “No, it’s okay. Maybe some other time.” Leading Ashlyn to the doors she had just walked in from, starting to question her friend about her date with Big Red last weekend.
Ricky sighs, picking up his bag and trailing behind the girls, not really listening to them chatter away. As they reached the cafeteria, they see their friends sitting at their usual table. Ricky takes his usual seat across from Big Red, and Nini next to him.
“Hey, where you been man?” Big Red asks, bringing everyone’s attention to him, curious as to why they we’re late to lunch.
Ricky waves him off, “Nini was just showing me a song she’s been working on.” He tells them, keeping up with the lie his girlfriend concocted. They all nodded, accepting his answer, going back to their conversations, some of them asking Nini about the song in question.
In the middle of Ricky’s conversation with Gina and Carlos he feels something land on his leg, he glances down realizing that it was Nini’s hand. They were sitting close enough, people wouldn’t notice the change in her position. He took a quick look at Nini who wasn’t even looking at him, but he knows that she very well knows what she’s doing. Trying to come back to his conversation with his friends, he found it difficult to focus when her hand inches up his leg, he covers his shock with a cough, in which Nini moves her hand down slightly, just to move it back up a moment later.
The bell rings, signaling the end of lunch, Ricky quickly stands up, thankful for that lunch was over for once, he couldn’t pretend much longer what his girlfriend was doing to him. While they all pack up, Ricky waves at their friends goodbye, as he drags Nini up the stairs, whispering harshly in her ear, “What do you think you’re doing?”
Nini looks up at him innocently, “I don’t know what you’re talking about Ricky.”
He pulls her into the stairwell that leads to the rooftop, knowing no one goes up there, he pins her against the wall. Looking her up and down, “You know what I’m talking about,” he whispers into her ear, “if you’re not careful I might just have to do this right in front of everybody.” Eyeing her up and down, gesturing to their position.
As Nini looks up at him through her eyelashes, leaning in to him expecting a kiss given their proximity, but instead Ricky let’s her go and takes a step back putting some distance between them, “We’re going to be late.”
Nini pouts at him, as he starts backing away, “No fair.”
He winks at her, reaching for her hand again, dragging her to their classroom, before they’re marked late.
--
Ricky unlocks his front door, Nini following closely behind him. He throws his bag on the floor, Nini’s following suite. Ricky mentioning that his dad shouldn’t be home until later tonight, giving her a sly smile on their way up to his room, Nini knowing what he had in mind.
He takes a seat on his bed, leaning against the headboard, scrolling through his phone aimlessly, not realizing Nini approaching him.
“You know,” Nini starts, putting one leg over both of his, straddling his lap, “what you did earlier wasn’t very nice.”
Putting his phone down on the night stand, he grabs her hips, his hands sliding underneath her shirt, he hums in response, “Is that so?”
Smiling down at him, she leans in connecting their lips. Ricky kissing her back eagerly, pulling her in closer, sliding one of his hands up her back, enjoying the way her bare skin feels underneath his touch. Threading one of her hands into his hair, pulling at it gently, eliciting a groan from him. Leaving her lips, he starts kissing his way down her neck, his lips reaching where her shoulder and neck meet. Before he could do anything else, his phone starts vibrating from the night stand.
Throwing his head back groaning in frustration, he grabs his phone, the contact reading, Big Red. “Hello?” he answers, unenthusiastically.
Nini irritated by the interruption, she decided to continue to pepper kisses along his jawline, stopping where his neck meets his head, sucking on it, knowing what effect that spot has on him. Biting the spot gently, continuing to suck with a goal in mind.
He squeezes her hip harder than usual, trying to keep his voice normal as Big Red tells him that they’re all meeting up at their favourite diner in a few minutes, asking if he wants to come. They wanted to talk about the new musical, and what’s to come for the rest of the semester. Ricky squeezes his eyes shut, in an attempt to focus on answering his friend.
“Y-yeah, sure. That sounds great. But, I, uh, I’ll meet you there.” He manages to stutter out to Big Red, with his pulse pounding in his ears from what his girlfriend is doing to him. His last sentence catching Nini’s interest, but she doesn’t stop just yet. Bringing her lips to the ear that his phone isn’t occupied with, with a breathy voice she whispers, “I love you.” She giggles, pressing her face into the side of his neck, adjusting herself on his lap putting her weight down on him, she feels him harden slightly underneath her, smiling at the effect she has on him.
“Okay, also, if you could tell Nini, that’d be great. She’s not answering any of her texts. And I saw you guys leave together.” Big Red says, suggestively.
