Chapter Text
The wedding itself was fantastic; the aftermath…not so much.
The ceremony took place under hordes of spanish moss trees decorated in classy fairy lights, creating a fairytale-like, whimsical atmosphere that Nini was immediately enamored with. Gina looked positively stunning in her figure-hugging, silk wedding dress featuring a long train and modest spaghetti straps while EJ looked equally as handsome in his light grey suit and red tie, matching his groomsmens’ ties and the bridesmaids' dresses. Nini couldn’t help the tears that sprung to her eyes as she stood next to the bride as her maid of honor, watching her best friend and the brother-she-never-had promise to spend the rest of their lives together.
Her smile dropped ever-so slightly when her gaze fell on EJ's best man, Ricky Bowen. Ricky Bowen, otherwise known as the bane of Nini’s existence, the most insufferable person on the planet, the ever infuriating man who was too handsome for his own good; the list could go on and on.
Things had been that way between Ricky and Nini for years. It was pretty hard to believe that they’d once been the best of friends during their early college days. Now, though, they couldn’t stand each other, but kept their limited interactions somewhat civil for the sake of their best friends and everyone else around them.
(At this point, Ricky wasn’t even sure why their hatred for each other was so strong, but it had been that way for far too long to change anything or question it.)
Anyways, despite Ricky being there—stealing glances over at her and smirking as he glanced appreciatively up and down at her body in her bright red, silky, floor-length bridesmaid dress—her joy for the happy couple barely wavered as she watched and listened to the officiant declare her best friends as man and wife. She even let out a loud whoop and holler when EJ dipped Gina in his arms to plant the official kiss on her eager, awaiting lips.
Still, Nini couldn’t help but grimace a little when Gina and EJ walked back down the aisle as husband and wife, requiring her to link arms with Ricky and follow behind the happy couple, like they’d practiced many times before.
“Milady, I must say, you are looking quite ravishing tonight,” Ricky teasingly whispered into her ear, a slightly condescending smirk finding its way on his lips, a sight not uncommon to Nini.
“And you look…,” Nini paused, looking up and down at him in his fitted grey suit, “...meh.” She shrugged with a playful frown on her face, ignoring the nagging in her brain telling her that Ricky looked fucking hot and she knew it. Shaking her head, she turned her gaze away from her ”sworn enemy” to look at the wedding attendees, smiling kindly when she saw some people she recognized.
Ricky scoffed good-naturedly at her comment. He knew by now not to let Nini’s indifferent comments deeply affect him; in fact, he secretly loved any chance he got to get Nini to say something to or about him, not that he’d actually admit that to anyone but himself.
For being quote-unquote enemies, Nini and Ricky were extremely comfortable in each other’s company, not minding the silence that fell upon them as they finished their walk down the aisle and made their way over to where Gina and EJ were already getting their pictures taken, neither of them noticing that they were still walking next to each other, Nini’s left arm linked through Ricky’s right.
After a while, the photographer took all the necessary pictures and more, and soon enough, everyone involved in the picture taking process made their way to the reception hall—located close to where the ceremony was held—to join the other guests of the wedding for the after party.
The reception kicked off with a gourmet seafood feast, which Ricky and Nini didn’t partake in—Ricky because of a shellfish allergy that caused his throat to close up if he ever consumed any and Nini because she absolutely hated the taste of seafood.
“Milady,” Ricky said as he sarcastically bowed to her, handing her a plate of food when he returned to their round table housing the rest of the wedding processional. Nini couldn’t even find it in herself to be annoyed as he plopped down in the seat right next to her, instead focusing on the delicious plate of food. In front of her rested a humongous plate of Brazilian black beans and rice, topped with farofa and featuring a side of seasoned kale chips and golden brown pão de queijo. She was only broken out of her dream-like haze by the sound of glass being clinked, watching dumbly as Ricky poured them both glasses of her favorite Guaraná soda that he surely must’ve pulled out of a hat when she wasn’t looking.
“How…,” Nini trailed off before seeing Ricky smile shyly at her, setting the bottle of soda down on the table next to his identical plate of food.
“Well,” Ricky started, an uncharacteristic blush flowering on his cheeks as he chuckled weakly, avoiding her eyes. “EJ was in charge of planning for the food and he knew that I couldn’t eat the seafood and you wouldn’t want to, so he asked me if there was an alternative we’d specifically like to have instead. And I…I remember you telling Gina once about how your Mama C spent a few years in Brazil on a mission trip when she was younger and how she picked up a few things while living there, like how to cook traditional Brazalian meals. And you said black beans and rice was your favorite meal ever, so I…well, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.” By the end of his explanation, he was rolling his eyes, acting all nonchalant at the whole thing, but Nini couldn’t help the butterflies that erupted in her stomach at his thoughtfulness. He did this just for me? she mused to herself as she continued to stare at the boy beside her.
