After Ricky and Nini's High School Musical 3 sleepover, a few days later it was Halloween, and they had just as much fun at their class's Halloween costume party and going trick or treating in the evening. Nini had mostly gotten her laughter under control from seeing Ricky wearing his Troy wig, but there were still plenty of moments that day that she seemed to burst out laughing for no specific reason, at least that's how it appeared to everyone besides Ricky, but he didn't mind. He knew it was because he was making her so happy. Other than the fact that while the hair was on point to be Troy Bolton, on Ricky it just seemed hilarious for some reason.
Even with Nini's laughter, as long as she was smiling at him like that, there was no other costume, even Spider-Man that he'd want to be.
Their parents had made it their mission to take as many pictures of the two of them as possible on Halloween night, telling them they both looked absolutely adorable together, and they weren't the only ones.
Most of their classmates were at least somewhat familiar with High School Musical, especially with the 3rd movie playing in theaters and being the talk of the whole town, so it didn't take long for multiple kids to ask if the two of them were dating and in love with each other since it was obvious they had planned their costumes together.
Both gave passionate denials, simply stating without argument that they were best friends, and nothing more. Whenever someone brought that up to them, they just shook their heads and laughed with each other at how ridiculous that sounded to them. Then they'd go back to playing games or eating their candy, not giving those thoughts any more attention as they had many fun things to do at their party.
And when it did come to trick or treating, they both finished with quite the haul. Thankfully Halloween was on a Friday so that gave them another excuse to have their third Friday sleepover in a row. Although this time they stayed up late on matching sugar highs playing in their rebuilt blanket fort at Nini's house as they watched a movie marathon of the It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, Halloweentown, and Nightmare Before Christmas until they both finally collapsed with exhaustion halfway through the final movie.
So then November and December rolled by, and the promises of the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks soon arriving helped make the weeks go by fast, now that Christmas Break had finally arrived, and no more school for a full two weeks meant Ricky, Nini, Red, and Kourtney were all excited.
Right now all four friends were meeting up with their parents to go to Shopping With Santa, a tradition at their school that promised lots of fun activities, and let the elementary students pick out gifts for their loved ones.
The first thing the four friends wanted to do was complete their Christmas shopping, and since they wanted their gifts to be surprises for their parents, they insisted on walking around the gym which had been converted into Santa's Shopping Center, with each other.
Ricky and Nini glanced at each other as the four of them walked around at first as they helped each other pick out gifts for their parents. Nini decided to buy her moms each a Christmas-y coffee mug. Ricky found a set of holiday-scented candles he thought his mom would like, and for his dad, he found a 500-piece Santa Claus puzzle, that he thought he would like since he knew both his parents enjoyed working on puzzles together.
Kourtney and Red seemed to have no trouble finding all their gifts either, but 15 minutes later, Ricky and Nini were glancing at each other. Normally they were perfectly fine with spending every moment possible together, but to complete their shopping they would need to separate. They had both managed to sneakily add something to their shopping bags for Red and Kourtney, but they were faced with similar dilemmas.
"Hey guys…" Nini spoke up first, "I have almost everything I need…but I have one more thing I need to buy."
"OK, I'm ready to go whenever you are," Kourtney said.
"Yeah, me too." Red agreed.
As usual, Ricky was more on Nini's wavelength. "Let me guess, are you still looking for something for me?"
"How'd you know?" Nini asked.
"Because I haven't picked out anything for you, because I want it to be a surprise when you unwrap it."
"Yes! That's exactly what I was thinking." Nini nodded in agreement.
"OK, so what's the big deal? Just split up and go pick something out."
"Kourtney, can you come with me…and be my lookout so Ricky doesn't try to spy on me?" Nini suggested cheekily while smiling at Ricky.
"What? Spy on you? I would never." Ricky said, sounding fake offended.
"Come on, you know you would."
"Yeah, probably." Ricky agreed with a laugh, "Then I get Red with me so you two can't spy on me either."
"Fine. Kourtney let's go. We can't let Red see us either."
Red and Kourtney shared a knowing smirk between themselves but then followed behind their respective partner on this mission.