“Whatever you’re thinking, don’t.” he warns his friend, “But, yeah I’ll tell her. See you in a bit.” Hanging up the phone, putting it back down on the night stand.
He rolls them over, pressing a long, hard kiss to her, mumbling against her mouth, “Baby, you can’t do that when I’m talking on the phone. It’s like you want us to get caught.”
She giggles wrapping her legs around his waist, “You love it.” kissing him once more, “Now, what did Big Red want?”
“Oh, we’re meeting everyone at the diner, so we should probably get going.”
She pouts, “Fine, but I think you need to deal with something before we go.” She glances down, giggling.
Ricky sighs, “The things you do to me.” He laughs, kissing her once more and getting off of her, heading to the bathroom.
Nini was still not happy that their friends had interrupted their alone time once more, finding that keeping their relationship a secret is a lot more difficult than they thought it was going to be.
-
When they arrived at the diner, everyone was already seated, leaving two seats at the end for them. Nini takes a seat in front of Kourtney, Ricky to her left. Greeting all their friends as they came in, wondering if they’ve ordered yet or not.
“So, I hear we’re talking about the spring musical?” Ricky questions the group.
Most nodding along to the question, “We’re guessing on what Miss Jenn is going to choose, she’s revealing the musical next week,” Carlos starts, bringing a number of conversations amongst their friends. Ricky talking to Ashlyn and Big Red who was seated in front of him, Ashlyn gushing about how she thinks it’s going to be a classic like Grease or some show that he’s never heard of before.
Big Red had been eyeing him and Nini since they entered, Ricky knew he wanted to ask him what’s going on between them, but he simply shook his head every time he shot Ricky a questioning look.
“My parents aren’t going to be home this weekend, do you want to have another mini party?” she asks, knowing that the theater club could never say no to a party, especially the way they do things. The entire group burst into excitement, all agreeing to come with promises of bringing food.
“I’ll come if you promise no High School Musical the Choosical, I don’t need to do the Evans warm up thing again.” Ricky laughs, nudging EJ who was sitting next to him, causing him to burst into laughter as well.
Carlos agrees reluctantly, “Fine, but only if we get to do karaoke! And you, Mr. Troy Bolton, must perform at least three songs.” he exclaims pointing at his friend for dramatic flair. Ricky laughs, but says yes anyway.
The group starting to chatter away about what they we’re going to bring, and what they wanted to do. Ricky looks over to his girlfriend, “You’ll be able to come, right?” he asks.
She nods, “My moms are going out with their friends that night, so I’ll be home alone anyways, might as well go out and party than stay home,” she says, eyeing Ricky with the latter half of her comment, “Can you give me a ride, please?” she asks pulling out her puppy dog eyes.
“Yeah, of course,” smiling at her, a little disappointed they won’t be able to have the house to themselves for once, but being with their friends is more important. He tunes back into the conversation with EJ talking about this girl in his math class that he’s been trying to get her attention.
“Ricky,” is all Big Red says, and when Ricky looks back to him, his red headed friend was giving him the same eyes that he has been since he and Nini walked in, he quickly shook his head. Knowing that he’s probably going to text him later, wanting him to talk about it.
Despite Nini and Ricky wanting to keep their relationship a secret just for a while, just so their friends aren’t in their business. Somehow, he’s still getting questions about his relationship with Nini, and he knows that Nini gets the same questions from her best friend.
-
Big Red: what’s going on with you and Nini?
Ricky: nothing.
Big Red: bullshit, I see the way you look at her.
Ricky: just drop it, okay? We’re fine, friends. That’s it.
Big Red: I don’t believe you.
Ricky: well, that’s the truth.
Big Red: why won’t you just be honest and admit that she’s still into you?
Ricky sighs, plugging his phone into the charger and setting it on the night stand. After he dropped Nini off, he saw a number of questioning texts coming from his best friend, and has been trying to convince Big Red nothing is going on. Unfortunately for Ricky, Big Red is extremely persistent and can’t seem to take the answer Ricky’s been giving him even if it is a lie.
Keeping their relationship a secret is starting to get difficult, especially because of how much his friend worries and cares for him. Even though it’s been getting harder to keep it from their friends’ due to all of their pressing questions, Ricky isn’t quite ready yet to let them in on their news. And he knows Nini isn’t either, the pair just wanting to be able to bask in their moment for now, without their friends’ prying eyes.
He shoots Big Red one more text, telling him to drop it once more, not sure if it’ll do much for him, and bidding him a good night in hopes that his friend will take the hint – at least for the night.
