Nini and Ricky could have hardly known that it was possible to have better school days than their first week of kindergarten, but now that Ricky coming over to Nini's house after school became part of their routine, they wouldn't change a thing.
At school, they were still just as inseparable as ever, so much so that most of their classmates had figured out that they couldn't just ask Ricky to play football, or just Nini to play house at recess, they knew they would need to ask both Ricky and Nini to join their games.
That was fine with them, as both were eager to try new things at least once, and they always had Red and Kourtney with them at recess to play with too. So, while they always had fun together, neither could forget their other friends. As a bonus, Red and Kourtney were even becoming fast friends too, partially because it was pretty easy to guess how the teams usually landed whenever they played a game that involved two on two teams.
But after a week of learning, fun, and plenty of music involved. Ricky was once again over at Nini's house on a Friday night, just as promised. And today he had brought over some of his toys to play with, namely his action figures of Batman, Spider-Man, and Captain America.
Right now he and Nini were having fun playing together with Nini's dollhouse, her with her dolls and him with his superheroes.
"Oh, Mr. Batman I need your help!" Nini said, talking in a funny voice with her Barbie.
"What is it Barbie? Is it the Joker?" Ricky asked doing his best deep-sounding Batman voice.
"No, it's even worse. It's… it's… so terrible, and only you and your superhero friends can help us."
"Oh no, what could be worse than the Joker?"
"I don't know who, what, or how… but someone took all of the zoo animals and did some mad science experiment on them and turned them into monsters!"
"Monsters? What kind of monsters?"
"Just look out the window Batman!" Nini made her Barbie point out the window and Ricky moved Batman along to glance out the window of the doll house, where most of Nini's stuffed animals were scattered around on the floor, looking as vicious and terrifying as they possibly could.
"Oh no, I know of only one man who's capable of such madness." Batman declared.
"Who?"
"It must be my mortal enemy, the villain Dr. Ken!"
"Ken? But Ken is my boyfriend, why would he do such a thing?"
"I don't know, but I know to trust my gut, and I've seen his work before. You should stay here where its safe, I'll call my friends, Spider-Man and Captain America to help me stop Dr. Ken."
"No way, you can't leave me here, especially with all those monsters running around outside."
"No Barbie, please stay. This house is Monster-Proof. I know you'll be safe here."
"OK. Fine, I'll stay here. Come back safe Batman."
"Of course Barbie, you're my best friend."
Ricky then made his action figure pretend to talk on the phone. "Hello, Spider-man? Captain America? I need your help. It's time for us to kick some stuffed butt."
"Ha ha." Both of them couldn't help but laugh out loud at Ricky's declaration.
"OK, ok. Can I be Spider-Man then? Ooh, or can I pretend that she's Spider-Girl instead?"
"Sure Nini, whatever you want." Ricky nodded, handed over his Spider-Man, and then returned to his low Batman voice. "Spider-Girl, thank goodness you got here so fast. Are you ready to round up these animals? We need to capture them and put them somewhere safe while we track down Dr. Ken and the cure."
"You got it, Batman. My webs will stick those angry beasts right up."
Batman and Spider-Girl then left the safety of the dollhouse and stepped outside. Nini made her Spider-Girl start jumping all around like she was swinging between the walls, while Ricky made his Batman calmly walk into the pack of animals with his fist raised.
They spent a few minutes tossing their toys all around as the stuffed animals attacked the action figures but were quickly immobilized by Spider-Girl's webs, or many of the gadgets hidden in Batman's utility belt.
"Ok, I think that's the last one, now we just need to shut the prison door," Nini said as she made Spider-Girl toss one last stuffed animal back into her toy box.
"Batcomputer, secure the doors. Shooo. Click." Ricky said, and closed the top of the toy box. "Prison secure, now we can go track down Ken."
"Should we go back and let Barbie know that it's safe to come out yet?"
"No, as long as Dr. Ken is still loose, it's too dangerous for her. I'm sure she'll be fine. And I think I know where Dr. Ken is, the Batcomputer has picked up a mysterious signal, and it's coming from… the kitchen?"
"The kitchen? My mom could be down there, we need to go save her!" Nini shouted. "Swing away!" And she started making her Spider-Girl pretend to swing across the ceiling and walls as she made her way downstairs. "Batman, are you coming?"