"OK Ricky, so what are you going to get Nini? In addition to that, what did you get for me?" Red asked as he and Ricky began walking through the aisles of presents.
"You'll find out when I'll give it to you." Ricky smiled at him. "I already know I have the perfect gift for you, and Kourtney, and Mom and Dad, but I don't know what to get Nini."
"Why not? I would think Nini is the easiest person you have to shop for since you two spend every minute you can together."
"Yeah, but that's why this gift has to be perfect, and she would have definitely noticed anything that I picked out for her, but I also don't know what to choose."
"Well yeah, you two never take your eyes off each other," Red said teasingly.
"Anyway." Ricky chose to ignore Red's last comment, he'd been getting teased like that by his classmates ever since Halloween in what many called their couple's costume, but he never really let it bother him. It was just a sign that everyone knew they were best friends, even if they assumed it was something more. "I just really want to find the perfect gift for Nini."
"Don't worry dude, I'm sure we'll find something here. Hey, you could get her a snow globe. Even I know how much she loves all the holiday spirit and decorations and stuff."
"Yeah, she does." Ricky smiled as his mind flashed back a few weeks ago. In the Salazar-Roberts house, the Saturday after Thanksgiving was the official start of the Christmas season, and that meant breaking out the decorations.
Nini asked Ricky to come over for the day so that he could help decorate her home, and also they may have been missing each other since they were both visiting their families for the past three days, the longest they had gone without seeing each other since they met in August.
Flashback….
"Ricky! I'm so happy you're here! It's been forever!" Nini had excitedly greeted Ricky and his dad at the front door that day, and they immediately started squeezing each other in the tightest hug possible.
"I missed you too, but I told all my cousins and grandparents and everyone else about how I have the bestest best friend in the whole world."
"I did that too with all of my cousins and other relatives," Nini said. "My Grandma even made me promise to bring you to her house someday so she can meet you."
"Really? I can't wait. Maybe I can take you to meet my Grandma and Grandpa someday too."
"Alright you two, I know three days is a long time for you to spend apart, but how about we go inside before Nini freezes out here?" Mike suggested with a kind smile at seeing the two kids so happy.
Nini glanced down at her T-shirt, jeans, and sock-covered feet. "I'm so happy I don't even feel the cold."
"That may be so, but we don't want you to get sick right before the holidays, right?" Mike asked.
"OK, come on in Ricky. You're just in time to help us decorate the house."
"Oh boy! This is going to be so much fun!" Ricky said enthusiastically.
Mike and Ricky entered the house to see totes full of decorations already spread around the living room, but nothing had been taken out yet, other than a pile of pine branches that still needed to be put together into a Christmas tree.
"Hello Ricky. Hello Mike." Dana and Carol both smiled as they walked into the room, carrying even more totes in their arms.
"Hello Dana, Hello Carol." Mike replied. "So you ready to take this little rascal off my hands for a few hours?"
"Of course, we'd love the extra hands to help us decorate, but you know we're sending Nini over to your place tomorrow, we can't let you and Lynne miss out on the Christmas spirit either." Dana chuckled.
"Oh, we wouldn't dream of that." Mike laughed. "OK Bud, are you good? I'll come pick you up tonight."
"Are you sure it can't be a sleepover?" Ricky asked.
"Yes, you and Nini will have plenty of time decorating her house today and our house tomorrow. Just like we agreed. Right?"
"Yes, Dad." Ricky nodded and hugged Mike goodbye. "I'll see you later."
"Yes you will. Have fun." Mike gave him a hug in return and then walked out the door.
"So what are we doing first?" Ricky asked.
"The tree obviously. Come on, it's kind of like a giant puzzle putting everything together, but we can start until it gets too tall for us." Nini said. They worked together to help Carol put the tree together, while Dana worked on finding and organizing all the different decorations in the myriad totes they had taken out of storage.
Once the tree was built, Carol then took charge of stringing the lights around the branches first, but then Ricky and Nini finally had free rein for the rest. Working together, it didn't take them too long to weigh down the branches of the tree with all kinds of ornaments, from red and silver baubles and snowflakes to sentimental decorations signifying their family and special events in their lives, and also plenty of Nini originals she had made at daycare and preschool over the years.
