Chapter Text
Rolling her neck to ease some of the tension building there, Gina tried to listen to Miss Jenn’s notes on how to better improve Troy and Gabriela’s waltz scene for Can I Have This Dance? The operative word being tried. It was extremely difficult to when she could see her boyfriend in the corner of her eye, staring at her unabashedly and grinning lopsidedly whenever she did fully make eye contact with him.
“You two have incredible chemistry, truly the best we’ve seen in our casts so far,” Miss Jenn commented, and Gina tried to fight the flaming blush that erupted onto her cheeks, “We just need to smooth out some of that awkward choreography in the verse. Carlos, Gina, what do you think we could do?”
Carlos began to rattle off some suggestions, but Gina was fully preoccupied when she felt Ricky’s hand slide down her back, fingernails gently scraping along her spine. She involuntarily shivered when Ricky spoke lowly beside her ear, just loud enough for only her to hear, “You hear that? We have incredible chemistry. Maybe we should date or something.”
Gina smacked her lips together to quell her laugh and tried to discreetly push him away from her, although probably failed miserably at being discreet when her hand lingered a little too long on his chest, knowing her blush was probably too heated to suppress at this stage. She took a breath to berate him about the fact that they were in public when she heard Carlos speak up, “Gina? What do you think?”
“What?” Gina’s gaze snapped back to Carlos and Miss Jenn, who were looking at her expectedly. “Oh. Oh, it sounds great. Yeah.”
Carlos shot a knowing look in her direction, aware she probably hadn’t heard a word, before clapping his hands together and saying, “Great, I’ll draw up the drafts for you two to rehearse in your own time.”
“Excellent, thank you, Carlos,” Miss Jenn smiled at him before turning her attention back to Ricky and Gina, “Now, let’s run Can I Have This Dance? from the top, this time the version they dance when Troy visits Gabriela at Stanford. I want us to also rehearse the kiss directly after it. Ashlyn, when you’re ready on the piano, please.”
“Wait!” Gina burst out before Ashlyn could raise her hands to the keys, “We’re rehearsing the kiss? Now? In front of everyone?”
Miss Jenn looked a little shocked by her outburst, before she smiled placatingly, “Well, yes, honey. You’ll have to do it in front of a theatre audience eventually. It’s better to get used to it sooner than later.”
“I know,” Gina muttered, and she didn’t know why her heart was pounding so heavily.
She’d kissed Ricky what felt like a million times now. It wasn’t the kissing part that was the problem, as warm as the thought made her. It was the fact that they’d be doing it there, in front of all their friends, when they hadn’t even told them that they were kissing on the regular in first place.
What if they looked too comfortable with each other? Or worse still, what if their friends thought they were terrible kissers? She knew it wasn’t true – Ricky could quite literally kiss her senseless, until there were stars in her vision, and she felt like she might melt into a puddle at her feet – but the irrational fear was still there. Either outcome would end in disaster.
However, something in her whispered that maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if they knew. She pushed the thought away.
“I know it’s awkward kissing your friends,” Miss Jenn continued, and Gina threw a glance at Ricky, who looked like he was trying very hard to hold back a laugh, if the twisted shape of his mouth was any indication, “But, you’ll get used to it! Friends who kiss together stay together!”
She heard Carlos bark out a laugh off stage somewhere, before attempting very unconvincingly to cover it up as a cough.
Ricky sidled up to her, sliding one hand behind her back and grabbing her other hand in his spare one in their waltz position, pulling her close enough to seem respectable, but closer than was maybe necessary. Gina immediately melted into his arms, raising her own free hand to his shoulder, sliding it behind his neck.
“Are you okay?” Ricky asked quietly, his eyes wide and genuine, clearly sensing her anxiety.
Gina nodded, shooting him a small smile, “Just nervous, I guess. This is the most public we’ve been so far.”
Ashlyn’s began playing the score, and Ricky started to guide her through the steps, speaking before the singing part came in, “At least we won’t have to act too hard.”
Gina giggled and shook her head at him, exhaling out one last breath of nerves before she fell into stage mode, a picture of concentration. They twirled and swayed across the stage in practiced movements, doe eyed and bittersweet as the script called for, the comfortableness between them easy to achieve when they were already that kind of close behind the scenes.