"I'm right behind you," Ricky promised, but he did turn back once, he had an idea that would make this game of pretend even more fun.
"Ricky, what do you have behind your back?" Nini asked him.
"It's a surprise, I have a really good idea to make this even more fun, just wait here." Ricky walked down the last few steps and made his way into the kitchen, he had to use a chair to reach the counter, and then he looked closely at the microwave, his Mom and Dad had told him how to set a timer on the microwave at home, and this one looked similar enough. A countdown will give their adventure some real drama.
"Ricky, what did you do?" Nini asked when she followed him downstairs a few moments later.
"You'll see," Ricky replied nonchalantly and then returned to his Batman voice. "OK Spider-Girl, on my scouting mission, I saw Evil Dr. Ken in this next room. Are you ready to stop him?"
"As ready as I'll ever be, which is always!" Nini replied and then they both ran into the kitchen and shouted.
"Stop! Freeze! Hands in the air!" They both shouted at the Ken Doll sitting on the counter. Nini had used her whiteboard markers to give him an evil-looking goatee and an eyepatch on one of his eyes.
Ricky reached out to grab hold of and act as Dr. Ken. "Well, well, well, how unexpected, Batman and Spider-girl, and by unexpected I mean completely expected!"
"What are you talking about, how did you expect us?" Nini asked.
"It's simple, I had to control all my wild beasts somehow, and I used a remote control signal that I knew someone as smart and cool and awesome as Batman would be able to find me, and that you'd probably be searching for the cure. Which is right here!" Ricky had Ken hold up a large toy needle from Nini's play first aid kit.
"Give us the cure, we need to help all those poor animals," Spider-Girl demanded.
"Oh, I think you have bigger problems than that. Ha ha ha!" Dr. Ken laughed evilly. "I'm here to give you a choice, either you can stop me, or you can save her."
"What?" Nini asked.
"Look inside the microwave," Ricky whispered to her.
She did and gasped in surprise. "Barbie! Evil Dr. Ken what did you do?"
"Oh I haven't done anything yet, but that won't be the case for very much longer. Barbie has two minutes remaining before the cage she is in will blow up, and I've thrown away the key. You can either save her or save the cure and capture me, what will it be?"
"You Evil Ken! You won't get away with this. Batman, what do we do?"
"We can't leave Barbie in there, she's our best friend," Batman answered. "We can catch Ken and save the animals later."
"Good idea, because nothing can stop us as long as our best friends are all together." Nini agreed.
"Tick tock you two. You have two minutes." Dr. Ken said and pressed the START button to let the timer start counting down, and then Ricky tossed him out of the room along with the needle full of the cure.
"Two minutes! Batman, what do we do? There must be some way we can save Barbie before the countdown."
"I know, I bet I can figure out how to hack the computer on this cage." Both Nini and Ricky put their action figures right beside the microwave's door and made them look like they were studying a complicated lock.
"Hurry Batman, there's only a minute left already."
"Ok, I think I got it." Ricky began making Batman pretend he was picking the lock and pressing random buttons.
"Hurry Batman! Hurry!"Spider-Girl shouted. There's only ten seconds left. 10, 9, 8, 7…"
"And I just need to cut this last wire. Snap! There I got it!" Ricky said and finally made Batman press the PAUSE button on the microwave and opened the door.
"Yay, we did it! Barbie we saved you!" Nini smiled brightly, but then she coughed a bit. "Ugh, what's that horrible smell?"
"Ugh, I don't know. It's disgusting." Ricky flinched slightly when the smell hit him too.
"At least we saved Barbie." Nini screwed her eyes and glanced inside the microwave for a moment and then she screamed in terror. "AHHHHH! Ricky!"
"What is it?" Ricky glanced inside too, but couldn't believe his eyes, instead of the perfect Barbie he had placed in the microwave a few minutes ago, now there was a pale-colored glob of melted something with hair resting on top. "AHHH! Gross!"
"What is it? What's going on? What's that smell?" Carol said as she strode into the kitchen looking worried.
"Ri-Ricky cooked my Barbie!" Nini shouted and then burst into tears.
"What no I didn't! I just wanted to use the timer like in movies!" Ricky said.
Carol stepped closer to the microwave and glanced inside herself, "What? What did you…oh. Ok, both of you let's step out of here for now. Go on, go back upstairs. Both of you." Carol said sternly and moved them back to the stairs. "I'll clean this up, but don't get into any more messes."