After a few uncomfortable moments of Nini staring and Ricky avoiding her gaze, she snapped out of it and turned back to her delicious plate of food, watching the steam rise up for the beans and the bubbles fizz in her soda.
“I…thank you, Ricky,” Nini whispered. Now it was her turn to avoid his gaze, pointedly grabbing her fork and mixing her beans and rice as Ricky’s head snapped up, shocked at the sincere, earnest words that came from the girl beside him.
“Yeah, no problem, princess.” The use of his nickname for her caused whatever bubble they were in to pop, with Nini rolling her eyes and digging into her plate while Ricky smirked and eagerly copied her actions, excited to try the highly anticipated meal.
Dinner was out of this world, if you asked Ricky and Nini. Ricky kept moaning in ecstasy and sighing happily at the heavenly taste of the meal in his mouth while Nini playfully but repeatedly slapped his shoulder, stifling her laughter and weakly attempting to shush him when his moans garnered the attention of a few nearby tables and laughs from everyone else at their table.
It was weird, seeing Ricky and Nini interact without either of them spewing backhanded compliments at the other to get a rise out of them. Maybe it was because of the atmosphere of the wedding? Maybe it was because they bonded over the celestial taste of her most favorite meal in the world? Maybe it was because they were more similar than either of them remembered, and actually enjoyed each other’s company when they forgot they were supposed to hate each other?
Either way, they had a great night. Dinner was followed by speeches from the wedding processional—Nini’s was a tear-jerker, full of heartfelt memories and loving words while Ricky’s was more lighthearted and humorous—and a huge dance party in the middle of the room.
Gina and EJ gracefully flitted around the floor during their first dance, wrapped tightly in each other’s arms as EJ softly sang along to their favorite song in her ear. And though Nini should’ve been paying attention to the newlyweds and their first official dance, she found himself unable to focus on anything except the charming man seated to the right of her—how close Ricky was sitting to her and how he was leaning slightly to his left into her general area, the way his fingers flexed and moved as he drummed them lightly on his legs to the music, how that one curl at the very front of his face always rebelled against the other curls and stood out against his forehead, and how the skin around his eyes crinkled in thought when she caught him staring and he quickly avoided her gaze. Stop it, she mused to herself while sneaking another glance at him, you’ve hated him for years now and that’s not gonna change just because he’s charming your skirt off.
Little did she know that right next to her, Ricky was having some of the same thoughts. He was hyper aware of the way her lightly curled, hazelnut hair cascaded over her tanned shoulders, how she unconsciously swayed to the music in her seat and mouthed the words to the song, how the barely visible golden specks in her eyes twinkled as she took in her surroundings, and the way she leaned slightly to her right, a welcome invasion into his personal space. Stop it, he chastised himself with a shake of the head, she hates your guts and you’re supposed to hate her’s, too.
With a final shake of the head as the couple invited the guests to join them on the dance floor, Ricky rose from his seat and moved to stand in front of Nini, temporarily blocking her view of the dance floor. As she opened her mouth to complain about the obstruction, Ricky haughtily cleared his throat and bowed dramatically, holding his hand out in front of him for her to take. “Milady?” he spoke in an overabundant posh voice, causing Nini to cover up a giggle with a cough. “Can I have this dance?”
Deciding to humor him for once, Nini too cleared her throat and adopted the posh persona. “Why of course, milord. You may have this dance.” With that, she grasped his hand and stood up, doing an adorable little curtsy before pulling him to the edge of the dance floor. Ricky hesitantly wrapped his arm around her waist, worried that he was overstepping, especially since just earlier that day they couldn’t stand to be with each other for more than two minutes at a time. When Nini relaxed into his touch, he delicately placed his hand on the small of her back, relishing in the comfort her presence brought as she scooted even closer to him, enough to lay her head on his chest.
And that’s how they spent the most of their night. They didn’t talk much—they didn’t have to, they just weirdly understood each other like that sometimes—but they never left each other’s arms. Well…not until the newly married couple glided over to them and asked Nini to sing their favorite of her original songs for them. Reluctantly, Ricky had let go of her, immediately missing the warmth she provided, and went to sit down at their table while she made her way to the stage, introducing herself shyly before letting everyone hear her angelic singing.
