Chapter Text
Gina follows EJ as he leads her outside the airport, where his Range Rover is waiting. Gina teases EJ about how he refers his car to his baby. EJ chuckles as he opens the car door for her. Gina smiles as she gets in the car, memories of EJ picking Ashlyn and her every morning during his senior year came rushing to her. Gina feels a warm feeling in her heart , before the Caswell ‘s it had always been just Gina and her mom. She loves her mom to bits, but at times it would get so lonely when she had no one to have dinner with as her mom was at work.
EJ and Ashlynn were the siblings she never got; their bond was so strong that no distance could tear apart. Gina, who always thought people would forget her when she moved away, was proved wrong by the Caswell’s when she moved to New York.
“Gi?” she heard Ej ask, making her snap out of her thoughts
“Yes?” she replied softly turning her gaze towards him,while his eyes were on the road
“Did you tell the gang that you are back to Salt Lake City?” she hears him ask her
“No, but I know the news probably reached them when Carlos and Ashlyn know” she said as Carlos was terrible at keeping things to himself. While Ashlyn told Big Red everything even after they broke up. If Big Red knew then she is certain he had told Ricky.
Would he be happy to see her? Did he even care?
Gina shakes her head absentmindedly, knowing years ago when she sat in the airplane to surprise them all by coming to the play, she had similar thoughts, she had imagined this sweet romantic reunion with him, only to hear him confess his feelings to Nini.
“I met him a few times since I came back, he asked about you. Asked how you were doing” EJ comments softly as if he knew who she was thinking about
Gina refuses to get her hopes up, believing he just asked out of kindness and for the sake that they had been friends once upon a time.
“What did you say?” she askes as she tucked her hair behind her ear, a habit when she was nervous
“I told him that you were doing really well, making us all proud”
“Look at you EJ, who would have thought you and Ricky Bowen having a friendly conversation” she teases
“He is decent guy, still not the biggest fan after all he did break my sister’s heart” he says with slight bitterness in his voice
“EJ, I never told him about my feelings, and we can’t be angry at him for not reciprocating my feelings” she said shrugging her shoulders, not wanting to remember how once she spent an afternoon crying on EJ ‘s shoulder about the curly haired guy
“I refuse to believe it was one sided Gina, to be frank I think Bowen was just stupid to realize the depth of emotions he had for you” she heard EJ say making Gina shut her eyes upset.
“Listen EJ, I did not come back to Utah for him. I don’t really want to spend my time here just talking about a guy I had a silly crush on in High School” she says opening her eyes, her voice stern.
EJ drops it and talks about a new restaurant that opened that he wanted them to try out, she was grateful that he did not call her out on her blatant lie. There was no secret in the Caswell household that Gina had been in love with Ricky Bowen since he sang for her the first time.
“I still can’t believe this is not a dream, and the one and only Gina Porter is standing in my living room” she heard Ashlyn say with a wide smile on her face. Gina chuckled at her friend's dramatics.
Friends
Even to this date Gina had difficulties accepting that she had friends who love and adore her unconditionally, that they won’t leave her the minute their is a challenge.
“Well, I’m here Ash for 14 days so get used to it” she says before giving her a side hug
“Lucky us, we get to be in the present of The one and only Gina Porter, a Broadway star” EJ said in a teasing voice. Ashlyn giggled as Gina smacked him with a pillow from the couch.
“Anyways let’s go unpack your bags Gi, so you won’t have to worry about it later” Ashlyn said to her bestfriend and cousin
Aslyn and Gigi were unpacking her bag while the chit chatted about different things like which play Aslyn was planning for her students, that dating apps sucked and that Big Red had finally met a cute guy he liked.
Ashlyn finds a photo of Gina and Ricky in their teens in the skating park, Ricky has his arms around Gina with an evident wide smile on his face as he looks at her, while Gina was laughing as she looked at the camera.
“You know Ash, I love New york. I really do. I just never felt I’m home like I feel whenever I’m here” she said softly as she placed some of her clothes in the closet, not aware of the photo her friend had found.
“I don’t think that has anything with places to do Gi, rather that certain people feels like home”
“Well yeah, mom, you and EJ and even Carlos is family at this point. I will always feel at home with you guys” she said softly
“I was not referring to us Gi” she heard Ashlynn say as she placed a photo in front of her eyes, a photo she takes with her wherever she goes.
“Gina ballerina, come one let me teach you some skating tricks” Ricky pleaded her with puppy eyes that she was certain he knew was her weak spot
“No way Bowen, unlike you I don’t have a death wish” she said crossing her arms stubbornly
“Just wait and see princess porter, one day I will get you on this skateboard” she heard him say with a determined look on his face
“yeah yeah guess we will have to see, also princess porter? what are we , five?” she asked teasingly as she nudged his shoulder
“I think it’s cute” he said with a mischievous glint in his eyes
“Dork” she said fondly
Ricky took out his phone from his pocket and snapped a picture of Gina as she was laughing watching Big Red attempt to teach Ashlyn how to skate. Gina did not notice how much admiration Ricky was looking at her.
Gina turned her face to Ricky “Please tell me you did not take another ugly photo of me” she said raising her eyebrow
“Like you could ever look ugly” she heard him respond, Gina felt the tint of red appearing on her cheeks.
“Ehm, let’s take a picture together so we can remember the moment I made Gina Porter blush” she heard him say making her laugh
“Gina Porter does not blush” she said in her mean voice that usually scares everyone, but he just rolled his eyes fondly.
“Gina Porter is a big softie who blushes, is bad with compliments and is a hopeless romantic” he said, taking his arms around her before giving her the phone so she could take a selfie of them.
After having dinner and watching The Notebook, Gina told Ashlyn she was going for a walk to get some fresh air. Ashlynn was too tired to join her, so she gave Gina the keys while she rested.
Gina debated whether she should reach out to her old friends that she was in town, but she could not help the doubt if they would even want to hear from here. It’s not like she had made a conscious effort to keep contact with Big Red, Nini and Kourtney. She has been avoiding them because she knew they were all close to Ricky.
Gina was so lost in her train of thoughts that she crashed right into someone, before she could lose her footing, she felt strong arms around her waist, stopping her from falling. A gasp escapes her as her eyes locked with his dark brown eyes, she saw his eyes go wide as he looked at her in shock.
“Gina?!!” he whispers as if fears she is not there as he looks down at her
“Hey, Ricky” she whispers softly offering him a hesitant smile, hoping he did not know that hearing his voice had given her goosebumps and how much strength it took from her to not give him a bone crushing hug.
“You are real” he whispers in awe and she can only nod in response
Gina will never forget the way he looked at her, how his nose twitched a tell sign when he is truly happy. She won't be able to forget how his eyes twinkled under the moon light or how his smile grew big when he realized she was real. But mostly she won 't forget how he hugged her tightly, smelling like vanilla and home. The feeling of his arms around her waist as he hugged her before he spined her around. Giggles escapes her, it' s like they never were apart, like no time had passed since they saved Miss Jenn. They were just Ricky and Gina in that moment.