"Nini, I didn't mean-"
"How could you Ricky? That was my favorite Barbie! I thought you were my friend!" Nini shouted and then ran up the stairs ahead of him with tears running down her cheeks.
"Wait, Nini!" Ricky ran up the stairs to chase after her, but she threw the Spider-Man action figure she was still holding at him, and it bounced against his chest. That was all the time she needed to slam her door closed behind her. The sight of her looking at him like that hurt more than any physical pain he had ever felt before.
"Nini!" Ricky stopped short at her closed door. He knocked but she didn't give him an answer beyond her tearful sobs Ricky could hear through the door. Each sob felt like a punch in the gut and he just collapsed on the other side of the door.
What had he done wrong? He wondered. Did Nini hate him now? She had plenty of reason to. If someone had done that to his Batman, wouldn't Ricky hate them? She'd probably never want to see him again, and he'd never be allowed at Nini's house, or school because she wouldn't want to sit with him at their desks, or lunch, or music class, or play with him at recess or be on the same team as him during PE…
Ricky felt himself burst into tears too, all he could think about was how he was a horrible friend, and this was probably the last time he'd ever get to spend time with Nini again, the last time she would ever want to even be his friend. If she had ruined her favorite toy, surely she would never ever, ever, forgive him.
This was the worst day of his young, six-year-old life. Had it only been two weeks since he had first met Nini when she had sat down next to him at their desk? It felt like forever already, and he didn't want to have to go back to before he knew Nini.
Ricky was blind to the passage of time as his ears filled with both the sound of his sobbing, but also Nini bawling within her room as well, each time she cried out stabbed him in the chest because he knew it was all his fault, and no one else's. He made her feel this way.
He finally looked up and tried to wipe his tears away when he heard footsteps climbing up the stairs, Carol appeared, and she looked angry.
"Ricky, where's Nini? I need to have a talk with both of you about playing with the microwave." Carol asked sternly.
"No, wait, it isn't Nini's fault!" Ricky stood up, even though his legs still felt shaky. "It's all my fault, mine. I was the one who put Nini's Barbie in the microwave. And, and I wanted to…to just use the timer so it co-could count down. Like in a movie so we could rescue the Barbie with my superheroes. I didn't know I actually turned it on. I'm sorry, but it wasn't Nini, it was all me. She shouldn't be in trouble."
"Oh, ok…" Carol looked like she was thinking something over in her head. "So why aren't you with Nini right now?"
"Because she…she hates me now!" Ricky started bursting into tears again. "I melted her favorite Barbie, she'll never forgive me or want to be my best friend again."
"Oh no Ricky," Carol leaned down close to Ricky to gently take hold of his shaking shoulders. "Hey, I know Nini may be upset right now, but I don't think this will be the end of your friendship."
"It's not? Why? I made her so sad." Ricky tearfully replied.
"Yes, you did, but just like you told me, it was an accident, and Ricky, every other moment you've known each other, you've been smiling and laughing and singing together. A friendship like that doesn't just disappear like that after one bad moment. As long as you're willing to apologize and work to earn Nini's forgiveness. You want to do that, don't you?" Carol asked.
"Yeah, yeah, I do." Ricky nodded his head and had to wipe the last few stray tears from his eyes.
"Good. Now how about you wait right out here, and I'll go talk to Nini first, see how she's feeling, and when she's ready, you can come in and apologize to her. Is that ok with you?"
"Yeah, yeah I can do that." Ricky nodded his head and walked over to stand along the wall opposite Nini's doorway.
"Good." Carol knocked on the door, "Nini, it's Mom," and then pushed her way inside, closing the door softly behind her.
Nini was lying facedown on her bed, her tears soaking into her colorful comforter, as her mind circled around the image of the melted Barbie doll sitting in her microwave downstairs. She couldn't understand why Ricky would do something like that. He was always so great, why would he cook one of her favorite toys in the microwave? Was he really a mean kid? She always thought he was so nice, he was always willing to do whatever she wanted to do. And every other moment they had spent together had been nothing but happiness. Why would Ricky suddenly change into a big meanie?
She heard him knock on her door and call out to her a few times, but she didn't want to let him in her room anymore.