Acting with Ricky as Troy and her as Gabriella was possibly the most exciting thing Gina had ever done. Knowing that the connection between their characters were reciprocated in their real relationship gave Gina a buzz that she couldn’t put words to. It made her insides pull with warmth every time they recited a particularly romantic scene or did something like this – sang to each other with all the feeling they could muster. It wasn’t hard to get into character with Ricky because she truly loved him, and she’d felt the hurt of having to leave him before. But they’d overcome it, just like their characters had done. And they’d done it together. And her heart was full and bursting when they sang out the final line of the song, noses brushing up against each other, chests heaving gently from the exertion of the dance.
The kiss was a natural progression from then, caught up in the moment as they were. She saw Ricky lick his lips, pupils blown wide as he glanced down at hers, and she was sure she looked just as desperate to kiss him as he did as they leaned into each other to meet in the middle.
She intended to aim for a soft but short kiss – a peck would've sufficed – but the feelings the song evoked crackled between them, and Ricky’s arms tightened imperceptibly around her waist, leaning even closer into her, and though the kiss was light and romantic and swoon inducing, it was anything from short. After maybe a minute, they pulled apart, and Ricky looked at her with those googly eyes she loved so much – the same ones she saw after their first kiss, his cheeks and the tips of his ears red with a flush.
“Excellent!” Miss Jenn exclaimed, and Gina’s focus snapped to her teacher, who looked thrilled as she clapped her hands together, “Wonderful chemistry! I would never doubt you two were high school sweethearts.”
Gina coughed in surprise at the comment, shifting her gaze to the rest of her class, and seeing many shocked faces staring back at them. Ashlyn staring resolutely at her piano, as if she had witnessed something she shouldn’t have. Kourtney giving her a side eye, an expression on her face that read something along the lines of we need to talk about this. Carlos in the wings with a smug expression, raising his eyebrow as if this was the least surprising thing he could have ever witnessed.
Ricky cleared his throat and stepped deliberately away from Gina, his cheeks now positively beetroot as he muttered, “Thanks, Miss Jenn.”
“You two can take five,” Miss Jenn beamed at them, then under her breath, “My casting choices truly amaze me sometimes. How do I do it?”
*
They were all sat in the cafeteria, Ricky splitting his packet of crisps and pouring half of them on a napkin for Gina to take from, and Gina splitting her brownie, a slightly larger piece for Ricky because she knew he had a soft spot for her baked treats. The tension in the air was palpable, their friends throwing obvious glances in their direction.
Finally, it was Kourtney who burst out, “Are we going to address the elephant in the room?”
“I thought you’d never ask,” Carlos immediately jumped on the opening, slamming a hand on the table, and causing both Ricky and Gina to jump, “So, Ricky, Gina, you two are dating, right?”
“What?” Ricky dragged the vowel, his voice pitched and entirely unconvincing, “What makes you say that? We’re just friends.”
“Ricky,” Gina put a hand on Ricky’s tensing forearm, sending him a small smile, “You know how bad I am at improvising. Let’s just tell them the truth.”
Ricky’s gaze swiveled to Gina, his eyes shooting back and forth between her own, a serious expression in his eyes that read are you sure? Gina nodded at him, giving his arm a gentle squeeze, feeling perfectly content to tell her friends. She was confident in their relationship. She knew nothing could tear them apart. There was no harm in letting their friends who cared about them in on the secret.
“Okay,” Ricky nodded at Gina, his smile growing until it was large enough to cover his whole face. He turned back to their friends on the table, and Gina could feel an excited tremor where her hand rested on his arm. “It’s true. We’re dating. I’m dating Gina. She’s my girlfriend. Wow, it feels good to say that out loud.”
Gina grinned too, her eyes plastered on Ricky’s expression, feeling a warmth seep through her bones and settle into her skin. He looked just so happy, so relieved to be able to just say it. She shifted her hand down his forearm to take his hand, interlocking their fingers behind their water bottles so the rest of the cafeteria beyond their table couldn’t see it.
“And you’ve been dating since the premiere, right?” Carlos pressed on, not letting the conversation change just yet, “Because I picked up on some serious vibes from you two. Just totally unsubtle.”
“Yeah, since the premiere,” Gina confirmed, trying her hardest not to nudge her nose into Ricky’s neck, knowing the rest of the school could still see them.
“Yes!” Carlos pumped his fist, sitting back in his seat, “My straight-dar is back on track!”
“I’m sorry,” Kourtney piped up, her head shaking dramatically, “You two have been dating for three months? How did I not notice this until now? Ricky is a terrible actor.”
“Hey!”
“Honestly, that’s on you for not paying attention,” Ashlyn shrugged, speaking up finally, “Ricky’s been obvious if you look close enough. I just didn’t have the heart to say anything. But, in their defense…I know their history.”
