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cindyyberman · 3 years

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strikes and strike-outs. | nini salazar-roberts

synopsis ── when nini invited you to go bowling after exams finished, you weren’t expecting her ex-boyfriend to be there. but apparently she’s not as ready to face him as she thinks she is. ♡

── nini salazar-roberts x gn!reader

genre ── fluff

word count ── 1.7k

note ── i wrote a list with all the fics i want to write and decided to write one for every day of november. but me, being lazy, didn't get around to finishing this until today, so my bad.

♡ marvel masterlist ; misc masterlist ; prompts ; character list ; request rules

warnings ── none

It had taken weeks. So many sleepless nights, cancelled plans and cups of energy drinks poured into espressos. But I'd finally done it, I'd survived exam week.

Walking out of my last exam, I felt like I'd not just passed, but I'd actually done well. All that cramming must have payed off.

I was on my way back to my dorm, when I heard my name being called. Turning around, I was met with a slightly out of breath Nini.

Nina Salazar-Roberts and I had met on orientation day of freshman year. She may or may not have bumped into me, an accident that resulted in coffee stains all over my favourite sweater, but we'd got along incredibly well since then.

"Hey, Neens. What's up?" I brushed a piece of hair out of my face and readjusted my backpack.

"You just finished your last exam, right?" She asked, catching her breath. I nodded, and she fidgeted with a guitar pick on the edge of a silver chain. Taking a deep breath, she looked around, trying to seem nonchalant. "Great! I did too! Uh, so I was wondering if- I know you've been studying really hard lately, and I thought you might want to unwind and forget about school for a bit- it's just, me and a few of my friends were thinking of going bowling tonight, and I was wondering if you wanted to come? We were going to grab some pizza after. You can say no, I'm sure you've got other friends you want to hang out with and- "

"Nini," I placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and she opened and closed her mouth a few times. "You're rambling. I'd love to come with you, if I'm not intruding,"

"Great! Great, yeah, sure, I'll text you the details! See you tonight!" Her tan cheeks acquired a slightly more pink tone than usual as she nodded again. "Bye!”

Nini had texted me an hour later with a location and a list of people that were going. There was, Ashlyn, the girl who lived across the hall from me, Seb and Carlos, two boys I had spoken to a few times and Ricky, someone I'd never met but knew a little bit about from getting to know Nini.

Ricky and Nini had been best friends since kindergarden, her lifelong nickname stemming from the fact he couldn't say Nina. They had dated their entire sophomore year and then broken up on the first day of junior year only to start dating again six weeks later. It was the fairy tail romance every girl wished for, but it didn't work out.

Nini had left her high school in Utah to attend a performing arts school in Denver for her senior year. Ultimately, the school wasn't the right fit for her and she returned to Salt Lake City half way through the year. She and Ricky had done long distance for six months, but when she returned they both made a startling discovery.

While Nini had been off making memories and honing her skills and having amazing experiences, Ricky had spent the entire time moping around waiting for her to come back.

So the pair parted ways, and apparently Nini had been heartbroken with the breakup, and it had taken her a long time to get over.

I found it odd that Nini had invited the boy who broke her heart not once, but twice, but I decided not to question it.

Three hours later I was dressed up, not too fancy but fancy enough; one of my brother's black Wrangler t-shirts on top of a pastel yellow long sleeved top, tucked into some high waisted jeans with some black high top converse.

By the time I arrived at the bowling alley, only Nini and a guy I assumed was Ricky were there. He had curly brown hair and a skateboard tucked under his arm.

Nini brightened considerably when she noticed my arrival. Assuming it was due to the fact she was uncomfortable around her ex-boyfriend I took smiled and hugged her.

"This is Ricky," Nini blurted out after a few awkward moments of silence. I smiled, introduced myself, all the things you do when you meet someone new. He seemed nice enough, but i was still a little wary about him.

"Uh, Seb and Carlos texted me, they said Seb's parents are in town so they're skipping out," Nini said.

"That sucks, I was looking forward to seeing them," I said honestly.

"I think I'll go get some soda or something," Nini suggested suddenly. "You guys want anything?"

Ricky and I shook our heads and Nini flashed me an awkward smile as she speed-walked across the room to the snack bar.

"So how do you know Nini?" Ricky asked, clearly trying to make conversation.

"Oh she bumped into me at the activities fair last year. We don't talk much but I'd say we're friends,"

"Cool,"

There was another few moments of awkward silence. I subtly looked to my left to see if I could see how far away Nini was. I saw her gesture to a woman who walked up behind her; she was letting people in front of her to avoid going back to the sandpaper of a conversation she knew would be waiting for her with Ricky and I.