And that made her even more upset, who was she going to play with at recess? Who was she going to sing within music class? Kourtney and Red, and all her other classmates were great but…she wanted Ricky in her life, but he had broken her toy…and it hurt to think about it, but had he also broken her trust?
She was mad at Ricky, but also sad that she was mad. Ricky had always one hundred percent has always been her greatest source of happiness ever since they first met and gave each other their nickname. Together they had made each other, Ricky and Nini. Nini didn't want to go back to being Nina, and not just because of her name, but because of what her name represented. That Ricky was her best friend, she didn't want to lose him.
Eventually, she heard another knock on the door, and this time, it was her Mom's soothing voice. "Nini, it's Mom, can I come in?"
Nini looked up from her tear-stained comforter. "Yes, you can come in." She called out.
A few moments later Carol stepped into the room, and Nini couldn't help herself from glancing around her mom's shoulders to see where Ricky was, but she couldn't see him. "Where's Ricky?" Nini asked, but then she shook her head, "I mean I don't care about Ricky anymore."
"Really? Why is that sweetheart?" Carol asked as she sat on Nini's bed and pulled Nini up into her lap. Nini curled up in her mother's embrace, leaning against her torso, and resting her head on her mom's shoulder.
"He…he cooked my Barbie. Why would Ricky be so mean to me? I thought we were best friends." Nini couldn't stop more tears from trailing down her cheeks and onto her mom's shirt.
"Oh sweetheart. I think I see what's going on here. Are you upset about the Barbie, or about Ricky?"
"Ricky. He…he knew it was my favorite doll because I told him when we started playing, but why would he stick it in the microwave?"
"I'm not entirely sure what his plan was, but he did tell me he did it on accident, and I'm sure if he could go back in time and fix his mistake he would."
"Really?"
"Yes really." Carol hugged her daughter tight for a moment. "It's entirely up to both of you two, but you know this doesn't mean you have to stop being best friends right?"
"It doesn't." Nini finally raised her head to meet her mom's eyes.
Carol reached out to gently wipe away some of the tears on Nini's cheeks. "Of course not. All friends have fights from time to time, and everybody makes mistakes, even when they're trying to have fun and do good things for their friends. Like Ricky, I think he just wanted to make your superhero game more exciting and like movies he's seen."
"Really? So he didn't want to cook my Barbie?"
"No, he didn't, but are you ready to let him come inside? I think he really wants to apologize to you and make things right between you. But only if you're ready."
Nini sniffled and rubbed her eyes free of tears one more time. "Ok, he can come in, but you'll stay here, right?"
"Of course, I'm not going anywhere," Carol promised and kissed her forehead. "Why don't you call him inside?"
"Ok." Nini turned around but still held onto her mom's arms wrapped around her. "Ricky, you can in now!"
Ricky slowly opened the door and then walked across the room, staring down at the carpet the whole way until he was standing in front of Nini and Carol.
"Um…Hi Nini." Ricky said without looking up to meet her eyes.
"Hi…Ricky." Nini replied feeling equally as awkward.
"Um, Nini, I want to tell you I'm super duper sorry about your Barbie. I promise it was an accident, and if I knew the microwave was going to cook your Barbie, I never would have even touched it. I'm sorry, and I hope you can forgive me."
"Ricky…I want to forgive you too." Nini said, "I don't want to lose my best friend."
"I don't want to lose you either Nini. You're my favorite person on the planet."
"And you're my favorite person in the whole world Ricky," Nini replied. "Just promise that you won't put any more of my toys in the microwave."
"You got it. I promise to never put any other toys in the microwave ever again." Ricky said, raising his hand like he was saying the pledge of allegiance.
Nini finally started smiling again and jumped down from her Mom's lap. "And you have to… spin around five times super duper fast."
"OK." Ricky smiled back, just at the simple fact that Nini was smiling at him once again. He spun himself around like a top as fast as he could go, and by the time he was finished, he was so dizzy he could barely stand straight.
"Ha ha!" Nini laughed, "Now give me a hug to say you're sorry and then we can start playing again."
"OK," Ricky did his best to stumble his way in the direction of the 2-3 Ninis that were spinning around in his vision but managed to find the right one and wrap his arms around her, although in the process they both ended up giggling on the floor.
Nini hugged him back just as tightly. "Thank you, Ricky. I forgive you."