Once the tree was finished with Nini's seal of approval, they ran around the rest of the house together, putting up any and all decorations they could imagine. Ricky was happy to follow Nini's orders, since she had already memorized how everything was supposed to look every year, from the many countdown to Christmas calendars that were placed in nearly every room, to garland and ribbons snaking along the staircase, and even her moms' collection of Santa Claus cookie jars that decorated the kitchen.
Then once they finished decorating, they got to make the first of many batches of Christmas cookies to celebrate the season, and the whole time they were singing along to Christmas music echoing from the living room to fill the whole house.
That day had been so much fun, even if they received their first reminder that Santa was watching them when they tried to beg for a sleepover that night. Ricky couldn't have imagined that day going any better. Any day he spent with Nini was always the best day. And when she visited to help decorate his house, that feeling never changed.
Ricky shook his head to break himself out of his memories. "No, I mean snow globes are kind of cool, but that doesn't seem like the right kind of gift for a girl best friend. Would she even like it?"
"Yeah, she'd like anything you got her, just like I know that you'll like anything she gets you."
"I know, I know but still Red, I…" Ricky paused when something caught his eye. "Wait a minute, Red, I think I got it."
He ran over to a shelf he had already passed by before with Nini, and while he didn't think she had paid much attention to it, one of the items seemed to be calling out to him, and after taking a closer look, he knew it was the perfect gift.
"Red, this is it." Ricky grabbed the package and took a closer look just to make sure.
"Really? I know all girls like those, but why is this the perfect gift for Nini?"
Ricky blushed slightly in embarrassment, "It's kind of a long story, but I can finally make something up for Nini. I know this is the one."
"Ok then, hide it in your bag before the girls see it," Red ordered as he kept up his role of lookout.
"Thanks, Red."
"So, are you going to tell me what gift you got for me?" Red tried to wheedle again.
"Nope, and you better not tell Nini what I got her either."
"Don't worry Ricky, my lips are sealed." Red mimed zipping his lips and throwing away the key.
Ricky shrugged his shoulders. He knew that after today, the four friends probably wouldn't see each other until they did their gift exchange, so hopefully, Nini and Kourtney won't have an opportunity to make any interrogation attempts. He loved Red, but he had already learned he was terrible at keeping secrets under pressure.
Across the gym in another aisle. Nini was walking around nervously in much the same state as Ricky, she too wanted to make sure she found the perfect gift for her boy best friend, but she also felt like she was blanking on what to get him, or at the very least, she hadn't found the one yet.
"I think you're panicking too much about this Nini." Kourtney was saying. "I know he likes superheroes and Pokemon, and he and Red are asking for skateboards for Christmas, there has to be something here that goes with one of those things."
"Please, you think the school would let Pokemon cards be sold here?" Nini laughed. "Don't you remember that day Ricky had gotten that Level X Infernape card and he wanted to show it to me at recess? And Mrs. Haaland warned him to keep any cards in his locker and not to bring them to school again."
"But he still showed you right?"
"Yeah, he was so excited." Nini smiled.
"What does Level X even mean?"
"I have no idea, but all that matters is that it made Ricky happy."
"Ok so anyway, how about one of those tiny skateboards you can play with? Do you think they have those here?"
"I don't know…" Nini glanced around as the two kept walking and chatting, but still, nothing felt quite right. She was about to give up hope after 10 more minutes of fruitless searching but then her eyes lit up as she reached one of the final shelves.
"This is it, this is what I've been looking for." Nini smiled brightly after running closer to inspect the item that caught her eye.
"Really? You think Ricky will want that?"
"Of course he will. It's the perfect gift." Nini stuck the gift in her bag and then started walking confidently towards the wrapping stations. "Let's go before they see us."
"Right behind you Nini." Kourtney agreed.
When they went in line to get their gifts wrapped by the volunteers working at the sale, they could see Ricky and Red already near the front of the line, Ricky of course noticed Nini immediately and waved enthusiastically at them, right before he was called over to one of the wrapping stations near the end of the tables.
Nini couldn't help herself from trying to spy on what he had picked out for her, but she couldn't get a clear view no matter what she tried to do, but she didn't stop trying until she went to her volunteer to get her gifts wrapped.