I was just about to open my mouth to ask another generic question in return, probably something about his major, when he spoke first.

"So, uh... how long have you and Nini been together?"

I blinked. Together? Like, together together? As in the kind of together that Ricky and Nini used to be?

I was about to respond truthfully, that we were just friends, when I remembered the relived expression Nini had when I arrived. Without thinking about it, I said "two weeks,"

"That's cool,"

I didn't think it was possible, but Ricky somehow looked even more uncomfortable after finding this out than he did before. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he kept his mouth shut, staring at the neon designs on the navy carpet.

"Uh, I think I'll actually get a drink," I said, standing up. Ricky nodded stiffly and smiled. I walked over at a normal pace, not wanting to seem like I was that desperate to avoid talking to him.

When I reached Nini, she grimaced apologetically. "I'm so sorry I left you alone with him, it's just the first time we've hung out since we broke up, and I thought I would be fine because I had a bunch of friends to act as a buffer, but then Seb and Carlos couldn't come and I just got a text from Ashlyn that she has to cover someone else's shift and can't come either, and Kourtney would rather die than bowl after what happened last time, and- "

"Hey, hey, Neens. It's okay, it's cool, I don't mind," I placed a hand on her shoulder. "I completely understand, everything's fine,"

It took a few more murmured words of comfort and some shallow breaths from her before she calmed down, a tear slipping down her face. She wiped it away angrily. "I am not crying over Ricky Bowen for god's sake, especially not when my foundation cost $48,"

"We can leave if you want?" I offered. Nini took a look over to where Ricky was waiting, before looking back into my eyes.

"Is that okay? I know this was supposed to be us celebrating exam season ending, I don't want to be a downer. I'll get over it, I think I just need a minute"

I grabbed her hand. "Neen, what you're feeling is perfectly okay, I mean I would probably be the same if I was in that situation. Let's go get some pizza, and we can just hang out. Don't worry about it, I just like spending time with you,"

She took another shaky breath. "Thank you,"

We shook Ricky off with some lie about my dog being sick, which I'm not entirely sure if he bought. To be honest he seemed just as relieved to have an excuse to leave.

"Do you even have a dog?" Nini asked as she climbed into the passenger side of my car. She immediately plugged her phone into my aux cord, having claimed for weeks that she had the perfect playlist that fit my vibe.

"Nope," I replied as I pulled out of the parking lot. "How did you get here anyway?"

"Uber," she explained as she pressed shuffle, the car filling with some soft guitar before the voice of Conan Gray spoke up.

I still remember

Third of december

Me in your sweater

You said it looked better

On me than it did you

Only if you knew

How much I liked you

"Oh I actually really like this song," I said, glancing at her. She had a smile smile that she was trying to hide. "Hey, did you know Ricky thought we were dating?"

Nini gave a little bit of a sheepish cough. "I maybe told him just in case something happened," her face went red, from what I could tell. Her darker skin owed to her filipino heritage, and also the fact I was driving down a highway made it slightly hard to tell. "I know I should have checked with you, I didn't even plan to, I just panicked. We'd been alone for like ten minutes and he asked me about you because you two had never met and I said I was your girlfriend," she hurriedly explained. "Did he say anything?"

"Just asked how long we'd been together," I shrugged. "It's no big deal,"

Nini fidgeted with her hands in her lap. "What did you say?"

"About two weeks," I pulled into the pizza place's parking lot.

Neither of us had noticed the song had changed until I turned the engine off and Taylor Swift started singing.

The rain came pouring

Down when I was drowning

That's when I could finally breath

And that morning

Gone was any trace of you

I think I am finally clean

I got out of the car, about to walk towards the door when she grabbed my arm gently. "Thank you, thank you. I mean, Ricky's not a bad guy, the opposite actually it's just... I don't even know. I thought I was over him. I am over him!" She rugged softly on the guitar pick on the chain. "I just appreciate it. I thought we were ready to hang out again, but apparently not,”

“Well, I mean, you guys dated for like nearly two years all up right? That’s a long time. Especially in high school,” I reasoned.

Nini bit her lip and nodded uncertainly. “Yeah, I just, I don’t even know,”

“Well, you’ll have plenty of time to figure it out, now come on, let’s come get some food,”

#nini salazar roberts #nini hsmtmts #nini salazar roberts x reader #hsmtmts #olivia rodrigo #olivia rodrigo x reader #hsm #high school musical the musical the series #ricky bowen #nini #ricky #ricky hsmtmts #joshua bassett #drivers license #deja vú #good 4 u #sour album

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