She was incredible, if Ricky did say so himself; he’d always adored her singing voice, willingly going to some of her gigs at local coffee shops and bars when they’d been best friends in the beginning of college. But it was strange: at one of Nini’s gigs at the bar, she had been twitching nervously but excitedly rambled to him and the rest of their friend group about performing all of her original songs before her gig, but after her set, she wouldn’t look him in the eye. After that night, Nini had acted cold towards him, never giving him the time of day, which only caused him to be snarky and snide right back to her as his patience for her sudden attitude ran thinner and thinner.
He was pulled out of his thoughts at the sound of clapping, realizing he missed almost the entirety of Nini’s song, but he was too busy reflecting on past memories to feel bad about not paying attention.
When Nini made her way back to their table, her face wistful as she watched the bride and groom dance around the room, Ricky lightly nudged her shoulder. “You sounded great up there,” Ricky said, even though he missed most of her song due to his Nini-filled thoughts.
His words caused a strange look to pass over her face and when she mumbled a thank you to him, her smile didn’t seem anywhere near as genuine as earlier and her eyes lacked the warmth and sincerity from before, confusing Ricky to no end. Was it something I said? he pondered to himself as he stared bemusedly at the woman who was slowly letting her walls back up right in front of his eyes. No, it couldn’t have been. I paid her a genuine compliment for once. So what was it?
Before he could question her odd behavior or ask if she was okay, Nini shot up from her seat, avoiding eye contact with him as she gathered her belongings from the table. Clearing her throat as her eyes nervously darted around the room, she whispered in a feeble voice, “I, uh…yeah, I should get going.” She paused to let out an over-exaggerated, unauthentic yawn before saying, “You know, tired and all. I…yeah, I’ll see you around, I guess.” With that she made a quick retreat out of the reception hall, not before stopping to congratulate her best friends on their marriage. She spared a quick glance at the enormous room, catching Ricky’s gaze as his eyes burned with millions of unanswered questions and a dusting of disappointment. Not one to dwell, she turned around and headed out the door, into the night, Ricky’s stare burning a hole in the back of her head as she walked through the threshold.
And that was that.
Until….
As it turns out, the seafood everyone but Nini and Ricky ate was bad news and gave all the guests, including the bride and groom, a particularly nasty case of food poisoning.
Gina had frantically called Nini the morning after her wedding, crying over the toilet as explained the situation to Nini. The newlyweds had planned to spend two days in their new apartment before leaving on their honeymoon to Hawaii, but thanks to the ever-present ciguatera poisoning, their plans for a honeymoon were flushed down the toilet.
Nini repeated over and over how sorry she was, but her best friend quickly stopped her sympathetic rambling and spoke up. “Well, this obviously means we can’t go on our honeymoon—I mean, we’ll be down for the count for at least a week, maybe two.” When Nini began to spew more apologies at her friend’s words, Gina cut her off once again and said, “And unfortunately for us, everything we booked is nonrefundable, so…maybe you’d wanna go in my place?”
“What?” Nini squawked in disbelief through her phone, collapsing roughly on to her living room sofa at her best friend’s suggestion.
“Well, it’s not like I have any siblings and every other family member I could potentially offer it to has food poisoning too. Plus, you’re my best friend, Neens, and you deserve a nice vacation. So what do you say? Wanna enjoy my honeymoon for me?”
In the end, after more convincing than what should be strictly necessary, Nini agreed to take Gina’s spot on her honeymoon in Hawaii. Sure, she already felt incredibly guilty for getting to enjoy the vacation while Gina and EJ were stuck in bed fighting off their illnesses, but 1) it was Hawaii, 2) it was an all-expenses-paid trip, and 3) Gina was right: Nini really did need a nice vacation.
In fact, Nini had needed a vacation more than anything now; she’d recently been laid off from her job at a middle school in town due to massive budget cuts and had spent forever trying to find available teaching jobs in the Salt Lake City vicinity. Finally, finally, she got a teaching job at her old highschool, coincidentally at the same place Gina, EJ, and Ricky all worked; Gina as an American history teacher and competitive cheerleading coach, EJ as both a P.E. and water polo coach, and Ricky as a music teacher and co-director with Miss Jenn for all of the school plays.
Anyways, moral of the story: Nini had been stressed and anxious for the better part of two months and desperately needed a breath of fresh air before she had to fully immerse herself in her new job.