A few minutes later, the four friends met up with each other outside, their hands all full of perfectly wrapped gifts for each other and the rest of their families.
"Hey, Nini! Did you find everything you were looking for?" Ricky asked.
"Yep! How about you?"
"Just wait, my gift is going to knock your socks off."
"Is that a clue? Did you get me socks?"
"Nope. Not socks. I wouldn't get my best friend socks for Christmas."
"I wouldn't mind socks if they came from you. But do I get any hints?"
"Will you give me any hints?"
"No way! I want you to be surprised."
"OK then, you get to be surprised too. My lips are sealed until you open my present. And so are Red's, so don't even bother asking."
"Oh really?" Nini turned her attention to Red and gave him her best puppy dog eyes. "Red, what did Ricky get me?"
Red quickly looked back and forth between Nini and Ricky who was also giving him his best pleading look to stay quiet." Sorry Nini. I'm not telling you anything. I promised Ricky."
"Ok fine, I can wait." Nini agreed, and Ricky let out a visible sigh of relief.
"There you are, kids. So did you all find everything ok?" Kourtney's mom asked as their pack of parents rejoined their group.
"Yep, we got everything we need," Kourtney announced happily.
"Good, how about you hand those over to us, so we can take them all out to the cars and you can all see Santa and tell him what you want for Christmas?" Lynne suggested.
"Yeah!" The kids all hurriedly handed their gifts over and started getting even more excited while they waited for half their parents to take out their gifts, while half stayed to supervise. All four of them had several things at the top of their wish lists they wanted to be sure Santa was aware of.
A week later Christmas had come and gone, and since Christmas Eve, either Ricky, Nini, or both of their families had been traveling out of town to see other relatives, so this Winter Vacation felt a lot longer to them since they couldn't see their favorite person in the world. That isn't to say they weren't having fun visiting with their families, or playing with all their new toys.
But it was finally New Year's Eve, and to celebrate, Kourtney's Mom was hosting a sleepover with all four of them. They had plans to stay up until Midnight to ring in the new year properly, although Kourtney's mom already had plans to just play New York's ball drop at 10 so they could still get to sleep at a halfway decent time.
When everyone arrived, the first thing they did was catch everyone one up on their week apart, and most importantly, share their favorite presents they had received. Red and Ricky were equally excited about receiving their first skateboards for Christmas and were telling Kourtney and Nini all about how awesome they already were.
"Yeah, I can already keep my balance for nearly 30 seconds!" Ricky said proudly." I still can't believe my Mom got me the skateboard and not Santa."
"So what did you get from Santa?" Nini asked.
"A helmet and knee and elbow pads. I guess he already knew my mom was buying the board, so he got the safety stuff."
"Santa got me the same thing, Ricky," Red added. "And I can keep my balance for a full 45 seconds."
"Wow, that sounds impressive," Kourtney asked. "Can you do any tricks yet?"
Ricky and Red both shook their heads. "No, right now our most impressive trick is not falling. Our dads promised to take us to the skatepark once spring comes and the snow melts."
"But I also got a book about different tricks we can learn, Ricky. Thankfully it has lots of really good pictures to follow."
"Just you wait Red, we're going to be the best skaters in Salt Lake!"
"So Nini, what was your favorite gift?" Kourtney asked.
"Ooh, you're not going to believe this, but Santa got me exactly what I asked for." Nini ran to her bag and pulled out a ukulele.
"A tiny guitar?" Red asked.
"No, it's not a tiny guitar, it's a ukulele, it's a different instrument. My moms said I can start getting music lessons with Mr. Z when school starts again. I'm also going to be starting piano."
"That sounds like so much fun. Can you play anything yet?" Ricky asked.
"Well, I don't really know anything yet, but on the way to my grandma's house, I was watching out the window and saw a bunch of really pretty clouds and I made up a song."
Nini started strumming away, and while occasionally a note or two might be a bit jarring, it was clear she knew what she wanted to be playing, and as she did, she started singing along to her beat.