“We’re sorry we kept it a secret,” Gina said sincerely, “Just, with the documentary blowing up, and all eyes on us, we wanted to keep it special between us for a while.”
Kourtney’s eyes softened, and she smiled at her friend, “That makes sense. I’m happy for you guys, really.”
Gina beamed at her friends, so happy to have this weight off her chest. As exhilarating as it had been sneaking around with Ricky – and she didn’t want anyone to get it twisted, it was thrilling sneaking make outs with her boyfriend under the bleachers during gym period – it was tiring having to pretend around her friends. She wanted to be able to express just how much Ricky meant to her, without reservation.
And now she could.
“What are we talking about?” Jet arrived with his lunch tray, sliding next to Ricky, an unbothered expression on his face.
“Jet, Ricky and Gina are dating,” Kourtney leaned forward to him, speaking in a conspiratorial whisper despite the whole table having already heard the same news.
“Since the premiere. I know,” Jet said, subconsciously leaning closer to Kourtney while she was whispering.
“What?” Ricky laughed in surprise, “How do you know?”
“Ricky,” Jet deadpanned, “You are the least subtle man alive. Remember how I clocked you were in love with Gina in three seconds flat at camp? Because I didn’t forget.”
“…Touché.”
The same spiel circulated when Maddox arrived, and later again when Seb finally showed up. The rotation of ribbing over how unsubtle the two were and total shock to the more oblivious friends was highly amusing to Gina, and eventually when the conversation progressed to teasing Jet for his obvious crush on Kourtney – which he didn’t even deny to his credit – Gina dipped her head to catch Ricky’s eye.
He turned to her when he noticed, sending a fond smile her way, releasing their hands to place his on her thigh. She beamed at him, so happy and so content and so warm, and he had that look in his eye that he made when he was desperate to kiss her, but he held back, instead rubbing his thumb in soft circles at her skin where the edge of her skirt rested.
She shivered under his touch, as she often did – she couldn’t help that he made her feel so much – and she just smiled. She couldn’t help it.
*
With their friends knowing the truth, Ricky had to admit that he had started to become a lot more careless in public. Sure, he’d sometimes link their pinkies before they said goodbye at their separate classes. Sure, sometimes he’d brush a braid that had fallen into her eyeline behind her ear just to see her blush. Sure, sometimes in rehearsal he’d hug her from behind to rest his chin on her head. Friends did those sorts of things all the time.
Ricky knew he wasn’t really fooling anyone, least of all their friends, but no one else had seemed to pick up on it yet. And he was sure if he was being too obvious, they’d be trending on Twitter or something by then. The Rina fans online were only increasing in number as the weeks ticked on, and Ricky would be lying if he didn’t add a few of his own whacks against EJ on a fake account when #EJ_OUT #RICKY_IN was trending.
He loved to stir chaos.
Gina would roll her eyes and call him a menace, but he knew she found it just as amusing as he did.
It was a particularly blustery day, but they were both sweating from Gina’s rigid dancing practice she forced Ricky to attend everyday after school with her. It was her first lead role at East, and she was not about to be critiqued on her dancing of all things by the local newspaper. Ricky was willing to comply, happy to do whatever his girlfriend wished, but inwardly he thought that she would look perfect if she spent two hours on stage doing the hand jive.
He was totally distracting Gina instead of practicing, however, making his way over to the stage of the theatre where she was practicing and reading out comments below her recent dance Tiktok, “This one’s fun. It says, ‘When are you going to confirm that you and Ricky are dating? I have a wife and children to feed and my livelihood is literally dependent on this information.’”
Gina, mid-movement, stumbled a little trying to contain her chuckles. Ricky’s face lit up at the sight of it, drinking in the sight of her baby hairs clinging to her forehead and neck, the stage lights making her freckled cheeks glow and her fluttering eyes glint. He loved the sight of her happiness. He read another.
“This one says, ‘I’m a child of divorce because why won’t my parents even take a single picture together? Why have I seen more pictures of Carlos than Ricky?’ Oh, and Carlos responded to this one saying, ‘You should feel blessed to have seen my face at all.’”
Gina really did burst out laughing at that one, finally admitting defeat that she had been thoroughly distracted from her practice, taking in gulping breaths with her hands on her knees, “You’re a bad influence, Ricky Bowen.”
“Are you only just now figuring that out?” Ricky locked his phone and put in his pocket, and Gina slowly made her way to sit at the end of the stage, legs dangling over the edge.
“It’s easy to forget when you’re such a dork around your girlfriend,” Gina shrugged, teasing him – her eyes narrowing mischievously as she brought her water bottle up to her lips.