Expect…Gina neglected to tell her that she and EJ had extended the same invitation to Ricky, much to Nini’s surprise.
Three days after the wedding, Nini was packed and ready to go, taking a cab to the airport at what felt like the crack of dawn. She had sluggishly made her way through the airport, sorting out her boarding pass and ticket, checking in her luggage, making her way through security with her carry-on bag, and finally having more than enough time to get herself a coffee and croissant breakfast sandwich before sitting down at her boarding gate to wait for her call.
As she sat in one of the waiting area seats, eating her breakfast and watching people as they passed, her mind drifted to the curly-haired boy that had filled her dreams ever since the wedding. She couldn’t help it: every time she closed her eyes or had a moment of peace, all she could picture was the boy she had hated for years smiling softly at her while they danced the night away, her in that beautiful red dress and him in his debonair grey suit and red tie.
All of a sudden, as Nini peered off in the distance, the same boy that had constantly been on her mind casually strolled by, too busy chowing down on his own breakfast sandwich to notice her as he took a seat a couple rows away from her.
Nini could only stare in shock at Ricky, her jaw dropped and her eyes widened. Seemingly sensing a pair of eyes on him, he turned his head and locked his gaze with her, dropping his half-eaten sandwich on the floor in shock as he did a double take, his jaw also dropping.
“The hell are you doing here?” Nini practically screeched, causing a few bystanders to turn to her and glare mildly.
“What am I doing here? What are you doing here?” Ricky retorted back, desperately attempting to recollect himself. He picked up his ruined breakfast, throwing it in a nearby garbage can before grabbing his things and walking the short distance to Nini, plopping down in the seat to the right of her.
“I asked you first,” Nini mumbled, still shocked and hesitant to believe he was actually there in front of her instead of in her dreams.
“If you must now, Your Highness,” he sniped sarcastically, trying not to break character when he saw Nini fight back a smile as she overdramatically rolled her eyes, “Gina and EJ called me the day after their wedding and asked me if I wanted to take their places and go on their honeymoon since they have food poisoning.”
Time stood still for Nini the moment he finished explaining his presence to her. All the color drained from her face, the smile she was desperately trying to conceal was wiped clean off of her face, and she looked like she’d seen a ghost.
Worried, Ricky brought his hands up to her shoulders, gently shaking her in hopes of pulling her from her trance. “Nini, hey. Earth to Nini? What’s going on?”
Her eyes snapped suddenly to his, widening even more than before as she repeatedly closed and opened her mouth, no sound coming out of it.
“Nini, this isn’t funny. What’s the matter?” Ricky asked, his voice more serious than she’d heard in years.
Finally, she whispered, “You…,” before closing her mouth again and shaking her head again. She finally got her bearings together, looking around at her surroundings again before zeroing in on the boy in front of her. “You’re going on the honeymoon too?”
“What do you…uh, what do you mean ‘too’?” Ricky questioned, letting out a nervous laugh. When Nini’s expression didn’t change, his face morphed into one of disbelief as he put the pieces together. “We…you…we’re going on their honeymoon together?”
Not bothering to sugarcoat the situation, Nini just nodded numbly, watching with rapt attention as Ricky let go of his hold of her shoulders and blew out a big breath, slumping down in his seat and running a hand down in face.
“Did…so Gina and EJ didn’t mention anything to you either?” Nini questioned, still not quite believing what was happening at that very moment. She half expected Ashton Kutcher to pop out of nowhere and tell her she’d been punk’d, but when she looked around, all she saw were crowds of normal people, none with cameras or any indicators that she was in fact being filmed for the reality television show.
“Nope,” he sighed, hand still covering his face. After a few silent moments, he sighed once again and sat back up, removing his hand from his face and turning his body towards the brunette on his left. “All they said was how much I needed this vacation and how someone had to go on it since they couldn’t. But they never said anything about anyone else tagging along.”
Blowing out a breath, she nervously ran her fingers along her scalp, focusing on the movements of her hand through her soft hair instead of the stress gradually overtaking her.
“Look,” Ricky sighed for the millionth time, looking her straight in the eyes, “it doesn’t matter that they didn’t tell us. Let’s just suck it up and enjoy this vacation, awkwardness be damned.”