--
When Ricky and Nini arrive at Ashlyn’s, nearly everyone is there. Carlos already breaking out the karaoke machine, him and EJ singing their hearts out to Don’t Stop Believin’ waving at them, when they see them enter. At their last game night, EJ revealed that he was a secret Glee fan. It seems that he is now embracing his inner gleek and giving it all that he’s got like he’s the next Finn Hudson.
Ricky and Nini head over to the kitchen where they found Big Red, Kourtney, Ashlyn and Gina, “Hi guys!” Nini calls out, “we brought chips and I made some spinach dip!” Nini tells them, as Ricky sets the dip down on the table.
The girls pull Nini into their conversation about some new show that they we’re all into. Ricky walks back to the living room with Big Red, “Before you say anything,” Ricky starts knowing that once Big Red had him alone he was going to try and talk to him about Nini again, “Not tonight. I want to enjoy being with our friends, busting out into song, no drama.”
His statement causing Big Red to sigh, “Fine,” he agrees reluctantly. The pair heading on over to EJ, Carlos and Seb who we’re belting out Bohemian Rhapsody. Ricky and Big Red joining in at the bridge, the group laughing at their own antics, knowing they will never be Queen, no matter how good they could be.
After hanging out and singing with the boys for a while, Ricky goes in search for Nini, wondering where she could have gone off to, seeing that everyone was crowding around the karaoke songbook, queuing up and searching for the next few songs.
As Ricky is walking towards the kitchen, Nini surprises him by pulling him into one of the hallways away from any prying eyes. He eyes his girlfriend, confused as to why she pulled him away from the group. Nini’s looking up at him through her eyelashes, her eyes shifting between his eyes and his lips, biting her lip. Ricky finally understanding what she wanted, he knew that look.
He leans against the wall, pulling her towards him, “Who would’ve thought, Nini Salazar-Roberts, would be the one wanting to sneak away for a quick make out?” he jokes with her, putting his hands on her waist, her middle exposed from her crop top, allowing him to feel how her warm skin feels against his hands.
She scoffs at his joke, losing her patience she pulls his neck down so she can press their lips together. Ricky pulls her flush against him, kissing her back with more fervor. His tongue sweeping against her bottom lip, silently asking for permission, she opens her mouth slightly, his tongue meeting hers, she moans in approval.
One of her hands threading through his hair pulling at the ends, eliciting a groan from him. Causing him to pull her even closer, if that we’re even possible. One of his hands started to slide down, inching towards her ass.
“No drama, huh?” they hear from behind them, causing the pair to push away from each other, both turning crimson red from the embarrassment of being caught. The voice had been Big Red, who was accompanied by Ashlyn and EJ, who all had matching shocked expressions.
“Uh, we we’re looking for you two, wanted you guys to sing a duet,” Ashlyn starts, a little uncomfortable from what she just witnessed.
Big Red with a shocked and confused look on his face, in his eyes once could tell he had a mission in mind, “Cut the crap, explain.” Not letting his best friend get away with what they had just witnessed, especially considering the conversation they had a few days ago.
Nini looks over at Ricky, expecting him to answer, “Okay fine, we’ve been back together since the musical,” he explains, causing the groups eyes to widen in shock, “just wanted to keep it a secret for a little bit.” He confesses.
Before Big Red could explode at the pair, EJ interjects, “You know, I thought I saw a hickey on your neck that day at the diner. But I didn’t think it was possible, so I didn’t mention it.” he says laughing at the situation at hand. Ricky brings a hand up to the spot EJ was thinking about, he glares back at Nini.
“You left a hickey?” he asks.
She smiles shyly at him, giggling, knowing very well that she did, “I was irritated, I’m surprised you didn’t notice when you went to the bathroom t-” Ricky quickly interrupts before she could say anything more, “Baby, no details please.”
Not wanting to hear more about what happened, Big Red suggests, “How about we head back to the group?” crossing his arms, still upset that his best friend had been lying to him the past few weeks, and particularly when he questioned it, “You have a lot of explaining to do.”
The pair sigh, expecting this to happen, just not so soon. They figured that when their friends did find out about their relationship, they would tell them with words and intent, not get caught in the action. Ricky throws an arm around Nini’s shoulder as they all walk back over to the group, kissing her temple. Ashlyn quickly turning around, “Oh, and no more making out in my house please. For my sanity and everyone else’s.” she laughs, causing their faces to redden again.
(Everyone was happy for them; Gina and Carlos couldn’t stop laughing that they got caught making out.)