After a few moments they both stood up, and Ricky thankfully had his bearings back once more. "OK, so can we keep playing now…but maybe a different game?"
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea-"
"Hold on you two. Before you get into more fun and games, or in more trouble, I need to talk to both of you." Carol led them both back downstairs to the kitchen and brought them back in front of the microwave.
"Now you see the mess you made? I had to chip off most of the melted plastic into the garbage, but there's still some on the microwave's plate. Carol said, holding up the glass turntable from the microwave, instead of being clear, it was stained opaque and the pale peach color of the Barbie's body."
"And the inside still smells like burnt plastic. So Ricky, you need to help me clean mess up, got it?"
"Yes Mrs. Salazar-Roberts," Ricky said politely.
"Oh Ricky, I told you already, call me Carol, or you could even call me Mama C like Nini does." Carol reminded him.
"Ok, Mama C," Ricky said slowly. "Is it alright if I call her that?" He turned to Nini to get her permission.
"Of course you can. You're still my best friend Ricky, and because you're my best friend I want to help you clean up your mess. What do we need to do Mama C?" Nini asked.
"OK, well then, you two can work on cleaning up all the smoke stains and bad smells from inside the microwave, and I'll try to clean up the turntable. Here you two can try this dish soap and the magic erasers. Carol handed the two kids the cleaning supplies, and they both eagerly took them.
They each needed to pull a chair up to reach the microwave on the counter and worked together by taking turns scrubbing out the microwave, and putting all the kindergartener elbow grease they could muster into their shared mission.
It took them a while, but by the time Carol managed to get the turntable once again spotless, the two of them had also managed to clean the microwave out so that it was equally spotless on the inside without any more acrid smells emanating from within.
"Good job you two. I'm impressed."
"Thanks. It was mostly Ricky." "It was mostly Nini." They each said at the same time and then couldn't help but burst out laughing with each other.
Carol couldn't help but smile, she couldn't even tell they had been equally scared of losing their young friendship just twenty minutes ago.
"I'm glad you've gotten everything worked out, but playing with the microwave like that was very dangerous. You could have started a fire, or gotten sick from the smoke, or burned your hands if you had touched the Barbie." Carol reminded them in a stern tone. "So from now on, definitely no playing with the microwave. The microwave is off-limits to both of you until you're older. And no playing in the kitchen unless Mama D or I are here to watch you. Do both of you understand?"
"Yes Mama C." Both answered earnestly.
"Good." Carol glanced at the clock across the room. "Ricky, I think you have about twenty more minutes until your dad gets here to pick you up."
"OK. Nini, what do you want to do? You can choose."
"Hmm, can we go back to playing with my Barbies and your superheroes? It was still lots of fun, and I want to keep playing."
"Yeah. I want to keep playing too."
The two of them ran back upstairs, just as happy as they had been before all the drama, completely unaware of the equally happy smile on Carol's face as she watched them go up.
When they returned to Nini's room, she grabbed a different Barbie from her dollhouse, and they decided to keep up their original storyline.
"Oh thank goodness Batman and Spider-Girl," Nini was saying in her Barbie voice again. "you saved me from the Evil Dr. Ken and caught him and saved all the animals."
"Yep, it's all in a day's work," Ricky reported in his best Batman voice. "I only wish we could have saved you sooner."
"Don't be so hard on yourself Batman. You did what you thought was best, even if you made a few mistakes." Nini said. "You and Spider-Girl are both true heroes."
"Argh. Enough of this, my plan was foolproof, and I would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for you meddling kids…and you little dog too." Ricky said in his Evil Ken voice, where they had the Ken doll tied up with a bunch of rubber bands.
"Wait what was that?" Nini asked with a giggle.
"That's what the bad guys always say in Scooby Doo," Ricky answered.
"Well, I think the bad guy should say, Curse you Batman and Spider-Girl!" Nini shouted.
"Why?"
"Because that's what Dr. Doofenshmirtz always says when Perry beats him. Curse you Perry the Platypus!" Nini shouted again.
"OK, ok, he can say that then." Ricky agreed and then spoke in his Batman voice again. "Evil Dr. Ken you're going to go to jail for a long time because you're a bad guy."
"Yeah, and you made the mistake of going against two best friends who can never be divided. So Bye-Bye Evil Dr. Ken." Nini picked up the doll and put it in her toybox.