Easier said than done, Nini thought to herself with a huff. This was her “enemy” after all; how was she supposed to survive a week-long vacation with the man she was supposed to hate but who she was actually a little bit infatuated with? Correction: very infatuated with. Steeling herself, Nini nodded confidently and said, “Right. We can suck it up for Gina and EJ’s sake. Plus, I’m kind of just ready to be laying on the beach, sipping a strawberry daiquiri in a place I’ve never visited before.” She nudged his shoulder playfully at the end of her statement, a genuine smile finding its way to her lips when he softly laughed and nudged her right back.
With that, they turned forward in their seats, sitting close enough to be shoulder-to-shoulder and made light conversation before first class was called to board the plane, to which Ricky and Nini gathered their belongings and mentally prepared themselves for the week to come.
The plane ride was long, lasting a little around seven hours, but time passed quickly for Ricky and Nini as they sipped their champagne, ate legitimately good airplane food, and talked about anything and everything under the sun, ranging from their jobs to their favorite childhood memories to their biggest fears.
Nini couldn’t deny her attraction for the curly haired boy any longer. She knew exactly what he did all of those years ago that made her turn cold towards him, but as they talked and relearned a lot about each other, she couldn’t help but feel silly for not giving him a chance all this time. It was instant, the comfort and familiarity she felt around him. She never really considered how at ease he could still make her feel because up until the wedding, she made it her mission not to interact with him for longer than two minutes. Regret started to blossom deep in her gut as she thought about all the time she wasted hating him over something so miniscule and trivial as him not liking her original songs, the ones she poured her heart and soul into.
But everytime she thought back to that night, she remembered how truly not minuscule and trivial it all was.
She still remembers that night so vividly; it was another one of her gigs at a bar nearby their college campus and after gig upon gig singing other people’s music, she was ready to spread her wings a little and present the world—and by world, she meant the semi-conscious patrons at the local bar and a few of her closest friends—with the original songs she had been writing ever since she was a little girl with a ukulele. She was so excited too, jumping up and down and rambling exuberantly to Ricky, Gina, EJ, and some of their other friends before she was set to play, despite the fear and anxiety creeping through her veins. But her exhilaration was short-lived when she looked over at Ricky during the bridge of one of the songs from her set—the song that was nearest and dearest to her heart for many reasons, most of which had to do with the boy in question—only to find a truly repulsed look on his face as he looked at her. Sure, she knew not everyone would love her songs but seeing such disgust and abhorrence from one of her best friends who was supposed to support her endlessly and feel the same feelings she did struck her hard in the chest and left her reeling; in fact, she couldn’t even finish her full set because of how nauseated and sick to her stomach she felt.
After that night, she told herself that she wouldn’t associate herself with someone who wasn’t going to be supportive of her after she was continuously supportive of everything he did, sometimes passing up gigs for herself just to see him at his own gigs across town. Really, he could’ve at least put on a brave face and pretended to not understand the meaning behind the song until the two of them could sort things out later, she had thought bitterly to herself for months, maybe years, after that night. That’s what she kept telling herself, at least, choosing to ignore the real reason for her bitterness: the fact that she sang what was on her heart to the boy that had her heart, only for him to reject her with just one simple expression. Soon enough, her coldness towards him became second nature between them and the once best friends were considered “enemies” in what seemed like the blink of an eye.
Anyways, Nini started regretting her harshness to him, telling herself she should’ve talked to him like a reasonable adult instead of holding a childish grudge against the boy just because he didn’t like the live song she spent forever writing and perfecting until she finally worked up the nerve to show it to someone other than her moms. Yeah…it still stings a little, she grimaced internally.
But she decided not to dwell on those negative thoughts for too long and instead live in the moment with Ricky during their week together and see how things went from there.
Once the plane landed and they collected their bags from the luggage carousel, Nini pulled up the address Gina sent her earlier of the hotel she and Ricky would be staying up. They found themselves a taxi and within twenty five minutes or so, Ricky and Nini were climbing out of the car, grabbing their suitcases from the trunk and making their way into the grand hotel.
They both couldn’t contain their blatant looks of awe as they marveled at the grandness of the massive hotel, feeling like they were playing a part in a movie rather than real life.
After longer than either of them were willing to admit, they composed themselves and made their way to the front desk to check in.
When Ricky rang the bell, gathering the attention of the receptionist at the front desk, the woman politely greeted them. “Good morning. How may I help you?”
“Hi there, we have a room booked under the name EJ Caswell,” Nini politely informed her, causing the receptionist to nod and type something into her computer.
“Yes, we have you right here. There was an update made two days ago that the reservation has been changed under the name Ricky Bowen. Are you the Bowen’s?”