What do you see when you look to the sky
The clouds can look like anything if you try
What do you see when you look to the sky
Your imagination will let you fly
That one looks like a smiling face
That one looks like a hare in a race
There's some flowers in a vase
There's a rocket ship blasting into space
What do you see when you look to the sky
The clouds can look like anything if you try
What do you see when you look to the sky
Your imagination will let you fly
As Nini's song continued, Ricky felt like he couldn't look away from Nini as she sang, she just looked so happy with her eyes twinkling, and her voice felt like it was filling him up from head to toe and making his heart race. He had never felt anything like that before.
When Nini finally ended her song, all three friends gave her a standing ovation and a round of applause.
"Nini! That was great!" Kourtney said. "You sure you haven't started your lessons already?"
"Nope." Nini shook her head with a smile. "Do you think I was that good?"
"Of course you were. You sounded amazing." Ricky smiled and couldn't resist throwing his arm over her shoulder in a side hug. "You even made up the song yourself?"
"Yep, let's just say it's a long drive to my Grandma's house." Nini laughed. "I wrote it all as I watched the clouds go by past my windows."
"I don't think you even need lessons from Mr. Z if you can play like that already."
"Awe, thank you Ricky, but that would be like saying you're a master at skateboarding already, right?"
"I guess. I promise, whenever I learn a new trick, other than maybe Red since I'll be practicing it with him, you'll always be the first person I show."
"And I'll show you all the songs I'll learn," Nini promised back.
"And I already know I'll applaud and demand an encore every time." Ricky smiled, and both knew in their hearts that they meant their promises to each other.
"So Kourtney, what was your favorite gift?" Red asked.
"Oh that's easy. My Mom got me an American Girl doll, and a whole closet of accessories to go with her. Kourtney grabbed the doll from where it was sitting on the floor."
"Awe, she looks so cute, and did you style her hair already?" Nini asked as she looked at the quite complicated looking braids the doll's hair was in.
"Yep, and I already filled my Mom's camera up with pictures of all the hairstyles I've tried out. I'll have to make sure I show you sometime Nini."
"But now can we see if anyone's gifts here are going to top the ones we already have?" Red suggested.
"I feel like that's a pretty tall order. I love my ukulele!" Nini declared and hugged it to her chest.
"Yeah, Red, as much as I know we'll all love our gifts from each other unless one of you got me a second skateboard, there is nothing else that could top mine."
Red shrugged, "Yeah you're probably right, but that can't stop the excitement." He glanced behind them, where Kourtney's Christmas tree was still standing guard over the fresh delivery of presents her friends had all brought over.
"So let's dig in," they each gathered their final three presents in front of them. Then after a couple of rounds of highly competitive rock paper scissors to determine the order, they decided to each open one present at a time and then go around in a circle.
In the end, Kourtney was the winner of rock paper scissors, so she opened her gift from Nini first to find several bottles of nail polish. "Ooh Nini! Thank you so much, and you picked out great colors! Sometime we are going to have a spa weekend at my house and give each other mani-pedi's."
"That sounds like a lot of fun Kourtney, count me in. I'm glad you liked my gift."
"Ok, looks like I'm next," Red said excitedly and he chose to open his gift from Ricky first. He tore off the paper to reveal a bunch of Tony Hawk-themed stickers.
"Woah, these are so cool Ricky."
"When I saw them, I was really hoping you and I would both get boards so that you can decorate the deck with them."
"Thank you so much, Ricky. I got- I mean I know exactly where all these should go on my board. You should open my gift first though."
"OK, sure thing." Ricky opened his gift from Red to reveal a matching set of stickers that Red had just opened up.
"Wow, it looks like great minds think alike." Ricky joked and all four friends laughed at his humor.
"Why does that not surprise me?" Nini just shook her head at them.
"OK Nini, looks like it's your turn, which one are you going to open first?" Kourtney asked.
"You should save mine for last," Ricky suggested.
"Sure thing, as long as you save mine for last too," Nini replied and picked up Kourtney's gift sitting in front of her. When she opened up the box, she was happy to see an orange zip-up sweatshirt and a green T-shirt. "Thank you, Kourtney."
"Don't you recognize it?" Kourtney giggled.
"Um…no, not off the top of my head. Is it supposed to be something?"