"So Spider-Girl, Barbie, What should we do now?"
"I think there's only one thing we can do. Let's dance!" Nini said and ran over to her CD player to play some music.
Ricky and Nini both began dancing around her room moving every which way in line with the beat and singing along to the music, which was how Carol found them when she knocked on Nini's door a few minutes later.
"Ricky, Nini, as much as I'd hate to break up the dance party, Ricky's dad is here to take you home."
"Ahh. Can Ricky stay for another hour?"
"No, you know what we agreed to, I'm sure Ricky's parents would like him to be at home too."
"Someday, you're going to come to my house and I'll be able to show you everything. I'll be super duper good this weekend, so you can visit next weekend." Ricky promised.
"I can't wait," Nini replied.
"Do you two want to clean up together?" Carol reminded them both.
"Sure." Both said happily, and they began singing together. "Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere, clean up, clean up everybody do your share."
Picking up all of Nini's toys and Ricky's action figures only took them a few minutes, even if Carol could tell at some point they had both silently agreed to draw out the clean-up time to stay longer.
"OK, looks like we're done." Ricky shouldered his backpack full of his toys and smiled sadly at Nini. "I'll see you at school on Monday Nini, I'm going to miss you this much," Ricky spread his arms as wide as he could.
"Well, I'm going to miss you this much." Nini stretched her arms out wide too. They stood close to each other to measure, and Ricky's wingspan was just a bit wider.
"Yay! I'm going to miss you more." Ricky cheered.
"No, you're not. No one could ever miss you as much as I'll miss you this weekend." Nini shot back.
"Nope, I win…or wait a minute if I'm missing you more then that will mean I'll be sadder. So then doesn't that mean you win?"
"Does it?" Nini asked, and both looked confused for a moment as they tried to do some sort of math in their heads.
Carol interrupted them though, "I can already tell both of you will always miss each other in equal amounts, and Ricky as much as we do love having you over, you still need to go home for tonight."
"Oh, can Ricky and I have a sleepover?" Nini asked.
"No, not tonight, but maybe sometime. Now come on, Mike is waiting for you downstairs." Carol motioned them towards the door and they finally started making their way downstairs.
When Ricky saw his dad, he still gave him an excited hug just like always but then he turned to face Nini for one more time tonight.
Without even speaking, both knew exactly what was coming and pulled each other in for a heartfelt hug. "I'm sorry again for melting your Barbie."
"Don't worry, I forgive you, but if we ever play Barbies and Superheroes again, make sure you bring Spider-Man, he's my favorite to play."
"I promise, you can always have Spider-Man or Spider-Girl," Ricky promised with a smile.
They let go of each other, and Ricky walked over to his Dad.
"So, I heard you got into some trouble today Bud," Mike said in a stern voice.
"Yeah," Ricky sighed, I melted Nini's Barbie in the microwave.
"Don't let Ricky be in trouble. Please!" Nini asked.
"Don't worry, I've already talked to Carol and the important thing is that you've already fixed your mistake as much as you could. But you, Mom, and I will talk about being more careful, especially when you're at Nini's house, OK Bud?" Mike asked.
"Yes, Dad." Ricky nodded along, but he'd already been so scared that he had ruined his friendship with Nini today, no matter what consequence or talk he got at home, he would happily go through it, just as long as he could still see Nini, and hopefully keep coming to her house every day.
Mike and Ricky walked out the door, right as Dana was about to come in, which gave Ricky and Nini a few more moments to stand together and whisper one more goodbye.
"No matter who misses who more, I can't wait for Monday at school," Ricky told her.
"Me neither. I'm happy we're still friends."
"Me too, and we always will be?"
Definitely. Nini promised.
"OK, Ricky it's time for us to go." Mike once again motioned to Ricky and with a smile on his face, Ricky followed his Dad out to his car.
Just like usual at this point, Nini ran from the front door to the window so she could wave at Ricky, and Ricky could wave back from his seat in the car until they drove out of sight.
"So, did anything exciting happen today?" Dana asked her daughter.
Nini laughed, "Don't get me started." But then launched into the tale anyway, she still felt a little sad thinking about her melted Barbie, but she was able to find some humor in telling her mom all about her day with Ricky. To her, Ricky could always outweigh any bad simply with the happiness Nini felt when she spent time with him.