Before Nini could open her mouth and deny the woman’s claim that they were married, Ricky casually slung his arm around her shoulder, bringing her close to his chest as he smiled widely at the receptionist and said, “Yes, we’re the Bowen’s.” As the receptionist smiled and nodded once again before turning back to her computer, Ricky dropped his head down and placed a delicate kiss against Nini’s cheek, catching her off guard for a second.
“And I was informed that this is your honeymoon?” the woman asked for confirmation.
“That’s correct,” Ricky answered quickly, eyes sparkling with mischief as he looked back down at Nini.
“Perfect,” the receptionist said to no one in particular before looking up from her monitor. “Here you are, Mr. and Mrs. Bowen. Complementary lunch will be served in approximately an hour, starting at 12:30 and lasting until 2. If you need anything during your stay, feel free to call the front desk from your room phone or stop here for assistance. I wish you a lovely honeymoon and an enjoyable stay here.” She handed them each a key card to their room as well as a pamphlet outlining all of the activities available at the hotel during the days.
As soon as they walked away, out of sight of the kind receptionist, Nini smacked Ricky in the chest and hissed, “The Bowen’s?” Though she looked slightly annoyed with him, he noted with a hint of satisfaction and pride that she had yet to pull away from his embrace, instead moving closer into him as they made their way to the elevators.
“Relax, milady. It was just easier to agree with her than correct her for a mistake as small as that,” Ricky assured the brunette as she pressed the button for their floor level.
“Oh,” she murmured, confused by the disappointment she felt because of his words. It’s almost like she wanted him to admit that the thought of her being his wife was nice. Don’t be an idiot, she chastised herself, he’s just playing a part.
Bewildered by her half-hearted—almost disappointed sounding— response, Ricky squeezed her shoulder lightly, wordlessly asking her if something was bothering her. When she just shook her head and smiled sweetly up at him, he relaxed and smiled back.
Once they reached their floor level, they stepped out of the elevator and made their way down the hall with their suitcases and each other in their arms. Nini did the honors of sliding the key card in the lock, pushing the door open when they were granted access.
The room was just as breathtaking as the rest of the hotel. Gina and EJ really went all out, huh?
Their honeymoon suite was ginormous and featured an entire wall made up of just windows that overlooked the beautiful sandy beach and crystal blue ocean. The bathroom was glamorous and modern, featuring a jacuzzi that Nini was definitely going to enjoy at some later time. The two were so busy taking in all the room’s over-the-top features that they almost failed to notice one pivotal part of the room: there was only one bed. To be fair, their one bed was massive, big enough to comfortably fit four or five people at one time; but still, there was only one bed.
“Um…,” Nini murmured awkwardly when she noticed the bed, shifting from foot to foot as her eyes darted between the bed and Ricky’s face.
“I can, uh…I can take the couch,” Ricky suggested as he scratched the back of his neck, a nervous habit of his. Her gaze shifted to said couch, and though it looked quite plush and comfy, there was absolutely no way she was letting him spend a week sleeping on that thing when there was a perfectly comfortable and big enough bed right in front of them that they could easily share.
“No,” she said firmly, setting her eyes back on him, “I’m not going to let you sleep there all week. There’s plenty of room in this bed for the both of us to sleep, right?”
“You sure?” he questioned hesitantly, not letting it show how excited he was at the prospect of spending a week sharing a bed with one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen.
“I’m sure, Ricky. I promise.” With that, she smiled widely at him and proceeded to collapse onto the bed, sinking slightly into the extremely plush mattress.
Chuckling and playfully rolling his eyes, Ricky kicked off his shoes and collapsed to the right of her, just now noticing how bone-tired he was from getting up super early to get to the airport on time and spending the majority of the day on an airplane.
Ricky tucked both hands under his head and gazed softly at the sleepy girl next to him, noticing the deep bags under her eyes and the worry lines on her forehead, obviously caused by stress.
Taking a chance, he untucked one of his hands from under his head and moved it to smooth the creases of her forehead, prompting Nini to slump in relief, a sleepy smile making its way onto her face as she closed her eyes. Soon enough, when the worry lines began to smooth out, he moved his hand over to her hair, tenderly massaging her scalp as she sighed in contentment at the movements. After a solid two minutes, Nini was conked out, breathing softly and looking the most peaceful and relaxed Ricky had ever seen her. And with one last look at the girl he was quickly falling in love with, he fell asleep right next to her, hand still in her hair.
