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The second act was less of a blur than the first one, and Ricky found that he was actually enjoying himself. Nini looked happy, and less nervous than she had been during the break, and whenever he caught a glimpse of EJ he managed to not blush as hard as he had before. In fact, Ricky even managed to smile, figuring nobody would notice, since EJ was playing his best friend anyway, and best friends smiled at each other, right?
They also slung their arms around each other during the final number, maybe holding on a little tighter than usual, and with that even facing his Mom’s new boyfriend didn’t seem as terrifying anymore as it had an hour ago.
“Alright, cast party at my house, we’ve got food and good music, so just bring yourself! Parents are allowed too.” Ashlyn had announced once they had all been backstage. She had gotten a huge bouquet of flowers from Big Red, who was grinning from ear to ear.
These two fit well together, Ricky thought with a smile. As opposed to EJ and me. Or maybe they did fit well together, but not at first glance. They had more in common than Ricky would have imagined, or even thought about. They had been destined to hate each other, so nobody had really bothered to take a closer look, including Ricky and EJ at the beginning. They had all just been glad that the big explosion had been avoided.
Glancing around the room, Ricky’s eyes found the other boy, who was talking to Gina. He was laughing, and Ricky could feel his stomach swoop at that. He wasn’t sure why EJ’s laugh had that kind of effect on him, but he wanted him to keep laughing, even if he’d have to go over there and tell more embarrassing stories about dead hamsters.
It made him think of the plushy in his bag, and how EJ had remembered that story, and then gone out and bought him a gift that actually meant something. He was more thoughtful than anyone gave him credit for, really.
Ricky was still smiling, and probably still staring, when Nini came into view all of a sudden.
“You like him, don’t you?” Her words hit him harder than expected, and Ricky wasn’t even sure why. He could feel his mouth go dry and his cheeks heating up.
“I…uh…what?” It wasn’t like he could hide things from her anyways. They had known each other for such a long time, that they could read the other like open books. He always knew when something was bothering her, and it was the same the other way around. There was no use in pretending that he didn’t have feelings for EJ, it would just make him look like an idiot.
“I know that look,” Nini replied with a smile, as she leaned against the table. “You always used to look at me that way.” It was said without any hard feelings, really. Instead she seemed…happy that he had moved on, and that they could still be friends, despite the mess they had been in during these past few weeks.
“And hey, that’ll be a new aspect of our friendship: We can talk about boys.” She was grinning still, and Ricky couldn’t help but chuckle. Maybe part of him had been a little worried about what Nini would say. Even if he was never going to end up with EJ, he would have still felt bad hiding his feelings from one of his best friends, especially since she had been the one who had brought him into his life. Ricky briefly wondered if EJ and him had ever met, or taken notice of each other, if it hadn’t been for his inability to say I love you, and Nini choosing to move on.
“Right.” Running a hand through his hair, Ricky became a little more serious. “How do I even bring that up to him though? I’ve never been good at talking about this kind of stuff.” Which wasn’t surprising, if he thought about it now. Not that his parents had never been happy, but he had more memories of them fighting, or not talking to each other, than he had of happier times, and even though he had tried not to take them as role models in that aspect of his life, he’d probably still been influenced by it.
“You know how in movies, people often burst into songs before confessing their feelings?” Nini interrupted his thoughts as she placed a hand on his arm.
“Yeah?”
“Sometimes it’s better to just go for the kiss.” She gave him a wink, squeezing his arm, before heading towards the door. “I’ll see you at Ashlyn’s?”
And Ricky could only nod.
-
He ended up being one of the last people in the gym. He’d taken his own car, since he had gotten there way earlier than most of his friends and castmates, and he figured people wouldn’t notice if he showed up to the cast party a little late. Ashlyn had even asked the parents to join them, so there’d be a lot of people buzzing about. He’d just slip in a little later and pretend he’d been there all along.
Having placed his bag on one of he now empty chairs, Ricky walked towards the middle of their makeshift stage. No one had really bothered to clean up yet, the props were still around, and red and white confetti was covering the floor.
It was oddly quiet, something Ricky wasn’t used to anymore. Ever since joining the production, there had always been people around, talking and rehearsing scenes, singing and just generally talking, and he found it to be comforting. These people had become his friends, even though he had initially just joined to win Nini back. He wouldn’t miss any of them for the world now, though.