"Yeah, Nini. It's the shirt and sweatshirt Gabriella wears on the movie cover."
Nini closed her eyes to picture DVD's case in her head, and she realized Kourtney was right. "OMG Kourtney! How did you find this?"
"I saw the orange sweatshirt at the thrift store when I was looking for clothes to upcycle, and I immediately thought of you, and then my Mom helped me find the green shirt to go along with it. I knew I had to get it for you for Christmas."
"Thank you, Kourtney, this is great." Nini hugged the clothes to her chest. "Looks like it's your turn again."
"Alright, how scared should I be at whatever it is you two got me?" Kourtney raised her eyebrow at the two boys.
"You have nothing to worry about." Ricky and Red both promised.
Kourtney opened Red's gift next and had a confused smile when she pulled out a rolled-up sheet of paper. "What is this?"
"It's a poster, of the Camp Rock movie.
"Really? Can I see it?" Kourtney released the rubber band around the paper and unrolled it, happy to see all of her favorite movie stars and singers. "Seriously Red, do you know how amazing this gift is?
"Well, I know whenever Nini talked about how much she loved High School Musical, you always had to mention how you liked it but thought Camp Rock was better."
"Well, it's true. No offense Nini."
"None taken, but we'll have to agree to disagree." Nini giggled. "Red it's your turn again."
"Alright, then I will choose Kourtney's gift this time." Red opened the gift and smiled brightly when he pulled out a Tech Deck mini skateboard. "Ooh, yes I can add this to my collection."
"Wait, you already have one of those?" Kourtney asked worriedly.
"Yeah, I have a bunch, but I don't have this one. This is great Kourtney. Thank you."
"Oh, that's a relief."
"Hey, is that why you suggested I buy those?" Nini whispered in Kourtney's ear.
"Maybe."
"What are you two whispering about?" Ricky asked.
"Nothing." Nini insisted. "Looks like it's your turn."
"Alright, from Kourtney." Ricky opened up his next gift to reveal similar to Nini, more clothes for him as well, although his was a green zip up hoodie with white stripes on the sleeves, along with a second, blue hoodie. Um…am I supposed to guess what this is?"
"Do you recognize it, Nini?" Kourtney asked knowingly.
"Oh yeah, it's what Troy is wearing on the cover isn't it?"
"Bingo, I got so lucky, those both were also at the thrift store, and honestly would have been so much easier than finding and making your other costumes."
"Come on Kourt, I know you like a good challenge when it comes to fashion."
"OK, you got me there."
"Well, either way, thank you, Kourtney, guess now Nini and I can have costume changes when we play pretend or when she wants to sing and dance to HSM."
"You're welcome. Nini's turn."
"OK," Nini decided to open Red's gift next, and similar to Kourtney, pulled out a rolled up sheet of paper. "Did you get me a poster too Red?"
"Yep. Do you want to open it here too like Kourtney?"
"Naw, I'll wait until I get home so I don't have to worry about messing it up in the car or anything. What's on the poster?"
Red smiled. "It's the poster for HSM 3."
"OMG, seriously?"
"Yep, I saw them at the Shopping with Santa and I knew it would be perfect for you."
"How did you get this without me noticing? I probably sat there staring at the poster section for like 5 minutes, because I wanted to get it for myself, but I needed to get presents for you and my moms."
"Hey, I can be sneaky when I need to be. I'm full of surprises."
"Well, this is going up in my room the second I go home tomorrow morning. Thank you, Red."
They went around their little circle once more, Ricky, thanks to Nini's secret recommendation, had gotten Kourtney a Wet Brush, and Nini had gotten Red a few Hot Wheels cars that he was just as excited about as everything else."
But now it was just Ricky and Nini left, ready to open their gifts from each other. Like they had been doing, Ricky was first, and while he was tearing away the paper, he couldn't help but glance up at Nini's excited grin as she watched him.
Ricky finally opened the box and pulled out a red and white bike helmet. "Cool, what is this for?"
"Well, I knew you were asking Santa and your parents for a skateboard, but given your track record of leaping before thinking-"
"I don't…ok yeah I do," Ricky admitted.