Ricky was the first one to wake up from his nap, conscious of the weight pressed slightly on top of him, one of his arms curled around the girl’s back, and his other hand still resting in her soft, mango-scented hair.
It took him a few minutes to adjust to his surroundings and open his eyes, immediately donning an affectionate smile when he looked at Nini who had somehow migrated into his arms during her slumber and was now drooling a little on his navy blue t-shirt.
He’d never admit it to anyone else, but he spent longer than strictly necessary unabashedly staring at her effortless beauty and wishing on every shooting star for more moments like these during their vacation together.
When his stomach let out an irritated grumble, Ricky craned his neck to look at the alarm clock on the nearest nightstand, noting that it was 1:56 in the afternoon. Knowing the need to get up and eat was inevitable, Ricky turned his attention back to Nini and ran his hand through her wavy hair, only making her stir and bury her face further into his chest.
With a chuckle, he moved his hand down to her waist, knowing she was extremely ticklish there. As his fingers danced across her skin, Nini let out a few sleepy giggles and shook her head against his chest, still not opening her eyes. Since going easy on her obviously didn’t work, Ricky increased the pressure of his fingers against her side, causing a surprised gasp to escape from her lips as she squirmed in his arms, eyes still closed. He only relented when she slowly lifted her head so just her chin was resting on his chest and blinked blearily down at him. One of his hands remained wrapped around her back while he pulled the other back from her body to support his head as he looked at Nini.
“What was that for?” she mumbled quietly, still fighting against her unceasing exhaustion. She slowly brought one hand up to her face, wiping the drool stains from her chin and looking slightly embarrassed.
Smiling, Ricky rubbed his hand delicately over her back and murmured, “We’ve been asleep for over two hours and I'm starting to get really hungry. Wanna go get lunch somewhere?”
“Yeah,” Nini agreed, “lunch sounds good.”
“Well, come on,” Ricky said, shifting slightly under her. “Let’s go eat.”
Neither of them mentioned their hardcore cuddle session at lunch, but that didn’t mean they weren’t stealing sly glances at each other for the duration of their meal.
“So,” Ricky started, bumping his shoulder playfully with her’s as they walked back to their hotel, “what should we do now?”
Nini’s forehead crinkled in thought and after a few beats, she turned her head up to look at him. “Well…we’ve got a while until we’re hungry again for dinner. So I say we either go to the beach or hang by the pool. But it’s up you.”
“The pool sounds good. That okay?”
“Perfect,” Nini replied with a pleased smile on her face.
Fuck, she looks so good, Ricky thought to himself at the sight of Nini in a little striped bikini that perfectly completed her tan skin and toned body.
He always knew Nini looked good—seriously, take one look at her—but something about them being on vacation together and her in a revealing bathing suit after they’d spent hours acting a little flirtier than usual made her all the more attractive to him.
“Wow,” he whistled as she stepped out of the bathroom and moved to gather the rest of her things from the bed. “You…you looked amazing.”
Nini blushed profusely and mumbled out a quick thanks, to which Ricky chuckled and shook his head at her sudden shyness.
“You ready?” he asked, standing up from his seated position on the bed to slip on his flip flops and grab his sunglasses, key card, and phone from the nightstand.
“Yeah, I think I’ve got everything,” Nini answered, slipping on a coverup before shouldering her large canvas bag containing all of their pool essentials.
“Milady,” Ricky said, holding his arm out for her to take hold of.
“Milord,” Nini responds, wrapping her right hand around his bicep as they walked out of the door and to the elevator.
The pool was beautiful; it was massive and looked more like a lake than a pool, but the water was the perfect temperature and the seating looked comfortable and Nini felt like she’d found heaven.
“Holy shit,” Ricky breathed out in shock when his eyes landed on the pool.
“Yeah,” Nini said, matching his tone. Not wanting to waste another second, she squeezed the hand that was still wrapped around his bicep and led him over to a quiet area with no one else around them.
“You in the mood for a drink?” she asked as she let go of his arm and set her belongings down on her selected lounge chair, right before Ricky pulled his shirt over his head, revealing his incredibly sculpted body.
All she could do was stare; they’d known each other since freshman year of college and somehow she’d never seen him shirtless, but, boy was it a sight to see.
She was only broken out of the trance when Ricky made his way back over to her and grabbed her shoulders. “Neens? You with me?”
Shivering involuntarily at the proximity and his warm touch, she nodded her head, ignoring the heat radiating through her body, and said, “Yeah, sorry. What did you say?”