“How things have changed…” He muttered to himself, the sound of the door opening and closing drawing his attention away from his own thoughts.
“You’re not going to the cast party?” EJ smiled as he walked across the floor, hands in his pockets. He looked great; Ricky noticed. With his dark jeans and the blue dress shirt, and then Ricky was blushing again.
“No…I mean. Yes, I’m going.” Ricky ran a hand through his hair, trying to ignore the way his heart had instantly started beating faster. “I was just…taking in the moment. I’ve never done this before, remember?” His lips curved into a smile to match EJ’s.
“And here I was, thinking you want to clean all of this up by yourself,” The other boy teased, and Ricky rolled his eyes, though he was still smiling.
“You’re gonna drive me crazy, aren’t you?” He then muttered, his voice a little quieter. There were a lot of reasons not to do this. First and foremost: EJ was a senior, so he’d be going off to college next summer. Ricky wasn’t good at letting people go. He’d taken his mother leaving pretty hard, and Gina leaving when they had just become good friends hadn’t helped either. Was this going to work out? Or were they purposefully setting themselves up for heartbreak? And if that was the case, why was there such a huge part of himself that simply didn’t care?
“Would that be so bad?” EJ whispered, and suddenly he was close. Closer than Ricky had anticipated and damn, that boy was going to give him heart attack one day!
“I don’t know. No.” Ricky replied, and really. He wasn’t good at this kind of stuff. He wasn’t used to talking about his feelings, and maybe being in this production had helped a little in the long run, but he still felt pretty helpless overall. ( There was a Hamilton reference in there somewhere, Nini had made him listen to the cast album about a hundred times last year ).
Reaching out for EJ’s hand, Ricky pressed it against his chest for a lack of better words. His heart was still pounding like crazy, and even though the other boy couldn’t hear it, he’d surely be able to feel it.
EJ’s eyes went soft then, and Ricky watched as he bit his lips. It did something to him, something he couldn’t quite explain. His stomach swooped and his heart stumbled enough to make him gasp, which EJ took as an invitation.
Their lips fit perfectly against each other, and Ricky’s legs felt like jelly the moment they touched. He half expected someone to come barging in. Big Red or his Dad, asking why he wasn’t at the party, his mother in another misguided attempt to introduce her new boyfriend, Nini or Gina wanting to check on them, but even if they did, Ricky wouldn’t have noticed.
The world seemed to have fallen away all at once as they kissed, EJ’s hand still pressed against his chest, and Ricky was sure that he was feeling just a little dizzy. It was a fairly innocent kiss, one he somehow hadn’t expected from EJ, but it was more than he could have asked for still. He hadn’t felt this way in a long time. Like his entire world had been taken and turned upside down, and he didn’t mind one bit. It wasn’t like it had been with Nini, where he had desperately been trying to win her back, and even before that, trying to bring himself to say those words she wanted to hear, just so he wouldn’t lose her.
The truth was: He hadn’t lost her. If anything, he had gotten his best friend back, and adding to that he had found this. Warm lips pressed against his, one arm wrapped around his waist with the other hand pressed against his chest, where he could feel a warmth spreading through his entire body.
It wasn’t until EJ pulled his hand away, that Ricky slowly came back to himself, only to have the process accelerated, when he heard the noise of the confetti canon going off. A moment later, the rest of the red and white confetti came raining down on them, and Ricky pulled back slightly, the surprise written all over his face.
EJ was holding the remote in his hand, a grin plastered across his face.
“Really?” Ricky couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled from his chest at the sight.
“You should know by now that I like a dramatic entrance, and a big finale.” EJ replied with a chuckle, and Ricky reached up to brush some confetti out of the other boy’s hair.
“I’m giving you the grand finale, but the dramatic entrances were definitely taken by Big Red, my Dad, Gina’s phone and Carlos. You need to work on those.” Ricky teased with another laugh. Really, they had been dramatic interruptions, and they had thrown him for a loop more than once. The truth was though: He wasn’t upset. He might have screwed this up if they had kissed on that first day. He might have worried too much and shut EJ out, like he had done with Nini. He might have put the whole production in jeopardy, which wasn’t something he would have been able to forgive himself for. Not just because of Nini, but also because all of those people who had become his friends, and who had always cared about the show, and because he had ended up enjoying himself more than he thought he would.
“You know what? I can live with that.” EJ eventually replied, and then kissed him again. Ricky had no complaints.