"Well you had a stakeboard on your Christmas list, but no helmet, and I know learning to skateboard can be hard at first, and I didn't want you to get hurt. So when I saw the helmet at Shopping with Santa, I knew it would be perfect to help keep you safe."
"Oh, thank you, Nini. This is perfect. Just like you are." Ricky smiled and began to put his helmet on his head.
"But did you already get a helmet for Christmas?"
"Yeah, but I want to wear the helmet you got me." Ricky immediately placed the helmet on top of his head and strapped it on. "I know if you picked it out for me, it'll for sure keep me safe. I'll wear it every time I'm skating or practicing a new trick with Red."
"Really? I'm so glad you like it."
"Of course, and whenever I wear it, I'll be thinking of you and how much you care about me." Ricky replied and scooted closer to give Nini a hug that neither wanted to let go of for several long moments.
"OK Nini, thank you so much for this, but now it's your turn. I hope you like your gift." Ricky said after pulling away.
"If it's from you, I'm sure I'll love it." Nini smiled and started unwrapping her gift. She could tell pretty quickly what it was from the pink packaging, but when she finally turned the package around to see it, she couldn't believe her eyes. "Ricky…"
"I know," Ricky scooted over to place his hand on her shoulder. "I'm still so sorry for that day when I melted your favorite Barbie in the microwave, so when I saw this, I knew it was the perfect gift that I could give."
Nini smiled the brightest she had all night. "I can't believe you managed to find the exact same doll and even the outfit. I love it." She turned her body to pull Ricky in for a tight hug. "Did I ever tell you the reason that Barbie was my favorite?"
Ricky shook his head. "No, I don't think you did."
Nini smiled and held the doll up close to her face, "because she looks like me. She has the same hair color, the same eyes, and even a similar skin tone. For the record I already forgave you months ago, but thank you for making things right."
"Hey, I would do anything to make you smile, and just I knew this was the way I could finally repair my mistake."
"Well, you certainly have. Thank you, Ricky. This might be my second favorite gift after my ukulele, because now whenever I play with her, I'll think of you."
The four friends started cleaning up all the wrapping paper and empty boxes to put them in the trash, and by the time they returned to the living room, Kourtney's Mom was standing by the clock with the TV turned on.
"Mom, what are you doing?"
"Oh nothing dear, just checking the time. It's almost midnight."
The four friends' attention went to the TV to see that it was almost time for the countdown.
"Really? But I thought it was almost 9:00. Kourtney asked her mom and glanced at the clock on the wall, but it said it was almost midnight too."
"Well, you've been having so much fun all together all night, and you know what they say, time flies when you're having fun."
"OK, oh it's starting!" Red shouted, and all four kids quickly grabbed their noisemakers and party hats, and then started counting down together.
"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 HAPPY NEW YEAR!"
They all screamed and then started blowing their noise makers to celebrate, jumping around in happiness and hugging each other tightly.
"This is so much fun! I can't believe we stayed up all the way to Midnight!"
"Me neither, I thought for sure Red would be asleep by now." Ricky said teasingly.
"Hey. I bet I can stay up later than you."
"Is that a challenge?"
Kourtney's mom just smiled and shook her head. "Alright, we aren't going to be having a who can stay up late the longest contest. Now that it's after midnight, it's time for all of you to get ready for bed. Girls, you can go take turns changing in Kourtney's room, boys you can take turns in the bathroom.
"OK." All four friends went to their suitcases to pull out their pajamas to get changed, and in the time it took them all to get ready, Kourtney's Mom had two air mattresses blown up in the middle of the living room. So then they started gathering all the pillows and blankets they would need to be comfortable for the night.
Kourtney and Nini shared one mattress, with Red and Ricky sharing the other, and Nini and Ricky lying in the middle with a few feet between the mattresses separating them. They both smiled at each other when they lay down on their pillows.
"Goodnight. Everyone. Happy 2009!"
"Happy 2009!" Everyone else cheered until Kourtney's mom finally turned out the lights.
As they settled down to sleep, Ricky and Nini spent the first few minutes smiling and making funny faces at each other, giggling until Kourtney reminded them both to be quiet and eventually drifted off to sleep with matching smiles on their faces, excited for the first thing they would see the next morning would be their best friend.