Giving her a funny look, he smiled bemusedly at her and replied in a slower, even voice, “I said a drink sounds great.”
“Anything in particular you want?”
“Surprise me,” he said with a playful wink, only making her cheeks burn brighter. Not trusting herself and the words that would come out her mouth, she nodded once more and quickly backed away from his embrace and scurried over to the bar.
Once she reached the bar under an awning not too far from their spot by the pool, Nini tapped her fingers nervously against the bar top and tried to get a hold of herself. Get it together, Nini. This isn’t a real honeymoon and Ricky doesn’t even like you, she mused to herself just as the bartender walked into her line of vision.
“Hi there, miss. What can I get for you?” he said politely, wiping down an empty glass with a clean white rag.
“Hi, can I get a sex on the beach and a strawberry daiquiri?” Nini asked, her fingers still drumming nervously against the counter.
“Coming right up,” he replied before busying himself with the drinks.
While her drinks were being made, Nini took a chance to fully appreciate the moment alone and take in her incredible surroundings. But of course, her momentary peace was cut short by a vaguely familiar voice.
“Nina Salazar-Roberts, is that you?” she heard from behind her after a few long moments of marveling at an oblivious Ricky.
Turning around to acknowledge the person, Nini was surprised to see one of the girls from an acting class she took during her sophomore year of college standing before her. “Emily Pratt?”
“I thought that was you! How’ve you been, girl?” she asked in an enthusiastic voice, bringing her hands up to clutch at Nini’s arms.
“Hey, yeah, I’ve been good. What about you?” Nini answered politely, not really in the mood to chat it up with the girl who thought she was better than everyone else in class all those couple of years ago.
“Oh, just fabulous, Nina. My husband, Isaac, made it big with some hotshot tech company so I’m rich,” she exclaimed with a haughty, snobbish laugh.
Letting out her best fake laugh, Nini just smiled—which looked more like a grimace but it’s not like Emily knew the difference—and responded, “That’s great to hear, Emily. Good for you.”
“Yeah, well, what about you Nina? You’ve gotten hitched yet?” Emily questioned, her judgmental eyes traveling to Nini’s bare left hand.
“Hm? Oh, I—,” Nini started to say but was cut short by yet another vaguely familiar voice.
“Mrs. Bowen?” the voice called out before the person in question stopped right in front of her, Nini recognizing her as the receptionist that checked them in earlier. “I’m so sorry for the interruption. We forgot to give you the code to your room’s safe and we tried calling your room multiple times to get a hold of you or your husband but we couldn’t reach you. So here,” she finished, handing Nini a small piece of paper with the safe’s four-digit code.
“Oh, thank you so much. You didn’t have to go through all of that trouble,” Nini replied graciously, giving the receptionist a friendly, genuine smile, completely forgetting the presence of Emily right by her.
“It was no problem, Mrs. Bowen. Have a wonderful day.” And with that, the receptionist gave Nini one last smile, eyes darting to Emily for a moment, before she turned around and made her way back to the lobby.
“Mrs. Bowen?” Emily questioned with a disbelieving edge to her words, startling Nini, as she forgot her old classmate was still there.
“I…yeah, I just got married the other day. I’m on my honeymoon right now,” Nini lied. There was no use denying it at this point; Emily had clearly heard the receptionist call her by a last name that wasn’t her own.
“Oh, wow,” Emily gasped, face full of obvious shock, as if the idea of Nini getting married was so utterly unfathomable.
“Yes,” Nini said, squaring her shoulders and puffing her chest ever-so slightly, feeling like she had something to prove. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d really like to take my drinks and get back to my husband.” With that, Nini backed away from the girl, turning to the bar and smiling at the bartender as he handed her the two drinks. Just as Nini turned her back to Emily, eager to get away from her and back to Ricky, Emily’s hand landed on her shoulder.
“Wait, Nina,” the other woman called out, using her hand to turn Nini back around to face her. “Let’s have dinner one night. You bring your husband and I’ll bring mine.”
Not quite processing her request, Nini responded, “Yeah, sure. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve really got to go.”
“Perfect. I’ll see you soon,” Emily said loudly as Nini walked away from her, heading back to her lounge chair where Ricky was waiting.
Only when she was halfway back to her seat from the bar did Emily’s words finally register in Nini’s brain. Had she really just agreed to go to dinner with a woman she couldn’t stand, all the while pretending the man she was supposed to hate but instead was secretly a little in love with was her actual husband?
“Fuck.”