“I like to call it appropriately whipped,” Ricky shifted closer to Gina, placing both his hands on her thighs, and moving to stand between her legs. She tilted her head upwards to get a better look at him, and Ricky’s heart pounded at his view of her from that position, her neck elongated, her eyes looking up at him through her lashes, her skin glistening with sweat from her earlier exertion.
“As any good boyfriend should be,” she quipped, placing her water bottle down and sliding her hands onto his chest, up to his shoulders, behind his neck. She played with the curls at the nape of it, and he felt goosebumps burst along his chest and down his arms at her touch.
After all this time – three months and going strong – Gina Porter had a magnetic effect on him. She could beckon him from the ends of the earth, and Ricky was sure he’d be attuned to her, his head perking like a dog smelling its treat, like she was tugging some string tied between them that he was helpless to following.
Ricky simply smiled down at Gina, letting her win their quip match, relishing in her cheeky grin. Instead of answering, he simply leaned forward to press a kiss on her neck, below her ear. She sighed in delight, giggling slightly at his lips brushing against her sensitive skin there before he lifted his lips slightly to press another kiss at her jaw.
Then, a flash.
The pair jumped at the unexpected light, and Ricky whipped his head around to see some freshman that had been following him around ever since the documentary dropped. A fan, or a stalker, or his personal nightmare – take your pick. She had her phone lifted, obviously having just taken a picture of the two of them, mouth slightly hanging open.
Ricky was in a state of shock, completely reeling over the fact that it was some fourteen-year-old than had caught them out first, of all people. He didn’t move until he heard her mutter to herself, “Oh, I have to tell my mutuals about this. This is going to be a hit tweet!”
As she scurried away, Ricky snapped out of his state of paralysis, and he practically growled, “Hey! Get back here!”
He was about to sprint after her, get her to delete the photo, anything, when he felt Gina grip the back of his t-shirt and pull him backwards. She had stood up from her position on the stage, a slightly perturbed look on her face, but otherwise a picture of perfect calm.
“Gina, I have to stop her before she spreads that picture everywhere,” he implored, worried about Gina’s safety more than anything. If this blew up, who knew what kind of comments she would receive. Despite the overwhelming support for their relationship, there was already a subsection online brewing in the sidelines that were ridiculing her for supposedly being a cheater, thanks to how out of character the documentary painted her.
“Let her,” Gina shrugged, a determined expression on her face as she finally turned to meet his gaze, “Ricky, honestly, I don’t care. I love you. Who cares if the world knows? They should know!”
Then, she put her hands over her mouth in an attempt at imitating a megaphone, and shouted, “I love Ricky Bowen!”
“Gina…” Ricky trailed off, completely surprised by her reaction, and yet not at all surprised at the same time. If there was one thing Gina was good at, it was soothing Ricky’s insecurities. Ricky had always felt like he was worthless, all his life. That he deserved to be abandoned. But Gina wouldn’t allow him to feel that way – always finding ways to reassure him that he was her number one priority, that even if they were apart, she would never leave him.
Her unrestrained declaration of love was just another way for her to do that. He was her yes. He always would be. He couldn’t help the pricking of tears building behind his eyes.
Feeling restored, no longer angry at the girl who was probably live tweeting her experience as the seconds ticked on, Ricky cupped his own mouth and yelled, “I love Gina Porter!”
Gina giggled, raising her hand to brush it through his curls, and Ricky couldn’t help but melt into her touch, “Good.”
“Things are about to get a whole lot crazier for us,” Ricky said, gently encircling his hand around her wrist by his face, trailing his thumb across the delicate skin there.
“It’s good practice for when you become a world-famous singer songwriter and I have to fight off your groupies,” Gina joked, her own thumb shifting to brush over his bottom lip.
“Very funny,” Ricky whispered, his free hand gripping her waist, his forehead leaning forward to rest against hers, “I see the thirst comments under your Tiktoks. You’re the one with groupies.”
“Good thing there’s only one person in the world I care about that way.”
“Good thing.”
And Gina pulled Ricky’s face down to capture his lips in a kiss, slow and reassuring and exhilarating, as they always were to Ricky. It was a promise – a promise that no matter what happened, no matter what support or ridicule they would face, they would do it together. They always had, they always will.
Eventually they pulled apart, and Gina smiled up at him with that perfect smile he loved so much, because she was sunshine in a person, and without her he didn’t know if he’d ever feel warmth again.
The worst part about kissing Gina Porter was that now all Ricky could think about was doing it again.
So, he did.